Last of the Lambs

So, we had some drama on the farm. Wilda split from everyone else to a safe spot, so Shawn left her out for the night. Unfortunatly she decided to hide in an unsafe spot in the middle of the night: right at the portal to the coyote highway. So we lost the ewe. :( We tried to stick the sheep together again, but Sparkles and Wilda kept fighting, splitting open Sparkle's lip. Shawn finally picked up Wilda and carried her to the orchard to keep her separate from Sparkles. While we were gone for just a minute Sparkles started attacking Wilda's lamb. At some point they will have to get together and fight it out with each other, but the lambs are in the crossfire, so we will wait until they are a little older. It was absolutely horrible, though, Wilda was totally distraught. Next time we'll have a better set-up and everyone will be happier.

In the meantime we were waiting and waiting for out last ewe to have her lambs, but it wasn't happening so we figure another cycle. Shawn woke up one snowy morning to find two new lambs, an ewe and a ram! The ewe is pretty striking with her odd eye patches, so I am naming her Cleopatra.

Babies!

Ram Lamb still learning to walk

Pretty Cleopatra

Learning to be like Mom and nibble on this green stuff

 As for the other two: Ross-anna is enjoying playmates and growing at an incredible speed. Nearly a month old already! I saw her trying to chew some new shoots on the blackberry bushes.

 Wilda's poor son is without playmates because he is locked in the orchard with mom :( Mom figured out how to unlock the orchard gate, so she decided to come visit the rest of the sheep. Silly girl.

So other than the social rift we have a pretty good crop of lambs. Too bad Wilda didn't get put away that one night...but we learned our lesson and still have her ram. As I said to Shawn (who wants to carry on her genetics and really wanted the ewe), we can make alot more Wildas with a ram than a ewe. I am already plotting next years genetics. And by next year, we will have our own place with better facilities.

Herd Dynamics

 Wilda, you remember: the friendly one, has been full of rushing motherly hormones as of late. Tuesday she was away from the group bowlegged and wide-eyed, her udders full and ready to feed. The next day she was relentless in her attempts to steal Sparkle's baby, apperently chasing them across the field and crawling on her knees. Shawn had to wrestle with her and got her locked away in the pen. All was thought to be good until he saw she had gotten the lamb in the pen with her! WTF?! Finally at 2 in the afternoon she gave birth to two lambs.  Again, they were considerate waiting until Shawn had a day off work to give birth.

 

 

 

Hello!

 

A boy and a girl! Strangely, though, Wilda then broke away from the rest of the sheep and decided to take her lambs over to the "trailer parking lot." Somehow she got the newborns up on a trailer bed and spent the night parked over there. That wasn't a problem because it as a safe place for her to sleep: elevated off the ground, blocked by a dense thicket on two sides. It was the other sheep, however, that were difficult to round up for bed. See, normally they follow Wilda who is more than happy to chase the grain can. The other sheep are more skiddish, and they like to sleep by the fence the coyotes run up and down, and we arn't risking loosing the lamb to coyotes! So my darling dear and I herded the sheep in the dark around the field. We almost got them in the area we wanted when the llama spooked and made them run every which direction while matronly Wilda looked on.


We got the lamb and her mom in the orchard for the night which is safe.

This morning when I wen't to greet Wilda and her new ones everyone else can by to say hi.

Zzzzzzz.....

As for Ross-anna?

She had gotten BIG in two weeks! Almost time for her to enjoy playmates! Expecting our final sheep to birth today or tommorrow.

Wilda is being skiddish around the other sheep, probably expecting them to steal her babies like she tried to steal theirs. Hopefully she will be back with the other sheep soon, they at least are trying to be near her. But right now she is much calmer and has a stoic motherly look on her face not flinching when the babies pull on her teats. The boy has good markings and already big horn nubbins. I think he will make a good sire, so I'm inclined to keep him intact. We will see, though.

Insparation

I do enjoy looking at other peoples work and ever so often something catches my eye and I go, "oh I wanna do that!" Well, thats copying, so not allowed. However, the other day I was looking at one of my favorite etsy artists work and this popped out

Rose Quartz earrings by Dana Evans

I loved the shape and simplicity. Plus, it reminded me of one of my favorite animals: squid. So I went on to create a pair of squid earrings inspired by these.

Sorry, not the best photographs. Anyway, the little tenticles wiggle. So there ya go. Also, be sure to check out Dana Evans' work (link under the photo). Lots of great pieces.