Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[BantyChooks]

You have to remmber that in the gamete there is always 50% of the gene that are in the body cells.
Come to Israel I will give you the basics of Mendellyan genetics.

Steady, now, I just barely figgered out how to stick the letters in the boxes... Hard stuff later, eh

 

[CanuckBock]

Yah...

Peanut is lambing! Coupla days over (due on eighth, tis the tenth)...SO do I get my wish fur a boy?? DO ever hope so.

​

Gotta go. Left camera at Ewe Barn...

Whee hee hee...

 

[drumstick diva]

OH no, you left the camera at Ewe Barn. I hope the girls aren't taking selfies with it.

 

[CanuckBock]

OH no, you left the camera at Ewe Barn. I hope the girls aren't taking selfies with it.

Dang it all, was not quick enough back to the barn...and jest lookit the results!!

Emmy and the newest Boy!!​

Lacy greeting the newest Boy!

And who is this one...Greeted by the girls???

Tis the newest Girl (and she looks to be pretty happy!)!!


​

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

So yuppers...got our wishes granted...we are ever SO blessed!

Lambing jug all ready...and, and, and
waiting on the lambs to decide their time of arrival!

Not the only one waiting...Snickers was in the barn with Peanut
Being a flock animal, she was there for cheering and her turn is next now
So? Maybe she was taking notes for her time? ​

Last night I went to the barn three times...once at ten, once at midnight and once at 04:30 ... Peanut was lambing but the jugs were ready for it.

At 11 a.m., I knew Peanut was about to bust up...she was circling, pawing up her bed...so went back to the house to get a pail of hot soapy water and my lambing kit...sure enough! I came back to see this...wondrous sight!

First to be born, the girl!!​

Was not quick enough. Got back and the girl was there...Good job Peanut...

Next one please...

The boy!
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Glad I was not really needed, but I got to see the whole lambing of the little man lamb.

The girl has a woolly coat and the boy has a hair coat
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It has been a VERY rainy day--rainy rain rains...cold humidity so I donned little coats on the lambs until they fully dried off and both had bellies fulla colostrum. See Peanut shaking like a dawg, not cold, getting herself all free of all that stuck to her bedding.

<green fur girl / orange fur boy>

Boy on left and girl on right - dried off and sans coats
Navels have been coated 3x's in gentle iodine

One happy JOYOUS day, eh!
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The girl lamb has only a few whisps of white hair on her head, her brother has a cutester white dotty dot. Could not be happier with the outcome...did I say, EVER so blessed...we are!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Both lambs are eight pounds (my, my...BIG lambs in my mind...my son was nine pounds and I did not have TWINS like Peanut did).

Got them all measured up and they are the same size. What amazes me is Peanut was carrying SIXTEEN pounds of baby and they grew that big in a mere five months...sheesh!

Happy too the twins are so evenly matched out. Not one bigger than the other but both the same. Marvelous.

Laughed - here is the proud Poppa...rubbing his butt​

Gonna need to watch that Girl...she is right there beside Momma, learning how to be a Dorper...eating alfalfa, or at least checking it out. Peanut has drunk five gallons of water...every time I go check on her, she needs her water topped up.

Peanut is an extra great Mom, if one of the lambs lays where they might get trodded on, Peanut paws at the lamb. Note where the boy is...under the mineral bucket--carefully tucked in a corner safe and sound.

Went back out (left camera in house) and checked on them and all are doing well. Blows my mind how much energy these newborns have. Already see them bouncing about with life. Lively life...I hope all remains well and we can let Peanut and the gang out on the pasture in a few days pending whether it keeps storming or not.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[drumstick diva]

Congratulations Tara, just what you were hoping for
You mentioned the boy is a hair sheep, will that still fit in with your breeding plans.? the babies are cute as the dickens, and how sweet the girls had to check them out. Great doggies!!

 

[CanuckBock]

Congratulations Tara, just what you were hoping for
You mentioned the boy is a hair sheep, will that still fit in with your breeding plans.? the babies are cute as the dickens, and how sweet the girls had to check them out. Great doggies!!

Thank you DD...we are ever so happy! EVER!

Yes, the girl dogs were great doggies...smelling their newest stock...stock dogs, getting to know THEIR sheeps...good dogs!

I wanted males, from Snickers AND Peanut...poor Boss Man...the ONLY boy sheep on the place. He needs friends, BOYS, MALES to belch, scratch yer butt with (see that photo...too cute!), talk boy talk and just be a MAN with. He needs company and while I have his barn near the girls, he cannot be housed daily with girls, especially this breed that can be bred any time of the year. I don't want random lambs, particularly here in the dead of winter or the deep heat of summer either. Not in my breeding plans fur now at least...LOL

So we got a pair of fine big healthy twins...a boy & a girl...how marvelous. But would I have asked or even thought the ultimate criterion would be met with this first birthing and breedings by Boss Man...absolutely NOT. It would have been greedy to even think of what this boy has brought to our flock here! Greedy!


