Freedom!!

     Today everyone was granted their freedom.    With such a small number of sheep, I can keep them close at hand when the lambs are very young.   All the better to snuggle on them.  They have had a small outside place to race around, but this morning, I let them out into my limited pasture where they will live for a while.   The major challenge for the lambs was the stumps in the middle of their area.   As you can see from the second picture, only one has conquered it, so far.    I know the others won't be far behind.    It surprised me that it wasn't Calla (white feet) that was first.   She is still by far, the leader of any kind off wild activity.   Gotta love that girl!

     The ewes paid no attention to what the lambs were doing when faced with a pasture that hadn't been grazed for several days.   They hadn't forgotten what to do.   The lambs went from one activity to another, eating, running, climbing, and exploring.   I will keep a close eye on them for several days.   They can get into so many unbelievable situations.

 

   Just one cow picture.   If you look closely, you will see that one young cow decided that it was not big enough to have a place at the table.   Being resourceful, it climbed up on the wagon.   I have no idea just how that was accomplished, but it sure was a surprise to us.  It is not easy to see, but if you look closely you can see the deck of the wagon is just behind the red gate and then a pile of green and then a black and white cow.    She does not belong there!

And a great big thank you to the Shetland people who contributed to my little darlings:   Kelly Bartels, Becky Uttecht, Karen Valley, Nancy Krohn, and Garrett Ramsey.   Without their wonderful animals, I would never have had these five wonderful little lambs with their very special fleeces.

Juni B's twins!!! Oh, yes, TWINS

Oh,  yes, Juni B had twins, and just what I would have wanted, except they could have both been ewes.    The babies reversed their parents' colors.   The boy, High Ridge Juniper, is black, and the girl, High Ridge Jasmine, is gray.   They are tiny compared to the other singles.    They weighed 5 1/2 and 6 pounds last night, but that was after seven hours of nursing on mother's milk.   As you can see, Jasmine even duplicated her father's spot.   Placement is a little off, but I think it is cool.  They both have beautiful curly coats.

That does it for lambs for this year.   The total was four girls and two boys.   Sure am sad to have lost that first little girl.  All seem to be doing fine.   The first two have become fast friends the last couple of days, but Mulberry has a real hard time keeping up with Calla Lily who is a whirlwind.

Yesterday was a day to remember.    Todd took his PA exam.   Juni had twins.   Found out Tom (my first husband's sister's husband)  is battling a disease.   Agonized all day about the vet coming to treat a young heifer............only to find the vet was a former acquaintance and the bone was healing and the calf could return to the herd.   (Going to keep her in a pen and stuff her with good food.)   I was glad when the day was over because I don't know how many more things I could have handled.   More pictures of the bouncing baby lambs will follow in days to come.