Spring is here!! Thank you, Lord!! Here is a line up of 7 of our 8 bred ewes, a yearling (not bred) seventh in line and an old girl at the end. We only shear at the end of April so they are still in full fleece.The first in line is Gina. She is a 5-year-old yuglet socket. Gina lambed twice and then had last year off. She is bred to Rarefind Farm Cory, a fawn katmoget.
Behind Gina to the left is Lucille Ball. She is a 2-year-old grey katmoget and a first time lamber. Lucy is bred to Sycamore Farm Tundra, a black smirslet socket ram.
To the right is Amelia Earhart. She is a 2-year-old fawn katmoget with a beautiful lustrous fleece. She is also a first time lamber. Amelia is bred to Sycamore Farm Tundra as well.
Next in line behind Amelia is Sprinkles. She is a 3-year-old grey ewe that will be lambing for the 2nd time. Sprinkles was bred to Rarefind Farm Cory.
Next to Sprinkles is our oldest bred ewe. Spinning Spider Annie Oakley is a 9-year-old grey ewe that will retire from lambing this year. She has been bred to Cory for the first time. The past several years she has given us ram lambs so we are hoping for beautiful replacement ewes with her long fleece.
Then comes Windswept Shania. She is a 6-year-old mioget(?) yuglet sokket and one of our favorites!! We can't wait to see what she will produce with Sycamore Farm Tundra.
After Shania is Solitaire, Sprinkle's yearling ewe lamb.
The moorit smirslet, Charlotte Bronte is next. She is a 2-year-old Shania daughter that will probably be our first to lamb. She was bred to Tundra. Can't wait to see what these two smirslets will produce!!
Last but not least is little Spooky from our original flock that was a freebie. She is 11 years old and living out her time with us. She gave us many tiny lambs at the beginning of our shepherding Shetlands. A fantastic mom that has some amazing survival techniques. Spooky is one of our untouchables.
Abigail, not pictured with this group, is a moorit, 4-year-old Shania daughter. She has also been bred by Tundra with the hopes of some flashy babies. She has the momma waddle down pat!
This past fall was an interesting breeding season. It seemed that the ewes were very late cycling. Then we had bad weather, rain and windy conditions, so we weren't sure of breeding activity by checking messed up wool. We didn't have anything written down for Charlotte, the ewe pictured above. About 2 weeks ago as we were vaccinating, deworming, and trimming hooves, we discovered a very distinct udder. Charlotte appears to be the furthest one along. A few days later, we were able to visibly see her udder as she walked. So...148 days from the time she was put with the ram will be this coming Friday. I guess we just watch and wait...The next ewes to lamb will be Annie and Gina around April 2nd and 4th. But who knows...Abby has more of an udder than Annie and Gina. The fun has begun!
Here are yearlings Camille and Christmas Jones as they watch us preparing lambing jugs on the first day of SPRING! What a beautiful day!!
