More 'Juice' Babies!

Who would have thought that so many ewes would have been bred this early!! My ewes don't normally lamb until April, no matter when I put the rams in. This year, Juice bred 11 of them when I put him in with the flock for a week, before I started my breeding groups.

Here are the latest ...

Above is WillowGarden Jodie Foster. She is out of WillowGarden Tunisia (F3 Jamie, F3 Greyling, F1 Glayva).
This is WillowGarden Geena Davis, out of WillowGarden Chick Pea. Below is her un-named brother.
Below is WillowGarden Daniel Day Lewis. He is out of WillowGarden Grenadine.
Today or tomorrow should be about the last days for additional Juice babies.

One of my smaller breeding groups (V Creek Leo) from last Fall is down to just three ewes NOT bred by Juice!

And Yet Another

WillowGarden Anne Baxter, a black krunet out of Juice ... and WillowGarden Rwanda, a Bramble Nick daughter.

Juice ... Continues His 'Romp' ... ;-)

Well ... Iris, my MOST favourite ewe ... FINALLY gave me more than one lamb at a time! For the past six years, she has singled. This year ... twins.
Meet WillowGarden Kirk Douglas, a spotted grey ram, and Michael Douglas, a spotted (slightly) moorit (mioget, I think) ram.

Hmmm ... that makes EIGHT rams ... and just four ewes. Could this be a 'ram year'?

WillowGarden Juice's Lambs

Last Fall, I had so many wonderful rams that I wanted to use, and only a limited number of secure breeding areas. One of the solutions that I came up with was to put a favourite ram lamb of mine in with the entire flock for a few days ... ahead of breeding groups.

The ram I chose was WillowGarden Juice. Juice is grey, and had a decent (not exceptional) histogram. What I liked most about him is that he is linebred on Enfield Greyling, my favourite UK ram. His sire is Lugthart Starry Champion AI. His Dam is a Great Plains William the Conqueror AI daughter. Juice has 37.5% Greyling genetics.

Juice's dam also goes back to Bitterroot Joshua. I liked Joshua a lot, especially for his conformation and fleece lock structure.
Juice was in with the flock for just seven days, but he was a BUSY boy ... :-) So far, six ewes have given birth to his lambs, with a few more looking imminent.
These tiny lambs are out of WillowGarden Papaya. Papaya is almost 100% Dailley lines, very soft and even, and a wonderful modified colour. WillowGarden Liza Minnelli (3.4 lb) is moorit. WillowGarden Leslie Howard (3.9 lb) is black. Both look to be Aa/Aa. It is too early to be sure that they are modified colours.
This little tank of a lamb, WillowGarden Jose Ferrer (7.4 lb) is a moorit (likely modified) ram out of WillowGarden Tootsie Roll. Tootsie Roll is an F2 Brent horned ewe. She has a much more primitive fleece than I like, but this guy looks to have nailed fleece ... :-)
WillowGarden Dustin Hoffman (7.4 lb) is a white ram out of WillowGarden Lake Victoria. Victoria is F2 Lightning and F1 Todhill Hornblower making her 75% UK genetics. She appears black, but is extension dominant and really white. I like this guy a lot. He is either Awt/Ag or Awt/Aa.
WillowGarden Lionel Barrymore (5.9) is a fawn (modified) spotted katmoget ram out of WillowGarden Chocolatini (Underhill Thelonius Monk X SheltrgPines Irene). He has an awesome looking, even fleece. There is no visible britch yet. Thelonius' main fault in my opinion was a larger than I like britch.
This little guy is out of Wind Water Rogue. I am keeping Rogue for my friend Shawna Grey, while she gets fences up at her new farm. This ram lamb has a very uneven fleece that is already obviously double coated, with a much coarser outer coat. He has no official name and is simply known as 'Chops' at the moment.
WillowGarden Joan Fontaine (6.3 lb) is a black ewe lamb out of Great Plains Tulip (F2 Jamie, F2 Greyling). She is lovely and refined.
WillowGarden Helen Hayes is as nice as her twin, Joan Fontaine, but is Ag. Tulip is fawn Ag and has thrown many modified lambs. These two may thus be modified colours as well.

There may still be more Juice lambs to come. We'll see. I have a LOT of really big ewes looking ready to explode and my main breeding groups are still 10 or 11 days away from their due dates!

Farmer Anna

My good friends Neil and Don come to visit and hang out during lambing each year. Two years ago, I had a bunch of yarn hanging around, which Don bought for his Mom to use.

Last year when Neil and Don came to visit, they brought a sweater that Don's Mom had made for my grandchildren. I decided that once they were big enough, I'd have them wear it when they can to visit and wanted to help feed sheep.
Anna wore it last weekend when she was here for a sleep over with Grandpa, Pete, and the sheep.

She looks quite stylish in the sweater ... with her new rubber boots, doesn't she? ... hehehe

Gene - a Health Update

Gene has bladder cancer. He found out near the end of November. At the time, I did some internet searching and discovered that this type of cancer has an 85% success rate for full recovery (no sign of cancer after 5 years).

Gene has not been so lucky. We found out last Wednesday that the cancer has spread to his lungs and his liver. He has lost a LOT of weight already (down to 155 pounds from 185-195). He is weak, but positive.

He spent a few days in the Picton Hospital getting blood, as his hemoglobin was VERY low. After 7 units he was sent home. His sister is coming in from MA tomorrow to be with him for two weeks while he goes through more tests and appointments.

Gene has a wonderfully upbeat attitude and approach to things at the moment. If anyone would like his email address or snail mail address to sent words of encouragement ... email me privately.


Prayers help as well. I hope. I pray a lot these days.