Banding

Hello all! been busy these last few weeks. All the sheep are friends again, yay! Sparkles tried to usurp Wilda's place, but didn't quite manage as her Sparkle's mom, Ariel, still follows Wilda. So Sparkles begrudingly listens to Wilda again, and everyone is happy.

 You remember those long tails the lambs were all born with, right? Well, thats a by-product of domestication that doesn't usually happen in nature (sorta like curly tails on dogs). It becomes problematic in the summer because sheep may get poop on their tails and flys will lay eggs in it, not a problem until the maggots come out and start eating the sheeps tails. That is pretty horrible from what i hear, so we have to remove the extra long tails. Animals rights activists are trying to get tail docking banned, but it is necessary. One of out lambs was already getting poop on her tail, and I can't wipe her butt everytime she poops! We opted for banding: using an industrial strength rubberband to cut off circulation and eventually have the tail fall off. My mother, a doctor, noted that its the same method doctors use on kids who are born with extra fingers.

The first day

Week and a half later: almost gone!

 The one problem with banding (okay, besides the first half-hour where the lambs are in pain as the circulation is cut off, but after the first half hour they were playing again) is it increases chance of tetinus. I have never given shots before so it was a learning experience. Since I was the one to band and give the lambs their shots, they don't quite trust me, but no one is sick, no one died, so we're good.

 All in all the lambs are growing incredibly fast and healthy. Ross-anna finally has her horns coming out--looks like she will have the pretty slender horns her mom has. The two ram-lambs horns are growing so quickly! Hopefully theirs are as nice as dad's. Still waiting for Cleopatra's to show through: I'm hoping the dot on the side indicates she will have 4..though it seems doubtful :( Still I am very happy with my first crop of lambs.

Dad is still hitting on the llama

Milk is still flowing

 Beautiful little babies.

Cleopatra and Khoresh

Bademjan

Cleopatra

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.