Here are more lamb photos all from the month of May.  Danger: major sweetness alert  -- diabetics look away!!


Rio (our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog) with the mamas and babies.

The Micro-lamb became quite a snuggle bunny and was pretty sure that I was his mama.  When we start letting the lambs out in the big pasture, I sit out in my lawn chair with them to keep them out of trouble.  The Micro-lamb pretty much wanted to be in the barn or on my lap all the time.  Otherwise he would scream at me...



Baa! 


Uma and her ewe lambs -- the grey panda and the white one.


It is hard to see the colors in this small photo, but the grey panda's lighter wool is starting to come in.  She has a solid body with only white on her head and the little stripe on the front of her throat.  But if you look to the right of the white throat stripe, you can see lighter (grey) wool growing in.  As a newborn you can often see if it you part the birth coat on the lambs flanks (butt and hips) and look at the roots of the hair shafts.  The grey panda also has a bluish pink tongue.  (It is like a pink tongue of a white lamb that had eaten a grape lollypop.)

Emmi and her white ewe lamb who I nicknamed "Lamb Friend".  Because I spent so much time taking care of her as a weak baby lamb and also milked out her mama's too large left udder for a few weeks while the lamb climbed on me, she stuck to me like glue whenever I went outside.  (More than most bottle lambs I have had.)  It is also because she is Uma's granddaugher and the Uma's line is pretty fearless and almost obnoxiously friendly.  This is both a blessing and a curse as they will come right up to you, but are always in the way and interfering with whatever you are trying to do!!  She stayed this friendly as she has grown up.



Our friend Wendi from Louisiana was up in Rockford, IL, which is 30 to 45 minutes south of our farm,  visiting her grandma.  She brought her son Shepherd (his real name!), who loves animals, up to see the baby lambs.  He lives with big dogs, so he wasn't as overwhelmed as you might think.  Mostly we kept the bigger March-born lambs away from him because they were too pushy.    (Front L>R: Emmi's white ewe lamb, Helmi's 1 brown ram and 2 black wether lambs, and Annika's brown ewe lamb. In back are 2 of Mara's bigger lambs.)  It was all extremely cute.  We guarded his tiny fingers from nibbling lambs and they did fine together otherwise.


One other bit of excitement for the month of May was that I bought a John Deere Gator.  This is an ATV made for farming.  I test drove 3 other brands before deciding on the Gator. None of them were cheap and the small amount of extra money for the Gator was well worth it in maneuverability and smooth ride.  (One of the other models I drove lurched forward and practically took your head off every time you started forward from a stop!)  We were able to get a discount on this one because although it was new, it was the 2008 model year so they wanted to move it out of the store.

It can be switched from 4WD (four wheel drive) for better traction to 2WD for better maneuverability and fuel efficiency.  It also has a bed like a pickup truck so I can haul and dump brush with it.  Ours has the motorized dump bed, though you have to open up the tailgate manually.  It came with the roll bar, but we got the optional soft roof which attaches with velcro for protection from the sun and rain.  (Ours runs off gas, but there is a diesel model also.)  We have used it to haul water since we got it and now (in fall) are using it to haul hay also.  Compared to my previous methods of hauling, a giant wagon and a utility sled -- depending on the season, this is a huge step up and frees more of my time to actually enjoy being with the sheep. I just love it!