All Ages

Looking through my pictures from today, I immediately noticed there were a lot of pictures of the older members of the Sleepy Acres gang.

There's Snowball.  (No one knows his precise age, but the vet estimated him to be around twenty.)  Here he is with the much younger Barack O'Llama.  (He'll be eight in November.)

Snowball and Barack O'Llama

Then there's Calico and Sandy, our oldest ewes.  Although much younger than Snowball, they are not spring chickens.

Calico reminds me that she does not like peanuts.

Sandy (peeking in) with Cilantro and Elvira.

Speaking of spring chickens....  Martha is one of our newest hens.  They should start laying any time now.  (Hmm, maybe that fact would encourage my egg gatherers.)

Martha, not as crazy as some of her "sisters."

Other youngsters: Parsley and Tarragon waiting for mom to finish scratching.  (They still look a lot alike in this picture, but up close their facial markings are beginning to look quite different.)

I admit...I can't tell who is who in this picture!

 And in the I-Can't-Believe-They're-All-Grown-Up Category: Peat and Myrtle.

Peat, one of the more mature guys in his pasture. Yikes!

 

Myrtle (unsuccessfully) trying to hide.

Woo Hoo

There are some very excited ewes today.  We opened the gate to the back field, which has a little more greenery than the rest of the pastures.  The drought has been very hard on our pastures!

Opal is hopeful when she sees us near the gate.

They hurried through before we changed our minds.  Henrietta is first, as always (she's one fast little sheep!).

Fast sheep: Henrietta, Molly, & Elvira

The big surprise is Sandy.  She's usually towards the end, but here is she is, out near the front.

The peloton (have I been watching too much cycling?)

In case you're wondering, Cayenne was last.  I'd add a picture, but there's only so many pictures of running sheep a person can see without getting bored.  I'll save you the boredom.

Most of the sheep were too interested in eating to look up.

Czadas gobbling up trefoil.

Tiffany is a more elegant grazer.

But Molly checked me for peanuts (nope)....

Molly always checks me for yummy snacks.

...and Cinnamon was a little suspicious of me.

Cinnamon is alert like mom Elsie.

Yeti and Spruce wanted to come along, too. 

"But that was our field!"

Just Like....

After saying that I can always tell the lambs apart--even the twins--Parsley and Tarragon look exactly alike.  I can tell them apart when they are side by side because their fleeces are different, but other than that?  Nope.

Parsley or Tarragon?  I'm not entirely sure...

Pawlonia looks just like Hazel (her grandma).  Pawlonia is a lot smaller, even though she's an adult, so it's not too difficult to tell them apart.

Pawlonia

Hazel

Vanilla is a replica of Elsie.  She acts like her, too.

Elsie, Cinnamon, & Vanilla (Myrtle is peeking from behind)

Chamomile looks nothing like mama Tricot.  But she does have the same type of fleece--that makes me really, really happy!

Chamomile & Tricot

Then there's Marble.  She's quite unique.  (Well, Cypress does have the same markings, but he has those big ol' horns...)

Marble, being followed by a wee half brother

Marble

Just Pictures

Parsley & Tarragon

Chamomile

Cilantro

Bergamot

Elvira

Hazel & lambs

Barack O'Llama being rude

Tricot

Hazel's Not-so-Surprising Surprise

The rams broke into the ewe section of the barn during the big snowstorm and again about two weeks later.   Hazel, who was supposed to be having a vacation year, lambed yesterday.

Hazel lambed early in the morning.  It was not at all what I expected: she usually lambs in at midnight, like clockwork.  I'm not complaining, though. 

Like last year, Hazel had twin rams.  It was a quick, uneventful lambing, and Hazel had her little guys clean, standing, and nursing in no time at all. 

They are both katmoget and also have a little of the spotting that their old siblings Marble and Cypress have.  The older twin, who we have named Parsley, has a little bit of a lighter fleece than his little brother.  The second twin, Tarragon, is a lively little guy who wiggled the entire time I clipped and dipped his navel. 

Hazel was not looking too huge just a week ago!

Mostly About Horns

Horn Drama
Remember Chipotle breaking off a horn?  Now he's managed to break off the other one.  (Although the originally broken one--the longer one in this picture--seems to be doing well.)  We're considering him for a replacement ram because he has a lovely fleece and is not related to too many of the ewes (like the boys on our sale page). 

Chipotle, destroyer of horns

Clove's horns look great.

Clove is getting to be a big guy.

Lavender's horns look great, too.  Wait, you might be thinking, Lavender is an ewe!  Shetland ewes sometimes have horns, and Lavender is our first one with honest-to-goodness horns. 

Lavender: How cute do her horns look?!?

Goodbye, Pepper

Pepper was the first lamb of the season to find new home.  He didn't seem to realize how lucky he is to be going off to be a pet sheep.  Marble, his mother, was a tiny bit freaked out last night but seemed fine this morning.  I was worried that it would be like the year we sold Tricot's wether, Slate, and she (loudly) looked for him for days and days. 

"Um, where's my lamb?"

"Whew, it's nice to not be nursing someone with horns!"

Getting Friendlier
Pawlonia has never been skittish, but she's never been the kind of ewe to hang out with people (unlike Henrietta and Czadas!).  Last night, she was hanging out with me...

Pawlonia: Looking just like mom and grandma.

...and again this morning.

 

Pawlonia

 She's also been hanging out with her grandma Hazel.  It's hilarious because they look so much alike.

And the biggest surprise of all-- one of Elsie's girls is getting (somewhat) friendly!  Or maybe she's just figured out where the food comes from.  Vanilla is the smartest lamb out of this year's bunch.

Vanilla Bean checks me out while the rest of the lambs eat.

Elsie's ewes: Cinnamon Bark & Vanilla Bean

And just because...some of the grown-up wethers and rams. 

Yeti, Spruce, Cypress, & Almond

Hairy Legs and Other Crazy Animals

The llamas were sheared last week.  They were not well-behaved.  Barack O'Llama's legs are just a bit hairy...

Hairy legs...

...but Snowball kushed (laid down) and refused to have his belly or legs sheared at all.  It doesn't matter if they look silly, though.  There's enough fleece removed that they shouldn't be getting hot.

Snowball: hairy legs and hairy belly

"It's a good thing I'm cute!" Snowball

Last night, we went to the pasture--Scott to dig up some thistles, me to try to get those pictures I've been promising. 

Tiffany decided to eat a thistle.

Yum, yum...

Maybe it''s what makes Tiffany tough?

I managed to get a good picture of Vanilla Bean.

Vanilla Bean, a.k.a. mini-Elsie

But not good pictures of Acacia and Wasabi, two of the three I was aiming for.  They're especially hard to photograph because, from certain angles, they look so much like some of the other sheep.

Wasabi's rear view.

Acacia leaping through the air.

Then I saw the first picture I took.  It's a terrible pictures, but there are Acacia and Wasabi!  (Of course, it was supposed to be a picture of Mace.)

Wasabi (little white ram), Acacia (brown gulmoget ewe)

 Other pictures...

Pepper and mom Marble

Chamomile