This year's lambs are getting big.
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| Parmesan, Mozzarella, & the whole gang |
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| Pepperjack, Ricotta, Colby, & Cheddar |
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| Velveeta: mini Champagne! |
Ricotta not only looks like mom, but is about the same size.
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| Ricotta, standing beside her mom, Pina Colada. |
And let's not forget about the boys:
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| Stilton, another of Sassy's gorgeous lambs. |
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| Even Pepperjack's horns are multicolored! |
The sheep were sheared early in March, and after it started to warm up, I knew we needed to shear the llama. Things were a little crazy, so we ended up putting it off until Memorial Day weekend. We set up everything, caught Barack, and started to shear. The shears didn't work.
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| "Oh no," Barack O'Llama |
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| Sheep helpers Vanilla and Henrietta |
We did give him his annual vaccine and trim his hooves. We also took him for a walk.
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We ordered the broken parts and waited. We fixed the shears. Finally, another not-rainy day came along, and after the inevitable drama of llama shearing, Barack is sporting a new look. (Whoops, I have no after pictures yet!)
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| Barack should be feeling much cooler! |
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| Seltzer with Peppermint Patty and Sky |
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| Peppermint Patty |
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| Peppermint Patty (again) |
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| Rollo |
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| Earl Grey |
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| Sassy & Stilton |
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| Velveeta & Champagne |
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| Stilton, Pepperjack, Colby (and moms) |
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| Sassy & Stilton |
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| Mozzarella & Parmesan |
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| Stilton |
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| Pepperjack |
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| Ricotta |
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| Velveeta & Champagne |
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| Cheddar |
Champagne surprised us by lambing a few days before her due date. Her lamb is a spotty black and white ewe we've named Velveeta.
Velveeta is the last lamb we're expecting this year. We had a total of eight during this (very busy!) week--five ewes and three rams.
Adelie lambed very, very early Friday morning. It wasn't Adelie's first time lambing, but was her first time having twins.
Her first lamb is a spotted black lamb we've named Parmesan. It is very likely that he will lighten to gray.
Her second lamb is a moorit (brown) ewe we've named Mozzarella. She also has white spots on her head.
We should have a little break before Champagne lambs. She's more than a little wild, so we'll see how that goes!
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| Parmesan |
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| Adelie, her twins, & the birthday boy's arm |
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| Adelie is getting the hang of having two. |
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| Mozzarella |
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| Parmesan |
Beryl lambed late in the evening on her due date. Like Gingerale, she was pretty speedy, although she has done this before. Beryl delivered her third set of twins, but this time, they are both ewes.
The older lamb is named Colby. She looks exactly like Beryl did when she was a lamb, with a black fleece and white spots on her head.
The second lamb is Cheddar. She's almost entirely moorit (dark brown) with a tiny white spot on the back of her head. I'm very surprised that Beryl has a lamb who is not black!
Cheddar is very friendly and easy to photograph. Colby is a little harder to get a picture of, but usually her mom is in the way!
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| Cheddar |
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| A little blurry, but it's Colby! |
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| Beryl knows I want a pic of her. |
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| Cheddar and Colby |
Gingerale did a great job for a first time mother. She lambed around lunchtime on Tuesday. Her labor was short and seemed effortless (to me, probably not so much to Gingerale!), and she had her lamb up and nursing in no time.
Gingerale had a single ram we've named Pepper Jack. He's very spotty, just like his dad Cisco.
Pina Colada lambed the same night as Sassy. Her lamb is a single white ewe we've named Ricotta. She's really difficult to get pictures of because she bounces around so much!
(These blog posts are much shorter this year than in past years. We're having fewer lambs, but they're all coming around the same time!)
Sassy was not one of the five ewes we picked to breed this year. In the middle of November, three rams broke into the ewe section of the barn. Sassy seems to be the only ewe that was bred during this incident, but that seems a little too good to be true. (In 2017-2018, one ram--Oregano--broke through the fence for about an hour, and he managed to breed six ewes!)
Sassy lambed overnight. Her lamb is brown with a white spot on his head. He will lighten. His father is obviously Cormorant, as he looks just like him. We've named him Stilton.
Pina Colada lambed around the same time. Her blog post will be up as soon as we get some pictures in the daylight.
Another shearing day has come and gone, and despite my best intentions, I managed to take very few pictures. The rams broke into the ewe section of the pasture in November, and I was watching very closely for unintended pregnancies. The good news is that only one ewe (Sassy) is certainly bred from this incident, and there are only a few others who are even possibilities--and they might just be fat. The accident(s) are due around the same time as the not-accidents, which is convenient for me.
We spent a little extra time with the ewes over the weekend, just to double check.
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| Marble |
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| Molly & Licorice |
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| Gingerale, pregnant as planned |
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| Marble & friends |
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| Everyone wants peanuts... |
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| ...even chickens. |
