Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Tennyson's First Lambs of the Season

Above are Winter Sky Kismet's twin moorit ram and black ewe(Deja Vu)sired by Tennyson. I am finding the Tennyson lambs all exhibit a different type of fiber than one sees on the tightly crimped UK lambs or more loosely curled domestic stock. All the lambs have a slightly open curly fleece that is consistent from front to back and very soft down at the skin already, so I am imagining they will develop that fine crimp I so love as they mature into the fall.

The twins below were the latest born to Glenmore Staccato who had a fabulously fleeced dark moorit ram lamb by Tennyson last year. This time she produced a lovely dark moorit ewe lamb--Pianissimo--and a musket ram lamb--Largo. Largo has the softest fiber of any lamb on the farm--like crushed velvet, so we are excited about his prospects.


Winter Sky Halla(a true shaela Kismet daughter from last year)produced a comical black smirslet ram lamb with feet and legs larger than his leaping ambitions. He looks very much like Winter Sky Chrome did as a lamb, so we will see how he shapes up. His name is Astaire.
This is Winter Sky China Silk. The last daughter out of my daughter's pet white ewe Short Tale and sired by Winter Sky Sandstone. We have found crossing Sandstone daughters with Tennyson always produces something nice and Calista is no exception. She is almost a carbon copy of Pianissimo and another dark moorit.

Heights Orion F1 Lambs at Winter Sky


Above is Winter Sky Ready to Run--AFD of 27.4 with an SD of 6.2 and her single krunet moorit ram lamb sired by Heights Orion. His fleece is not as consistent as I'd like to see, but it is very soft and only time will tell if he'll develop into the type of ram we want to use on our farm.
Below is one of triplet rams born to Winter Sky Alafair. She had two lively black rams and one extremely typey moorit ram(unfortunately born dead in the middle of the night)after showing now signs of labor. The black rams have a doglike lamb coat, so once again we wait to see what will develop over time. Alafair's side micron test this year was a very disappointing 30, so she is being culled from the flock.

Wintertime Landslide Lambs

Above is Glenmore Crisp about 12 hours before lambing. Her side micron tests at 21.5 with an SD of 5.4. She is the dam of my daughter's black gulmoget ram Black Forrest who has lambs due by the middle of April. The twin ewe lambs pictured just below are her Landslide lambs born this spring. Both have the type of fiber one only dreams about and a lovely look to them. The moorit lamb is Pavlova. The katmoget lamb is Creme Brulee.
Wintertime Pavlova showing off her "ballerina" form and lustrous lamb fleece at an early age.

Wintertime Creme Brulee emulates her mother in coloration and fiber. She will make a lovely addition to my daughter's growing flock.

Wintertime Ruby and her Landslide daughter Wren. Wren was an unexpected addition to our flock as we didn't believe anyone was cycling mid-October, but she is extremely soft and shows great promise.

Todhill Jericho F1 Lambs at Winter Sky


Winter Sky Calypso--a blettet musket four year old ewe with a mature side micron test of 23.1 had a difficult lambing due to one dead lamb blocking her cervix. Space Cowboy pictured above was born breech and last. He is a heavily spotted light grey katmoget ram with exquisite fiber already and a lovely look to him. He may be Ag/Ab but only time will tell. His triplet sister "Diva" is pictured below. She was the first lamb out as I was finally able to find both her front feet and head and get her past the logjamb. A surprising smirslet fawn katmoget with total attitude in a very small package.


This is Winter Sky Chisenbop. He is out of Winter Sky Chutzpah--a black ewe with some facial markings whose side micron test at three years is 24.3 with an SD of 8.2. His birth was totally uneventful and unwitnessed which is more typical of lambings on our farm.