Sheep and Lambs

Continued from here.....

...so I left Indy and drove to a small town outside Lexington, KY where The Crazy Sheep Lady (Sara) and her sainted husband Tim live along with a small mixed flock of sheep, a  horse, dogs, cats & chickens.  I'd guess I've been reading Sara's blog for about 10 years.  She takes great candid photos around the farm, knits (and re-knits) amazing sweaters, spins yarn from her own sheep, paints, felts, herds neighbors wayward sheep, helps with lambing at Final Frontier Farm in Paris, KY and who knows what else :D    Needless to say I am very grateful she was so accommodating to take time out of her day to show me around her place and take me over to FFF to snorgle lambs:D


First stop - the barn.  I had brought a box of Cheerios and some Animal Crackers to treat the sheep (and dogs) but Sara was wise to remind me that those are ingredients for a Sheep Stampede so I left them in a safe place to start.

This is Kaala, a Clun Forest sheep (left) and Tabitha (right) is a Jacob.  They were shy.

Kaala and Tabitha

The Clun Forest is a breed of domestic sheep originating from the area surrounding the Clun Forest in Shropshire, England. Similar to many of the British breeds of upland sheep, Clun Forest are hardy, adaptable, good foragers, and are long–lived. Wikipedia
The Jacob is a British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald—dark-colored with areas of white wool and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns but they can have as many as six. Wikipedia

Tabitha has five.

This little Darlin' is Crazy Maisie.  She is a 'special' ewe with plenty of attitude.

Crazy Maisie

After years of reading Sara's blog this was as close as I was prepared to get unsupervised and unguarded :D

This here is my new friend Jared.  He came right out of the barn and insisted on hugs and scratching.  No bribery was needed.  He was a perfect gentleman,  so sweet!

Jared

I just love Rebecca Boone's dreadlocks.

Rebecca Boone

Frankie is a relatively new addition to the farm.  I believe he is a Standardbred gelding about 3 years old.  

Frankie

Isn't that a beautiful view!?

This is Hank.  Livestock Guardian Dog.  A Sheeps best friend.

LGD Hank, Great Pyrenees/Maremma cross

He barked when I walked up the drive just to let his people know there was someone new around.  All his sheep were in the barn napping so he was cool.  Very sweet but he has a very important job so he just checked me out and then went back to work.

Sara found me a safe place where the sheep couldn't trample me and I handed out handfuls of Cheerios to those that liked them and Animal Crackers to those with a sweet tooth.  I never knew that sheep had certain tastes.  Sara said some like salty treats while others prefer sweet.  Who would have thunk it?

After an hour or so we started out to Lamb Camp at Final Frontier Farm in Paris, KY.  But before we got there Sara saw a neighbors sheep where they shouldn't be...in the front yard!  She called the neighbor to be sure the sheep were not supposed to be there and we turned around to go round them up.  This was made extremely easy by Jessie the Border Collie and Sara's ability to direct the dog. I watched :)  In less than a minute we were back on the road.  

Final Frontier Farm has a flock of some 250 sheep but during lambing season they separate the pregnant ewes to another piece of land where they can relax and be watched carefully.  Sara helps with the lambing as needed.  Some ewes are better mothers than others and she has been known to adopt a bottle lamb or one with special needs and raise them with her flock.  There might be one going home with her this year. :0

This mama was keeping a very close eye on me.  Look at that baby!!!!  How adorable is that??!

Mama and day old lamb at Final Frontier Farm

This ram lamb has been dubbed Mini Moose.  He has the most adorable white 'X' across his face.  He was so relaxed.  Not bothered at all to be held by some strange human.

5 day old ram lamb - Final Frontier Farm

They keep the newborns in a pen with the Mom for a couple days. 

 Then move them to a larger pen with access to the outside for another few days to make sure everyone is doing well.  

Then they turn them out into the big field where the ewes can get some space.

Hello!  Are you new here too?

I had such a great time visiting my family in Indy, attending the spinning workshop in Greencastle, meeting Sara and visiting the farm.  It is such a beautiful area.  If you don't hear from me check my fiber bin, I may have drown :D