Maxwell

Maxwell is a different lamb.  She is the most stubborn lamb ever!  She is one of our two Shetland Sheep.  Every time she has had lambs in the past Darling Husband threatens to get rid of her.  She likes to hide and do things her own way.  

Our HelpXer's put the sheep away for us and did all the other animals chores one night 

and we didn't get home until after dark.  

Oakley kept running around barking, 

Coyotes were howling unusually close to the house.  

Darling Husband and I looked outside with the flashlight but didn't see anything.  

We MAY have grumbled about a crazy dog barking her fool head off all night 

and threatened to find her a new home.  

Our morning routine has us letting the house dog out,

Oakley usually plays with him while we walk down to let Luca off the cable by the sheep. 

 This morning Oakley didn't join us.  

I was worried where had she run off to but it's a busy morning.

 When Luca was off the cable he kept herding Dakota back to me.  

Then I noticed:

Max was missing!

So I went in search and look what I found!  

Maxwell had 2 rams.

This time Max's lambs are just as independent as she is.

They ran right into my lap so I could check them out.

These guys are very curious and wanted to run and play with the bigger funner lambs so it has been easy to put all the sheep into the night pen.   

It looks like I will get to keep Maxwell a little longer!  

For those of you keeping track:

11 boys and only 2 girls!

Escapees!!!

The dogs were running around and barking.  

Coming to the house and barking at the door then running off barking.

So I looked outside:

This is not the pig pen!

They did a lot of exploring.

Then they tried playing with the lambs.  

The adult sheep tried to keep the lambs away from the piggies.  

Finally they decided to follow me into the pig pen.

And Lilly ran right into the muddiest spot and plopped down wiggling her way into the mud.

Lambs Having Fun

The lambs have taken over.  

They run all over following their moms or jumping from rock to rock.  

Occasionally they spend so much time playing they loose track of their moms.

When that happens we hear a lot of crying: 

Ewe's searching for their lambs or lambs searching for their moms.

Then as soon as the lambs know their mom's are still alive they run to jump on rocks again.

Just as it is with humans:

 the mom's want to have a more complete check but the lambs are back to jumping on rocks and exploring.

More Babies

We went a few days without any new lambs and Darling Husband must have felt like something was lacking because he brought home 3 piggies.

They like their house and loved running around in their pen BUT don't like fodder!

They do like chasing Luca!

Then Dragster had twin rams and finally the next day we had a small ewe and ram from Dodger.  

Then Shelby had boy girl twins too!  

Our 9th and 11th lambs of the season are our only girls.  They look so much alike that even their mom's had to smell them the first week.

I can not get the top videos to load and can't delete it for some crazy reason.

When we put the sheep into their night pen it is often easier to pick up the youngest or most uncooperative lambs and carry them into the pen.  We have to carry them low enough that their mom's can see and smell them otherwise they will start running all over the property.  Stick Boy is showing Mama Lamb he has her baby and she needs to follow him. 

  

Lambs

We let the ram and ewes stay together year round.  This means I have no idea when anyone will have a baby.  During spring when other sheep and goat owners were saying my lamb is due is 3 days I was jealous.  I had no idea.  On the other hand I know sheep owners who take time off of work so they can make sure they are ready for complications during the birthing process. We chose our sheep for hardiness: that means easy to take care of.  So I don't have to keep track of dates and we have had healthy lambs that don't need to be watched or bottle fed.

And the advantages are surprises in the pen in the morning!

March 28th

Dot had these two rams while we were at Senior Son's boat race.  

I was sure Deer would be next.

The next morning Mini-Me had a single ram.

Mini-me is our only first time mom and such a Mama's girl that her mom had a really hard time when I decided to keep them locked in the pen for a few hours before they started roaming the property.  

Then we had an endless 2 days were poor Deer just kept getting bigger and bigger.  

And finally she had 2 ram lambs.

They were big sturdy guys so I let them run with everyone the first day.  

Look at this little guy not even 12 hours old and already trying to steal food from his mom!

He really is a beautiful lamb.

New Tenant

We have a barn with a two bedroom apartment on the second story.  Our tenants who have been there for 4 years are leaving us.  Finding a new tenant is always a challenge.  Will we like them and want them to stay? How will they take care of the barn? Will they get along with the other tenants? Will they like us?  It's like dating.  So far we have been incredibly lucky and friendly with our tenants. I am still sad that one of our Tenants/friends the moved back to another state - No I'm not a crazy emotional person. 

 We are a hobby farm.  When people ask why we don't own horses I joke that you can't eat them.  We love watching horses but don't want the expense or care of the horse.  SO when we are looking for a new tenant having a horse puts that person up several notches on our list.  This time in our tenant search we were lucky enough to have 3 people we thought would be great choices.  

Darling Husband and I chose the person that sounded best.  We had her over last night to sign the contract and work things out.  Stick Boy was excited to have such a friendly person with friendly animals move in.  Darling Husband and I were thrilled with everything she wanted to do on the property.  Then right before she left she said, "I'm a vegan.  I hope you don't butcher your animals on the property."  

I am sure my mouth dropped open before I could stop it.  

I do remember when we were showing her the property she said something to the effect of she hoped I didn't eat my cows.  And I replied "We don't eat the cows.  We also have 2 steers and they are only good for one thing."  So we talked a while longer and we will let her know before any animals go to freezer camp or become quests of honor at a BBQ.  Hopefully this will be another beginning of happy tenants and neighbors.