Purplequeenvt in 2026

[purplequeenvt]

I got all 13 boys sheared today. My shoulder is on fire tonight, but they are done. Something broke in my shears when I had just the belly left on the last yearling so I had to pull out my old clippers to finish him.

Everyone got their feet trimmed and CD&T. Some of them are leaner than I’d like them to be, but I’ve pulled them back off their field and I’ll start them on a bit of grain and they’ll plump back up. It’s mainly the Border Leicesters that are too lean. Given that most of them weren’t grained at all this winter, they look good.

Every single one of my rams is a moron, but for whatever reason, they behave themselves remarkably well for shearing. Even the little boys that were never sheared before.

The big Shetland boys horns don’t fit through the head gate so we had to make do.



Their heads don’t fit well in the other headpiece either. Snap and Burr where both able to be sheared tied like Snap is above. I actually did most of Burr with him standing on the ground with the halter dragging. I only put in him on the stand when he woke up for a second and realized there was a Border Collie staring at him.

 

[purplequeenvt]

I might be making a trip to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival next month.

My sister organizes the Youth Conservationist Program where sheep breeders can donate a registered yearling ewe to the program, youth apply (I think there’s some kind of essay or similar involved) for their top 2 breed choices and the breeders decide which youth receives their ewe. The sheep and kids meet up at the MD Sheep and Wool fest.

https://sheepandwool.org/festival/youth-conservationist-program/

Anyway, there were 2 girls that applied for Shetlands, but there was only 1 Shetland donated. The girls are cousins and are doing this sheep project together. My sister posted on a couple Shetland FB pages in search of a 2nd ewe so they could both get one. I offered one of my yearlings, but she found one closer to MD and said she didn’t need one from me.

She texted me the next day to say “you can still come and bring the girls a ram”.

I do have a selection of yearling rams that I grew out over the winter and there’s one in particular that I think will mature into a really nice ram. He’s got a beautifully soft, fine fleece and a very wide horn set. I can’t use him as he’s too related to my ewes and I already have a ram with his color/pattern.

I’m just waiting to hear from my sister. She was going to talk to the girls today to make sure they can be set up for a ram. He’s a pretty chill boy for not being handled a lot so I think he’ll be ok for newbies.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Current lambing counts.

Bred ewes: 30 (20 Shetlands, 9 Border Leicesters, 1 Shropshire cross)
Lambed so far: 25 (18 Shetlands, 6 Border Leicesters, 1 Shropshire cross)
Total lambs: 43
Live lambs: 40
Deceased: 3 (all stillborn)

Live lambs
Shetland Lambs: 28
Rams: 12
Ewes: 16
Crossbred Lambs: 12
Rams: 8
Ewes: 4

Shetland Colors/Patterns

Black Based: 16 (8 ewes, 8 rams)
Brown Based: 12 (8 ewes, 4 rams)

Katmoget/Light Badgerface: 8 (5 ewes, 3 rams)
Gulmoget: 5 (2 ewes, 3 rams)
Solid: 15 (9 ewes, 6 rams)
Spotted: 4 (2 ewes, 2 rams)

Spotted lambs are double counted in the other pattern categories since spots are a different gene than pattern.

There are 5 ewes left to go. I’m anticipating 5-8 lambs from them.

 

[Mini Horses]

Those are some serious horns on snap! 13 in one day is a huge "atta girl"!! Only clipping I used to do was for the mini horses and that was at show time. Those are nothing like sheep. So I commend you on that job. It can challenge your back, too.

 

[Baymule]

I am in awe of all that you do with your sheep. While I love the idea of wool sheep, I don't want the reality of them. So I live vicariously through you and your sheep. Same to the wool and the outstanding beautiful things you craft from the wool.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Disappointing/Frustrating morning.

Lise lambed this morning and lost her lamb. She was not looking terribly close to lambing yesterday so I hadn’t penned her up.

Checking back on the cameras (of course she picked the one spot in the barn I couldn’t see), she lambed around midnight, again no obvious signs of labor when I put milk out for the babies around 10.

Her lamb was big, but not that big. I highly suspect that it was breech and aspirated on the way out. It never moved and its mouth and nose were full mucus.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Lise lambed this morning and lost her lamb.

So sorry!

 

[SageHill]

 

[purplequeenvt]

The day ended better than it started, but it was a near tragedy.

Pamina (Border Leicester) had twin girls about 30 minutes ago. I was pretty sure she was going to lamb today when I fed this morning so I checked on her via the cameras a bunch through the day. She didn’t start pushing until a few minutes before I left work tonight. I’m only 15 minutes from work. She started pushing the lamb out right as I got to the house so I ran in and changed. If I had gotten out to the barn 30 seconds later, I don’t think the lamb would have made it. It was impossible to tell if the lamb came out breech or not, but she was still in the sack and I had to wring a lot of fluid out of her to get her going. Once she started breathing though, she started screaming and was full steam ahead.

I honestly wasn’t expecting 2 from Pamina, but I always check just in case and sure enough, there was a 2nd much smaller, but just as fat and feisty as #1. #2 is *almost* too short to nurse, but she just makes it.

Pamina is one of the ewes that had me stressed this year and I wasn’t happy that I didn’t have an accurate lambing date for her. I lost her lamb last year because she had a cleft palate and couldn’t nurse. I checked both her new girls immediately and they’ve got a good suck reflex and their mouths feel normal.

 

[Baymule]

Sorry about the lost lamb. Then here comes twins, both healthy.