Feed Buckets....

NOT just for eating anymore!!

Yes - we had twins!!

Meet Fitz William..

..our newest little ram lamb!

Sadly we had a little ewe lamb that was born dead a few weeks ago. Our herd is a bit lop sided right now as we have 3 ewes and 5 rams!

A Business Card!

I had to create a business card for our sheep to be posted on the Miniature Cheviot Association breeders page. Obviously I used my very favorite picture of Roman.. and just cropped it a bit and added the text!













By the way - Happy December 1st!!! Don't forget to open your first Advent Calender window!

Get Ready to Say...

AWWWWWEEEE!


















This is a Miniature Donkey and foal. Just so adorable!! Don and I looked into getting one of these because of their protective instincts. We thought since we breed Miniature Cheviot Sheep, a Miniature Donkey would be perfect! Many people who have sheep use donkeys and mules since they will fight just about anything. We have had an issue with our sheep head butting the dogs .. and sometimes the dogs get bruised and sore from this. I have not seen it happen in a long time.. but..

Anyway - why don't we have a Miniature donkey you ask???? The PRICE! Lets just say that the smaller they are the MORE they cost!

Name Tags with Style!

Here are some of the sheep. Hi Edwina. Hi Anastacia. Hi little Esme!















I don't know why ..but I am the only one who can tell them apart....unless they are not looking straight at me....




So - because of that...and because the sheep association requires them to be 'ID ed' I had tags like this made for the girls...


...and army type dog tags made for the boys.











Now... I just have to catch them one at a time to adorn them with their new sheep jewelry!

Unsheared to Sheared!

...or - from this...


to this!

I WON FIRST PLACE!!!

..in the photography contest from the Miniature Cheviot Association with this picture~

If you want to see the other entries, go to:
http://www.minicheviot.com/photogaller.html

Oh yeah...what did I win?? A $75 gas card!! Who can't use one (or many) of those!!!

Photo Contest..

The Miniature Cheviot Sheep Association is having a photo contest for it's members. We are members because (duuhhh) this is the breed of sheep that we raise! Anyway - I entered the contest with 3 photos taken of our sheep.. Below are our 3 entries. If you would like to see all of the entries - go to:
http://www.minicheviot.com/photogaller.html

The Saddest Easter Ever...

We were awaiting one more baby lamb and that lamb was born this morning. I was so thrilled and told Don I was going to name it Easter. Easter's Mother, Anastasia had separated herself from the herd and was laying down. This is one ewe who is not very friendly towards us and as to not scare her, we tried to keep our distance. You could tell that she was having contractions as her body tensed up as she pushed. We waited. This part of labor was not to take over an hour unless twins were coming. Enough time had passed so that we were now worried. Don and I cautiously approached Anastasia. She was not as resistant as she normally would be and it only took me a few seconds to understand why. Anastasia was trying to give birth to a dead lamb and she was having a very hard time. Only the baby lambs nose and tongue were visible. The sack was broken and due to the very dark color of the tongue - it was easy to see it was lifeless.

"Oh Don..." I said as my face grimaced.

Don ran upstairs to get some plastic gloves and some lubricant for me. After putting them on, I gently inserted my fingers into the ewe. The lamb felt fully formed, and large. It was in the correct birthing position, but even with contractions, Anastasia could not get it out. I was unable to get my hand in a position to help her.

We went into the barn and found some thin rope. Don fashioned it into a loop with a slip knot at the end. I placed the loop around my fingers and again inserted my hand into the ewe. I gently pushed it up and over the baby's head and tightened it around the neck. I started to gently pull. Anastasia had another contraction with little to no progress. I pulled harder. I pulled again, this time with all of my might. Still with very little progress. Next, while pulling the rope with my right hand, I slipped my left hand into the ewe and grabbed the lambs front leg. Pulling both, it's small perfectly formed head started to emerge from it's Mother. With another 5 minutes of intense pulling, we were able to birth the little boy lamb named Easter.

