Lambs sent to market

Today was a sad day because we sent our first batch of lambs to the market. There were twin weathers (castrated males) who had become incredibly tame because their mother is Mathilda. They were like two wooly puppies that would follow me about and beg for pats and scratches. I felt dreadful as I patted them goodbye before they were sent off. But, alas! This is a farm and this is the reality of raising beef cattle and sheep.

Have a lovely day! God bless!

Of lanolin and wool...

I just came in from feeding my four remaining Wooly Ladies out in the Long Field. They are as affectionate as dogs - did you know that when sheep are happy they wag their tails??

Here are some of the Wooly Ladies outside with their adorable wee lambs.

The digital camera is starting to fail and seems to hate white objects. So I added the cartoon effect to help deal with the over-brightness.

Another shot of the flock before most of the Wooly Ladies were put up at the other farm.

A typical curious wee lamb!

This is Elsie, one of our pure Texel ewes.

A lovely spring day full of flowers and sheep!

I bought a new vinyl (sp?) table cloth and WOW did it brighten up the kitchen! (Even the clutter got brighter...)

The Wooly Ladies meet me at the gate with all sorts of happy beys!

And now they are leading me to the trough in the hopes that a bucket of grain will materialize!

Spring has sprung! This is the upper half of our lawn - lush, green and full of flowers! There are no barefoot strolls through the grass though! Think of the song, "Thistle of Scotland"!!! (I found that flip-flops are risky too. Shucks! I miss bare feet and grass...)

Even the mint has come to life! I know it looks innocent...but it is plotting to take over the world...

The sheep are out of the fields and in the barns for lambing season.

Erlend built a lovely pen for our flock of sheep and now they are indoors until they lamb. Here are some pictures!

This smaller pen is for the ram, the two male lambs and the two yows (ewes) that are only having single lambs. This keeps the yows from over-eating and having big fat lambs.

Here is the rest of the flock in the main pen. 17 of them are having twins and 3 of them are having triplets.

Erlend built a little corral so that the sheep can enjoy fresh air and sunshine! They can freely access the outdoor pen from the main pen.

Here is how the sheep eat their silage: through a feed fence designed in such a way that they cannot use the "deflate and slither" method of escape! (They won't slither *over* a board unless in danger.)

Adventures amongst the Sheep Cats

Here's Brodgar's furry little butt disapearing intae the eyeball-high rubarb. It grows along the inside of the Walled Garden near the lambs. Not a Brodgar in sight!

Mmmmm! Fresh tasty grass. Being slowly weaned really isn't all that bad!
Brodgar finally got brave enough tae creep intae the lambs' yard for a quick visit. She's nae tae keen on the lambs as they always try tae suck her head... (Always in search of The Elusive Teats!!)
The lambs enjoy the warm evening and take off running across the paddock while Brodgar watches from behind the distant gate...
My ever-present wee companion decided that the lambs got tae be a bit overwhelming and is noo visiting from atop o' The Wall. (I think the flash took her a bit by surprise...)
A lamb's eye view o' the paddock.

Erlend bottle feeding our first two sheep.

Here are Sigured and Swayne snarfing down their bottles o' milk at the speed of sound. Erlend gave me these lambs as a wedding present: the very beginning of a soon-to-be flock of sheep!