Our sheep have a lot of personality, but the goats take it to a whole new level 😊
Ansel is my buddy and wanted to wish you a happy Friday! How can you not smile when you look at that expression!
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I’m trying this from my phone because I am without a computer at the moment. The hard drive took a detour and never came back 😞 Happy to have this option though!
The little guys are doing great and for the most part are never far from each other.
It has been fun watching their individual personalities emerge.
Ghost is the adventurer. He is always the first to try something, he has an act first, think later attitude. He makes us laugh!
He is our son’s goat and they adore each other.
Slick is the happy go lucky guy. Nothing bothers him, nothing deters him, and he has got the best jumping moves.
Ansel is the sweet guy. He engages with his eyes and usually stays with me on our walks.
Glacier is the thinker. He doesn’t just go along like the others. He has to decide if it is in his best interest or not 😉 He has been a lot of fun to work with!
And we have a new guy!!! We weren’t looking for another goat, but this older goat was looking for a packing home and we can pack with him next year!
His name is Red and he is an Oberhasli.
He is the observer of the group. He is very alert and has been a wonderful addition. He is even starting to play with the little guys 😊
Our little guys are still young enough that they are getting goats milk 3 times a day…
but before they get their last bottle for the day, we take them for a walk and they gobble up as many weeds as they can!
They LOVE Queen Anne’s Lace!
Among the favorites are the dandelions and they even eat the puffs!
We were laughing at what that texture must be like….mmmmm, fuzzy 😉
Of course the blackberry vines are delicious!
As are the dead leaves from this apple tree branch.
I believe this is a wild rose. Â The thorns really don’t seem to bother them!
We all enjoy our evening walks, but they are always eager to get back to the barn and their bottles.
That seems like a good title after being gone for awhile 😉 My poor blog has been neglected due to the ease of Facebook and Instagram.  I thought the followers here might be interested in the trips we have taken this year and the calendars that have come together due to them.  I am still very busy with the Felt Pups and sheep and life on the farm is good!
Today only, everything in my Etsy shop, calendars included, is 10% off. Â Use code CYBER2016
The Felt Pups give me an excuse to use my camera almost every day…here are the photos that I chose to go in the coming year’s calendar…
Nothing brings me joy, like getting outside and taking photos, and the South Steens area of Oregon did not disappoint! Â We saw a lot of wildlife, including Mr. Owl…
Some lovely antelope….
My favorite, the Bighorn Sheep….
…and some incredible Wild Horses! Â We hiked many miles to find them and being able to walk among them was something I will never forget! Â Here are the photos I chose to go in the Wild Horse calendar…
Our big summer trip was to Glacier National Park…Montana now has my heart and we will definitely be returning! Â Here are some of the pictures and calendar pages from that trip…
It was a beautiful day and the babies enjoyed their time outside!
Lots of jumping, bouncing, and happy feet!
Banjo and Bazinga stayed close to mom, but Smooch was a little more adventurous!
Susannah is very proud of her babies!
This is the third year in a row that we have bred her to Windy Acres MacCallum and I love the cross. This is her ewe lamb, Bazinga.
Here is her ram lamb, Banjo.
Smooch was into stirring things up and having a good time.
He thinks he is pretty special 😉
We are all wondering when the rest of the babies will make their appearance…
but the rest of the girls don’t look like they are in any hurry. From the looks of things, I think next week will be very busy!
We had 3 lovely little lambs born yesterday!
Infiniti was the first up with her very big ram lamb. This is how she likes to do things…lamb first and have big boys!
The naming theme this year is ‘Embrace your silliness’.  We like to keep it light and fun here!
Infiniti’s ram lamb has the cutest marking on his nose and Smooch just fit.
It will be fun to match up the funny words on my list with the lambs as they are born.
Susannah wasn’t far behind Infiniti and had a lovely set of twins – a boy and a girl.
I love her little girl!!! Her name is Bazinga 🙂
She is so sweet and even agreed to pose with one of the felt pups that I recently finished.
This is her very handsome brother, Banjo.
Not sure who will be next, but it looks like we will have a day or two before any more lambs are born.
It has been awhile since I visited my blog, but the start of a new year seems like a great time to start blogging again. Â Plus we will have adorable lamb photos to share very soon!
We are anxiously waiting for this girl to start the lambing season. She is due on Friday and the next couple of days are going to feel like the longest days of the year.
