Saturday, April 02, 2011

First Shetland Lamb of 2011

It's a boy!  And look Ma, no horns!

He came a day early, but he's a good size lamb.  After three years using a gulmoget sire, I finally got my wish for a brown gulmoget lamb!  But now I'd like to refine my order to a brown gulmoget ewe lamb.  I think he's modified, he's definitely not a dark moorit color.  His sire is Sommarang Hansel, a polled grey gulmoget, and his dam is River Oaks Cleo, a shaela gulmoget with side dusting.

Does that top lip look like sugar lips or just lighter because he's modified?
I will take more photos when he's dried off better. I haven't been weighing the lambs this year, so I can't say exactly what he weighs, but I would guess around 7.5 to 8 lbs. He was kind of laid back about getting up and eating, but he found the faucet right away and has a nice full tummy already. Not sure how long Cleo was in labor, I just happened to find her about to deliver this afternoon.

Here's a shot of him and his mom tonight, he's got more white on his face than I realized this afternoon.


I think Camille, an Ag grey gulmoget, will be next.  According to my notes on the calendar she's due on Monday.

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful boy, Becky. Hope you get your girl next. Wishes do come true for Shepherds if we wait long enough.

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  2. Thanks Kathy, I did get a gulmoget ewe lamb this morning out of Camille. But she's not brown. I'm not sure if she's shaela or grey or emsket. Her fleece will be longer like her mom's, I can tell that already. Will post photos when she's dried off. I still have three more chances for a moorit or mioget gulmoget ewe lamb though. Fingers are crossed!

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  3. Handsome little stinker....congrats.

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  4. Sending moorit gulmoget vibes your way ; )

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  5. i hate, Hate, HATE that you are breeding for polled shetlands. you are getting such beautiful lambs with awesome fleeces and i'd love to buy one from you! but i want horns and don't like the ugly scurs that half-polled shetlands have so i avoid anything with polled lines. i dont blame you one bit. i know there's a good market for polled rams. i just prefer the horns. but, oh MY that's a pretty ram lamb... i'll keep my fingers crossed for a little ewe lamb that looks just like him, for you.

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  6. I know Nancy, I love the looks of the horned boys, but I'll never go back to keeping them around here again. The Bluefaced Leicesters are a polled breed and so docile, I wouldn't want to take a chance housing them with horned sheep and I sure don't want to run two pens of rams. So that's what sealed my decision to go polled a few years ago. Hopefully this will be the year I finally get smooth polled ram lambs! So far so good, this little guy has no horn buds.
    BTW, I'm so glad to see you getting back to posting, hoping you have a speedy recovery!

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Getting ready for Christmas Markets!

  I'll be doing two Christmas markets this year. The first one is at Sapsucker Farms in Brook Park, MN Nov. 18-19th. And the second one ...