No lambs yesterday, so kept myself busy with some wool projects.
Washed my first 2018 fleece, Mrs Hughes, a beautiful grey Katmoget
Pretty lock from Mrs. Hughes
Finished the fingerless mitts from my self striping yarn. One is longer than the other, but you get the idea.
For once I sewed the loose ends immediately after finishing knitting them - I hate the sewing part so usually put it off as long as possible. Wonder how much time went into raising, shearing, washing, carding and spinning these little bits that are going to be tossed in the trash bin.
English Garden (XDarcy) had a Grey Kat Ram and a Fawn Kat ewe Sunday afternoon.
Fancy Kat Ram
The first ewe of 2018
Only a few hours old. Wonder if this was their position in the womb?
Dowager and her boys got kicked out of the jug and into the open area for the ewes and their lambs. The boys really enjoyed the extra play space. This was the only photo I could get as they couldn't stop frolicking.
Sarin (x Darcy) had her black ram lamb this morning. I checked at 3 am and didn't see anything, then at 6, this tiny little shadow was on the tv.
Sarin doesn't like it when you come near her lamb. Keep your distance lady.
Then I came home from work at lunch and Ivy (xNitro) had her little grey katmoget ram. He seems a little bit preemie, so we tube fed him about 3 oz of mom's milk to give him a little kick start. Will keep an eye on him.
No lambs yesterday, but lots of suspicious activity on the lamb cam. We have a wireless camera set up in the barn so we can watch the bred ewes pen 24/7.
Note the group on the upper left, they are scrummed to stay warn. The upper right corner is where the ewe that is typically next to go will hang out. We don't know why, but practically every time this is where they lamb. We call it the lambing corner.
While waiting for lambs I am working on a 3 ply self striping three color yarn - cream/fawn/brown from neck wool from 2017 clip.
Dowager Countess X Nitro had twin ram lambs last night around 6:30. Fawn katmogets with spotting. The first one out had eaten his fill and was resting, the second one was still working on finding the udder and getting his belly filled. They are about 1 hour old in these photos.
Photos today are in the thick of the shearing process. We started at ~9:30 and finished at 1:00 or so. 46 sheep sheared. We didn't do the adult rams because they are outside and it was raining. We will have to shear them on Aaron's next run through WNY.
Hannah happily displaying Reawick's fleece - she knitted a cowl with her wool last year.
I am bringing a sheared and inoculated ewe lamb from 2017 back into the fold. Rich got shots done on all the sheared sheep as part of the process.
Mayhem when you introduce a sheared ewe into the flock. Who is this new girl, she smells different!
Aaron does a wonderful job keeping the fleeces intact as he shears.
I wish blogs had smells, cause this smells wonderful.
1/4 of the way through.
One of my favorite ewes from last year, Brienne of Tarth. She is a beauty
