Friday, May 15, 2009

Romp and snuggle

Yesterday I got the sheepfold stripped and rebedded after picking up some more straw. Just before "bedtime," the lambs saw me cleaning up Russell's poop in the arena and came scampering through, leaving their moms behind to fret. Sometimes I can get Jackson to run in front of wayward lambs so they'll run back to the pasture, but this time they ran the other way - up the driveway towards the ram/wether lot.
So I went back and opened the gate for the ewes, who did the 50-yard dash toward lambs and their evening grain treat in record time. Zoom!
Since Rick and Brian weren't home yet, I plopped me and my camera down in the clean, dry straw and loved on my lambs and ewes.There's little Boo, from the last post. His Ag fading is peeking through his fleece clearly in this photo.

Yes, he loves chin scratches.

There's his musket brother Beau.

Is he friendly, too?

Why, yes!

The Three Gulmusketeers are SO friendly and so big now that it's hard to get good shots of them. Here's an okay one of Blackberry at the mineral feeder. He looks as black as black can be, but there is some gorgeous silver coming in at skin level on his sides and hindquarters.

Sister Bramble.

Bramble was the first lamb to become my friend, and laid down besides me several times last night.

Beautiful Bronwen up on the feeder.

Bronwen (left) and Bramble have very different fleeces which you really have to get your hands to appreciate. This shows some of the differences; click to biggify (they look "tippier" because of Wednesday's rain).

Bronwen's dam Dinah was a love sponge, too.

My cup overfloweth at . . .

13 comments:

Nancy K. said...

Oh my gosh, Michelle ~ they're HUGE! I'm beginning to think I'm glad that I have two girls waiting to lamb. It'll be fun to have tiny newborns bouncing around again....

Karen said...

Were the lambs friendly from the start? Bronwen is so very, very pretty. Lucky you!

Michelle said...

Bramble was friendly from the start, and her brother soon joined her. Bronwen was wild as a deer, but when Rick expressed a willingness to keep her I started taming her in earnest. Every time I was in the fold with the sheep I would catch and hold and scratch her, even though she struggled. Eventually she figured out it feels GOOD, and now she's a complete love. I did the same thing with Brava's wild twins because I realized they would likely be fiber pets. Barabbas was calm from the start, so I could carefully reach out and scratch him without the little rodeo.

MiniKat said...

I wish I could touch them through the computer. Please give them some loves for me. :-)

Crosswinds Farm said...

Bronwen does look a lot like my Halley! Looks like your girls will have some nice fleece!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful to sit down in the clean straw and have such bonding moments with your lovely animals. They are all so beautiful and to have them friendly as well is a terrific bonus. We used to have 5 pigs a long time ago and they loved chin tickles and then they would roll over on their backs to get their tummies rubbed.

LDSVenus said...

My dream is to someday live somewhere where I can have a sheep or two. Those babies are soooo cute and only adds to my dream :P. Do you have a website with your fiber for sale?

Michelle said...

Venus, make sure you get at least two sheep; a lone sheep would be very sad, as they are flock animals. No, no website; I've advertised here on the blog, locally, and on the Yahoo Spinning list.

MiniKat said...

Michelle, you have an award waiting for you on my blog. :-)

Anonymous said...

Michelle, I have an award for you over on my blog. http://doreensprojects.blogspot.com/ Please come over and pick it up.

Kathy said...

Bramble and Bronwen look like keepers to me - such beautiful faces.
Good onya for such great lambs, Michelle!

Kim said...

Oh what a wonderful post! I am a shepherd wannabe, and get to live vicariously through your (and other's) blog. I love it!

Lael said...

Thank you for your kind words on my blog. Your lambs are getting so big - I was following when they were little and then fell behind on my blog reading as lambing got busy here. They're beautiful!