The clincher with the Dorpers...why did I switch breeds from Jacobs to the Dorpers?

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorper

The Dorper is an easy-care animal that produces a short, light coat of wool and hair that is shed in late spring and summer.

Simply because "I was under the impression" they were a hair breed of sheep...SO, that meant I was not adding to the over 800 pounds of Jacob wool I have stored in the Hay & Straw barn...that I did not have to SHEAR them every year like the Jacobs...ah but that was the roux...this mythological shedding hair Dorper...Snickers does as does Duro...so of the original seven Dorpers, I do have TWO that fully shed. Lose their coverings with no intervention from shears or clippers...

I had first chosen Dorpers originally as THE sheep I wanted but as a first time sheep owner...I could NEVER justify the cost of this breed. What if we got them and I HATED SHEEP? That would have been a terrible mistake in my mind and a financially costly one too...for a hobby, for a hobby with no expectations of profits!

So yes, when I picked out my Dorpers, I was a newbie to this, ahem...do I call it a lie??

I know I as not going to leave the Dorpers with this thick covering...I itch just thinking about it...so I had to buy clippers and CLIP some of the Dorpers...learn a new skill and squeeze it into an already full roster of things to do during this time of year!!!

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A task I have to do during the busiest time of the year for us...planting, hatching, birthing, etc. I changed breeds of sheep because I did not have to SHEAR them...but so many producers have ignored the trait of full shedding (and read that...I said FULL Shedding!) plus a host of other traits I personally have not ignored wanting.

I have yet to see (until now!) with my very own eyes...a Dorper MALE that has a hair coat...a shedding hair coat, like a dog has!

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Now I have seen a male lamb born with a hair coat and I & watch to see if this ram retains the hair coat he was born with and to see if he will throw this trait when bred to other ewes here...I am THRILLed beyond imagination...this ram lamb has a hair coat, he has a fully black face 9with a(

Snickers has a hair coat and she is due to lamb next. She is also bred to Boss Man...who threw to Peanut a HAIR coated male Dorper. Will we see Snickers (who is a hair coated Dorper ewe) have hair babes too? I don't know, I don't hope, but I do ponder how blessed we shall be.

So what did we get in this boy lamb...???

We got a fully black face - no white...I want to look at a Dorper face and not see white --fully black, not a huge characteristic but it IS a breed feature...black and white sheep...black pigment in certain places! This boy has a cute white dot on his head and this white on the poll, that is fine for the breed. These areas with black are in the breed standard, not absolutely mandatory...but you guys all know my infatuation with colour patterns and what should be and should not be even in poultry. I won't look a gift horse in the mouth and scream "Treachery!" but I do like a fully black face on a Black headed Dorper!

We got a nice big lamb - eight pounds! The average Dorper twin is about 3.48 to 3.37 kg, so eight pounds is 3.628 kg...so nice size for twin Dorpers and Peanut made them same size and weigh...not one stunted over another...so good. No added grain was fed to produce these nice sized lambs either...just good forage and good water, mineral and TLC. Peanut also has strong bone, so will see as these two grow up...are they gonna have nice skeletons, good solid frames to hang meat off of?

We got all healthy so far...

And we got a hair coat I am going to enjoy watching, learning and understanding from.

WE GOT IT ALL DD!

Our wish list for a breeding lamb was for fully black face, big animal and a fully shedding hair coat!! The bonus, we produced him right here at home...no need to risk our biosecurity bringing that in. This boy has it...has it big time!

Thrilled and blessed...joyous and thankful. Now for Snickers to bless us with whatever will be, will be.

Does that reassure you as to how very welcome this boy lamb is...with the HAIR coat??

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

The twins ​

Another day in Pear-A-Dice draws to a close.

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The twins are meeting members of the flock. This is Snickers who is due on the twelfth...she shares the Ewe Barn with them...her time soon enough!

Interesting how both lambs have been trying out Momma's food

Note the stink eye look from Peanut...
I am being watched to make sure I am not harming the babies!

I can take clicks...

"Hey! She's clicking yet more pics of us!"

But even the babies are keeping themselves under wraps...

"How many is too many??"

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Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Bunnylady]

Gee, Tara, if I didn't know better, I might think you were happy about those lambs.

An easy birthing, a beautiful pair of lambs, and a boy showing lots of promise . . . "challenges" may build character, but there's a lot to be said for the deep pleasure of everything going right!

Congratulations on two adorable babies, and that things go just as well with Snickers.