This lamb is missing his Jacob facial markings, but I still like these photos. He was on his feet and walking in less than 10 minutes.
The twin has all the right spots. You can watch their birth in this video.
This lamb is missing his Jacob facial markings, but I still like these photos. He was on his feet and walking in less than 10 minutes.
The twin has all the right spots. You can watch their birth in this video.
I have been anxiously awaiting lambs. Athena started us off early by lambing last week, but there has been nothing since. Mary was calling for lambs all morning and she finally got her wish.
Others came to investigate.
I moved Mary and her ewe lamb inside where she had her second lamb, a big ram.
It will be a busy few weeks.
Athena lambed ahead of schedule. Unfortunately the biggest twin (12.2 lbs) was dead when I went out this morning. Although it looks as though it was born alive (or at least was full term) there was something wrong with it. It’s belly was full of fluid so I think there was probably a congenital problem with it and it never could have survived.
Our first Farm Day of the year was on Saturday and five Farm Club members helped me get ready for lambing. I forgot to take photos at the beginning but started with vaccinating all the ewes. In the meantime we kept an eye on the two ewes who were supposed to be bred that day so that they will lamb at the fair in July.
There was no question about Miller and Donna, but ZZ left me wondering. He seemed more interested in his buddies in the adjacent pen than he was in Clover although she was doing her best to entice him. I decided that I’d better try another ram so Faulkner was the one. He knew just what to do.
While the rams were otherwise occupied and I had plenty of help it was time to clean the ram pen.
Rusty usually keeps the rams away while I clean so he took his usual position although the rams weren’t there.
The ewes watched through the gate while we moved wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow load. Those red marks are just from the marking crayon we used as we vaccinated.
After cleaning the ram pen it was donkey play time! Lisa discovered the bliss of brushing a donkey.
Amaryllis had to hold still for me to measure her. She is about as svelte as she ever gets and I wanted to have a baseline measurement for her (670 pounds according to the tape, which is really meant for horses). By the way, I looked up svelte because I wasn’t sure how to spell it. Svelte, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: thin in an attractive or graceful way; and a. slender, lithe. b : having clean lines : sleek. Hmmm. So maybe svelte isn’t quite the right word to describe a donkey.
Lambs will be here at the end of February and I have been thinking about how fast they grow. Here are some of the 2013 favorite lambs as they grew up.
This is Marilyn with her mom, Hot Lips.
2 1/2 weeks old.
First in her class at Black Sheep Gathering, 4 months old.
Marilyn at 8 months old. Isn’t she pretty?
Santana at 10 days old.
About a month old.
Not quite two months old.
5 1/2 months old with a great horn spread.
Santana with his ewes 7 1/2 months old.
That’s Alex on the right at about 10 days old. Not much color on that side. Fortunately he has more on the other.
About 4 months old.
About 8 months old.
Alex after shearing, 9 months.
This is Cascade at 10 days old.
Two months old.
Here she is at 7 1/2 months.
Sunday was Shearing Day and we sheared 71 sheep (61 ewes and 10 rams and wethers). I said “we”. Not really “we”, but John, my fabulous shearer. The sheep looked great, the fleece looked great and he finished shearing in two and a half hours! Shearing was finished by 11:30.
Here are sheep ready to be shorn.
Clover.
Mary.
John started with the rams…
…and moved on to ewes.
Farm Club members were the other wonderful helpers who made it all work.
Alison spent the morning at the skirting table explaining skirting and helping buyers skirt their fleeces.

Shelby and Gynna were our sheep wranglers, making sure that there was always another sheep for John to shear.
Mary and Carol bagged fleeces while Anna swept and Jackie worked the exit gate.
Linda weighed and recorded fleeces. Other members helped too but I didn’t get photos.
What would shearing day be without chili…
…and Dona’s brownies (and Lisa’s Jacob sheep cookies, Jackie’s corn biscuits, Mary’s wonderful tangy chicken and fancy rice krispie treats and more).
After shearing the sheep look so much thinner. This photo looks as though it was stretched vertically, but it wasn’t.
Lila.
Cascade.

Gynna looks happy with her Farm Club fleece.
And look at this gorgeous one!
After shearing we (Farm Club again and other friends) did demos of all kinds of spinning and fiber prep, but that’s another story, especially because it’s too late to write more.
I made all these buttons this week.
Here are better photos.
I think I have a new audience for my buttons….
…How about using them for sorting practice for little kids? You can sort by shape, color, and size. You can arrange them in order of size. So they’re not just for sweaters anymore! But at $6/button this would be a pricey sorting kit.
I usually have my i-phone (camera) with me but was glad I took the real camera to the barn this morning.
That is Celeste in the doorway.
Alison
Summer
Roxi
Ventura and Sonata
Laura is the third oldest ewe here. She is not really that old at almost 7 years.
Phyllis is an 8 year old lilac ewe.
This is Ears, the second BFL-cross that I have kept.
Here is Faulkner, the BFL ram. He gets to be “clean-up” ram and is out with all the breeding flock now.
I used red the first two weeks of breeding (starting October 1) and green the second two weeks. Almost all the sheep are marked with red and maybe a 6 or 8 with green. Faulkner has been with them for about 5 days and there are 3 yellow marks so far.
Marilyn is my favorite of the lambs I’m keeping this year.
Amaryllis