lamb photos

trying to catch up. seems to be my life currently :)

These are backwards but no time to switch them. Minwawe Red Bud, shaela three year old ewe with her F2 Orion son (with krunet). He could be modified. The pair is available for sale.

2nd photo of Red Bud's son.
Owl Hill Miss Lilly. F1 Holly, F2 Orion etc with her Orion son. He also has a krunet and the tightest, crimpiest, most consistent fleece born this year.
I like him :) He looks modified as well from the color at the skin.
Below is Winter Sky Layla's son out of Orion. He also appears modified.
And again with his mioget momma (to show the color difference)
White Pine Rush (FirthofFifth Aman x RYL Rachildas) with her Wintertime Jazz daughter.
Below is ShelteringPines Snow Cloud with her Wintertime Jazz daughter.
Snow Cloud with her baby. See the body spots?
WhitePine Castle Rock (Jazz x Chloe) with her WhitePine Roman (F1 Orion) daughter

Two more ewes lamb - ewe lamb streak broken!

Sometimes you just 'know' when a ewe is going to come in. I'm always thinking I am getting better at 'reading' ewes. I thought Minwawe RedBud would be lambing last night. By morning check she had a cute moorit krunet ram lamb. Sire is my F1 Orion ram WhitePine Ephraim. I was truly hoping for an emsket ewe out of this breeding. As I didn't get this, this mother/son pair is available for sale. Please inquire. RedBud's fleece is always sold right away and is a gorgeous shaela color.

Owl Hill Miss Lilly surprised the heck out of me this morning! I had no idea she was even 'close' by her antics and she had the most striking 90.5%UK moorit krunet ram lamb I've had! Sire is Heights Orion. I'm tickled he's moorit and has a krunet. I also love his amazing fleece, consistent down the tail head even and very crimpy, like the UK Shetlands. Lilly had a second 'fetus' that appeared to have mummified at some point in the gestation. Such a pity, but I'm very happy to have this little boy on my farm. Thank you THANK YOU to Susan Kimball for letting me have Lilly. She is a F1 Holly, F2 Orion herself (amongst other lines) and she is the highest UK girl I have at 81.25%.

First AI lamb - Layla

Karen Valley is leasing back Winter Sky Layla (Heights Orion x Underhill Loretta Lynne) and had her bred back to her father. So far a huge moorit ram lamb. I'm waiting on several other ground bred ewes to pop at any moment. Looks like a long night ahead of me!

Another white ewe lamb! I don't believe it!

Last night I thought for certain WhitePine Rush (FirthofFifth Aman AI x RYL Rachildas) looked 'fishy'. I did several barn checks in the night to her just chewing her cud. I went out at 6:30 to see her water bag break and I went back in the house to feed the dogs and check some lively debate on the Shetland lists, which of course I had to respond to. Its my nature :)

Afterwards I went out to find Rush with a WHITE EWE LAMB! I couldn't believe it! Its my third one this year! Out of every possible breeding that could throw white, they did and they are ALL GIRLS! Just what I seriously wanted! The proud papa is again Wintertime Jazz AI. This ewe lamb is F2 Jericho, F3 Orion. She is just adorable, and running around already when I went to check on her. Yes! Photos soon.

two more ewes lamb with ewe lambs! *edit*

This morning at 1am, just when I was doing my last barn check, WhitePine Castle Rock (Wintertime Jazz AI x Justalit'l Chloe) gave birth to a splendid WHITE EWE lamb when I got out there. She was just getting her up to stand when I got out and moved them to one of the waiting jugs. Such fun lambing when this happens this way! Happy father is my F1 Orion white ram WhitePine Roman (out of RYL Rachildas). I was hoping for white ewes out of him and I got one!

