Thursday, April 28, 2011

A Very Special Lamb!

Clarabelle gave birth to her very first lamb on April 2nd.  Her delivery was quick and easy!  Ellie Mae was 10 lbs. 5 oz. at birth.

 Clarabelle is one of our model ewes!  She has beautiful, silver-colored wool.  At this year's shearing, her fleece had a staple length of 6-8 inches!  Her skirted fleece weighed over 10 pounds!  To see a picture of her gorgeous fleece, click here.

 
Benjamin holding Ellie Mae.

 
 Ellie Mae is a beautiful, healthy lamb.  Her little fleece is already showing a certain degree of variegated color.  The main color of her wool is black with gray and white patches mixed in.  We are looking forward to seeing how her fleece grows as the year progresses.  We put a baby lamb coat on her the day after she was born in order to protect her fleece. Ellie Mae has excellent wool genetics so she should have a stunning lamb fleece next year!


Welcome to the flock, Ellie Mae!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Clover's Spotted Lambs

Clover gave birth to unusual looking lambs this year.  Why...??

The answer ... last fall during breeding season, one of the neighbor's rams jumped over our fence and into the pasture where our ewes were grazing.  He quickly bred Clover before we were able to remove him from the flock.  The neighbor's ram was a Suffolk and Clover is a Hampshire-Romney cross.  This means that her lambs are 1/2 Suffolk, 1/4 Romney, and 1/4 Hampshire.  This interesting combination of sheep breeds has resulted in unusual-looking lambs!

Evan is gray with black spots.  His twin, Elliott, is white with black markings and spots.  
Benjamin holding Elliott and Evan. These two lambs are healthy and full of life. It is a joy to watch them as they play and run with the other lambs.

Evan - 12lbs.
Elliott - 13lbs. 5 oz.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Caramel's Delivery

Caramel's 2011 delivery was a pretty little ewe lamb we named Evelyn.  Evelyn weighed 13 lbs. 15 oz. at birth.  This pictures shows Evelyn at 2.5 weeks old.  Evelyn is 3/4 Romney and 1/4 Hampshire.

Evelyn is the sister of Donard.  As you may recall, Donard was the winner of Grace Valley Farms' 2010 Cutest Lamb Contest.

Belvedere's Twins

Belvedere's beautiful lambs, Ebony and Esther (2 months old).

Monday, April 18, 2011

Updated Sheep Portraits

Dora

Cecelia

Dolly, Darcy, Dorcas, and Dixon

Delilah

Dixon

Deena

Daisy

Doris

Hello from Elizabeth!

Elizabeth (35 days old)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Grace Valley Farms Romney Roving For Sale


Grace Valley Farms' first roving is now available! The roving is black with a few silver strands.  Our Romney-cross ewe, Cinnamon, produced this wool as a lamb. When spun, this lofty roving produces a lovely dark chocolate-black yarn. We have not seen any un-dyed Romney or Romney-cross roving this dark on the internet.
 
The introductory price is $2.25 per ounce  (shipping extra).
There are 55 oz of Cinnamons's roving available.


SOLD OUT ! Thank you !


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Heidi's Premie Lamb

Early on the morning of March 19th, Heidi, delivered her twin lambs. She was due on April 1st, so we were somewhat surprised when she delivered 13 days early.  As a result of Heidi's premature delivery, only one of her two lambs survived.  The remaining lamb, Eileen, was weak and slightly under-developed.  In the picture, below, Emily is holding 2-day old Eileen.


For the first few days, we kept baby Eileen in a separate pen right next to Heidi.  Eileen had difficulty standing on her own and Heidi was anxious for her baby to be up.  Heidi would paw at Eileen with her hoof, trying to make Eileen stand up and nurse.  Although Heidi had good intentions, her pawing was hard on her premie lamb.  Several times each day, one of us would hold Heidi so little Eileen could nurse.  The rest of the day they were next door to each other;  we allowed them to smell each other so they wouldn't forget!

Heidi and Eileen (10 days old)
After the first few days, Eileen really took off.  She could stand by herself and nurse on her own.  Mother and daughter were united! 

Now at 2 weeks old, she is doing fantastic!   She runs and jumps around her pen on high speed. Heidi is a strong milk-producer, so Eileen has all she wants. Sometimes it looks like Eileen has swallowed a ball ... her belly is so full!  She and Heidi are both looking forward to joining the rest of the mamas and lambs soon!