We were surprised in early February with a set of twin Shetland ram lambs. I say surprised because I was expecting them more like April time frame. Shetlands are late season breeders, meaning they normally don’t start cycling until temperatures drop into the 60s for daytime highs, and in our case that wasn’t until mid to late October last fall. I had kept the ram in with them all summer but hadn’t noticed any breeding activity at all. Apparently I missed something.

Two weeks later we had a second set of twin ram lambs. All four boys are doing great, very fat and healthy. It looks like three are dark brown and one is black, but Shetland colors can change up to a year old. One has some frosting on his ears so I’m sure he’ll look a lot different within a few months.

Two of them are friendly and come running when they see me. They love to have their necks scratched and massaged. The other two want nothing to do with me.

So, lambing season 2020 is underway, with lots more babies to come in the next few weeks!

I’m participating in a sheep and wool related Instagram challenge (#wovember2019) and today’s prompt was “memory.” In terms of wool, memory refers to how something made of wool that when stretched, will return to its original shape. Crimpy wool has more memory than less crimpy wool. But I chose to use the common definition of “memory” and that got my mind racing with all kinds of sheepy memories over the last three years, starting with the day we got our first sheep, three beautiful ewe lambs from a farm in East Tennessee.

We had experience with dairy goats and cattle but not sheep, so these three ladies taught us what we needed to know. Mostly that sheep are super easy to care for! We discovered we loved sheep and our starter flock of three has now grown to 29.

Another favorite memory was the first lambs born on our farm. The anticipation was almost unbearable, but the babies finally started coming and our ewes proved to be excellent moms with no help needed from me. I sat in the pasture every day watching those sweet little lambs play.

As I think about my favorite sheep memories, I realize how fortunate we are to be creating memories for our grandchildren on the farm as well. Our oldest granddaughter loves the sheep… playing with the lambs, helping with chores, and even has a little “vet bag” complete with stethescope, thermometer, etc., that she’ll carry around if we’re doctoring anybody. Doesn’t get any cuter than that.

What about you? Do you have any favorite farm memories?

Lambs!

Memories