This afternoon, at 1pm, ShelteringPines Snow Cloud had a cute-as-a-button gray katmoget ewe lamb with body spots which will fade. Snow was laying down and her lamb was doing races around her when I got out there. She hasn't passed the afterbirth yet, and I'm hoping for another lamb as this girl is quite petite. Happy sire is Wintertime Jazz, and full sister WhitePine Salome from last year is happy she is a 'big' sister now. Well not really. But I like to think so :)

I'm quite happy with three ewe lambs so far in the purebreds :)

Mule lamb photos

twin mule ewe lambs from Autumn and Burma. They are English Blue (Aeb) carrying solid (Aa). They do carry moorit and modified from their mom so curious to see how the Aeb pattern is affected, if at all by the modifier gene. Cute spotting on the faces huh? They weighed around 7 pounds each.

Lamb photos and catching up!

Well I'm a little bit behind. ahem. I have 47 (yes forty seven) ewes to lamb on or around April 5th. Yes. That is correct. I have 21 ewes due from AI on the 5th. Only two look not bred to that. Which is phenomenal! One is a BFL that was bred to Titan, and another is a Shetland ewe that was bred to Minder. Oh well. so that is still 19. All 5 crosses bred to the Texel are for sure bred. Three of the ewe lambs (out of 5 that I exposed) from last year are also bred (yes!). I'm kind of overwhelmed. Or will be. I guess I'd rather have it all over with at one time, than spread out over two weeks. :O)

Below is Beechtree GlenLuce's twin girls. (Lady) Gaga and Gwen (Stefani). They have to be G named...and i'm doing musical artists this year. Cute names huh? Notice the different markings/color? Isn't that cool? They are the most beautiful things I've ever seen!

Another shot of the girls. Both of them were 10.5 pounds!!

Here is my first Shetland lamb! RYL Rachildas with her Wintertime Jazz daughter. Her name is Regina (Spektor). She could be katmoget under the white, or is Aa. Either way she is most likely homozygous black, which is ok. Regina was nearly TEN pounds at birth. This is Rachildas' first time singling, but its a BIG GIRL! She is exactly like Rush. Same kind of fleece, super crimpy and consistent from front to rear. She has brown legs like her momma. Its too cute. Grey nose Bill. sorry :(

Ok I guess I still need Clover's lambs and the mule lambs. They are on the PC, i Just have to find them.

lambing weights and update on BFL lambs

Since I am a man of numbers, and like doing graphs, pie charts, spread sheets all based on numbers and performance, of any animal (dog, pigeon, sheep, goat, cow, horse, chicken etc) I find these things fascinating!

BFL lambs. 14 born so far, 12 alive (I lost one of the prolapsed ewes lambs last night at 3 weeks of age. They were never really gaining and unthrifty, no matter how many other ewes they nursed off of. The other one still remains quite small).

BFL ewe, weights of lambs, sexes of lambs:

Beechtree Kiloran, 11# 7oz, 7#, ram and ewe - didn't accept lambs initially. lost ewe lamb

ShelteringPines Morovia, 9#11oz, 7#11oz, two rams - great mom

ShelteringPines Nubia, 6#12oz, 8#2oz, two rams - prolapsed, didn't accept lambs initially. lost white ram lamb.

ShelteringPines Catalonia, 11# 6oz, 11# 4oz ewe and ram - great mom

Cross Wind Bea, 8#, 7# 6oz, ram and ewe - great mom, ewe lamb is stiff legged, been giving BoSe, Vit B12 and Nutri Drench. Still nursing good.

Beechtree GlenLuce, 10# 11oz, 10# 6oz, both ewes - didn't accept lambs initially

Cross Wind Clover, 11# 6oz, 11# 10oz, ewe and ram - didn't accept lambs initially


All the ewes that didn't like their lambs initially are now taking them, even if they aren't calling to them, but they sleep with them and let them nurse.

RYL Rachildas had a single white ewe lamb out of Jazz. She was nearly TEN pounds!

FirthofFifth Evidence of Autumn had twin mule ewe lambs out of Burma. They were 7# and 6# 11oz.

Yes photos are here. I just have to uploaded.

My first mule lambs! Both ewes!

I try not to bore you with my day to day personal issues such as money, love (or lack of), religion or stuff like that on here, although at times I feel the need to vent. I have been dating someone for the past few months that lives three hours away. While we've made the effort to see each other as often as we can, it ended last night due to 'lack of spark' on the other person's part, not mine. I had to drive to Minneapolis to discuss all of this and see if there was somewhere to go from there. We decided we are really great friends, and are still going to plan on hanging out, which I think is very adult of us, and something I've always believed in, remaining friends, after a relationship on such a deep level has failed.