We buried him by our newly planted pear trees. Don told him that he loved him, even though he never got to know him.

Someone once told me that sheep are born looking for a way to die... I think that I may understand that now.

This is Our Newest...

Baby lamb...a boy whom we have named Hermes....because we figure his wool will make some Great scarves!

Sorry It Took Me So Long...

..to get some good pictures up...but here is Esme and her 2 Mothers!

Meet Esme..

Our newest baby lamb. I will try to get some better pictures as soon as the sun comes out again!

Good News / Bad News

We have 3 ewe's that I know are pregnant. One was so large, I was sure she was carrying twins. Well this morning as Don was feeding, he heard the common deep "Baaaa's" and a little high pitched "baaaaa". He ran over to the sheep paddock to see a tiny lamb standing between the 2 older ewes that we have. Both of them seem to be protecting the lamb. I went out to see the new edition and caught sight of something else. Another small lamb lay dead further down by the fence. So now I am left to wonder...did both ewe's give birth last night or did only one give birth to twins with only one surviving?

On a brighter side, I entered these pictures in a photography contest sponsored by the Miniature Cheviot Sheep Assoc. I hope I win!

Our Sheep

Remember this little angel that we had to bottle feed? If not, his name is Roman and at a time when my husband was quite ill, Roman did wonders for his soul!

Well - Roman grew up..

..but he still thinks of himself as the family dog. Here is waiting to get fed! None of the other sheep stand on the fence and yell at us to bring the food!

This is our herd ram, Ramses.

Roman does not like Ramses and head butts him every chance he gets. Roman is not brave enough to do it from the front yet..so he waits for a chance to do it from behind!

There is a reason Cheviot sheep are called jumping sheep...

..as you can see in this picture as well.

Here is Roman trying to sneak a bite of food before it has been poured into the dishes.

Now they are happy...

Traffic Was SOOOO Bad This Morning..

..that instead of cursing..I decided to make a joke about it!Enlarge this amazing picture to see this herd of sheep!

Merry Christmas!

Meet Lourdes

I was flipping through my blog when I discovered that I have never posted pictures of Lourdes. This is her with her Momma - Isabella.

Lourdes is the 3rd baby lamb born this year on our farm. The first is Roman and the second one died at birth.Lourdes is the smallest and since we are breeding miniature Chevoit's - small is a good thing!

Yeah - It is Fixed!!

Day's ago I received the most loving gift from Vivian. You can find her creative blog on my favorite bloggers list as Viv Out on a Whim! She made Don and I a toy version of Roman the baby lamb and then put him atop a handmade pin cushion! I squealed with joy when I saw him!!

..he looks just like the picture we took of him in the Bluebonnet field!He currently resides on my bedside table. I just can't stop touching him. Thank you Vivian!!! You will probably never know how much your gift meant to us!

A Little Down Time - Chapter 26

Sunday afternoon Don was not feeling well at all. I had planned to take Roman, the baby lamb out into the bluebonnets to get some pictures. As badly as Don felt, he really wanted to go with me. We gathered up the camera, tied a cute brass bell around Roman's neck with a light green ribbon and were off.


About 10 miles from our farm there is a small country road with a beautiful old church...with a stunning field of bluebonnets in front of it. The perfect and safe spot for our pictures!

Here we were able to let Roman loose. He was very timid at first.

He loves to play chase though, so when I started to run...

..he followed. We played chase for a long time..

..until my old body could not take it anymore.

We stopped to rest and had a picnic...well Roman did anyway!

Then, even though he did not feel well, Don could not just stand by without joining in the fun..

He started to jog back and forth..

..and as always, Roman followed, calling out to Don...whom might I add he thinks is his Mommy!

When we were walking back to the truck, Don reflected how Roman just revives his spirit.I just smiled as I nodded in agreement. He is a gift from God. That is for sure!