Bare Naked Sheep and Bitten Up Broccoli

Friday morning was our Annual Sheep Shearing Day.  (I admit I slept through most of the actual event.  I was scheduled for a night shift that day, and Madman graciously let me sleep in.  The only time our wonderful much-in-demand shearer could make it to our place was literally first thing in the morning, and by the time I woke up and got myself organized to head outside with the camera, the last sheep was shorn and the packing up had begun.)
Since the weather has taken a turn for the warm, the sheep seem pretty happy with their haircuts.

Though Merlin looks a little embarrassed about the nakedness.

 And Goldie is a little grumpy.  (But then again, Goldie is always a little grumpy.)

Orion looks a little...  um... top-heavy...

Here's Merlin, Goldie, and Smoke - they're watching Madman running the rototiller over in the garden.

Speaking of Smoke (and we've both taken to calling him that), here's a pic of him.  If you look really closely, you can see where the buds of his horns have started growing.  He's a hard one to get a photo of, since he's a little shy.

And I haven't been able to get a picture of Onyx at all.  Every time she sees me, she comes running over and presses her nose to the camera.  Just in case it might be food.

And the bitten up broccoli?  Madman transplanted a bunch of broccoli plants yesterday, then headed for the feedstore to pick up a few things for our menagerie.  When he got back, he found Goldie outside the fence eating grass as fast as she could go, and several of the little broccoli plants had most of their leaves chewed off.  Now, it could have been Goldie who did it, or it could have been the lambs.  We can't imagine Goldie getting out unless her lamb was already out, so we're inferring that the lambs are just as liable to be guilty as she is.
First the garlic, now the broccoli.  The lettuce is making a comeback from the mowing the little devils gave it.  And Madman has replanted the peas twice now.

Are we the only ones who provide a salad bar for sheep?

Well, we *thought* we had the lambs thwarted...

I was going to post this morning that Madman had cured the wandering lamb problem with a new addition to the not-quite-maximum-security arrangements we have around here.

A brand new roll of chicken wire (which is always a handy item around here) got stretched around the section of fencing with the too-big holes, and stoutly stapled into place.
Yay!  Now Goldie has her lamb right where she can control watch over him.

I took a bunch of pictures, showing sheep inside the fence (for a change), and went indoors to start a smug little post.

I hadn't even finished writing it when I glanced out the window while pouring another cup of coffee, and saw the two little ewe lambs outside the fence.

By the time I grabbed the camera and got out the door, one of them had already wriggled through the (small) holes in the mesh, but one was still looking for the way back in, bleating her little dog-toy blatt.  I ran back inside for my shoes (cuz naturally, if I'm dashing outside for an Animal Event, I'm going to grab a camera but not my shoes.  Bloggist R Us...), thinking I would have to catch her and put her back in.  But by the time I was suitably shod, she'd managed to find a good spot on her own.

Looks like we're going to need more chicken wire...

A difference in parenting styles

Goldie and Onyx are two very different mothers.  It might be a case of age, experience, or temperament, or a function of just how many lambs each is trying to deal with.
Onyx, our little first-timer with triplets, is a very casual sort of mother.  "What, are you kids back already?  I thought I told you to go play outside."  Though given the fact that she has three lambs and only two spigots, feeding time takes up a rather large portion of her day.  By the time all three have taken turns and been fed, someone's probably hungry again.
Goldie, on the other hand, with only one lamb, is an intense mother.  Her lamb is supposed to be by her side At All Times.  "You!  Get your fuzzy little butt back over here.  Where do you think you're going?  You sit right there, mister, till I tell you to get up."
It's funny watching Goldie's lamb (whom I have not named Smoky, since Madman insists that we shouldn't name them, but if I were going to name him, he would totally be Smoke or Smoky)  (but I haven't named him) playing with Onyx's lambs.  The first three, though a week+ older, are smaller than he's-not-named-Smoky.  (Well, the ram lamb might be roughly the same size, but it's pretty close.)  So, technically they're the Big Kids - vastly more experienced in the ways of the world - and he's-not-named-Smoky tries to copy them in their bouncing and gamboling and shenanigans.
The trouble begins with our fencing.  The lambs are small enough that they squirt out through the mesh of the fence and go lolloping around in the garden.  We spent the first week or so in a panic, running and catching them and putting them back into the paddock.  But they'd all be out again before we'd even finished capturing them all, the little brats.  Short of replacing all our fencing (which is way outside our budget at the moment), our only hope is that they'll get too big to fit through the holes before they get into serious trouble.  (We've tried explaining that the fence is there for their protection, but sheep are notoriously immune to the Voice of Reason.  And lambs are the worst - a really short attention span.  We lose them at "Ya know, that fence is" and they're out in the garden again.)
Now, Onyx is okay with her lambs bumbling around outside.  "Yeah, whatever, kids.  Try to stay out of trouble."
Goldie, on the other hand, loses her mind.  "My Baby!  My Baby is Outside!  The Fence!  Without Me!  Get back in here!!  NOW!!!  NOW!!!"
It worked the first time.  Little he's-not-named-Smoky watched the Terrible Trio squeeze through the fence, just like he'd been doing every day for the first week of his life, and this time the lure was too much.  He followed.  Goldie had a full-tilt meltdown.  He's-not-named-Smoky froze in his tracks, turned around, and tried to figure out how to get back inside.  It was hard for him - getting out was downhill, but getting back in involved jumping uphill through the fence, and he's still clumsy with youth.  He finally managed it, with Goldie shouting at him at the top of her lungs through the entire ordeal.
He stood by her side, ears down, little lower lip quivering, watching as the Big Kids cavorted and capered and knocked each other down in pure joy.  Every time his ears pricked forward and he looked like he was going to step toward them, Goldie would make a noise deep in her throat.  "Don't even think about it, buster."

