Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Watch Us Grow!

Our new lambs have been growing rapidly! Here are some pictures of the little ones.

Hattie's twins: Eli and Elise


Carrie's lamb, Elsie.

Carmen and her son Enoch.


Harriet and one of her twins, Ephraim.


Corinna nurses her lamb, Emmett.


Emmett


Bluebell and one of her lambs, Elizabeth.

Blossom's Delivery

Blossom delivered her lamb, Edward, on March 15th. He was born on a warm, sunny afternoon in one of our sheep sheds. Blossom quickly cleaned him off, and soon he was up for his first sip of milk! Edward weighed 12 lbs. 6 oz.








Sheila Delivers Twins!

On March 13th, Sheila delivered two healthy lambs! Edison is their father.

Elmer - 14 lbs. 4 oz.

Emily - 10 lbs.

Sheila has been taking good care of her babies!

Emily holding Emily the lamb!

Elmer and Emily are siblings to Brooke, Charity, Daniel, and Dinah.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Faces of Elizabeth

Elizabeth, one of our white Romney lambs, is a very cute little baby! In order to protect her beautiful white lamb wool, Emily made a baby coat for her to wear. Here she is, all decked out in her new attire! The black lamb in the photos is her twin brother, Easton.







Elizabeth eating hay out of the trough.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

An Update on Cocoa

Cocoa was our first ewe to deliver her lambs this year.  Her children, Ellie and Edgar, are now 36 days old.  A few days ago, Cocoa and her lambs graduated from their pen in the barn and rejoined the flock.

Cocoa kept a sharp eye on her lambs while they took their afternoon rest.

Ellie and Edgar thought the food trough was a nice place for a nap!

By the way, you'll notice Cocoa and her lambs do not look like our Romneys nor our Hampshires ... Cocoa is full-blood Suffolk while the father is a Suffolk-Hampshire cross. 

One Snowy Morning

Here is a snowy morning update on the sheep at Grace Valley Farms ...

During cold, snowy nights we allow our flock of sheep to come into part of the barn, if they so choose. They have sheds filled with straw to sleep in outside, but many prefer to come in the barn.

Caramel decided to sleep in the barn during the night. She stayed nice and dry while it was snowing.

Our barn is divided into several pens. This large pen is for the mothers who've already had their lambs. Ewes with older lambs occupy this pen until the babies are old enough to go out to pasture. Here, they stay dry and sheltered from the winter weather outside. 

Heather has been a very good mother to her lamb. She and her baby, Everett, will live in the barn until they are ready to rejoin the flock.

Ezekiel, one of Rachel's twins,  chews on a mouthful of hay.

Elise and Ephraim

The ewes with younger lambs are living in another pen in the barn. They too stayed dry from the snow that fell overnight.

Corinna, Carrie, Carmen, and Bluebell (background) eat their morning grain. 

 
Meanwhile, their lambs (Enoch, Elsie, Easton, and Elizabeth) nibble on hay.

Easton 

Foreman and Edison, our rams, live outside the barn. Even though they have a shed to sleep in, they spend much of their time outside in the snow. Here they are waiting for their morning hay.

Foreman peeks through the snow-covered gate.

The rest of the flock (those who have not had their lambs yet) will go out to pasture. Even with the snow on the ground, they will still be able to find plenty to eat. In this photo, Benjamin and Rocket (our Border Collie dog) guide the flock out to pasture.

Bullet and Rocket (our sheep dogs) watch the sheep meander out to their grazing grounds.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Corinna's First Lamb

Corinna gave birth to her first lamb, Emmett, on March 2nd.

Corinna and Emmett in their bonding pen.

Emmett weighed 12 lbs. 10 oz.

Corinna has been an excellent mother!

Elsie the Lamb!

Carrie gave birth to Elsie around 3:15am on March 2nd. She weighed in at 14 pounds!

Elsie was the largest pure-bred Romney ewe lamb we've ever had born!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Enoch !!

Enoch was born on February 27th around 4am. His parents are Carmen and Foreman.

Enoch weighed 10 lbs. 14 oz.

Enoch likes to play in his mother's grain bucket.