more sheep

These are a few more girls and lambs looking for a home.

Top, Prancer has twin ram lambs, they of course look like mom...black and white.

Second photo is of Di si do....she is two now and expecting her first lamb. Do si do hangs around with the other ewes who look black and white....kind of like chickens I guess. The white looking ewe is Marshmello, she, I belive is also expecting....she is smaller and goes out of her way to be friendly....she promises not to eat much....and thinks she is too young to stop breeding, even tho her shepherd loves her.

Last photo is powderpuff....I believe she is AgAa...this is her first ram lamb at age two.....also very small, powderpuff has proven to be an attentive mom....I haven't checked to see if her lamb is Ag....but I bred this lamb for fleece quality.

Yes, at last count I have four more lambs.

I want to thank those of you who have contacted my about lambs and ewes for sale....the sheep really appreciate your interest. ..me too.

We are again having a flood....we had a sudden downpour and large hail this morning. I didn't see any lambs laying out after being struck by hail...so we seem to have survived....although there is now a creek running thru our ewe and lambs pasture. Hopefully week old lambs won't jump into the water and try to swim.

what to do?

This is Trotter....she is a mioget, mirk face....her dam is dark brown, and her sire was minwawe Pan....she has had her first lamb....he is a flecket in moorit....Jockey....Trotter and her son need a new home...together or seperately.

This is dutchess and her twin ram lambs....Dutchess is one of my best ewes....solid....straight....took second place twice...her lambs are from a dark moorit. She has a lovely intermediate fleece...and is more than friendly....I'm not sure why I got both lambs on one side....but they are only a week old and likely haven't determined which side is theirs...Dutchess needs a new home. She is AgAaBBBbS?Ss

This could be a line from the old woman in the shoe....who had so many lambs she didn't know what to do.

It's not....although I do.

We have had some difficult weather come thru this spring. Rains, Ice, Snow, Floods....the thing we have not had yet....is wind and hail. So now, I seem to be looking over my shoulder waiting for the next weather system to come and get me.

Do you have weeks or months like this....where it seems so many small things have gome wrong...or one large things has gone wrong....that you are faced with pulling yourself together to face what comes next?

We have children who chase storms....sky warn travelers....who predict where the storms are going and when. This is relevant, when one of our children calls and says a storm is coming our way. So last night, we had that warning. The tornados in our county were turning south....and according to the best predictions...should come over us in about 15 minutes.

My question is....what do you do?

I have over 50 lambs running with their moms out in my fields, and in my barn. My barn is corrugated metal. So, as I stood in my barn watching them all baaing and running....I was faced with two thoughts....first....get all the moms and lambs fenced inside the barn before the storm hits, especially with large hail coming.....and second....if the storm takes any part of the barn down, the lambs are safer being able to run away from the flying pieces of metal.

I was paralized.....so we left them all outside, and went in to find a safe place to hide in case the house was hit. As I was sitting, waiting for the winds to pick up....I was wondering what I should be doing? What would you do if your home was about to be destroyed? Do you pack the precious things that you have from your parents, do you not worry about the things around you...and wait to see what happens, trying to save your own hide? Our area was just hit by floods....there are lots of homes and businesses picking up the pieces of their lives. Trying to save personal things, cover ruined floors....find a place to live. What good are the "things" if you cannot enjoy seeing them? What good is your life if you can't enjoy living it? The storm rode the ridge of our valley to the north....the lambs got wet but not injured. I am still looking over my shoulder.

If you hear of anyone looking to adopt a few sheep or lambs....Tell them about my blog. I have sheep for sale....I have reasonable prices...and I will travel to help get them to their new homes.

I have a lovely new client, who was just called up to serve in Iraq....I know my problems are lots smaller....I pray that our service men and women will be safe.....that our politicians will make the best decisions....and that everyone will turn out to vote.

May your lambs be cute...and your family safe.

Peeps

more spots

I was trying to get some of the lamb races...but only caught them when they had stopped. You can see why moms around here have so much trouble telling which spotted lamb is theirs.

I am also including photos of serendipitty, snychronisity and silver belle....all need a good home where they can find a spotted ram of their very own.

lambs for sale

Surprise surprise....We have a few new lambs for sale.....

We have white and black and grey and moorit....we have spots....lots of spots.....many on little ram lambs. Lots of little ram lambs. Buy the dam...get the ram lambs free.

Maybe we need to sell spotted ram lambs for wethers. The yuglet flecket ram lamb on top is Chappeau....a half brother to our former head ram Minwawe Pan. Chappeau is available....he has a twin brother too.

