A First For Hopeful Farm

Today our first shetland mule, Shetland x blue faced leicester, lamb was born. True to the trend this year, it was a ram. He is of course very cute, healthy and up and running with the flock after being born out on pasture. He is black with white sprinkles behind his ears and white frosting on his back, so I am thinking he will be grey. Here he is. Most of the other ewes are about ready to burst at the seams and Nick and Kayla will have their paws full looking after all the little ones.

Springtime at Hopeful Farm

It looks as if the cold weather of the past few weeks has finally past and everything here is starting to green up. We have a new roof on the house, so those spring showers stay outside, not inside. The lambs are out with their moms getting big and fat and my second round of lambs should start arriving in a couple of weeks. Most of these will be shetland BFL crosses and from the size of some of the ewes, it looks as if there will be many multiple births. I have included a photo of a shetland mule purchased from Bill Stearman last year. She has awesome fleece and is just a nice size. Enjoy the pics.

Happy Mothers' Day

I hope all mothers have a great day tomorrow and get spoiled by their offspring. In support of the holiday, I thought I would show more photos of my 4 footed little ones with their hard working moms. I just wormed and put them out on pasture the other day and they are having a great time frolicking outside. I also have a shot of Duncan for Robin. Enjoy your day!

Finally Some Lambs

The event that I most look forward to, after shearing of course, has finally arrived. I always find it a little like Christmas, wondering what my little lambs are going to look like and how many rams to ewes are born. So far four of my girls have lambed, all twins and six of the eight are ram lambs. Most of my moms are first timers and did well. Nick, our livestock guardian, had to care for one lamb who was chilled. He was a tiny litle guy and couldn't keep up with his mom and brother and was out in the rain. When my husband found him, Nick was lying with him. These dogs are worth their wight in gold! Enjoy the pics.