Busy Weekend

First some lamb photos on grass. Our BFL ewe lambs, now named Opal (white) and Onyx (black) galloping after their moms. They are both sired by Beechtree Granite.


I'm happy to say that bringing sheep to Shepherd's Harvest was a good experience. It made the festival a lot more fun.

Okay, so the sheep and I got pulled over by a cop on the way down there, but thankfully I didn't get a ticket and I probably gave that cop something to smile about that day. The big bags of raw wool in the front seat and the aroma that surely emitted when I rolled down my window is probably something he doesn't get to experience everyday.

The crowds at Shepherds Harvest were the biggest ever despite the poor weather. Julie Mackenzie handled publicity for the festival and she did a great job of it.

My sheep boys were well behaved and lots of people exclaimed at how mellow and friendly they were. Everyone loved the cute faces of the Babydoll wethers and they "oohed and ahhed" (sp?) over Granite's lamb fleece that was on display. Granite was very friendly and relaxed. It didn't take the sheep long to figure out where the food was on the other side of their pen, and they created their own fenceline feeding system.

I loved the Saori Weaving class. It was fun and freeing. The SAORI looms are really easy to use and not too expensive at $1200. Of course, I can do it all on my Harp too, so our tax stimulus payment was safe from fiber expenses. In fact it's already gone, we bought a minimum fill of propane with it and $400 of it went in on a new used boat for Stan. He sold our old 16' Lund for this smaller aluminum model.
We picked up our 7/8 Ile de France yearling ram yesterday morning. We wound up getting Pugsley rather than Samson. Pugsley is shorter and stockier, probably a better choice for a terminal sire than Samson. He fit into our extra-large, heavy-duty dog kennel too. So we brought him home in the van. Here is a photo of him and Granite getting acquainted. They did some head-butting and Granite was the one bleeding from his scur area. But they seem to be doing okay together now.Jemma finally got out of the jug yesterday. I wanted to keep her in while I was gone. Her lambs are still so cute and little compared to all the other big lambs. Especially the little black krunet ram lamb. I banded their tails on Sunday night.

We are rotating sections of pasture now and the sheep are much happier and quieter.
We still have two ewes left to lamb, River Oaks Abby and Cora. They are half-sisters so it must be a family trait to be the last ones to lamb. Last year Cora lambed on June 4th. I hope she doesn't wait that long this year! Abby is the fawn katmoget in the foreground above. I was thinking she'd go this week.