Anyway. I am getting to the photos.

what water?

I may have mentioned in passing the rains we had here.

I just wanted to follow up with some photos I took to show the extent of the flood waters.

No, the ewes didn't want to get wet....but they did find it hard to find a place to lay down too.

And Yes, that's snow....adding insult to injury. one photo shows the pastures and runs in front of the barn....the other shows the water running behind the barn coming off the ram's dam.

Sheep photo's coming.

the straw

You have heard about the last straw....you know the one that hits the camel?
This 100 year flood has finally gotten thru to my stubborn mind.
I am not supposed to be breeding sheep.
It is now dangerous to my own health.
If I did not have a field full of sheep who depended on me for food and water and protection, and I heard there were days of heavy rain....or ice....or snow....coming, I could leave.
For that reason....I have decided to stop breeding when we have finished this spring.
There are plenty of up and coming breeders out there in the real world.
I am convinced I should be walking on a sandy beach.
YES!!!!!
We do have lambs. There are now over 40....most born in the two days of rain inside the barn.
There were jugs made with sheets, rubber tubs, camping mats, folding chairs, and sweatshirts, one jug was in the rain and covered with a tarp...poor mom and babe......Anything to keep the lambs with mom and out from under other feet.
YES....I have photos.
I am however, dropping my web page....so you will only hear of the lambs for sale here on my blog.
This morning, I want to mention the ewe lambs that I held out from sale last year. They were mine!
Now they can be yours!
I will not keep them, because I will not be breeding them.
There are four spotted girls, and one moorit. The moorit ewe was 7th at Naile in her ewe class....she may not be the most beautiful sheep....but she may be the most friendly. Tassell would rather follow me than eat with the others. She is of normal size and will sell with one of the spotted ewes, Pearl.....I also showed Pearl at Naile....she didn't make the top 10 but has lovely open bursugget fleece. Out of my best lines of spotted sheep, Pearl is AgAa yuglet grey with grey and white spots of color. These two could also sell along with the other three ewe lambs.
Three ewe lambs from last season....so now yearlings...not exposed. All three are out of our old head ram Pan. Twin girls from Prancer, and a single ewe from Riding hood. Prancer is a black yuglet sokket bielset.....I believe I registered the twins as black smirslet/sokket, serendippitty and synchronisity....one is friendly...one isn't....but they are typically funny and hang around with each other. The third in this group is a smaller ewe....Silver Bell....she is also a yuglet sokket, and her dam and twin brother are dark brown. Yes, Riding hood usually has dark browns...I don't know why....but they were always bred from Pan. These three ewes run together and will only be sold together. If you don't already have Nancy K's type of HST lambs. These could be yours.
I will deal, I might help deliver....these pretty sheep should not be kept in the woods.
Photos will follow, as I get my mind and body....together again.
Happy Easter a little late....sorry I was unable to post to anyone because of the phone going out in the storms. Our property survived, except for some fencing...but our nearest neighbor had to evacuate his home during the storm. Thanks for your good wishes and prayers.

spring lambs

Interesting. I hadn't thought much about spring's color. I was too busy trying to get food into her mouth. Her dam is a two year old, extremely small ewe. The grand-dam is one of my biggest ewes. Donna, the grand-dam is also one of my first ewes. Born 1999. So, is the size of her daughter, Butterfly, because she, Donna, is older? Butterfly is a twin. Is her size related to her dam being older, and competition for a lessed supply of milk?
The fact that Butterfly is so much smaller than her dam, and of her sire.....who was Minwawe Pan.....is strange. Now, her color: Spring looks black compared to her dam, Butterfly....who is Ag grey. Spring is not shiny black, and I have no other lambs to photograph her with. I did check her mouth, and although it is dark....it may not be black-black. She is the quietest lamb I have ever seen. Spring was jumping last night, so she is progressing. But when she wakes up, there is no sound.....she simply walks to the fountain and wags her tail. It is possible that Spring was early, her dam being so small may not have had room to gestate any longer.
Questions of color can usually be answered by repeated breeding tests. I don't plan to do repeated breedings. It will depend on grand-dam....Donna. Donna, is bred. If Donna has a live ewe lamb this year.....then Butterfly and Spring can go on together to another breeder. Because I had never kept a ewe lamb for Donna's old age....I kept Butterfly to keep her dam company in her older years. How often do you see dam and daughter walking and eating or sleeping together? If you haven't noticed....you don't spend enough time with your sheep.
Modified color can be from one modifier or two. I am guessing that dark brown is caused by one. Mioget and Emsket are caused by two. Fawn appears to be a version of Mioget. Is it caused by one modifier, as opposed to two? You figure it out. I can add to the breedings of dark brown by two other test breeders.....dark brown runs in families. There is a difference between the warm colors of shetland black and dark brown.....those differences can only be determined by a breeder having experience with both. What is the difference between the color shaela and the grey color that some warm black/shetland blacks turn at about a year old? I don't know, you test for it. I'm still trying to decide if the facial eye circles that are irregular are caused by mirk-face and not really yuglet patches. Yuglet eye patches should be small and round....how does that happen? What causes the white spots to unmask just a portion of the face?
Well, I may never know. Spring, is my 461st lamb born. You would think I would know everything by now....some breeders appear to know everything after very few lambs born or bred....wow....kind of reminds me of something else going on right now.

