The comforter

We just finished another two days of first Jackson, then Dozer being sick (they both seem fully recovered today). Last night when Rick got home he sat down on the laundry room floor to comfort Dozer, and of course Jackson was johnny-on-the-spot to get in on the loving. You gotta love a man like that. (-:

That's it for today from . . .

And then it was quiet

This morning at choretime, I noticed that Bunker was treating Bramble very differently than the other two ewes in his breeding group. He was shadowing her like a cutting horse, blocking her every effort to try and be with the other ewes. Then he'd butt her, and would gladly have taken her head on but she wouldn't face him. So then he'd resort to side-bashing her like he would another ram. He stopped for a little while when I put out new hay, but then went back to hazing her. Concerned for her safety, I managed to get her out of the lot and put her in the fold with Inky and the lambs. Once that was done, both she and her niece Bonny stopped their yelling, and peace once again descended upon Boulderneigh. (insert sigh of relief here)

The circumstantial evidence (Bunker's actions, last year's failure to settle) leads me to believe that Bramble is not breedable. She doesn't act like a ram in any way, so I do not think she is a hermaphrodite; perhaps she is messed up because of the in utero hormonal influence of her male twin. I know, I know; some people don't believe "freemartins" occur in sheep. However, a quick Google search on the topic brought up a scientific article which states, "The biology of freemartin sheep has recently been studied in detail, and the condition may be increasing in prevalence with the introduction of high fecundity genes into flocks." I remember reading with surprise some time ago that historically, twinning was not a desirable trait on the Shetland Isles. Something to think about when we select for lines known to produce multiples over those that single!

In other non-news, my homespun two-color scarf is off the needles but still needs to be blocked. I have patterns and yarn for two other projects at the ready; I just need to pull out the appropriate needles so I have something to work on during my free period at our homeschool co-op and during Brian's weekly science class.

Speaking of the homeschool co-op, last week I was racking my brain over a class to teach. Parents are responsible for teaching at least two classes per three-term year; this term, like I did last spring, I am facilitating a WWII Living History class for the high-schoolers. I've taught Figure Drawing to high-schoolers three times, so feel like that needs a time-out for a year or two. The Hippology class I taught was fun, but I taught that to grades 3-6 and need to wait another year to have two suitable classes (grades 3 & 4) again (I won't teach it to Brian's class because he'll try to take over). I've toyed with teaching something related to fiber, but have been too intimidated to tackle that. Well, after discussing it with a couple other moms and sketching out the barest of outlines in my mind, I signed up for a winter term class for the 6th graders. EEEK! I plan to approach it with a short history on textiles, followed by a simple, hands-on "sheep to shawl" type of thing - taking them through the steps wool goes through from raw wool to end product. I don't know how involved to make it; I have access to fleece, of course, and have hand cards, combs (that belong to Laura), a drum-carder, a crockpot for dyeing with Kool-Aid, and figured I can make CD spindles for the kids and end up with them finger-knitting and/or finger-crocheting a trivet/potholder (and use Brian's simple peg loom to demonstrate weaving). The logistics scare me, though. I know it will take a lot of time and effort to haul the various materials and tools back and forth from home to class and back each week. How much time will it take to explain and demonstrate each step? Will the students have adequate time each week to practice what they learned? We have eight classes of 50 minutes each to do this. If you have any experience and/or great ideas, please save tell me!!!

That's it for today from . . .

The dating game

Breeding season has started at Boulderneigh, and it's been nearly as noisy as weaning season! Bramble and Bonny have yelled the most over the splitting up of the ewe flock, but it's finally getting quieter as the light of day fades.

Last year I used CIDRs because I had a leased ram to use for a limited time. Others have re-used inserts successfully, so I decided to try that this year and see what happens. I will leave the ewes with their chosen partners for three weeks and forgo a back-up ram so lambs will arrive by late March. I don't know if I'll show next year (I didn't this year), but having lambs on the ground early is the only way to have them weaned in time for Black Sheep Gathering in June. Plus, I'll be able to go to our church's spring women's retreat in early April.

I have two breeding "groups" this year, having decided with Laura's help to let Blake sit this season out. I put Annabelle in the Ram-ada Inn with Cadbury; she seems less than thrilled with this arrangement. Could it be that Cadbury looks more like a Halloween character than Mr. Right?
Yep, sometime overnight he knocked his other scur cockeyed! Now that he has an outlet for all that testosterone, maybe he'll settle down.

My other three adult ewes - Bramble, Sarai and Marta - are with Annabelle's handsome hunk of a son Bunker. But first, Rick helped me get him all spiffed up for his big date by trimming his hooves and scurs. Then he posed for his online dating profile photo:
If you think he looks good in a suit, you should see him undressed. (-;
(Last rib, mid-side.) Oh yeah!

What are my hopes for these pairings? (Feel free to go blog-hopping at this point; the following is as much for my own records as anything. But I also welcome deposits on next spring's lamb crop!) :-)

White Annabelle carries solid, black and possibly moorit. I would love to find out for sure by getting at least one solid moorit lamb from her. Of course, having that moorit color in a fine, crimpy fleece of good length (4" minimum) on well-conformed, fully polled twins of finer bone and features than Annabelle would be my dream. Since both Annabelle and Cadbury have good conformations, good tails, correct earsets, poll and cheek wool, and crimpy fleeces with good length, I really do expect excellent quality from this pairing - even if the lambs end up being white, fully-horned rams.

Now for Bramble, Sarai and Marta. Since the latter two are yearlings and Bramble didn't take last year, I may only get two lambs out of this group, even though one of my goals is to learn if Bunker is homozygous for white. To achieve that goal, it would be ideal if all three settle and bear twins - although that would give me a LOT of lambs for my small operation! Whatever I get, I expect fleeces and structure to be awesome given the lambs' parentage. There is a short wish list, however. 1) For Bramble to have lambs with crimpier, softer fleece than their dam. 2) For Marta to have lambs with more size and typier tails than their dam. 3) For my sweet Sarai to have lambs with longer fleece than their dam. 4) Either fully polled or fully horned offspring from all (yeah, like THAT is going to happen - but a girl can dream!).

So for the next three weeks, I have FOUR groups of sheep to feed and water. Besides Annabelle and Cadbury in the Ram-ada Inn; Bunker and his ladies are in the wooded lot; Blake and Browning remain in the lot between the barn and arena; and Inky, Bonny and Bart are hangin' out in the Sheep Sheraton. I plan to use this time to pick over Bart's beautiful fleece so I can cover it up until shearing next spring. He is still for sale, but I might just have to call dibs on that fleece!

That's it for today from . . .

Sabbath sky

Taken at . . .