Invasion of the little ones.

Indeed they have arrived; all within a two week window. Lisa had her twins and five days later Artemesia had hers; within a day Nez Perce, then Vera Lyn a couple hours after that. I'm sure at this point the ladies are all talking amongst themselves saying "whew - we made it through his rookie year- glad thats over with." And you know what I didn't do so bad.
There were the perfect births, where everything went to plan. Ewe shows signs of early labor and a few hours later she is licking and cleaning and feeding. There were a few that didn't go as smoothly, but that is to be expected. I learned from that and about assisting in deliveries on top of all the other learning experiences like 2am barn checks, getting home from work and heading right into the barn (shirt/tie and all) to look for surprises (aka new lambs). I learned how to tag and dock tails, then I learned how to do it efficiently. I also learned about how amazing a new life is, and to watch it all unfold right before your eyes is an experience I will never take for granted. As I look to finish my first full year as a new shepherd, I am amazed at everything that has come my way, and now lambing is another expreience I can say, yup, done that.

There is quite the variety of lambs running around the paddock now. Out of the 11 lambs, 7 of them are ram lambs. Not exactly your 50/50, but the quality is amazing. It's quite the melting pot of grays, moorits and whites; the color varies quite a bit, even for a smaller flock of 10 errrr I mean 21. The science teacher in me follows the genetics closely. Some matings were easy to predict, a recessive Moorit with a recessive Moorit is going to give me a (you guessed it) recessive Morrit. Other pairings were to maintain the registered Corriedale line where White is the color and larger, taller lambs will prevail. Still a few were going to leave a 25% of something, where going to the barn is like Christmas 'cause I wasn't sure what I was going to get (potentially gray, brown or white, male or female- all from one mating). Still even when I think I have it figured out, there was one real surprise. Alaina is our black ewe, and she was bred to Ahgosa our moorit. The black was something I knew was a possibility; on the other hand, white came out of no where and by white I mean black and white on the same lamb! This is a genetic variance a shepherd doesn't exactly wish for, and it is that of an unexpected "chance" mutation. However, what went from a puzzling disappointment, quickly become a crowd favorite. This black and white little guy has the personality of a charmer and no doubt will become the ambassador of someone's farm. His wool quality is still top notch, and will spin black and white together to create a natural colored tweed and suddenly this odd ball becomes quite unique and desireable. He surely is the first thing people notice when they visit. A farm jester is born.

Some of the other highlights include Rutherford, our new gray ram lamb and Rosalyn our beautiful Morrit ewe lamb seen playing in the hay feeder here, (her twin is Abagail). Then there is Abraham (tallest president) our Corriedale ram lamb who was born weighting 18.5 pounds! That's heavier than the lambs that were already a week old. Despite being the youngest he is already head and shoulders above his peers; he is one big boy. So the first lambing season, and we all lived to tell about it. The chickens had a few births of there own while all this was going on. Not to be out done, the chickens laid and raised their own 7 peepers. Windy Knob eggs continue to sell out every week, the wool was sold out in just a few weeks, and now begins the next stage of developing the Windy Knob Farm label for lambs and breeding stock. Please contact us with any questions, as these lambs will make a great addition of new genetics to your flock, perhaps giving you that natural color that you have been trying to incorporate into your flock, or even if you are looking to start a new flock of your own. Look for more information and details in mid April at http://www.windyknobfarms.com/.

You know what they say about March...

In like a lamb... out like a lion. But seriously, in like a lamb? Is that what that meant all along... lambing season, "that" time of year. How did I become it, before I ever knew it. Is that where the saying comes from?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Windy Knob Farms has reached a milestone - its first lambs. Lisa went into labor late Thursday night, and by 12am Friday the first lamb was born. She went right to work licking and cleaning and drying and checking and licking... I mean I wasn't about to get in her way, the lady knew what she was doing and I was better off just observing and learning myself. But a quick glance revealed that as she was cleaning she had another two little hooves waiting to come out! At that point I needed some sleep before I might as well just curled up next to her or something; so back to the house for an hour I went until my alarm went off (ever set an alarm for 2am? me neither) and with my boots untied, jacket unzipped and hat askew I stumbled back to the barn. Of course she was on her second lamb already and the cleaning was well underway. My first lambing experience - and I might as well stayed in bed. Okay not really, but could have been for all the matter. The ewe had it all under control, she knew what she had to do and delivered two healthy lambs. Women, you all know this already, you're thinking yeah... story of our lives, men only get in the way at this point in delivery. I did wipe off the lambs, weighed them, made sure they were getting milk when nursed, and I sterilized and trimmed their umbilical cords. But make no mistake, Lisa was the hero in this one.

Lisa was important, she was bred to another ram from another farm. I was really hoping for twins, it's like stock in a set of genetics that you won't have access to ever again. When I saw she had twins, it was perfect! Then as they came out I realized I had one ram and one ewe. Even better! Pictured below are the twins. The ewe lamb is in the foreground, while the ram lamb is in the back (also note the cool "racing stripes" on the sides of his face). It's early at this point, but it is looking like they are gray badger face; which means their pattern is variegated, or multi colored. The gray is really unique and a gene that is hard to find and control. And I got twins.

Names? Well lets see, 1001 and 1002. The "10" is for 2010. The 01 and 02, yeah first and second born. Once everyone is born, they will all receive their formal names. Windy Knob will always have a theme, a way to recognize the year that sheep was born (along with the tag number of course). This year's theme is Presidents and First Ladies. My favorite names will be given to the ram and ewes I plan on keeping. Yes some will be for sale for breeding stock, and I will choose according to colors, size and genetics. Some of these sheep are homozygous resistant for codon 271. That's a big deal, it means they are not succeptible to foot rot. Others are at least carriers for the gene. Then you include "moorits" "grays" and the "registered Corriedales" and there is a lot to be found here in adding to or starting one's own dual purpose flock of sheep.

Good ol Nez Perce. Nez quite possibly has the single best fleece in the bunch (she competes with Alaina and Ahgosa for top honors). The crimp, the quality, the luster and the staple length (she is part "bond" - not James, but a special type of Corriedale) all make her the stand out of an already impressive group.

She is also a rookie to lambing so wish her luck. She will be due later this week and she was bred to Dougherty - it's his first lambing too. We shall see how these lambs turn out, but of course I expect nothing short of some serious awesomeness. But really it's her demeanor. There's something about Nez, she is laid back but regal at the same time. She isn't the biggest, she isn't the bossiest and she isn't the loudest of the flock; but she has her way of standing out to me. You take that and the fact that when I looked at Lisa she bah'd at me around 4:30 on Thursday, which then led me to placing her in the stall to prep for lambing which came 8 hours later... I'm beginning to think I speak sheep or something (first sign I need to get away from the farm more). I'm not ready to be labeled as the sheep whisperer or anything but hanging around these guys, it's amazing. I never realized how much personality they have and how I have really picked up on their traits. When I walk my dogs the sheep follow along the fence line and they will call out (wanting food, it's not like they beckon me by name or anything) but really I could pick each noise out and tell you which sheep it was. Months ago, they all sounded the same.

Maybe I am the sheep whisperer.