It has been raining and cold for what seems like weeks, so when today turned out to be gorgeous and 80+ degrees...well...I made a point to be outside. Of course first thing this morning I didn't realize how nice it was...and as I ran out the back door to chase the very bad bad bad lambs back into their pen I was assaulted by a very bright fiery ball in the sky....I felt like a vampire...I screamed, threw my arms up to shield my eyes..cried for my mother..then realized it was just the sun and not some strange earth altering event. I wasn't sure. Really.
This is Annabelle. She's a registered Gloucestershire old spot pig. She looks tired, eh? You want to know why?? Because she has spent much of the day out of her pen. Yeah..another fence "jumper" (ok..she really doesn't "jump")..yay. Luckily she's more like a dog than a pig...in fact she was laying in the long grass and the only reason I found her was because Vella was laying right there with her. I need to get them moved down into the woods where they have plenty of shade...although they're so social I can't really see them staying down there. I guess we'll find out.
Moe and Mop. *sigh*...yes, Mop is getting ready to lick the electric fence. It happens often. He's special.
Two of the lambs...the dark on is a ram...the lighter one is a ewe. I still don't know what color she is. He is black with the gray pattern...see the black fleece and the lighter fleece showing through? She definatly has two copies of the gray gene making her homozygous gray...but I cannot...for the LIFE of me...figure out whether she is black...or moorit (brown). See her legs...they look light brown, yes? those could be just heavy phaelomine (tan or browninsh coloring on white fleece)....because if you look close..you can see the black on the knees....
and closer you can see the brownish fleece..with what looks like black fleece....really ...maybe I should have just chosen white sheep, then I would know for certian what I was getting.
Ruthie's ram...Yuri. He's black gray.
Rita's boy...Yoyo. He's moorit gray.
Yap. He's ...white.
Oh my lovely Yakky (yakov). Is he not gorgeous??? He's got rather big scurs though :( He is ...are you ready for this mouthful?? Moorit/gray Mouflon. Yup. His fleece to to DIE for though....WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE BEEN A GIRL!?!?!. Sorry...had to get that out :)I hope you all are enjoying your summer :)
8 comments:
So what is the plan for their fleece? Will you spin it or have it spun or just sell it? I bet they'd make a beautiful blanket. :) Love your pig. What a cutie. And that is too funny about licking the fence. If I had a calf I am quite sure he would be special, too.
I'd like to have it spun...at least some of it...to get it all done would cost me a valuable body part. If I ever manage it...Ill send you some...I bet you could whip up some warm hats with it!
What are those 2 fluffy looking animals in the first picture?
Maybe the pig was hiding from all the demanding piglets?
I still have never been able to figure out what colour mouflon or moorit is.....notice I used the English spelling of color to associate some high class with tose two odd colour names.
The first pic is lionhead rabbits...from the variety "oops, the 12 year old left the cage door open".
Annie is only 5 months old...no piglets for her yet...next year I hope thats why she's tired though :)
It took me awhile to get the color/patterns straight in my head. In Icelandic's there are only 2 colors...black and brown (which they call moorit...why ? I have no idea...I kinda like it though..*in a hoity toity voice* "my sheep is not brown...he is Mooooooorit" :P The rest (including white which is absence of a pattern) are patterns. Mouflon is a darker head and back with a lighter chest/underbody...badgerface is the opposide...a light back/head with dark chest/underbody. Gray can show up anywhere...it's basically when the underwool (thel) of the body is white and the outer wool (tog) is either moorit or black. ANd gray-mouflon..which is like the mouflon pattern...but the colored body has the white thel underneath. Then of course the sheep is either spotted or not...and the patterns can double up and show up together...
Ok...maybe that is a little more complicated than i intended....:P LOL
Oh gawd, you are so hilarious, Stace...and such a drama queen! ;D
I forget: do you spin your own yarn? I'd love to try it again one day...I wasn't very skilled using a drop spindle though.
I would "like" to spin...but I don't think I have the patience for drop spindles...I tried...and got bored...a spinning wheel might be different...I don't know...I seem to excel at jobs that are mindless and repetitive. It's why I enjoy mowing the lawn..It's my time and I can let my mind wander. I think when I do get a crop of fleece that is good enough to be processed, Ill have some of it spun and some of it turned into roving...so I can practice spinning. Hopefully I find some joy in it...I mean, what kind of shepherd would I be if I hated working with wool?!?!?
Thanks for the colouring lesson, since my sheep are a hybrid of Icelandic's I need to know this kind of stuff.
What kind of shepherd indeed?? LOL! As if you didn't have enough stuff to do. ;)
Speaking of mowing, we are, very soon...takes dh forever to decide on big purchases...going to finally buy a tractor that I can mow with. We've only had a professional grade walk-behind mower since we moved to our property 13 years ago, and I'm too tiny to work that thing (it scares me). Sooo, I'm gonna play grown-up on our new tractor...and I'll be thinking of you! ;D
Oh and don't post anything for a month because I'm taking a blog-vacay and don't wanna miss any of your wacky adventures. LOL!
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