Ivory

Ivory as a yearling – you’ve come a long way, baby!

Ivory came from Painted Rock Farm along with Mayapple quite a few years ago.  She is the daughter of Puddleduck Cascade – a handsome old ram who sired many nice lambs and has quite a few registered decedents, including Ivory.

Puddleduck Cascade, ivory’s sire.

Ivory is one of those ewes who might not look like much to someone else, but she is one of my favorites – especially when it comes to production. She almost always has beautiful twins and raising them exceedingly well without dropping an ounce of condition herself.

Ire, one of Ivory’s 2013 twin ewes.

Ivory is almost the most obsessive mother I’ve ever seen – if you pick up an Ivory lamb you know almost immediately, because she will come running and stand on your feet until you give it back to her! Even if that lamb is a 3 month old (independent) monster – Ivory will leave her grain and come bawling to have it back.

Ivory and her 2008 twin ewes (she seems to have alot more ewes than rams).

Another interesting fact about Ivory – she has never been wormed before. She is 10 years old this spring and has never looked better – to be honest, I’ve never seen her without her trademark table top back – her lambs always follow suit.

Ivory on pasture in January at 9 years old (almost 10) – looking plump as ever.

If I could clone Ivory, I would have the perfect flock of production ewes – she combines all the traits I think a good breeding ewe (of ANY breed) should have – excellent mothering ability, parasite resistance, heavy milking ability, adaptability and the production of fast growing, quality lambs. And as a bonus, she is a real sweetie – so long as you don’t mess with her lambs 🙂

Mayapple

Jacogin Mayapple is a ewe who came to me from West Virginia. Cheryl from Painted Rock Farm was kind enough to truck Mayapple and two other ewes (Ivory and Isis) the first leg of their journey, to meet me at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Mayapple, and the other ewes from Painted Rock Farm, joined two ewes from Ridgecroft farm in NJ back to Spot Hollow Farm NY.

 

Mayapple first drew my eye because she reminded me of my first ewe, Athena. She was dark, had four nice horns (actually, Mayapple has five horns) and a lot of leg flash. Mayapple also had some interesting lines (including some lilacs) and a very primitive look – including a lovely hock-length tail. However, when Mayapple was delivered to me, she was tail-less! Apparently, shortly before her trip North she narrowly avoided becoming coyote bait, but her tail was less fortunate.

Another thing I love about Mayapple is the lambs she produces! Her first lamb, a ram named Jeb, was a flocksire at Painted Rock for a few years – he had quite an impressive horn set (which is typical for Mayapple).

Jeb, Mayapple’s son at 2 years old.

Another impressive horn set courtesy of Mayapple is the one on baby Susie’s head…

Susie at 8 months old.

Mayapple is one of those ewes who just HAS to have a say in things – in the past 4 years Mayapple has ducked and dodged every ram I have chosen for her and decided her own mate. Last year I put her with a handsome lilac ram, and she jumped the fence the day she came in heat to be with Machiavelli – Susie was one of the resulting lambs, so I’m not complaining 😉

This year, Mayapple finally decided to humor my ram choice – we’ll have to see if I can pick ’em as well as she can…

In addition to her strong preference in boyfriends, Mayapple has another quirk – she is missing a rib. I noticed this the first time I sheared her – I had never seen this before (although I have heard of it), so it was surprising to find under her wool – at first I thought she must have been hurt sometime or another, but upon closer inspection she appeared to have been born that way. It doesn’t seem to stop her from producing lovely lambs every year (and she hasn’t passed this odd trait on yet).

Aphrodite

Aphrodite was born on Valentine’s day, to my first Jacob ewe, Athena. All of Athena’s lambs are named after Greek mythological figures, and since “Aphrodite” is the name of the Greek goddess of love, it made an obvious name choice for a lamb born on Valentine’s day.

  Aphrodite has a very beautiful face, which is also befitting of her name 🙂

This is a picture of the day Aphrodite was born – it was my third lambing (second at my farm), I was almost 14 years old at the time.

Fibre Folds Patrick, Aphrodite’s sire (and my first ram)

Aphrodite was born with a hair type coat (still Jacob-y, just mostly wavy hair), which she outgrew after her first shearing. Almost all of Aphrodite’s lambs have had this very primitive hair type birth fleece and later shed out. I believe Aphrodite got this primitive trait from her sire, as he had a very primitive fleece type – shedding out belly wool partially when left too long and developing a ram beard/mane in the fall.

Aphrodite at one week old – she’s come a long way!