Avalon and Delight are the biggest girls this year, but they aren’t due for awhile.
Poor Avalon always looks so uncomfortable. She is one of the few that I don’t have a due date for, but she is definitely bred 😉
Delight is already wide and low, but she isn’t due until the 31st of January.
A couple of the first timers are going to keep me guessing, this is Magnolia and Meara. I have breeding dates for them, but they sure don’t look very pregnant yet!
Lily-Grace is another first timer, but there isn’t any guessing as to whether she is pregnant 😉
A few of last year’s lambs are still hanging out with their moms. This is Legacy and her daughter, Felicity.
Still my favorite lamb from last year, Lulu, loves to hang out with her mom, Mollala. Such a cute pair.
Hopefully I will have a new blog post very soon with cute lamb photos!
With 19 lambs on the ground, we are in the full swing of lambing now.
The first time mamas are doing a fabulous job!
My son is thrilled with his lambs.
We have been enjoying some lovely weather! This is Susannah and her lamb, Magique.
She is such a serious lamb.
Scout has the exact opposite type of personality…she is silly, silly, silly 😉
I love the interactions between moms and babies.
…and of course it wouldn’t be lambing time without babies calling for their mamas!
Up to this point, all of the girls have had their lambs on or close to their due date. How did I know what their due date was??? We used marking paint on the rams during the breeding season. I would do my rounds in the morning, take a note as to which ewes were bred the previous day and write their name in my calendar. I then calculated 149 days (average gestation for our Jacob Sheep) and mark that date in my calendar.  It has allowed me to take a little bit of the stress out of lambing time. A lot less wondering and waiting. It has been GREAT!
Unfortunately, I took a week off and took a road trip with a friend and attended the Jacob Sheep Breeders Annual Meeting in Missouri during breeding season. My husband did an AWESOME job of holding down the fort, but he didn’t write down the dates like I do…I admit, I am a bit of a type A 😉 So, we now have a week of lambing with 6 girls that look close, but no dates written down. I thought it would be fun to have a little contest and have you join me in my guessing game.
*** I wrote this blogpost last night and am now revising it because 4 new lambs greeted me in the barn this morning 🙂 ***
Ailsa had a set of ram lambs.
Liberty had a couple of lilac ewe lambs…
such a good way to start the day 🙂
So, there are 4 options now, they are….
Mollala
Canby
Avalon…biggest girl of the season
and Legacy
Now to make it totally fair for the people who don’t know what to look for, I am including photos that don’t hold very many clues.
To enter, leave a comment on who you think will be first to go.
Want to know what I am giving away…
One of these little guys…your choice. I made them while creating my felting kits and would love to have them bring a smile to someone’s face. Feel free to comment here or on my Facebook page.
If that title doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what will 😉
My friend has dubbed my ewe, Infiniti, an attention grabbing floozie. I have to admit…the title does kind of fit.
In August, she was the first ewe to be bred, the same day we turned the rams in. This wasn’t much of a surprise because she has been the first to lamb the last couple of years.  Unfortunately, she was then rebred by the clean-up ram. I was looking forward to the resulting lamb of the first cross, so I was disappointed.
Since she was rebred (supposedly), this meant our first lambs would be due January 10th. Well, you can imagine my shock to find this little guy…
 
Looks like she was bred by the first guy! Just her way of grabbing more attention 🙂
Welcome ‘Legend’! Such a handsome guy with a beautiful lamb fleece.
Infiniti is such a good mama!
He will soon be joined by a bunch of lambs later this week!
I know a lot of people are going to think I am crazy, but there are a few of you that will know what I mean.
It has felt like July for the last couple of weeks. Dry and hot, especially for the usually wet and cool May we are used to.
Our roads don’t usually turn brown until late June/July.
The sheep were very unimpressed with the summer like weather. Poor Dreamer was carrying a lot of wool.
Ah, now that is better.
The ewe lambs spent a lot of time snacking on blackberry leaves and enjoying the shade.
The ram lambs could have spread out in their shade, but chose to snuggle and lay on each other – silly boys!
They weren’t the only ones that chose to snuggle in the heat 😉
I think Kate had the best idea…hanging out in the stock tank.
This is the view today and it feels a lot more ‘May’ like. The sheep all seem a bit happier and I am happy to see the little bit of rain because it means we will have green grass for a little bit longer.
Stories from the Farm 