Oh, My Poor Babies!...

This is Anna Belle walking along the driveway with some of the lambs behind her. (Lyneth, Bam, Nadin, Nhu...click on photo for larger version.)

Notice the lack of fencing? Up until last night the sheep had full run of the farm. They've had that privilege for a few weeks now. It has been a delight to observe their habits in the absence of enclosure. The ewes constantly walk, and the lambs have to keep up.

For various reasons, it seemed appropriate to begin using the electronet to rotate pastures. Starting today. This is the first morning in a long while that I have not let the girls out first thing. Even though I enclosed them in a nice big area with good grass, they were mobbed at the gate this morning waiting for me. They don't want grass, they want freedom! I felt so sad about depriving them of their new "lifestyle" that they love so much. Yesterday, as I was installing the electronet, I wasn't sure I could stick to my guns and keep the girls in all summer.

In His marvelous way, God gave me a sign to strengthen my resolve. Last night I went to bed thinking that I would probably only use the electronet on days when I needed to go to town. The rest of the days the girls could be let out. Around 4:30am, Sally and Greta (both outside, one in the kennel) started violently barking, and I woke up just vaguely. Just enough to hear a pack of coyotes yipping between lapses in barking. I'm not afraid of coyotes, but it sent a shiver down my spine. I fell back asleep knowing I would leave the sheep in the electronet no matter how much they complained.

Boston Lake Ris

Ris again. I really like this little lamb. He's already caught up in size to the other lambs. He just impresses me when I look at him.

Impressions, I have been learning, are completely subjective. Clancy thinks Ris is correct-but he thinks Bam far outshines all the other lambs.

This morning I had the opportunity to sit out in the field with the ewe flock for a while. It was so absolutely grounding. I'm not even going to try to put my experience into words. But I felt for a while, what it might have been like to be a shepherd long ago. I was thinking of King David as a little boy...As I pulled my over-large hooded sweatshirt over my knees and over my head, I found this perfect position that I could maintain for a long time...I thought about how appropriate a very large cloak must have been to a shepherd. I sat there until I felt I had become part of the land, and the sky, and the blowing wind. I didn't want to ever return to ordinary life.

But I must. All sorts of things need my attention. Today was the last day of school for my boys. Tomorrow onward they will be home most of the time. I am looking forward to their constant company. It was good to take a bit of time for myself before the plunge into summer, though.

Boston Lake Bam

The other day when I was taking pictures, I tried to get a good one of Bam. All I got were photos of his hind-end. This one isn't even the best photo of his back end, but it does show him next to Lyneth, who happens to be about the same size as all the other lambs. Can you see why I keep mentioning how big Bam is?

Initially, I had Bam earmarked for butcher next spring. However, Clancy really likes this lamb. He feels he could be the perfect flock sire for some shepherd with particular goals in mind-big correct meaty lambs. Bam's conformation is excellent, although this picture doesn't really demonstrate that. He also belongs to my son, Asa, who doesn't want to see him go to butcher.

So I have agreed to offer Bam for sale. He was born 4-15-08 and will be available after weaning. As of now he is unregistered but his parantage is Windswept Unicorn x Boston Lake Delyth.

Bam's fleece has a wonderful handle to it. He has only one Awt gene so only half of his lambs will be born white. His tail is short but it has some hair at the tip that makes it appear longer. Hind quarters are very straight. Bam is a very masculine ram lamb and has had tremendous growth. He was very vigorous at birth and he has stayed that way. His sire has excellent wide horns and a large, muscular frame. His dam is from a good mothering line. She is black iset at 2 years with a moorit recessive gene.

Please contact me at sabrinalea19@yahoo.com or by phone at the number listed in the footer if you would like more information about Bam.

Boston Lake Duvie

This little ewe lamb is my funny girl. She was born between the older lambs and the youngest batch of lambs, so she didn't have anyone her exact age to goof around with. Bam initially tried to bully her and she decided to beat him, and all the other lambs, to the punch. Duvie is my little independent thinker. She is happy to run with the mob, but she also can be separate from them without anxiety.

Duvie (Bramble Allister x Sheltering Pines Dolce) carries at least one modified gene, and possibly two. She is almost 4 weeks old now and she seems to be lightening in the face more than her black sister Nadin. We will just have to wait and see if she turns out to be modified herself.