Aphrodite is a very brave and affectionate ewe, often coming right up to see the sheepdog or to ask for ear scratches from me (especially when she is pregnant) – the other day Aphrodite and Kymy the goat were fighting over who got to have their chin scratched first. Aphrodite is also the only ewe on the farm who will jump up like a goat to get the grain bucket. After she jumps up, she hooks her horns into the bucket, and when she falls back down, she takes the bucket (and usually me!) with her. To avoid this, I have learned to carry the bucket over my head when Aphrodite is around 😉

Aphrodite can be quite unladylike at times (feeding time in particular…)

 Aphrodite nursing her twin ewes from 2013 – she is such a good mamma!

Aphrodite is the oldest of Athena’s daughters (there was a single ram and a single ewe before her). Aphrodite turned 8 years old today (Happy Birthday Aphrodite!!!). She is an excellent mother, usually having twins and raising them well on pasture alone.

This year Aphrodite had twin ewe lambs by Kenleigh’s Callaghan:

Eris,

and Atalanta.

They take after their beautiful mother 😉

Chortle

In late 2005, some Jacob breeder friends (Steve and Trish Barrows at Amazing Grace Farm) offered me a couple of bred ewes. They said that they were down sizing and mainly sold meat animals as it was hard to sell breeding stock in the area, but felt that these two ewes deserved to be in a flock producing breeding stock offspring. These two ewes were Fibre Folds Chortle and Fibre Folds Desiree, and when they came to me they were bred to Barking Rock Cooper.

 Chortle, back in the day

Desiree, with Chortle behind her

Chortle lambed the following spring with a single ram lamb – Andy – who went on to be a flocksire for a local Jacob breeder. Like most of Chortle’s lambs, Andy has her almost smirking face markings.

Amazing Grace Andy, Chortle’s first son here.

I’m not sure how Chortle actually got her name, but I like to think its because of the way her face markings make her look like she’s laughing (or chortling!) 🙂

Chortle in the fall of 2007

Chortle is an extremely good mother and has had many beautiful lambs for us. I remember one year, when the flock was in the far pasture at the back of our property, I noticed Chortle and her lamb were in the barnyard area grazing the nonexistent grass instead of being out with the flock. Upon further investigation, I found that Chortle’s ram lamb had a broken leg! Chortle had brought him back from pasture to get my attention to help her lamb. I was able to set the leg and he healed beautifully, the vets came out a few weeks after the cast was off and couldn’t guess which was the “broken” leg 🙂

Banter – Chortle’s broken leg son

Chortle in 2011

Chortle has produced many beautiful lambs for us, including one lilac ewe, Eibhlin (pronounced Ev-lin). She has quite a few descendants in the flock including two daughters, one granddaughter and three great grand daughters. Chortle has offspring in several other flocks as well.

 Eibhlin and her brother, Colby – Chortle’s 2012 lambs

Chortle will be 13 this spring and is still going strong – she had twins this spring and appears to be bred for 2014 lambs.

Chortle, just shy of 13 years old

Lambsicle?!?

 It was around 12 degrees (lower with windchill) when I went out to check the sheep on pasture today, so cold the truck wouldn’t start and the tractor barely started. When I got there nothing seemed out of the ordinary – the ewes came up for their grain and I began to put it out for them, then I heard a ewe down at the bottom of the hill and I looked up and there was Artemis with a new lamb! We were NOT expecting lambs for another couple months, so this was very out  of the ordinary. The new lamb was still damp (and her coat was frozen in places) when I got there, but was running around and had obviously eaten. I looked everywhere to make sure there was not another lambsicle frozen to the ground, with this weather it is to be expected. But I only found the one big healthy baby 🙂

She has a very fuzzy face (its cold out!)

The new lamb is a little ewe, her sire is Chase. She has a very primitive hair “halo” which keeps her warm and safe from the weather, but underneath she has supersoft fleecy curls.

I am very proud to have such hardy girls that they can get away with lambing on pasture with no shelter in the middle of January and still have healthy lambs. Artemis had lambed at the bottom of a hill, where the wind wasn’t so intense. She evidently got the lamb cleaned up and mostly dry before it froze, and she had most of the placenta eaten before I got there. What wasn’t eaten was frozen to the ground – it was so cold it didn’t take long for that to happen. Artemis preformed like a feral ewe would – the placenta eaten to keep predators away and the lamb dry, up and fed despite sub zero temperatures – just how I like my Jacobs 🙂

She is the poster child for Jacob hardiness 🙂 Her coat is covered in icicles, but she is nice and warm anyway.

Artemis had to walk all the way home next to the tractor because it was too cold for the truck to start. She followed her lamb for over a mile down the road. She is such a good momma!

