Seven New Lambs

We had a lot of new lambs born in the past few days!

On April 2, Sapphire had two HUGE ewe lambs by Nicholai.  The moorit one weighed 12 lbs. at birth and the black one weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz.  That's more than 21 lbs. of lamb she was carrying, which is a lot for a 150 lb. sheep.  But she delivered them unassisted and they are very lively and vigorous.

This one is Xcarlett.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Laurel McGilvery (no web link given).

This one is Xcotia.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Laurel McGilvery (no web link given).

This one is Tsarina's moorit gray ram lamb by Scimitar, also born April 2.  His name is Xander.  This very popular name suggestion was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Carol of Loafkeeper Farm, Elizabeth Brockman (no web link given), Jeanne (no web link given), Molly Bailey of Bailey Girl Five, Stephen Pappas (no web link given), Tika of theyellowjournalist.blogspot.com, Channa of OhSewNice, Cindy of Mommy's Dream Creations,  Laurel McGilvery (no web link given), and Robin of MommyMommyLand.

Another picture of Xander.

Also born on April 2, are Urbana's twins by Nicholai.  Urbana lost her pregnancy last year, so this is her first time being a mom, and she is doing great keeping track of these very active lambs.

The first one is a white ram lamb named Xcaliber.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Laurel McGilvery (no web link given).

 Another photo of Xcaliber.

Urbana's second lamb is a moorit badger spotted ewe lamb named Xabella.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Laurel McGilvery (no web link given).

 Another photo of Xabella.

And a photo of Xabella with mom Urbana and twin Xcaliber.  The ground is sprinkled with petals from our pear tree.

On April 3, Whimsy---a one-winter ewe---had her first lamb:  a white ewe lamb named Xelene.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Laurel McGilvery (no web link given).

Isn't this the cutest face?

One more photo of Xelene, with mom Whimsy.

Last, but not least, on April 4, Tansy had a HUGE (11 lb. 8 oz.) black badger ewe lamb by William.  Seriously, this lamb looks like she's two weeks old already!  When she was romping in the barn, she actually shook the floorboards.

Her name is Xtasy.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Stephen Pappas (no web link given).

 One more of Xtasy.

Here's a look back at our firstborn lamb of the year, Xaq.  He's enormous, and growing so fast!  He's also a real showoff for the camera.  All his pictures end up being closeups, because he has to come investigate everything.

A picture of Xanadu, because I can't resist her adorable spots.

Bush Hogs

Several weeks ago, we asked our neighbor to come "bush hog" our pastures.  We didn't hear from him about it again for a long time, and I was beginning to think he'd forgotten about it.  But this morning---surprise!---he just showed up and started mowing.

I'm pretty excited about it, actually.  We haven't had the money to hire him to do this for a couple of years, and the fields were being taken over by baby cedar trees.  It'll be pretty tight, financially, to pay him to do it now, but if we don't get them mowed soon, they'll eventually get too big to be mowed, and will have to be removed by much more expensive and time-consuming means.

You can see here the one clean swath along the treeline where the tractor has mowed one pass around the field.  Looking better already!

Now look at the beautiful difference, once the job is done:

Unfortunately, mowing the trees doesn't kill them.  They keep growing back.  But I hope that once our neighbor mows the trees down this time, I'll be able to make a bit of progress with other methods of pasture improvements before we need him to mow again.

The plan is to use our own "bush hogs."  I'll put the pigs into small areas of the pasture at a time, to encourage them to root up everything, including the plague of cedar trees.  After they're done, we'll move them to another small area, and will reseed with good grass in the area they just worked over.  If the pigs actually dig up the cedars, that will kill them so they won't come back, and we'll have a much, much more productive pasture.

 Allowing the pigs to dig up certain areas will also (I hope!) disrupt the life cycle of the sheep parasites, allowing the sheep to be healthier and more productive with less dependence on chemical wormers.

Currently, the two sows, Cerridwen and Circe, are doing a fantastic job completely plowing up my main sheep paddock, digging through all the old composted hay and sheep manure.  I don't think many parasites are going to withstand this kind of treatment for long.

The boar, Magick, is in the little front pasture, which was desperately compacted and overrun with weeds after we sold all our horses.  He's making some nice progress, but it's a big job for just one pig.  Soon, when the sows are old enough to breed, they'll go in there and help him.  Before long, there should be litters of piglets to join in the task as well.

Napping Lambs

Playing is hard work.  We need a nap now!

I'll finish jumping over this stick AFTER my nap!

Paris's and Utopia's Lambs

Last night around midnight, Paris had a lamb, then Utopia had a lamb, then Paris had another lamb.  Because of the timing of the births, this gave Paris the distinction of having her twins born in two separate months!

