Sheep are crafty little so and so's and always scheming, I also find them very noisy when they see you they holler for attention.
The day that little compost hatched the sheep were planning a surprise too, this time it was Tuffty, so called because she has a tufty Mohican on her forehead.
Here she is can you see what she has done
No here is another photo
Now you can see the fluffy cowpat in the grass
Yes Tuffty produced a surprise lamb, I went to do the morning feed round and this is what I discovered
Little lamb arrived during the night was already up and feeding and dry and clean.
Tuffty was a first timer and managed all by herself, she was now behaving very smug about the whole thing.
and being the proud mum she showed off her daughter to the other half of the woolly gang who live in the next field.
One of the reasons for getting Hebridean sheep is they come into season in November and you can have a ram run with them all year, I don't think ours read the book properly or someone was playing hooky from school that day.
Then there is Miss Hairy Chest
Like a few of the ladies she decided to undress but she wasn't being elegant about it, she unzipped her fleece down the back and was trailing it everywhere, I took her in hand and plucked her I couldn't get round to her chest area as I was holding her by her handlebar horns at the time.
She just had to sport a hairy chest until shearing.
Which took place a couple of days ago.
Starting with Randy the Ram
Of course we made another discovery during shearing although, I had a suspicion,
Tuffty wasn't the only one who played hooky from sheep school that day.
This young lady having a pee is bagging up and due to deliver any day.
Randy who is pictured here has a lot to answer for, we now know what he was up to during that cold snap we had.
The rest of the woolly gang got sheared the other day too
here is a short video of Odd Job being sheared watched over by the others.
They also have there teeth filed down if needed and a pedicure.
And the result after
Pipe Cleaner Alpacas.
The others are at the back of field lining up for a roll in the dust bath.
Where we were out last weekend, they were sheering the Alpaca's, I was able to tell our grandsons it was OK to tie them down to stop them struggling, and also say what they were having done to their teeth and feet, thanks to the information you put on this blog. Randy lives up to his name!!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an amusing post and just goes to show that we human beings don't always know everything that's going on!
ReplyDeleteI loved your previous post about Little Compost which shows that animals can be reared for meat, eggs etc but can be and deserve to be, treated with compassion during their lives. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Sue.
We let our ram stay with the flock all year as well, and normally the lambs start appearing in mid December, although they were later this year. We leave our sheep to sort out having the lambs themselves although, of course, we do keep an eye on them, which is easily done because we bring them in every night to their barn.
ReplyDeleteDo you sell your alpaca fleece? If so, can you email me. Thanks.
Hope the rest of your sheep have their lambs alright.
Thanks for the pictures and the video. I had no idea that was how alpacas were shorn.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun two posts from you. First Little Compost and now a little Tuffey.
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip
Very interesting about the alpacas! I have to say that I really like the look of the Hebrideans. Many years ago I was a member of the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, and one of the members had a flock of Hebrideans. One month we did a fiber study with the fleece, and I really liked having the chance to work with it.
ReplyDeleteGoodness your life is never dull. You have such an array of animals now and you look after them so well. Congratulations on the new and pending arrivals.
ReplyDelete