Fall is Here

 The sheep are wearing their coats.  

 

Peanut

Cisco, one of our rams, is in with his ewes for breeding season.  

Cisco, Champagne, Gingerale, & Adelie

Henrietta is not participating in either.  Her fleece is already too dirty to bother with putting a coat on her, and she is retired from lambing.

Henrietta

Theresa also is taking the year off.

The new chickens are in the barn.  (The boys raised two batches this year. They were all supposed to be pullets, but one of them is a rooster.  I don't have a picture of him today.) 

Polka and Dot are my girls.

Some More Pictures

Molly

Adelie and Molly

A closeup of Yeti

Peanut

Tiffany

Pistachio

Henrietta

Guest Post: Just Pictures Today

Gingerale

Adelie

Pawlonia

Marble

Marshmallow

Vanilla Reaching for a Peanut

Out & About

The lambs and their moms have moved in with the rest of the ewes.  Some of the lambs (like Rollo) are as big as a few of the adults. 

The ewes & lambs

We made a special visit to the pasture to get pictures and hand out some treats.  It was challenging taking pictures because Barack O'Llama was practically attached to my face the entire time I was in the pasture. 

He's usually such a good boy.

My assistant photographer took a few shots of his thumb, but even though this picture includes his leg, I think it's a pretty good picture of Adelie.

Adelie

Despite our struggles, I think we ended up getting some good pictures.

Cider

Swan & Dove & I have no idea

Rollo with his buddy Marshmallow

Hazel

Junior Mint

Snow

Tootsie Roll

Tootsie Roll again

Marshmallow

The big guys (and girls)

I'm not as caught up with the sheep sale page as I'd like to be.  However, my sons have picked out the lambs they want to show at next year's fair, and the lambs we'll be selling are listed on the sale page.  I'll be updating the page with pictures soon.  Also, we have several older ewes and rams listed for sale as well.  Along with the normal sheep stuff, this guy has been keeping me busy: 

Not a sheep.

The sheep are calmly going about their business of growing fleeces. 

Lightning has one of my favorite fleeces.  He is a little over two years old now.  It's hard to believe because he's a smaller guy, especially compared to the other wethers who are all on the big side for Shetlands (and then there's Yeti, who is a bigger breed.)

Lightning

Even though she's a grown-up and the mother or grandmother of many of our sheep, Molly still runs up to us whenever she sees us.

Molly (& the ewes)

Pawlonia is sporting her highlights.  Her fleece stays the same color throughout the year, but her face lightens dramatically during the summer.

Pawlonia

Snow checks to see if I have treats...

Snow

I didn't have treats, and I think Snow and the others were a little disappointed.

Snow & Pawlonia

Not Just Lambs

Mist, a first time mom, is doing a great job.

Junior Mint & Peppermint Patty are getting big!

Dr. Pepper is one year old(ish).

Cider is another one of last year's lambs.

Pina Colada, the smallest of last year's lambs, is no longer tiny.

Sassy, Elsie, Champagne, ... & everyone else!

It was sprinkling, so Earl Grey wanted back in the barn.

Finally...Vanilla

Waiting for the last ewe to lamb always seems to go on forever, and this year was no different.  Finally, though, the wait is over.

Vanilla lambed very early Sunday morning.  She delivered a single (yeah, I know she was huge!) white ram.  His name is Marshmallow.

His big brothers and sisters can't wait to play with him.  (And I think all of the ewes have licked him.)

We're all done with lambing for this year.

"But I want a lamb!" Henrietta

Speedy Little Sheep

I haven't shared many lamb pictures recently.  I haven't been taking my camera to the barn--just my phone.  Under normal circumstances, my phone does a decent job of taking pictures--except lamb pictures.  They just move too fast!  I remembered my camera this morning, and the result was slightly better.

Junior Mint is the first one out of the barn.

All the brown lambs.

Milky Way starts her morning with a big stretch.

Peppermint Patty looks up from her snack.

Licorice is the star of this bad pic example.

(And if you're wondering where Vanilla's lamb(s) are, we're still waiting. She's due tomorrow.  That and her (enormous) appearance means we shouldn't have too long to wait.)