Tuesday, June 21, 2011

3 of 4 Ewe Lambs

I wanted to post about all of my ewe lambs, but I could not get Sian's black daughter, Jane, to pose for any photos.  Here are the other three ewe lambs...
Justina (Courante x Hannah) 
My only Courante ewe lamb...but she proved that Courante carries solid, so I'm pleased.  Justina carries moorit and spots - as evidenced by her tiny white head spot at birth.  She is twin to Trans Am (Mr Spotty).  Justina is also the lamb I thought might be modified.  She still has an odd black color compared to the other black ewe lambs, but I can't see any color change at the base of her fleece.  So maybe not.  This little girl is super friendly like her dam.  :)

Penelope (Ash x Lana)  (left), Trans Am (right)
Penelope and Justina look a lot alike.  I need to get ear tags into them soon.  However there are some differences... Penelope's poll wool comes down to a point on her forehead while Justina's is an oval shape.  Penelope is also skittish like her dam and won't come up to me yet.  I'm tempted to wean her at the end of summer in a barn stall for a few days to tame her down.  Having friendly sheep is so much more convenient than having skittish sheep.  This little girl is lovely in every way.  Perfect tail, great conformation, and the genetics and promise of great fleece.  So glad she is in my flock.

Justina (left) & Penelope (right)

Francesca  (Ash x Sian)
Fran is just the sweetest little ewe lamb.  Friendly, lovely color, terrific tail and conformation.  I'm very excited to finally have a home-bred moorit ewe in my flock!  Please excuse the mineral on her nose.  :)

I am so tempted to breed my ewe lambs to Courante this fall... in case I decide to sell him so I can be ram-free the year my twin sons graduate from high school.  (I know that their grad party is going to be a lot of work to prepare for so I'm trying to think ahead.)  But I'm not a fan of breeding ewe lambs... So I guess I'll be hashing that idea back and forth till fall.  Leaning away from that choice at the moment...

6 comments:

Kelly said...

You have lovely sheep Sabrina. Can't pick a favorite, but that Trans Am is a looker that continually draws the ewe.

Sabrina Wille Erickson said...

Just have to tease you, Kelly...

"draws the eWe."

lol

well, I hope you are right about that. hahahahahaha

(and thank you, too!)

Kelly said...

You can tell I need a vacation............or maybe I've been talking about sheep way too much. aaahhh, that can't be it, there's no such thing as too much talk about sheep. lol

Spinners End Farm said...

That Francesca is just a cutie~

Becky Utecht said...

Hannah and Lana's lambs are looking good. I hope their fleece is looking better now, I know you were concerned about it when they were first born. And I'm a sucker for moorit ewe lambs, Francesa is so cute.
I bred my ewe lambs last fall and they all did just fine delivering and raising their lambs. But I don't plan on doing it again this fall because I'm feeling overwhelmed with 30 sheep here. I fall in love with all my ewe lambs and it's so hard to let any of them go.

Sabrina Wille Erickson said...

Hi Becky,
I think the fleeces are going to be fine. I just hadn't seen that type of newborn hair coat before. Both girls are very uniform too.

I know what you mean about the ewe lambs. I think Gail V has the only one I ever let go as a lamb. :)