On of the nicest things about Shetland sheep is that they ride pretty easily in a dog crate! Maybe not huge full grown rams but certainly young boys and girls… So we were not surprised to see our newest little critter arrive in style, scared and not sure what the HECK was up!
You see, Otis came to us from our friend Rachel, who lives up in Michigan and was the previous owner of our ram Gideon. She felt bad about Gideon and wanted us to have one of her crop of lambs, a ram lamb, to replace him. I told her it was all fine, we had a wonderful group of lambs from Giddy, but she insisted and well, when I saw little Otis, I just knew that he would be a good match for our breeding plans. He is a spotted white and not related to Gideon, so it helps to strengthen our breeding. It also gives me an option for breeding Iris and Emma, who are Harley’s mom and sister. All good. And it give Harley, our ram lamb, a companion in the new ram field.
Otis gets the Windhaven taxi service ride. I tell you, that $15 wheelbarrow has been through the thick and thin of it all here. What a bargain! It has been painted once, but I think it could use another paint job! Rachel brought her son Michael and her daughter Hannah down with her on the ride. We were so excited for them to come and visit as they have never been here! We went up there to get Gideon, so this was fun too, to have a nice lunch and visit, too!
Since we were not quite done with the front pasture and shelter (needed roofing) and it was trying to rain, I thought it was best to bring Otis out into the main flock, out in the back pasture. He would get a chance to check the whole place out and meet everyone. Buttercup, of course, was ready to welcome the little nipper into the group.
Otis was not quite sure about leaving the safety of his little plastic hut. Cody was just as curious as Buttercup and was right there to supervise the new inmate. Finally, Otis decided that he would rather be with the other sheep that he could hear answering his bawling cries… he was just weaned off his mother, so he is having a rough week.
What a handsome little man! He’s the first of our sheep that is really much more white. He has very faint moorit spots, and of course, his lovely blank panda eye marking, but I’m anxious to be able to try my hand at dying his fleece next spring. Most of my ewes are cream colored, or a sort of natural white when all washed up. And of course, with the birth of a bunch of brown lambs, I have three browns now as well! The white fleece is very welcome.
He took a quick gander at the pony and you could tell he had never seen such a HUGE sheep! He immediately dashed around and off to meet the rest of the flock. It was funny how curious, yet leary they were of this new comer. They were really keeping their distance. The angora goats were very very worried about this new critter.
But Bridget broke the ice. She was the last new ewe and I think she remembers how it was to be a single outsider. She came right up to him like she was the herd queen and was all sniffing and touching him. I think she’s picked her gent for the season!
Quickly enough, everyone was around him, checking him out and giving him a good sniff over. He’s about a month younger than our batch of lambs and a month older than Travis, our last little lamb. A good age. He should be old enough to be considered for being a Daddy in the spring.
It was funny to watch him walk around the pasture, bawling for his mom, and most of our sheep following him to see what might happen. Silly sheep. He had a few rough hours, but eventually he settled in. It was Momma Noel that finally set him straight. She came over and roughly head butt him in the side and gave him this thick guttural commandment. Then she grunted and he fell right in behind her and she walked him over to the herd and they all started to graze. I can’t help but think that she told him to “suck it up and start acting like a ram”… time to grow up little buddy!
I just thought this was cute. It’s Emma, Harley and Beulah. Our three lambs that we retained from the 9 born this year. Oh, yes, there is Travis as well. Still not sure if he will stay or if he will go. I think he is going to go with the two ram boys in the front pasture once he’s weaned. He’s a whether, but he’s of their age and it might work out nice to give them all buddies up there. Sheep like a threesome to make a mini flock.
We decided to leave the sheep to make their own pecking order adjustments. Michael wanted to give our Windchime Tree a good climb and off he went! For a four year old, he’s a little monkey boy!!! Of course, Buttercup and Daisy were thrilled to have a little boy to play with!
Isn’t this a cute picture? Buttercup really likes climbing this tree. She’s part monkey as well!
Our goat out on a limb….
A cute picture! A boy and his goat!
It was so nice to have Rachel and her kids visit! Anyone bringing us livestock and stopping for a good visit is always welcome here at Windhaven! (haha) Well, you don’t even have to bring livestock! We just love to have folks come out and visit. We think of this little farm as everyones… we just love when folks want to visit. Anytime… just give us a hollar! We’re usually home…
By the next morning, Otis was part of the flock, perhaps a wee bit of an outsider, but still, pretty much part of the gang. It was fun to watch him walk around and sniff this and that… he has never really seen a pony or a kitty, or much lawn furniture and such. Everything was a new experience!
Soon enough we will have some good watertight, temporary roofing on the man shack and we will seperate Harley and Otis from the girls. I’d like to put Angus and Fergus in there as well, in rotation, to help teach the little rams to be good sheep gentlemen. I’m not sure if it will work though, since Fergus is my master escape artist and Angus thinks he’s in charge of the women. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see on that! But in the meanwhile, we were so glad that Rachel, Hannah and Michael come down on this rainy Thursday afternoon!!! It was such a nice visit!!!
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