And today?  Guess who's out in the garden right now, playing with the Big Kids, while his mother goes batshit-crazy?

There I was again, out in the sheep pen in boots and pajamas

 And our flock has officially doubled. 

Goldie didn't go all crazy, like Onyx did - she just had one lamb.  Which is almost a relief.
Too bad it's a boy - it looks like his fleece is going to be lovely.  He's mottled with lots of shades of gray - just gorgeous!  (Unfortunately, we don't need another ram...  *sigh*)

So, we have winners for LambWatch2012 - Wind came closest to Onyx's drop date and chose the Folk Bags book.  Goldie's winning guesser is Chantelle!  (Email me your snail address, girl, and a copy of Selbuvotter will be on its way to you!)

Okay, just one more

But only so you can see how cute the lambs are.  (They're really really cute)

Here's the littlest one - she's a ewe.  You could probably fit her inside a sugar sack.

Here's the ram lamb.  He's the biggest of the bunch.  And we're pretty sure he was the first born, since he was the driest of the lot when we met them this morning.

And here's my favorite - the little spotty ewe.

I wish you could all see them.  And hear them too - they sound like little squeaky toys...

I promise I won't post every 5 minutes all day long.

Though I'm tempted...  Not that I'm excited or anything.

As best as I can tell, we have one boy and two girls.  (Yay!  The spotted one is a girl!)

I've got to head for the feedstore, to buy lamb bottles and milk replacer, just in case.  Onyx is a first-time mommy and we don't know if she'll have enough milk for 2 lambs, let alone 3.  In any case, sheep, unlike cows, only have two nipples on their udders.

Someone is always going to have to wait their turn...

We've Got Lambs!

I peeked out the kitchen window this morning as I started making coffee, checking out the sheep and listening to Goldie blatt through the open window.  ("Breakfast!  It's time for breakfast!  Sun's up!  Breakfast!")  Onyx was nowhere in sight, but that's not unusual.  Then I thought I heard a higher-pitched blatt - a lambie blatt.  I listened hard to make sure I wasn't imagining things...
Yes!
I hollered to Madman, grabbed the camera, pulled on boots, and bolted out the door.
Up in the pasture, on the other side of the shelter, I saw Onyx with a lamb beside her.  Wait, there were two lambs!!

 Twins!
We'd been joking that she was sure to twin, since she was as big as a house...

But then I realized I could still hear a lamb bleating - and it wasn't either of the ones I could see.

I walked back to the shelter, and found another lamb.

Holy shit!  Triplets!!!

 Now, I know I probably shouldn't pick favorites, but this one...

 We haven't determined sexes, yet, though the biggest one is a ram.  (You can't check private bits easily while you're madly clicking pictures.  And they're still new enough that they're a little slimy...)
I'll check later and report back.  I'm hoping the spotty one is a ewe.

So, our flock just about doubled itself overnight. 
Holy crap!

The Great LambWatch 2012

ETA:  I was originally going to close the contest on March 3rd, but I'm getting late entries and interest, so I'm reconsidering and keeping it open till March 15th.  Good luck, all!

