I've Been Remiss

I've not posted anything about llama shearing day.  It's a shame because Barack O'Llama and Snowball were well behaved, compared to how some of the ewes behaved and compared to what we expected.  (Our shearer warned us that Snowball had been difficult to shear in the past.) 

Some pictures of shearing day: (The llamas are blindfolded so it's harder for them to kick accurately.)

Some pictures of their new looks:

Memorial Day Picnic...For Sheep

Scott and I were making lunch yesterday when we heard a lot of baaing.  The boys checked on the sheep and assured us that they were fine.  A few minutes later, we heard a tremendous amount of chicken distress, along with even more baaing.  We decided to check for ourselves and found Calico, Zircon, Tricot, and Slate in the chicken yard.  A very small person didn't latch the gate properly, and Calico (we presume) noticed...

When we tried to get the offenders out, the rest of the sheep (except Calico's lambs, oddly enough) rushed in.  Keeping a close eye on them, we let them graze.

After a little while, we herded them back out.  Unfortunately, Barack O'Llama got in (but, fortunately, he is easily haltered and led).  Snowball, on the other hand, behaved. 

Today, the gate was tightly latched. 

Just Like Mom

Peat looks a lot like mom Henrietta.  Just like mom and big sister Macadamia, Peat is very friendly.  Peat is assured a life of luxury--the boys have claimed him as "their" sheep. 

Quartz looks like mom Theresa, with the addition of a few spots.  She, however, is not nearly as shy as Theresa. 

So...Peanut is not Feldspar's mother, but it's still easy to see that they are related.  They're little Sandys!

Granite's fleece is lightening up already.  Soon he'll be light brown like mom Hazel and big sister Filly. His twin sister?  It looks like she may be staying black, but it's too early to say for sure.

The biggest similarity between Galena and mom Tiffany?  Their lovely fleeces!

Barack O'Llama would like to interrupt this blog post.  He's a little concerned that llama shearing day might be coming up soon....

Almond's Big Makeover

Earlier this week, Almond looked like this:

First, a little background about Shetland sheep and horns.  We get asked all the time variations of the same question: when are you going to dehorn your sheep?  Shetland rams are supposed to have horns and removing their horns would significantly decrease their value.  Good horns (like Gunpowder's) are something we really want to see on our male sheep. 



Really bad horns are obvious when the males are still small.  Although Almond's fleece is wonderful, we castrated him so that he would not pass on the genetics for bad horns. We've been keeping an eye on his horns.  We decided we needed to trim them in order to save his life (and I'm not exaggerating), something we may not chosen to do if his fleece were not so fantastic.

Almond had his horns trimmed today, and now he looks something like this:  (Sorry that Pecan is in the way!)

Outtakes

My highly unsuccessful attempt at getting pictures of certain lambs.

First, Marble and Granite.  There they are--but they're nursing, and Peanut is in the way.

There's Hazel--but that's not either of her lambs! (It's Malachite, by the way.)

Last year's lamb, Filly, has gotten the hang of the posing thing.  Maybe Marble and Granite will catch on sooner or later.

Next up: Slate.  He was too distracted by a feed scoop and Galena to show off his gorgeous white markings.

Chert and Opal were willing to pose.

Mommy Calico's bottom did get a little bit in the way.

What A Day...

...to misplace my camera.

I had it yesterday, when we vaccinated, hoof trimmed, and photographed all of this year's lambs.  (Zircon had a bit of a bonus: castration.)  I did get to feel and examine even the fastest running fleeces, but the pictures are terrible and Scott and I (and probably Zircon, too) have bruises. 

Galena's mug shoot.  Her fleece is awesome!

Most of the big girls had their hooves trimmed, too.  I came inside, uploaded my pictures, and the camera disappeared.  

Zircon getting his hooves trimmed like a big boy.

Today, we finished up a new fence in the back field.  Now we can put the ewes in the back pasture and not have to worry about the ram.  (They are seasonal breeders, meaning the ewes only come into estrus in the late fall, but I am paranoid all year round.)   The ewes were thrilled when we opened the gate to let them into the back pasture, so thrilled that quite a few of them forgot their lambs (Sandy, Calico, and Elvira did not--and they all have twins). 

Olivine, because I have no coordinating pictures.

Scott, the boys, and I tried to round the lambs up.  We were somewhat successful.  Czadas came back to the front field to retrieve one of her twins and she was nice enough to gather up the rest of the lambs while she was at it. 

Snowball, however, took the opportunity to come to the front field and sniff all of Barack O'Llama's belongings.  I herded him to the back, and he decided he would herd some ewes and lambs. 

The very, very wiggly Marble.

Everyone seems okay now, though.  Gunpowder and friends have not knocked down the new fence; Snowball and Barack O'Llama are getting along just fine (although that might change the first time we try to feed them while they are in the same field!).

Random Lamb Pictures

Hazel with Granite and Marble

Olivine, my little dark brown girl.

Zircon says hello.

Molly

Beryl lost an ear tag.  Surprisingly, she's the first.

Feldspar and his amazing fleece.

Czadas with Rhoda and Beryl (and a chicken)

Malachite

Zircon happily munching hay. 

Yeti's Big Day

Yeti wasn't here on shearing day.  Today, Scott sheared him.

Stress Relief

The lambing jugs are empty now that Tricot (with Slate) and Theresa (with Quartz) have been set free.  They both are excellent mothers, so it's doubly a relief.

Tricot sticks close by Slate.

Theresa is much louder now that's she's a mom.

Theresa allows me to take a picture of Quartz.

We also made some improvements to our creep feeding* set-up.  What worked last year was not working this year.  What you can't see in the picture below is me tossing chickens out, wrestling big(gish) sheep, helping lambs figure out how to get in, and convincing a llama he doesn't need baby food.

Before

Scott put together the new creep feeder with a little help from his friends.  I ignored them and took random lamb pictures (coming soon)...and I did a little more wrestling with big sheep after Czadas figured out that I had peanuts in my pocket. 

Yeti is a big helper!

The new set up is effective for llama heads, most of the big(gish) sheep, but not the chickens.  Hopefully, the lambs will take it into their own hooves to keep them away like Acorn did last year.  

After

* A creep feeder is a feeder that the lambs can "creep" into but the moms can't.