Gabrielle

Gabrielle is a short, stout, 2 horned ewe from New Jersey – the Brink-May flock, specifically. Her full name is Brink-May Lady Gabrielle.

 

Gabrielle was donated by Bob May to the youth conservationist program that is held at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival every year. Each year several rare breeds of ewe lambs are donated by various breeders, these ewe lambs are awarded to the youth whose essays are selected by the breeders. The youth must promise to show the ewe at least twice and to breed the ewe to a registered ram that fall. My essay was selected by Bob May and in 2004 at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival I was presented with Gabrielle. Someday, I’d like to return the favor and donate a Jacob ewe back to the program…

While at the festival, I also purchased a ram lamb named Timber (his horns ended up being too forward and was later culled) to keep Gabrielle company on the way home (he also later sired Gabrielle’s first lamb). After the festival, we stayed over for one more night at our friend Ann’s house with the sheep. Ann graciously offered up her home, lawn and shed for us and our sheep, they were quite a sight in the middle of a suburban neighborhood! We didn’t know Ann before the trip, but I’m so glad we met and I look forward to staying with her and her family every year. Ann and my mother were la leche league leaders together and knew each other over the internet, when Ann heard we needed a place to stay near her, she offered.

Gabrielle had a large single ram lamb by Timber the following spring – he was an overly large ram lamb with huge horn buds and Gabrielle needed a little help. Since then Gabrielle has had many lambs for me and has proven to be a wonderful mother. She is also a very friendly, easygoing ewe, often one of the first to come say “Hi”.

A pair of Gabby’s twins

Her first twin ewe lambs were named Eleanor and Iona, after Ann’s two daughters. Bellow is Iona, one of the twins.

Gabrielle’s body type is more short and squat than you usually see in a primitive type Jacob, but she is an extremely hardy ewe, raising healthy twins on pasture alone while maintaining weight and not needing wormings – in my book that is Jacob-y enough 🙂

Gabrielle this winter – plump on winter pasture at 10 years old

Vanessa

This is Vanessa –

she got her name from the person who gave me my first Jacob sheep.

We got Vanessa in the summer of 2004 in a trade for a ram lamb, along with her sister, Georgia and Georgia’s daughter, Myra. I had seen an ad listing 3 Jacob ewes for sale or trade on the local feed store “For Sale” board – I took the number down and contacted them, thinking that I could trade Victoria’s ram lamb, William (who was too dark to register), for one of their Jacob ewes – if they appeared to meet the breed standard. We went out and looked at the ewes – the 2 older ewes (Vanessa and Georgia) were both 2 horned and appeared to be twin sisters (the owners thought they were, but weren’t sure, as they had bought them from someone else), they also met the breed standard. The third younger ewe (Myra, Georgia’s grown daughter) was almost all black, with 2 strong horns and 2 scurs – she appeared to shed as well. The current owners told me that they would really like to sell of these ewes as they were trying to reduce their numbers, so they offered me all 3 ewes for William, my ram.

Vanessa – the year after we got her.

Georgia, Vanessa’s twin sister (?)

Both Georgia and Vanessa went on to produce many beautiful offspring, all of which fit the breed standard. Myra produced a couple lambs (including a ewe lamb born during hurricane Katrina in the fall), before we lost her to pneumonia. Georgia died of old age a few years ago, but Vanessa is still producing lambs – we estimate her age to be around 14 years old (the previous owners weren’t sure on her age, she was at least 4 when we got her though).

For the past couple years, I’ve tried to keep her from getting bred, and every year she keeps surprising me with yet another lamb…

Vanessa and her 2011 ewe lamb, Anastasia

Vanessa has several daughters and a granddaughter in the flock currently – I hope Vanessa passes on her hardiness, longevity and primitive traits!

Pictured below is one of Vanessa’s daughters, Anastasia, and her daughter (Vanessa’s granddaughter), Kennedy.

Luna

Luna is the next one my list. Luna was given to me as a gift along with a ram lamb named Patrick by Nedra Darnell of Fibre Folds farm. I’m not sure if Nedra still raises Jacobs or not, but I am forever grateful to her for helping me start my Jacob flock.

Luna is a rather odd looking ewe

Luna was added along with Patrick to my breeding program shortly after I lost Athena’s sister, Victoria (that’s another story). I had been looking for another ewe and a ram to add to my flock, and found Nedra – we emailed back and forth for several weeks until I eventually decided on two lambs, a 6 horns ewe lamb named Eanna (Luna) and a ram lamb, Eslan (Patrick). Nedra was so pleased with all of the publicity I was getting Jacob sheep that decided to give the two lambs to me to help me grow my flock. Nedra delivered my lambs, as well as some lambs for Steve and Trish Barrows  (another Jacob breeder in the area) a few weeks later.

