Lambs and More Lambs

My goodness since the 7th of April things have been crazy here when it comes to lambs. We still have not sheared the sheep. Our last date was snowed out. We had another foot of snow two days before the date to shear so I canceled. I'm trying desperately to clean up around here since we will be shearing on Sunday the 17th. But the ewe's have other ideas.
I'll start from the beginning. This is Hattie with her two ewe lambs born on April 7th. Sired by Stonehaven Watson.

Hattie (Who)

Then in the afternoon I found Kess with two ram lambs. Sired by WSR Artie. (Whiteoak Shetland Ranch)
 One note for Kess she had a blind lamb last year when bred to Stonehaven Duncan. Good going Artie no blind lambs this year!!!

Kess

April 8th Jorja had one ewe and one ram. Sired by Watson. Jorja had a single lamb two years ago and was bred last year but slipped her lambs a month early. Good to see she's OK this year.

Jorja (Ray)

April 9th I went to a guild meeting in Reno. Before I left everyone, sheep that is,  looked normal out on the field grazing. When I got home I found Stevie and Hazel up on the hill each with their two new born lambs! Stevie below lost her little ewe lamb last year to a predator, coyote, eagle, neighbors dog? still not sure. She had a ram and a ewe this year. It was about an hour before this picture I found her ewe lamb dieing! I'm not sure what happened. She was laying by herself and soon after she was taking her last breath. Stevie's ewe was three days old and doing fine. At least she has her ram lamb. I'd hate for her to go two years in a row without a lamb of her own. I'm leaving her dead lamb with her for awhile so she understands what happen to her. Was she hit too hard by another ewe? Not sure. Stevie was bred to Artie.

Stevie

 This is Hazel below:

Hazel

and her two lambs. A ram in the feeder and her ewe lamb behind. Have you noticed a theme? Most everybody has a black lamb and a dark brown lamb! Hazel was bred to Watson.

On April 10th Valla was out in a snow storm and gave birth to her twins and ram and a ewe! It was not very cold, in the high thirty's, and the snow was not sticking but I was still surprised that they were nearly dry and not chilled! Valla (La) was bred to Artie.

 Now Pepper (Pots) had her two lambs on the same day as Valla another ewe and a ram.

Pepper

 Here she is with her two lambs. Both very black.

It was nice and quite here for two days. I was even able to good to town without coming home to any surprises. This morning Stonehaven Cielia gave birth to two ram lambs! One little guy has some white splashes of color on him. Cielia is marked the same. The sire to her lambs is Watson.

This is not the end of lambing yet. Evie is looking big and ready to lamb but after her God only knows!
Total count 8 ewe's 16 lambs  7 ewes, 9 rams and one ewe lamb died. All eight ewes had twins.

Newbies

...and a great Shetland Sheep story.

I'll start with my story of how clever Shetland Sheep can be even at a very young age. Or should I say instincts are strong in these little sheep. Late in the afternoon I bring the lambs and their Moms to the field behind the barn. There is a tall fence for protection from wild things and stray dogs, and the barn is right there for a warm, dry place to sleep at night.

The ewe's get a few last bits of grass and the lambs rest or hang out after the races have ended. I stand and watch the sheep for awhile. This is my favorite time to just sit and contemplate on my little flock.
Then all of a sudden lambs started baaing, jumping up from their resting spots and running full speed to the nearest ewe. About eight lambs formed a tight bunch around two of the ewe's as they all moved in unison like a school of fish in the ocean. What? Then I looked up and saw a big crow soaring over the top of us. I have never seen this happen before. With no brush to hide under the group made it's own safe place by sticking close together and moving in a large group to keep what could have been a bird of pry from picking out a single lamb for dinner. Shetland sheep never cease to amaze me!
Now the newbies on May 1st Pepper a two year old first time Mom had twins, a ram in the back and a ewe lamb. I call Pepper a gray Ag and she was bred to Watson my black ram and both of her lambs are brown! If you look at Peppers face and legs she does have brown in them. Her face is very black in the winter and it browns out in the summer. Michelle I need some color advise with this type of coloring. Is Pepper gray?
The little ram is tiny but not as much as this picture shows and he is just a crack up. Were ever he goes it's full speed ahead!

The next newbies are my new bees! We have had a bee hive for several years but all the bee's swarmed  last summer and my new bee man had to restock the hive last month. We keep the hive for someone else because I do not want to open a hive of angry  bees to steal their honey. This way we get to share the honey and Mark the bee man has a place to keep more hives.