Sunday, May 25, 2008

First seasons Lambs!!

9 lambs; 5 rams and 4 ewes. I originally had thought I would have bred for lighter coloured lambs with some having markings similar to the rams, but I ended up with a lot of black and brown lambs. I love them all and they each have their own unique qualities. The best part is they are all healthy and growing like weeds.




This is Windy Grange Arlo, one of the triplets. He has turned into a lovely dark brown ram.



This is his sister, Windy Grange Almira. She remained black with a bit of white on her head (black krunet?).



This is Windy Grange Arabica. She's a beautiful moorit.




This is Windy Grange Aedan. He is brown and white (moorit yuglet/flecket?).



This is Windy Grange Augustus. He also remained black, although you can see a small wisp of white on the top of his head.

He was the last to name because we wanted a fitting name for this survivor. He was one of the triplets, but mom rejected him a day and a half after his birth. But this boy is no bottle lamb!! We had Fibre Works Highwood adopt him. She wasn't sure but let him nurse immediately. It was a rocky 3 days, but after we let them out with the rest of the flock her maternal instincts raced in and she protected him from the other ewes.




This is Windy Grange Apollo. He's our first born and is growing like a weed!! He has four black spots on his upper torso and one on the end of each ear. He also has black around his left eye (not seen in this photo). (Yuglet/Ilget??)




The two black ewes are twins, Windy Grange Annika and Windy Grange Annya. They are jet black - I have seen no signs of white in their wool!! The moorit is Windy Grange Arabica.




Here we see Windy Grange Ainvar (front and back views). He is hard to name colour wise. His head and legs are snow white, except around his nose and mouth. On the back of his neck he has a fawn coloured spot and his body is the lightest fawn, almost white. He has a small brown spot near his two front knees. Any ideas of his colouring? Let me know.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Thus closes our first lambing season





Welcome another ewe. She's chocolate brown and weighed in at 2 1/2 pounds! What small lambs we have had this year!

Sire Fibre Works Indiana Jones, dam Fibre Works Highwood. Highwood is a new mom, but is doing fine.



Last but never least, TRIPLETS!! Who'd have thought that Fonteyn was going to have triplets?!!! Really, her milk bag was huge, but I guess I am still new at this. Two rams (2.5 and 3 pounds) and a ewe (3 pounds). Mom was having trouble keeping the three active darlings together while she was cleaning them, and the littlest ram went wandering. One of the other moms knocked him head over tea kettle, so into the barn for the night so they can bond. The firstborn was acting a bit wobbly, so I milked mom and drenched him with her colustrum. They are all doing fine now!!

Sire Fibre Works Indiana Jones, dam Fibre Works Fonteyn.

Thus concludes lambing season at the Windy Grange. Total count - 5 rams - 4 ewes.