purplequeenvt - Ivy Knoll Farm

[purplequeenvt]

X008 looks like a puppet with the face markings like that. It's odd.

It does look a little strange, but it is a desirable pattern (people like patterns!) and she is so sweet. The Shetland lambs are all really huggable.

We had 2 more lambs tonight. Babette (Buttercup's mother) had a ewe and a ram, both black, but the girl has lots of white spots! Finally! I've been wanting a spotted ewe lamb. I thought I had one in Waverly, but the eyelids messed that up. The girl was 9.5 lbs and the boy (Fezzik) was 13 lbs. I had to help deliver both. The girl had just her ankle bent back, but Fezzik had one whole leg back.

I'm going to bed now and I'm praying for rain so I don't have to go into work tomorrow (I work on a local vegetable farm). We can't plant stuff when it is raining due to the clay soil and there isn't enough stuff to be done in the greenhouses to make it worth my time/her money to go in.

 

[purplequeenvt]

I don't know which pciture is cutest!!!! Makes me want to run out an get more chicks, some calves, sheep.....oh where am I gonna put them all? Wonder if I can buy the neighbor's corn field?

This is a rough time of year for me. Way too much cuteness floating around.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Meet #X012 Fezzik and his sister #X011 (the Dread Pirate) Roberta.

Fezzik

Roberta

Here are a couple new pictures of Bridget's baby.

 

[daisychick]

Ok they are all adorable but Bridget's baby is the cutest thing! I love the curls and the adorable face markings.

 

[BarredRockMomma]

When I saw Bridget's baby I had to do a double take, the baby looks like an ewok (sp?)

 

[Mamaboid]

When I saw Bridget's baby I had to do a double take, the baby looks like an ewok (sp?)

LOL...That is the first thing that came out of my mouth. Adorable.

 

[purplequeenvt]

She does look like ewok, doesn't she?

Rosa's babies are a little more cuddly than Bridget's, but Bridget's is so stinkin' cute!

It was dark and drizzly this morning, so I didn't have to go to work, but then it cleared up and was warm and sunny for the rest of the day. Nice huh? I spent the day outside (my uncle was here and helped me too!) shuffling things around so the animals remaining in the paddocks aren't too muddy. I still have to get a fence up for the rams and some of the llamas and one for the horses.

 

[purplequeenvt]

I took some pictures of our crab apple and apple trees this evening. They are in full bloom and beautiful!

I love the color contrast in this one, but I wish it was a little more in focus.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Two more lambs born last night at 11. A ram and a ewe and the ewe is majorly spotted!

#X013 Inigo

#X014 Anita

I managed to sleep until 8:30 (*gasp*) this morning, but I feel so much better as a result. Only 5 more ewes to go! I have to take better pictures of Fezzik and Roberta once their knobby knees straighten up. I guess it was a little snug in there!

 

[purplequeenvt]

We finally have most of the sheep out on grass. We rotational graze using portable electric netting. It usually works well, but this year, our 10-12 year old fences are starting to die. They don't charge very well which means the stupid lambs can get themselves stuck.

This morning, before some of the family headed off to church for the early service, my dad and I went out to move the ewes so we don't have to worry about the lambs while we are gone. Our usually sheep dog, Click, is off at an agility trial, so we had to use Meg.

Now Meg is special. She is almost 9 and she had an "adverse reaction" to her rabies shot when she was 1 or 2. She had seizures very frequently for months following the shot. The seizures then tapered to one every few months. She now hasn't had a seizure in years, but she still has a few wires loose. Before the shot, she was starting her herding training and she was showing some promise. After the shot, she would have seizures whenever she got excited, so she never ended up getting trained. She was just my goofy girl. Starting last year, when we needed an extra paw with the sheep and Click wasn't around, I would put Meg on a long leash and use her that way. It worked ok, but I never would have let her off leash because she would lose her head and scatter the sheep.

I've been using Meg to keep the ducks out of the pool all spring and she has gotten good at listening while trying to work, so this morning when we needed a dog, we used Meg. She did so well! She listened. She only gripped once, but it was a lamb that wasn't obeying her and she grabbed wool only and let go immediately. She kept the sheep were she was supposed to. I'm so proud of my little girl! It has only taken her 9 years to grow up!

Once the large group was relatively contained, Meg decided that her #1 priority was Danny. (He has become even more of my little shadow than he was before. So of course he was standing next to me the whole time.) Meg spent the rest of the time running in circles around me and Danny. *Sigh* Maybe she isn't "all growed up" yet after all.