Utopia was already in labor when Paris had her first lamb.  Hearing Paris's lamb cry, Utopia jumped up, thinking that she had already given birth.  It took some convincing to make her understand that it was NOT her lamb and she still had to lie back down and finish what she'd started.  Even after her own lamb was born, she was not entirely sure that Paris's lamb was not hers.

Paris's first lamb was a moorit gray ram.  Except for the very faint silvery shade around his mouth, the gray pattern doesn't show up now, but when his undercoat starts growing in, it will be obvious.

 His name is Xenophon.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by: Laurel McGilvery (no web link given) and Beth from www.cotondogs.net.

His twin sister is a spotted black gray lamb.  Once she gets her gray adult fleece, her spots won't show up very much any more, but she sure looks flashy now.  I love that her ears are both black on the outside and white on the inside!

Her name is Xanadu.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Pat of http://www.patelliottpaintings.co.uk/,  Chris Conrad of http://www.facebook.com/chris.conrad, Carol of Loafkeeper Farm, and Laurel McGilvery (no web link given).

And last but not least, here is Utopia's moorit solid ram lamb.  He may look tiny now, but he is quite stout for his size.  I think he's going to be massive when he grows up.

 His name is Xerxes.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by:  Chris Conrad of http://www.facebook.com/chris.conrad, Carol of Loafkeeper Farm, Tika of theyellowjournalist.blogspot.com, and Skye (no web link given).

Congratulations to all the lamb naming winners.  We're expecting more lambs at any moment, so stay tuned for more photos and name announcements soon!

More Cute Lamb Pics

While taking pictures of the new lamb today, I couldn't resist taking a few more of Xaq and Xoco.  They are getting to the really cute age.

Smile for the camera!

Ulyssia's Lamb: Xolo

Our ewe Ulyssia surprised us yesterday morning by giving birth 4 days early.  She had a single white ram lamb, who was up, dry and fed by the time we discovered him.  Because of the heavy rains predicted, I brought them in for the night, but they are both back out in the pasture again now.

This picture looks like he's yelling, but it was actually a big yawn:

And now, for the results of this round of the Name That Lamb contest!

This lamb's name is Xolo, because that sounds a bit like "solo."  Not only was this lamb a single, he also has a really, really loud voice, and is quite capable of making himself heard even if he is singing solo!  The name was submitted by Carol of Loafkeeper Farm.  Thanks Carol!

Lamb Pics: Xaq & Xoco

Here are a few pictures of Xaq and Xoco (and mom Rowena). The lambs are now 4 days old.

We Have Guinea Hogs!

As if the first lambs of the year weren't exciting enough, we also had some other very important arrivals yesterday:  Our three new Guinea Hogs!

 Guinea Hogs are an extremely rare breed. They are listed as critically endangered by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Because they are smaller sized (150-300 lbs), good foragers, and very docile, they're good for small, homestead-type farms.

I am so excited to be adding these awesome animals to the farm.  By raising them, we will be helping to preserve a critically endangered heritage breed.  In return, they will improve our pastures, root out weeds, till our gardens, and provide us with meat to eat and piglets to sell.

They've only been here 24 hours, and I'm already totally in love.  They are just such happy, confident, charming creatures.  They arrived here after dark last night, and we shuffled them into the pens I'd built---the boy in one pen and the two girls in another, because the girls aren't quite old enough to breed yet.  This morning, they were completely content and peaceful, not at all weirded out to have been suddenly shipped hundreds of miles from home and dropped in a strange place.

When the boar saw me, he grunted a greeting and came right over to say hello.  He had no hesitation to step right up and let me pet him.

He is an absolute delight.  His registered name is Carmine because he was one of the extremely rare piglets who was born red (in what is essentially an all-black breed), and turned black when he grew up.  But we didn't think Carmine was a very "manly" name for a boar, so we're going to call him Magick instead.

He is friendly toward people, polite toward our cats and our rudely barking Pomeranian.  He likes to be petted, and he flops over on his side so you can rub his belly.

When I was rinsing his water dish, he decided to take the opportunity to have an impromptu shower.

The two girls are younger and not quite so confident as Magick, but even so they let me pet them after I scattered a little feed on the ground at my feet.

This one is Cerridwen:

And this one is Circe:

As you can see, we aren't the only ones who are excited about the pigs:

The dog and the cats are a bit unnerved, but for some reason, the sheep are simply awestruck.  It was hilarious to see all the sheep come streaming over to the fence, with such amazed expressions on their faces.  They have no idea what the pigs are, but they loved them instantly!

For more information about the pedigrees of our pigs, click here.

If all goes well, we hope to have our first piglets available for sale by November 2010.  Contact me for more information!