Way back in October, when we bought Orion, we had a plan.  Ram lambs hit sexual maturity at roughly 6 months of age, give or take.  By buying a young fella and turning him in with the girls in October, we should get lambs sometime in late winter or early spring - definitely preferable to the January/February lambings I grew up with.  Those months are brutal up here, even for us humans. 
So, we bought our little Orion, who was born in early April of 2011.  Perfect.  That put him at exactly 6 months old when we brought him home.
We just did the math the other night - with a gestation period of roughly 5 months, we're looking at March 1st as the earliest possible date for lambies.
And, hey!  We just realized that March 1st is coming right up!
So LambWatch 2012 is beginning.  Since we haven't sheared yet, the girls are too fluffy to tell by looking at them if they're in the family way.  And any efforts to feel around to see if their udders are swelling are met with a sudden jump away and a look of "Hey!  That's really rude, ya know!"  So we truly have no idea where we stand in the scheme of things.
So I decided, why not have some fun?
I'm going to throw a contest - Guess the lambie birthdays and win a fabulous prize.  Well, there'll be two prizes, since we have two potential mommies.
It didn't take me long to come up with prizes, either.  One of the nice things about being a knitter is that people who love you tend to buy you knitting books.  And sometimes more than one person finds you the perfect knitting book.  So I've got a couple of duplicates, and I figured I'd share the wealth.

Prize A:  Selbuvotter  by Terri Shea
Prize B:  Folk Bags  by Vicki Square

I know!  Great prizes, right?

So, here's Da Cluez:

Ram lambs (supposedly) reach sexual maturity at 6 months.  Roughly.  The complicating factor is that Shetlands are very private about their hanky-panky and only do things when no one is looking.  So we have no idea what, if anything, he might have gotten up to.
These pictures of Orion were taken today.  Does he look like a Big Boy to you?

(That's Merlin on the right.  He's definitely not pregnant.  Don't guess for him.)

And here are the girls:

 Onyx, our formerly black ewe.  She's two, about to turn three.  She's never had a lamb before.  We don't know if she would even accept Orion's advances if he made them.  She could very well have slapped his face and said "What the hell do you think you're doing!?!"

 And Goldie.  We have no idea how old she is - probably 7 or 8.  Or 9.  She's had lambs in the past, so she knows the score.

And here's a picture of Onyx's butt, so you can see what I mean about not being able to tell by looking.  Is it fluff?  Is it lamb?  Is it too much hay?

Da Roolz:

Pick a date, any date.  Actually, pick 2 dates - one for Goldie and one for Onyx.  The earliest possible date is roughly March 1st.  If you think Orion got right down to business, guess early.  If you think his maturity is tied to his intelligence (Honestly, he's cute, but dumber than a box of rocks.  Sort of like the Barbie doll of rams.)  you should guess later.  (Dumb.  We might be talking August...)
State your dates in the comments of this post and this post only.   Don't email me with a guess, it won't count.   This post only.   Each person gets one guess for each sheep. 
Check the dates that other people have guessed.  Once a date has been claimed, that person owns that date for that sheep.  (Example:  Someone guesses Onyx March 10.  That date would be closed for Onyx.  You could still guess Goldie for March 10, but only if no one else has already taken Goldie for that date.)  I'll try to stay on top of things and keep a running list at the end of this post, to make it easier to keep track of which dates are already taken.
The winner will be the one who comes closest to the correct date.  The date will be determined by when we get up in the morning and say "Hey!  There's a lamb out there!"
In the event of a tie (ie:  the lamb is born smack dab between two people's guesses), I'll flip a coin or something - the winner will get the book and the other person will get some other fabulous prize that I'm sure I'll think of any minute now.
First winner gets first choice of the books, second winner gets the other book.
I'll close the entries at midnight of March 3rd.  Or when the first lamb is born, whichever comes first.

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments, or feel free to email me.

So, go out and tell all your friends.  If there's enough interest, maybe I'll do this every year...

Good luck, everyone!

March 1 - (closed)    Goldie - Erika               Onyx - Erika
March 2 -                                                      Onyx - Alison
March 5 - (closed)    Goldie - BeckyinVT      Onyx - Angie
March 7 -                  Goldie - Angie             
March 10-                 Goldie - Goldilox
March 11 - (closed)  Goldie - Kitsune           Onyx - Kitsune
March 13-                Goldie - Mary
March 12 - (closed)  Goldie - Laurie             Onyx -  Constance Blizzard
March 15 - (closed)  Goldie - MissouriStar   Onyx - MissouriStar
March 16 - (closed)  Goldie - Judy               Onyx - kmkat
March 17 - (closed)  Goldie -Stacey             Onyx - Laurie
March 18 -               Goldie - Cookie           Onyx - Helen M-H
March 19 -  (closed)  Goldie - kmkat            Onyx - Goldilox
March 21 -  (closed)  Goldie - maia               Onyx - Jen
March 22 -                                                   Onyx - Mary
March 23 - (closed)  Goldie - Andrea           Onyx - BeckyinVT
March 24 - (closed)  Goldie - Sara               Onyx - Sara
March 25 - (closed)  Goldie - Michelle          Onyx - Michelle
March 27 - (closed)  Goldie -Bullwinkle        Onyx - Bullwinkle
March 31 -  (closed)  Goldie - Alison             Onyx - maia
April 1 -    (closed)    Goldie - Helen M-H     Onyx - Judy
April 5 -                   Goldie - Constance Blizzard
April 15 -   (closed)  Goldie - Wind               Onyx - Wind
April 18 -                 Goldie - Jen
April 20 -                                                      Onyx - Andrea
April 25 -                                                      Onyx - Cookie
April 29 -  (closed)  Goldie - Chantelle           Onyx - Chantelle
May 1 -                                                         Onyx - Stacey

