Tag Archives: Sheep of the Week

Sheep of the Week: Draco

In anticipation of the autumn, I’m going to introduce you all to our Border Leicester ram lamb, Draco. He was born this past spring at the same farm we’ve bought our other Border Leicesters from– but, importantly, he’s from a different bloodline.

Since he came to the farm not just as a lamb, but as a ram lamb, he was in for a particularly lonely adjustment period. The two new ewe lambs he came with, Sagitta and Boöetes, got to have one another for company in the girls’ pasture, while Draco had to fit in to the boy flock all by himself.

border leicester ram lamb

He’s done an admirable job finding his place, and he’s such a darling, self-assured little cutie (not a cutie for long, though, as we’ll see) that I always try and keep an eye out especially for him in the pasture.

Yesterday evening, though, I was doing some work in the garden when I noticed he was butting heads with some of the yearling wethers. He’d butt heads with Emu for a while, and then they’d both walk away. Then he’d butt heads a couple of times with Callum, and they’d both go about their grazing. He’s less than 7 months old, and yet he’s starting to feel his oats and pick some fights with sheep who’re more than twice his age!

border leicester ram lamb

Can it be? I wrote the other day about how quickly the lambs seemed to be growing up, but Draco’s already, somehow, feeling the autumn coming on.

Sheep of the Week: Finch

Finch, eartag number 0110, is one of my favorite wethers from last year’s class of lambs.

When he was quite young– maybe only 3 or 4 weeks old– he wandered away from his mama, Catalina, and tripped into a serious quantity of red clay mud (this would have been in April, the tail end of our mud season). He soon became the lamb I could identify the most quickly, because he was the bright-red dirty-lamb.

But he washed up pretty nicely, didn’t he?

I love the look he has on his face as Emily shears him: (Welp, looks like there’s nothin’ I can do ’bout this.)

He still looks pretty lamb-like in this photo from early this past spring.

But, how quickly they grow up!

His nose is longer, his deep Cormo neck-wrinkle is larger, and the perspective is, I admit, a little forced.

But I’m mainly so glad of the fact that he’s kept his bottle-baby sweetness and lack of fear, but somehow never acquired that famous bottle-baby brattiness. He’s a perfectly gentle, absolutely lovely sheep.

Sheep of the Week: Callum

I’m absolutely boggled by the fact that I seem to never have featured Callum as Sheep of the Week here on the blog before. In my opinion, he’s one of the most photogenic animals on the farm.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s the most beautiful animals we have, or the most personable. For whatever reason, Callum has always been able to pose.

He’s an Icelandic sheep, Feenat’s lamb from Spring 2011, and he belongs to Erin.

Ever since he was little, though, he’s always walked right up the camera and stared.

It’s undoubted brave– and even un-sheeplike– behavior, and I wonder if he doesn’t have a touch of leadersheep in him.

Since Feenat is polled (naturally doesn’t have any horns) and his father, Cyo, had horns, Callum’s caught in the middle. I think that, were he not a wether, he’d have an impressive set. As it is, they’re growing in a little lopsided, and he’s broken them a few times.

 He’s just as big as Feenat is, now, and looks remarkably like her– same face, same fleece, same knobbly knees.

It’s just so funny to me that, nearly every time I go out to take pictures of the flock, I end up with a picture of Callum, staring me down:

Goat of the Week: Bertie

My vote for best goat?

In my mind, there’s no question. Bertie is the finest goat we’ve got. She’s personable without being pushy, dramatic without causing drama, and far outdoes our other dairy does with nearly a gallon of milk a day.

 She’s about three years older than the other does, so her udder’s much larger, and she’s a more patient milker, too– no wonder she’s far-and-away my (and Charlotte’s) favorite.

One month shy of a year ago, when she and Sam first came to the farm, Bertie was desperately in love. She followed Sam everywhere she went, and bleated in her hoarse, bleak whisper of a voice (her ghost baa, we call it) whenever she wandered out of her line of sight. Sam, who was younger, didn’t seem to care for Bertie one way or another. But Sam never missed a chance to boss her poor sweetheart around, either.

This is why I’m pretty glad she seems to have picked a more suitable inamorata– our La Mancha, Fib:

More word on this little love story as it develops. As last observed, Sam didn’t seem to be at all jealous.

She’s even a sweetheart to Fib’s kid, Camembert:

Bertie is an Anglo-Nubian, which means that she outweighs our other does considerably, and it a touch taller than them, too. Sometimes we call her Goat-on-Stilts.

I was just so excited to see that she was finally free from her unrequited love. Everyone– even an old dairy goat– deserves to be happy. Here’s to you, Bertie!

 

Sheep of the Week: Lindbergh

Lindbergh’s been a bit of a surprise for me.

Because he’s a lamb I’m drawn to photograph again and again, you’ve probably met him on several occasions.

He looks a little different from the other lambs because he’s not pure Cormo– his mama, Willoughby, is a Cormo/Southdown cross. He has a brown-tipped nose, lovely amber eyes, and a stockier body than the other lambs, so he stands out from the crowd. He also seems to be a little braver than the others– instead of skittering away from the camera and back towards his mama, he stands his ground and stares right back.

 I guess I’m a little surprised because, usually, our favorite (and most photographed) lambs are the bottle babies– the ones who run up whenever they see you out in the pasture. But it’s good to get to know the sort of sheep you might otherwise not get to interact with all too much.

