Saturday, April 28, 2012

Lambs, lambs, lambs

First, I love this-- it looks like Holstein cows grazing on our flat Minnesota pastures-- only it's two spotted Finnsheep.  Mom, Kora, is on the right and daughter Nappylainen is on the left.  Both produced lambs this past week.  Kora had mostly-black twins, a boy and girl, big and healthy-- and Nappy produced a big healthy ram lamb.  Hers has more spottedness-- but nothing like the moms' spots.   First year Finns often have singles, but after that, it's twins, triplets, quads, and sometimes, more.
Remember to double click on photos to show those lambs' amazing cuteness up close...

A few photos of Mari, the white Finnsheep, and her badgerfaced ewe lamb and black HST ram lamb:  The badgerface girl is going to Missouri, but the boy hasn't been promised anywhere, yet.  Both appear to have wonderful wool coming.  Both are big, healthy twins.  Last year Mari had triplets.  One each brown, black and white lambs.

2 comments:

Nancy K. said...

You're right. Those spotted Finn ewes do look like a couple of Holsteins grazing! They look like very nice sheep. Are the lambs born short-tailed? They're fleece looks YUMMY! How would you compare it to Shetland?

Gail V said...

Short tailed, yes. GREAT fleece, finer and crimpy. Easily felted, sometimes on the sheep, none so this year. Much higher demand for it than Shetland, but scarcity is a factor. The sheep: Sweeter, bigger, milder temperaments than most Shetlands, though much more susceptible to parasites and more lamb losses due to multiples.