Updates and never enough time and halos

Sometimes I just don’t have the time to sit down and write a blog post. I’ve found that I’m more prone to just post a few pictures to Facebook when I don’t have much time. But then I neglect my blog. I like my blog better. And I like my website better for presenting my sheep. 

And I like other people’s  websites better than Facebook for presenting their sheep. It’s where I go to shop.

Today I don’t have time to write a long blog or to organize alot of photos. I’m working like crazy to finish a custom rug order. The rug started out with Dorothy the cat knocking down the lid on the washer while the fleece was soaking, sending the washer into full wash and rinse cycle. Not good, but salvageable with extra time.

So – just a few bits and pieces here today.

The lovely Lorelei was born with what is called an “angel fleece” due to the well defined halo. Jacobs are often born with this sort of fleece.

It does shed – Lorelei at two months…

Pearson (in the front) is displaying a very promising wide horn sweep with excellent symmetry . Murphy (in the back) is also displaying very symmetrical horns – just not in a desirable pattern (although acceptable) for a ram. You can easily see why this pattern is called “crab claw” (or lobster claw – I’m a Florida native where the lobsters have little pincers and the stone crabs have claws)

And speaking of halos.. Sam, the Livestock Guardian Dog, deserves one! He is definitely a guardian angel.

Cutting up

Last weekend the Wateree Cutting Horse Association held a competition just down the road from my house. I had to go. As a teenager, I was fortunate enough to live in a town that had Wednesday night cutting horse clinics. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of watching cutting horses work. They are amazing! The lighting in the arena was a real challenge, but I still had fun taking pictures.

Ta-Da..

Ending the last post with a count of 7 ewes and 14 rams and 2 ewes left to lamb, it didn’t seem likely we were going to balance out the ratio this year.

Marabelle helped with her presentation of a ewe lamb by Boyd on April 6.

Patchwork Mia is a pretty blue eyed, 4 horned “baby Belle”. She is slated to remain here, continuing the line started here by her great granddam, Craft’s Ruby’s Belle in 1995.  I’ll always miss RubyBelle, but continue to find joy in seeing her qualities in her descendents.

Patchwork Sarah really hung in there, not delivering until April 15. Sarah was one of the last ewes to be introduced to a ram.

Patchwork Charming (and she is!) sired by Boyd.

The 2012 lambing season started on a sad note with the discovery of Macaroon’s dead ram lamb.  Lambing is not always easy or effortless or without moments of sadness and frustration.

Badger presented a breech lamb. He was out to his hips on his own and required only a tug (a hard tug, but no repositioning) to be successfully born.

Lucinda, as usual, refused to let her lamb nurse – going so far as to toss her – until Lorelei met Lucinda’s stringent cleanliness requirements. Once Lucinda is satisfied that her lambs are clean it’s dinner time. Not a minute sooner. It’s rather unsettling to watch

The three first time mothers came through with flying colors.  Quinn spent a few minutes wondering what she’d done before giving her boy a sniff, a cleaning, and a feeding. Stacia delivered and tended her twins with the aplomb of a seasoned mother.  I confess that I slept through Sarah’s delivery.  Ginger braying and the sound of coyotes howling woke me. A barn check found a cleaned and fed ewe lamb – and no coyotes. 

We ended the season with:
23 live lambs from 15 excellent mothering ewes.  9 ewes, 14 rams. Not all perfect, but all healthy and vigorous at birth.
One unopened lamb tubing kit
One unused BO-SE vial (I’ve never used BO-SE, but thought it might be handy just in case).
Unused emergency supply of colostrum that the dogs will get
The partial bag of lamb replacer that has been in the freezer for over a year leftover from a bottle lamb that was given to me. It’s still in the freezer.
An abiding appreciation for our primitive, hardy Jacobs.

It was a good year.

Boy, Another Boy, Oh Boy

Oh boy, can’t believe it’s been 17 days since my last blog. Things have been busy since then. 9 more lambs brought the 2012 lambing season to a close on April 15.

At the last blog post, we were at 15 lambs – 5 ewes and 9 rams.

Next ewe to lamb was Nicollette, presenting a long, leggy, lilac, lady (couldn’t resist the alliteration) lamb on March 31 sired by Comet.
Patchwork Georgia – 4 horned blue eyes

Vesta followed on April 2 with twin boys, sired by Comet. Running out of ram names this year, they were originally named Boy and Another Boy.  They have since been renamed
Patchwork Cadet – 4 horn

and Patchwork Commander – 4 horn

Hoping to change the run of ram lambs, Stacia’s twins by Boyd were prenamed Stella and Bethany. Circumstances necessitated a rethink and renaming when they were born on April 4.
Patchwork Stella Bartram – 4 horn

and Patchwork Bethany Abram – 4 horn

Kayleigh presented the real Bethany (sired by Comet) later that day
Patchwork Bethany – 4 horned lilac ewe

Along with Jordan – 4 horned lilac ram

Lambing wasn’t quite over. Stay tuned.

