Regular readers of this blog will remember the three-part series of posts I put up in March 2011 to introduce the new fleece colors and patterns that resulted from adding two new rams to our breeding program: Mustard and Norris. Both of these rams lived in Wales at the time, but they donated their sperm […]
Clarification: two of the smartest people I know read this post and did not understand what is necessary to make a graft/adoption work when Ewe A has lost a lamb and Ewe B is rejecting her lamb. Ewe A will only adopt Ewe B’s lamb if it smells like Ewe A’s dead lamb. You can […]
One of the few vexing behaviors of Soay sheep is the tendency of a first-born Soay twin to be temporarily “adopted” by a meddlesome “aunt,” another ewe who has not yet lambed but whose hormones are starting to kick in. Let me explain. It is not uncommon for pregnant ewes to be very curious about […]
Remember two years ago when we had a teeny lamb weighing only 1 pound 15 ounces? We could not resist naming him “Saltmarsh Peanut,” and Peanut he is to this day. By way of reminder, here he is in Steve’s hands a few hours after he was born: Although lambing has begun in earnest for […]
I just realized Emmett — our ram who illustrates the physical changes in rut so well — will be cycling off the front page the next time I put up something about lambing. Before he disappears into the annals of blog history, I wanted to share one more photo of him … well, not really […]