I drove home this morning after staying with a different friend and having brunch with them, and came home to find my first mule lambs ever!

FirthofFifth Evidence of Autumn, a mioget 4 year old Shetland, gave birth to twin natural colored MULE EWES! It will be interesting to see if the modifier of the Shetland will alter the English Blue pattern that they are right now. Both were up running around in the barn when I came home. A wonderful sight to see. Especially since their mom likes them :) These two look very BFL in their look, so will be fun to see how they grow on. I do plan on keeping them and putting them to the Texel this fall, along with any other girls I get out of the Mule Ewes.

Photos will be forthcoming

Gone to the birds...chickens that is!

Well I did it. My enabler fleece friend Lisa, has enabled me to take home my first trio of yearling egg laying hens! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I'm terrified of the big chickens, I am not even going to lie, but they are extremely tame and beg for being held. Its really quite silly. Her chickens lived out her garage door in a state of the art chicken coop and aviary (read spoiled). I hope I can live up to their standards ;)

While researching the different egg layers, I am not in any need to get the most eggs per chicken per year, but its more of a novelty idea. I can feed many of the eggs to my dogs in their raw diets, and I can give many to my family (both my parents and my sister and her hubby and kid), and I'm sure it wouldn't take long to get a following for egg customers!

I was able to bring home 1 Barred Rock, 1 Buff Orpington, and 1 Red Star named Helen. I can't remember the other names, forgive me! :) Since its such a novelty, I'm curious to see what you, the readers and blogger friends have for choices for additional egg layers. I would like to try a black Australop and a silver-laced Wyandotte for sure, but was curious about other breeds. Sussex? Marans? Other colors of Orpingtons or Wyandottes? I don't mind white egg layers either but want to stray away from breeds that are hybrids like the Red Star (I just thought this one looked neat). What breeds are out there that lay white eggs and are more heritage?

I don't want 25 chicks, for a minimum order. I"m thinking 6-8 more hens tops. Preferably started or yearlings, just to get a 'feel' for them, but I am also open to chicks, but would have to split an order with someone.

I think maybe Corinne could pick me up a few 'locally' right??

I'm crazy yes. But these three girls are so tame and gentle (AND BIG), but I'd like some variety in the coop, especially with such small numbers, and I want to be able to tell them apart ;)

Busy 12 hours

Beechtree GlenLuce gave birth to twin natural colored ewe lambs. I have photos but no time to post! Luce didn't want her lambs, the first lamb was quite large and she took a long time delivering her. She is haltered and tied up so the girls can nurse. I'm getting used to this. Almost as much effort as a Holstein cow! The lambs I must saw are the most gorgeous lambs I've ever had born here. period. So beautiful. And Vigorous.

My first Shetland lamb was born! RYL Rachildas gave birth to a large single WHITE EWE LAMB! The happy daddy is Wintertime Jazz AI, and this is exactly what I wanted from Rachildas! The lamb is quite large for a single, but haven't weighed it yet. She gave birth between Luce's twins. She reminds of Rush, who was Rachildas white ewe out of FirthofFifth Aman AI.

Having been out in the barn most of the night, making sure Luce lambed and her lambs nursed. And having to put Rachildas in a jug with her baby as several other Shetland ewes were also claiming the lamb as their own (God bless them for being such great moms!). They are still adamant that its theirs, and they are very heavy with lamb themselves, and didn't have to do the work!

After most of the morning nap, I went out to make sure Cross Wind Clover was going to lamb. I pegged her for an early morning lambing, but she decided to wait until 4pm this afternoon to do it. She produced a white ewe and a white ram, and she LIKES them, although she isn't really sure about cleaning them up, but she is calling them and following them around the jug. Both Clover and GlenLuce's babies are out of Sheltering Pines Burma, a natural colored ram out of ShelteringPines Nightwatch and Beechtree Blyth.

photos most likely on sunday, in the evening, when I have more time