spring!

Spring arrived today.

Butterfly is her mom.

the end

Well, at least I hope

it's the end of this winter.

Yes, it would seem that they do have winter in Missouri. This is our first one here. I would be happy to go farther south to avoid another one.

We had at best estimate...that is with a ruler....about 7 inches of fresh snow. That snow fell after the freezing rain and the sleet. Yes, I can walk....I notice the dogs are staying in the paths we have made to the barn. The goose does come up to the house, noisily asking for bread. The sheep don't seem to like it much, although they will eat the snow.

We live in the middle of a valley. We could go out to the road in either direction, depending on the water level, and the wash-outs. But the road crews have split this road into two districts. So one road crew comes and turns around, and the other does the same from the other direction. In bad weather one might come by faster than the other. And sometimes it seems neither one comes. We hate being iced in-flooded in-snowed in. Last night we were lucky. One of the road crews worked late into the night and plowed up to our house. Hurray!

We both went out in the snow to catch our pyr puppy, who thinks any truck is an intruder, and wants to challenge road crews. It was a good thing to grab Sugar....that's her picture. The road crew got stuck....and it took a long time before they could dig and rock the dump truck out of the snow. I know they had to divide the road in two parts because neither crew wanted to have to work on the whole thing. We are....remote.

On the Sugar fact sheet. She is actually a year old....but puppy-dumb. Our older dog tries to tell her what to bark at, and what to run after. Sugar has her own set of rules. One of her rules is to keep an eye on the front door when she is sleeping. To that end she has taken to sleeping in the yard. Sleeping on the porch must be out of her realm of understanding. So here is Sugar....curled up in the snow....she also curls up in the rain. I tried to move her inside several times. Well, not actually into the house, I do have some furniture since she moved out. My dining room table does have three legs now....I really want to keep four legs on my chairs.

the spring movement

I like the sounds of this one better.
Yes, there have been plenty of geese flying north...I hope they don't freeze.
The witch-hazel blooms opened the warm day we had. Yummy!
I am still amazed at the smell of witch-hazel. I even heard two distant "peepers" this morning. There weren't many of them coming out of hibernation. Fortunately....as they will freeze too.
No flowers. No lambs yet.
No grass peeking out at me....
The ram's dam is running over, causing a wide stream of cold water behind the barn. It's OK....the ewes wouldn't go far in this rain anyway, so I kept them in today.
The rain is coming down heavily. The temperatures have dropped 20 degrees since morning. If it wasn't raining so hard....I'm sure it would be freezing and sleeting. Perhaps the energy is being held above freezing for a few hours. Then who knows what will happen?
I would tell you how many inches, but my rain gauge froze in the last sleet storm, and won't hold water any more. I'm not putting a new one out until this storm is done.
I did go out and pick up more bales of hay this morning in the driving rain. I hate not having enough food for an extended ice storm. All the girls are in the barn. I did have one ewe standing outside. Cotton candy. She has always avoided a full barn. Last year she would make her ewe lambs stand out in the rain too. I decided she would freeze solid after the temps got a bit lower. So I went out and put a pen in front of the barn, forcing her in. There are water buckets in the pen. The doors on the barn are wide open, because of the strong winds. Both great pyrs are staying in the barn...sleeping in the hay. It is lots warmer in there than on the damp cement porch of our house.
I am wishing you lots of joy this lambing season. I hope your weather warms and your lambs are lively. I am looking forward to lamb races when the ice melts. Got to keep positive. At least I still have electricity. I panic when storms come in here. Do we have enough food? What if I can't cook? So I always bake cookies before the electric power goes off. They help keep me calm.
Have a cookie....spring will come.
Heck with the political races....I vote for spring!