Baa Baa Black Sheep, it's a wee black Tup!

My only black ewe that is half Jacob, half Scottish Blackface had a nice ram lamb this afternoon.  The ewes seem to be in good rig.  No one looks thin.  Tomorrow is going to be above average in temperature so at least I don't have to worry about the other ewes having problems lambing in the bitter cold.  It seems its in like a lion and out like a lamb for real this March! Tup is a term used by Scots and folks in northern England for a ram.

Mae is no April Fool, Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa ha ha!

Mae had a nice little ewe lamb last night.   Mazzie is her name.

Lambs soon to be........

Finally I can say for sure my ewes are bred.  I was getting a little worried.  I am using a ram I have not used before and this is pretty late but Maggie is making an udder and Nora looks like she is a listing barge with an over sized load.  I think the ewes are all bred.  Three of the four I bred this year are first time mothers so they probably will have singles while Nora will have twins or triplets. I hope that of all them go in a cluster other wise it may not be possible for me to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year.  The Fest. is the first weekend in May. I don't like to leave the very young lambs nor would I ever leave someone else on watch with a pending birth.  If I have to stay home my daughter will go with my husband to man the booth.  One good thing is as we enter April the weather should be better for lambing.  My first lambs last year were born on the 27th of Feb. and the last on the 3rd of April. It looks like I will be starting where I left off last year!  Old Murdo did his job so I am pleased now I can see what this nice young ram can produce!

Soay Sheep on Hirta

Beth Maxwell Boyle took this video of Saint Kilda's Soay Sheep in August of 2007. This is a brief clip of Soay sheep grazing around Village Bay on the Island of Hirta the main island. St Kilda is an isolated archipelago 64 kilometres (40 mi) west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
For more on Soay Sheep follow this link:
http://www.ramshornstudio.com/soay.htm

THE LAMB by William Blake

Little Lamb, who make thee
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, wolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee;
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb
He is meek, and He is mild,
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

William Blake
( 1757 – 1827)

SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE

William Blake was both a print maker and poet the graphic here was drawn by him.

Young Lambs

The spring is coming by a many signs;
The trays are up, the hedges broken down
That fenced the haystack, and the remnant shines
Like some old antique fragment weathered brown.
And where suns peep, in every sheltered place,
The little early buttercups unfold
A glittering star or two - till many trace
The edges of the blackthorn clumps in gold.
And then a little lamb bolts up behind
The hill, and wags his tail to meet the yoe;
And then another, sheltered from the wind,
Lies all his length as dead - and lets me go
Close by, and never stirs, but basking lies,
With legs stretched out as though he could not rise.

John Clare

To an Early Daffodil

Thou yellow trumpeter of laggard Spring!
Thou herald of rich Summer's myriad flowers!
The climbing sun with new recovered powers
Does warm thee into being, through the ring
Of rich, brown earth he woos thee, makes thee fling
Thy green shoots up, inheriting the dowers
Of bending sky and sudden, sweeping showers,
Till ripe and blossoming thou art a thing
To make all nature glad, thou art so gay;
To fill the lonely with a joy untold;
Nodding at every gust of wind to-day,
To-morrow jewelled with raindrops. Always bold
To stand erect, full in the dazzling play
Of April's sun, for thou hast caught his gold.

Amy Lowell ( 1874 -1925)