Holy Moley, Batman

It should really be Holly Moley since this is a post about Hillside Holly.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Holly. She is a beautiful ewe with an entertaining and outgoing personality. She is a talkative ewe with a loud deep voice. She is somewhat prone to complaining. She always sounds like she’s in labor, whether she be complaining that dinner is late or actually be in labor.

Since March 25th marked the 150 day from the time she was bred, labor was a good guess for the cause of her caterwauling. But, in true Holly form, the hollering began much in advance of actual labor.  A word of caution – extreme hollering CAN indicate distress and possible lambing problems.  I’m just pretty familiar with Holly and fairly good at recognizing actual distress signs.  This was just Holly in her usual mode.

Things processed well, although I have to confess to a quick check to be sure the lamb was being properly presented – just in case. Patchwork Amelia (lilac ewe sired by Canoe Lake Comet) was lined up just right..

She was quickly followed by her lilac brother, Tangueray

Patchwork Quinn was the next to lamb on March 29. Quinn is one of the three first time mothers in our flock this year. It’s always interesting to see how ewes will first react. Some ewes immediately begin to clean the lamb. And some stand back for a few minutes. Quinn was one of these. Her look of surprise was priceless. “what have I done? what is that?!!” Happily, as usually happens, after a few tentative sniffs of her new son, she was smitten.

Patchwork Quigley – another lilac sired by Comet.

The new additions

Lambing continues…

This year I bought a cheap audio baby monitor so I could ease drop on the ewes during the night.  Overall, I’d say it was worth the $14.99. There are a few drawbacks. Placing the receiver next to the bed surrounds you with the sounds of chewing and burping all night. Vesta scratches between her horns on the ends of the livestock panel lambing jugs.  Melodie has a serious dislike for one particular 2 x 4 in the barn. The barn is not a peaceful place! Moving the receiver to the next room worked well to filter out the noises I didn’t need to hear.

Monday night was a quiet night – nothing going on. Turns out I had the monitor set to the wrong channel. Something big was happening

When I saw Gallivant Tuesday morning with his mother, Lacey, my first thought was she’d stolen someone else’s lamb. He’s a big boy! Sired by Boyd, Gallivant gets his bright blue eyes from both parents.

Twinky followed the next day with another 4 horn ram sired by Boyd – Meet Cruiser

Despite my thoughts that Sasha just couldn’t go another day, she went two more days before delivering the “Flash and Dash Twins” sired by Boyd.

Patchwork Dashiell – four horned ram – is all legs!

Patchwork Dazzle – 4 horned ewe.

Kayleigh continues to grow in anticipation of April lambs.

Today

Sometimes I just can’t think of a title. Since today is today, I’m just going with short and simple.

Today was a pretty slow day. I finished up reorganizing and reinforcing livestock panels for a lamb escape proof barnlot. Washed Lucinda’s fleece in preparation for a handspun yarn order.

Today was a slow day, but Monday sure wasn’t!

Badger started the morning by delivering the first lamb by our yearling lilac ram, Comet.

Patchwork Pearson is a two horned ram with one blue eye. I like his pictograph markings! Two hearts and zipper. Or maybe one heart, a bat, and a zipper?

An hour passed and no second lamb showed up. Judging by Badger’s rather bulky shape two days before, I was pretty sure there was another lamb. You can see how her lambs are beginning to drop in this picture. The well defined hollows on either side of the spine just above her tail indicate relaxing of the pelvic ligaments. More prominent hip bones appear as the lambs move into birthing position. Gravity rules! (yes – undocked tail)

Badger was in no discomfort and my favorite action for assisting lambing is “watchful waiting”. Sometimes you do need to jump in and help and it can be hard to make the decision of when you really do need to help.  In cases where the ewe is not in distress, I most often choose to wait.

If you would rather not see a graphic picture of malpresented lamb, skip over this next picture. It’s a thumbnail. Click it if you want to see it bigger.

This guy is facing the wrong direction! That’s his butt in the position that is usually occupied by two front feet and a nose. Badger actually got this far on her own in the time it took me to make a quick trip to the house and back.  It seemed a good time to abandon “watchful waiting” and give the guy a tug.

All is well

And Patchwork Bristol (a four horned lilac ram) joins his brother. Bristol and Pearson. Anyone get it?

Patchwork Martha, our 12 year old ewe, was busy delivering her own set of ram twins sired by Boyd.

Muffin started out with a macho boy name, but I think Muffin fits him better.

His twin, Murphy.

Palmetto Acres Lucinda finished up the day with a ewe sired by Patchwork Piper  before he left for NY.

Lorilei has a classic “angel fleece” (see the halo?) This is generally considered to be a more primitive trait, often speculated to be a protection for newborn lambs. It is not double coating and it is not kemp. It sheds out.  Under the halo is a long, locky fleece. While I do prefer to see a muzzle patch on lambs, I have to admit that pink noses on baby lambs are so darn cute! She has a tiny black smudge on her right lip and is already showing pigment.

The lambs are healthy and already bouncing around. The ewes are content. What could be better