Most of all, though, I love his sense of humor:

 Although it isn’t as though he’s going around spoiling everybody’s pasture portrait sessions. When Blanca and Fresca noticed that someone who wasn’t them was getting a little extra attention, they ran right over, butted him out of the way, and broke up the party then and there!

I have a feeling that, with his bold personality and distinctive good looks, he’s going to grow up to be one of our very favorites.

 

Sheep of the Week: Emma

I was out on a morning ramble a few days ago, taking a few photos and wondering, a little idly, about who I’d select to be our Sheep of the Week, when, suddenly:

“Choose me!” said Emma.

Emma is hands-down the nicest and most naturally friendly ewe we have.

Most of the time, if you walk into the pasture as a stranger, a couple of things will happen: 1) the guard animals will come up and make sure you’re not a threat to the flock, 2) a goat or two or five will come up to see if you’ve got any food with you– especially if it’s around feeding time, and, maybe, 3) one of the braver sheep, invariably an ex-bottle-baby, will also come up, looking for food. Although the sheep at Juniper Moon Farm are tamer than many other flocks– we hand feed them, and don’t use dogs to herd them– it’s still a little rare for any of our sheep to come up and start nuzzling your legs.

Except for Emma, who’s just so inexplicably sweet!

She was born as a single lamb in April 2010 to Capri.

All while growing up, she was just as sweet and curious as they come.

We bred her to Solomon this past fall, and she spent the Winter and Spring with the rest of the expectant ewes.

Although she didn’t lamb this season, she kept us wonderful company while we watched over the rest of her cohort. In fact, she was such a sweet, lovey-dovey nuzzler all throughout April that we were sure she was flooded with Oxytocin, and right about to lamb. Nope– Emma’s just that nice of a ewe!

So, if you ever come for a visit to the farm and find yourself in the close company of a sweet, lovely ewe, you can probably bet that it’s Emma, and you can probably bet that you’ve got a friend for life.

NEXT WEEK of SotW: Meet the lamb who’s pictured-but-not in the photo above!

NEXT NEXT WEEK of SotW: Let me know in the comments who you’d like to meet!

Goat of the Week: Fib!

I have the honor of naming Fib our goat of the week!

Look at that grin. Admire her absent ears. Stare into her wise eyes.

She is the first goat I had ever milked, and despite being a little apprehensive at first about new hands, Fib is sweetest goat on the farm to milk–calm, relaxed, and quiet. I couldn’t have asked for a better doe to practice on before moving on to the others.

Fib is also a wonderful mother to Camembert, who is as fetching and hushed as his mama.

Sometimes they even come to visit me in the yurt!

I just can’t get over that grin. Look at those fine teeth, that open mouth, her lovely facial stripes! She is quite the charmer and I am thrilled to spend time every morning and evening with the sweetest goat on the farm.

Comment on who would like to see next week on sheep on the week! Perhaps a new kid or lamb? Perhaps a new calf?

 

 

This Charming Lamb, OR, Sheep of the Week: Clark

Look out, y’all. We’ve got a lamb who’ll charm your socks off.

He’s the one standing in the foreground, swaggering up to the camera with a smug little smirk on his face.

Meet Clark.

When he was born, he was the tiniest little thing, and wasn’t getting too much from his mama (she preferred his jumbo-sized twin, Lewis). We supplemented him with a bottle for a while, but he learned pretty quickly to steal sips of milk from whichever ewe he could get close to!

These three ewes this morning were having a little dustup/shoving match, and, in the middle of it all– while they were distracted with shoving one another– Clark zoomed in from the sidelines to get some milk while the getting was good!

Anyone who was here this past weekend can attest to his charm– and his tenacity. See, we’re still bringing a bottle out to Aldrin three times a day. Clark, however, is sure that the bottle’s his.

Are you sure that’s not my bottle? There must have been some mistake!

and later, a little more pushy:

You gonna finish that, Aldrin?

I have a feeling that, with his particular combination of sweetness and toughness, Clark will grow up to be a grade-A criminal mastermind. Or maybe a shady politician. Or, anything he wants, really– he won’t quit until he gets it!

LAMB of the Week: Dora

A few weeks ago, when I posted a picture of one of this year’s lambs, Dora, a few of you commented on how well she posed, and how much she looked like a model– she has poise, long limbs, and inherited her mother’s (Darcy) lovely face. I’m happy to report that her modelling career is showing no sign of slowing down! I was taking a few pictures the other evening, and want to show you all how gorgeous she is.

She can look askance.

And directly.

It had just misted a bit, and she’s really nailed the wet look.

But how do we know she’s really made it?

Her little brother, Lindbergh, runs up to photobomb her in the middle of her portrait session!

LAMB of the Week: Aldrin

We’ve got a lamb who’s completely stolen all three of our hearts.

Meet Aldrin, the littlest and youngest of this year’s lambs.

Yesterday was his first day out in the pasture, and he made a fine day of it. We worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with his mama– and definitely not with all of the other lambs, who’re leaping like fish and running like devils– but he stuck it out admirably.

Snow, his mother, is a wonderful ewe. She protests loudly if he ever skips out of her sight, stomps her front hooves angrily if anyone– even Cini– walks between the two of them, and stands right by him, waiting impatiently, while he drinks his thrice-daily bottle.

Since we lost his sister, Armstrong, we’re keeping an extra-special watch over him, and making sure he gets lots of attention (and extra food). We spend so much time together, it’s no wonder we’re all so attached to him!

Likewise, it no wonder he’s so attached to us! He runs across the pasture as soon as he sees us, baaing all the way. Let me tell you, there’s no feeling in the world like being loved by such a sweet little lamb.