Luna got her name because the way her horns were shaped reminded me of a Luna moth’s wings. She has always been a very curious and unafraid ewe – she is the first to come stomping up to the dog to investigate or to ask for food. (her big eye patches remind me of saucer-like spectacles, which seems to fit her curiosity).

 Most of Luna’s lambs have her huge eye patches that almost touch in the middle – just like her.

 

Luna will be 10 this spring – she has been showing gray for awhile now – but she is still in perfect (plump) health and is expecting a lamb(s?) this spring.

Athena, and the Story of the Jacob Sheep

I’ve decided to try and “formally introduce” all of my ewe flock here as time permits (it makes for a great blog filler between lambings!). A lot of my ewes seem to get lost in the flock, and I thought I’d make a point of getting everyone into the spotlight (the lambs usually steal the spotlight – it isn’t fair!), at least for a moment. I think I’m going to work my way through them as they are listed in my flock book, just so I can easily keep track of whose next, even if a long time passes between introduction posts. The first one up is a given – Spot Hollow Athena, my very first sheep, the reason for the rest.

To introduce Athena, I really need to start at the beginning, and to do that I need to explain how I got into Jacobs in the first place…

When I was 12 years old, I had an allergy to cow’s milk, and had wanted to get dairy goats because of this (as well as the fact as it seemed like a good ploy for getting my parents to agree to livestock). Someone over heard this conversation between my mother and I, and offered me some Jacob sheep. At the time I didn’t know what they were, but after many hours of research, I knew I definitely wanted those sheep. The sheep given to me were twin ewe lambs, Athena and Victoria, and a ram lamb, Zach. They were kept at a friends house for their first lambing, as we didn’t have our fences set up yet. The following summer the sheep came home. And the rest is history.

Athena and her twins from 2012

Back to Athena – Athena was my showmanship ewe for many years in 4-H, I spent hours training her (she was NOT a naturally friendly ewe, she was one of those wild broncos), but she has turned into the most wonderful ewe ever. She went to many, many 4-H events for public education, she went to schools and parades, she was used in round robin competitions and as a cloverbud learning tool. She is extremely intelligent, and usually could sense that she should be gentle with children – even on days she was acting up for me, when the children came out, she would calm right down and let them pet her.

In addition to being the most wonderful publicity sheep there ever was, Athena is an outstanding producer and mother as well – usually having large twins with excellent horns, markings and conformation. She is a very protective mother – she once pinned our German Shepard to the tractor for coming NEAR her lamb (20 feet away…).

Athena back in the day (as a yearling)

Almost all of Athena’s daughters are still in the flock as well as one of the only sons she’s ever had (she mostly has ewe lambs). To this date, she has 5 daughters, 1 son and 4 grand babies in the flock. Athena will be 11 this spring and is still going strong – she isn’t showing her age like some of my other older ewes are. Some might look at Athena and think she is too dark, but I find myself comparing all others to her, because she was my first sheep and thus set my “ideal” look. Maybe that’s why the majority of my sheep are darker, have 4 horns and leg spots 🙂

Athena a few weeks ago (almost 11)

This last picture is of Atalanta, a grand daughter of Athena – something about her face reminds me so much of Athena, not necessarily the markings either, maybe its the golden eyes she shares with her grandmother…

As Good a Start As Any!

Recently, we added a new ovine addition to our farm – Katahdin hair sheep. This breed of sheep seems to fit in pretty well with our Jacobs, as they both are very hardy and low maintenance breeds (and they are both often mistaken for goats!). The idea behind this new project is to create a small flock of “out of season” lambing hair ewes (to lamb in June, then January, etc) to produce market lambs year round. They will be bred to Jacob rams, produce meat lambs and won’t need to be sheared (the main reason for my choosing to get these, instead of just keeping more Jacob ewes – in addition to the fact that they are slightly meatier).

 And so I’d like to introduce Gloria,

and the very burdock-y, Kelly.

They are half sister Katahdin ewe lambs from a commercial (unregistered) flock in New York. So far, they are proving to be an interesting addition to the farm – they are unlike “plain white sheep” as well as Jacobs in temperament. Gloria is very curious and already enjoys ear scratches – Kelly is still a little standoff-ish. In addition to their odd behavior, their hair coats are quite a change from my Jacob fleeces – unlike any animal I’ve ever felt, so dense!

Whether this project works as well in my head as it does in real life is still undecided, but I do look forward to comparing them to my Jacobs (as well as having lambs more than once a year!).

More pictures of these new girls, and plenty of other Spot Hollow critters can be seen at our facebook (link at the top right).