Duvie has very nice conformation and the same tiny tail both of her parents carry. I expect her to turn out as wonderfully as her older sister, Delyth, (who is Bam's mom.) In this picture, Duvie is approaching me on a steep slope, hence the odd angle. She is coming up for the chin scratches she just learned to appreciate last week. Before that she was a little shy. Now she crowds in with the others and she'll climb in my lap if she has to. Lambies must be loved, you know!

Boston Lake Lyneth

Today started out so beautifully: I took a few pictures of the sheep first thing this morning. I planned to post some of them and then use the fine weather to get a bunch of work done.

Then my youngest son broke his big toe and I had to run him into town to see a doctor. (We'll know more next week after a specialist views his x-rays.) By the time we left the doctor's office, the sky had clouded up. Sparse, angry, raindrops were slapping the pavement occasionally. And the wind was quite fierce. Leif and I actually had to walk the last bit of the way home because an aspen had fallen across the driveway.

After a I unwound from my mad dash to town, Clancy and I got some yard work done in spite of the blustery weather.

This evening I scrolled through the photos from this morning. Some of them turned out nicely. Shown is Lyneth (Sheltering Pines Bombarde x Bramble Anna Belle.) Notice how her ears are not perfectly set at the 10 and 2 o'clock position? I can honestly say that is the worst thing about her. She is a delicate beauty with incredibly crimpy, soft fleece. Click on the picture to see a larger version of it.

I also thought it was sweet of her to pose so nicely in front of the lake for me.

Thoughts on Farming

This photo shows the ewe flock running up to me a couple of days ago. Our yard and farm doesn't usually look like this in mid-May. We usually have a lot more green grass.

The grass has been so sparse that I have just been letting the ewes and lambs have free roam during the day. There is enough grass over the whole 4 acre lawn to feed them, but not enough in any one paddock. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and last night we had some light rain. This morning it seemed as if the grass had grown overnight. Hopefully, I will have time to set up electronet for the girls today or tomorrow. I think it is good for them to have full range of the farm, but I worry about predators sneaking in at this time of year. I'll feel better once they are fenced in again, and I'll be able to leave the farm during the day.

The two rams are still in their round pen with hay feedings. I want to get them out on grass as well to save the last few bales of hay for emergency feedings.

For a while now I have been offering my white ram, Unicorn, for sale. Nothing definite has come of that so far. Last night, however, I was sorting through some recent snapshots and I came across this picture of Bam and Nadin. Clancy was looking over my shoulder and remarked that he liked the photo and he also really thought Bam was a good looking ram lamb. Clancy, with his Hampshire background, is still more impressed by meat sheep conformation than wool sheep conformation. Anyway, we were talking about how large Bam is compared to all the other lambs and Clancy suggested the idea that I could keep Unicorn and use him to produce butcher lambs.

I have been contemplating purchasing a BFL or NCC or some other breed to use on a few of my Shetland ewes. The extra money to make that investment just isn't there, though, since we are trying very hard to get the house finished. Unicorn, however, sires really big lambs; much bigger than I prefer Shetlands to be. And Bam is very muscular compared to Bombarde and his male offspring. So why not use Uni to produce butcher lambs? They would all be "big and white and meaty" compared to the rest of the flock. :) And since Unicorn has such impressive horns, I wouldn't be too sad to keep sending his offspring to the freezer.

What prompted this idea is the fact that I have several people that are interested in buying butcher lamb from me; and I really don't have any to sell. I would have to butcher a good ewe, or Unicorn to fill the orders. Bam isn't ready to go to the freezer quite yet. So the demand is there and I want to fill it. Plus, we are out of lamb ourselves, and I want to fill up the freezer.

I will continue to breed for fleece fineness and polled genetics using my very best Shetlands. But the other ewes that give me not so scrumptious fleece can stay and produce butcher lambs for me. I'm looking forward to exploring this idea.

Little Napping Lambs

Boston Lake Lyneth and Nhu resting in the sun. If I bounced half the day away like they do, I would need a nap too.

I'm glad to report that this pair of lambs is no longer needing a supplemental bottle. Anna Belle is feeding them just fine on her own now. They are growing nicely. A few days ago they started nibbling the grain treat with their dam. Their fleece is so tight and crimpy, though, they still look little compared to all the other fuzzy puffy lambs like Bam and Nadin.

Nhu and Lyneth are little love bugs. The temporary bottle feeding seemed to bond them to me almost as much as they bonded to their mom. I love how they gallop toward me whenever I enter the pasture.