The Kohl's have it

Kohl, it is, then.
(The name works on soooo many levels.)

Last night, as I was cooking supper, I heard raindrops start splashing on the roof. I looked out the window at the sheep and saw Kohl standing out in the middle of the sheep pen. In the rain. Goldie was nearby, but Onyx and Merlin had taken shelter under the tarp we have rigged over one corner of their pasture for a sunshade/umbrella.
Kohl continued to stand in the rain. The sky opened up and the rain poured down. Goldie ran for cover.
Kohl continued to stand in the rain.
Goldie ran back out to fetch him.
Kohl continued to stand in the rain.
Goldie finally nudged him up toward the shelter, but he stopped just short of it.
And continued to stand in the rain.
He finally went under the tarp, but wandered back out again.
And continued to stand in the rain.
Goldie finally lost patience and shoved him until he was under the tarp.
It dawned on me that he was only a week old, and though we've had a few night-time showers, this was the first time he'd seen rain in the daytime.
He was just bewildered by something new.
Either that, or he doesn't have sense enough to come in out of the rain...

New baby pictures

It's hard to take pictures of a black lamb.

It's especially hard to take pictures of a black lamb when the Two Friendliest Sheep in the Entire World are trying to help.
All these pictures were taken while
A. Merlin was trying to crawl into my lap. (Because we all know what a lapsheep he is.)
B. Onyx was alternating between looking over my shoulder and giving me sudden attention-getting nudges. (I got a lot of pictures of sky and dirt from being knocked off balance.)

But, anyway.
Here he is, the little cutie -


And I finally got a shot of the little white spot he has on the top of his head.

And his favorite activity of all:

Picture that little tail flipping at about 900 rpm. It's a wonder he doesn't leave the ground - a little butt-powered helicopter...

The perfect name for Lambie

Our granddaughter came up with it - Coal. Now we're just dithering on the actual spelling.

Coal?
Cole? (Madman thinks this is more a proper sort of name than coal.)
Kohl? (This one was my idea, since he's resisting coal.)

Whaddaya think?

It's a boy.

Oh, well. We love him anyway...

It was hard to get a good picture. Goldie is still a bit skittish around people, and I didn't want to upset her by getting too close. So I stayed outside the fence, stalking around with my camera and moving slowly.
Problem one was trying to take a picture of a black lamb who's lying in the shade.


Then, there was Uncle Merlin, who loves it when the paparazzi appear. Cameras were made for Merlin.
Wait patiently, line up the shot, and...

and...


But patience finally pays off. Merlin went over to see if anything new had appeared in the food dish since the last time he'd looked, little Lambie came out of the shade, and voila!

He's at the cute wobbly stage. All legs and no coordination.
Though he's getting pretty good at that eating thing.

Snacktime over, he set off to explore, with Mama trailing close behind.

He was very puzzled by this pallet. (Later on, while we were watching him through the window, he finally managed to jump up on it. The concept of "slippery" came as a big surprise.)

No name yet. Anything cute enough to fit him now would sound awfully undignified when he's a ram...

One, two, three... FOUR!!!!!

Merlin was the noisy sheep this morning, instead of Goldie. Madman and I joked that maybe he was letting her sleep in.

Then we looked out the window.

And counted sheep.

And ran for the door.

And then ran back to throw some non-jammies on, and ran for the door again, hooking the camera on the way by.



Cover your ears, folks. I'm too old for this, but...

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

The Goldie Watch begins

As I was feeding the sheep tonight, I paid extra attention to Goldie. Not only is she getting bigger and lumpier, her udder is starting to fill. Lambing is imminent.
We'd figured late July or early August as a rough estimate, but with these signs, I did a little extra math. If she and the boyfriend got right down to business, the earliest possible due date is July 22nd. And considering the fact that sheep hate to be predictable, this means that she could lamb any day now.
Stay tuned...