Cedar Pond's Mahlon Has A Ram Lamb

 This little ram lamb is the son of Cedar Pond's Mahlon and Puddleduck Jonas. He was born 3/3/2017.

 My 6 horned ewe Mahlon had a ram lamb. He's so cute ! My granddaughters were over this past weekend and were happy to hold my little bundles of spots.

I love lambing season.

Cedar Pond's Inga Has Twins !

 Cedar Pond's Inga had twin ewe lambs 2/26/2017.

 Inga is a very good mama and her twins are both healthy and thriving.

 Two of my granddaughters were over this past weekend and decided to name the twins.

 This lamb is Ivy ,

and her sister is Iris.

Too Many Rams !

 This past breeding season my ewes produced some fantastic lambs , and my ram lambs are gorgeous! Usually I castrate the ram lambs so we don't have to deal with too many rams because anyone who keeps sheep knows dealing with just one ram is plenty. These lambs are too nice looking to wether ( castrate) so in spite of already having 2 adult rams we decided to keep them intact and chose one ram lamb for ourselves. We named this trio too. The front and center ram is Gustav, the ram to his back right is Magnus, and the ram we're keeping is back left, Tolkein.

 Gustav is for sale. He is a twin and has 4 horns. His mother is Cedar Pond's Gudrid and his father is Puddleduck Jonas. He sells for $200.00.

 This is Magnus, his mother is Cedar Pond's Mahlion and his father is also Puddleduck Jonas. He sells for $200.00.

The rams' J.S.B.A. ( Jacob Sheep Breeder's Assoc.) registration is pending. Both rams were born this past spring and ready to begin breeding. And boy are they ready ! If you're interested in either of the rams leave a comment.

New Lambs , Good Mamas !

 First born lamb of 2015 ( February 12, 2015 ). He is a fine ram lamb from Bide-A-Wee Buttercup & Cedar Pond's Goth. I am hoping his horns turn out well balanced because Buttercup is getting older and I'd love to keep a ram lamb from her and the lamb's father, Goth.

 Buttercup & her newborn ram lamb.

 The same morning Cedar Pond's Sassafras gave birth to a ewe lamb. The last 2 years she gave birth to twins, but Sassafras is getting older and her ewe lamb is a bit tinier than I expected given the girth Sassafras was sporting before she lambed. In spite of how tiny this lamb is, she is very healthy. This lamb is also sired by Goth. Goth is getting old too, and I am hoping there is a lamb sired by him worthy of keeping for my future generations of Jacob Sheep.

 Sassafras was a very diligent mom, licking & licking her lamb to clean off the afterbirth. This also bonds the mama and her lamb. This little lamb was nursing her mama very quickly , a good thing for lambs, and all newborns. The first milk any mama produces gives newborns colostrum that provides not only the newborn her necessary  nutrition, but the anti-bodies the little lamb needs for a good start in life. ( ALL newborns of all mammal species need this ! ) Ideally this happens within the first hour for optimum benefit. If I discover a mama has not been able to suckle her lamb within the first 2 hours I will milk the mama and feed the lamb the needed colostrum , giving the lamb a boost and increasing the chances the lamb will thrive.

Sassafras was not happy with me so close to her and her new lamb. She put herself in between me and the lamb , blocking any contact and any more pictures. I love knowing my mama sheep are good and protective mamas. That is the way God made them. And really, would YOU want to challenge a very protective mama with horns ?

Help ! I'm Tangled And I Can't Get Up ! ( Poor Goth )

 Poor Goth...

 ... he is tangled up in his own horns again, and with an audience in the background this must be humbling for a big strong ram !

 See how his right leg is caught up in the curl of his horn ?

 When we go to help him he hobbles up and around as quickly as a 3 legged ram is able to , which is not very fast at all.

Poor Goth ! It is easy to catch him and disentangle his foot and horn but this is an ongoing problem for him. I don't foresee it not being a problem the rest of his life because the horn is curling ever more making it a perfect snare for his foot , which I believe becomes tangled when Goth sleeps at night. All the more reason so many farmers over the years have polled ( hornless ) animals because keeping animals with horns requires extra management and safety precautions. We love Goth and hope he dies of old age here on Cedar Pond though, so we don't mind the extra management But...poor Goth !

First Snow Of The Season ~ Jacob Sheep

Our first real snow of the season.The sheep were licking the snow, but otherwise, it did not seem to phase them. And why should it? They are wearing their wool coats, bring on the snow !

Bide A Wee Chicory For Sale

Chicory. My husband and I drove to the home of the Bide-a-wee Flock in Oregon a few years ago and bought Chicory & Buttercup from Karen Lobb & Doug Montgomery. Chicory and Buttercup have a truly amazing pedigree ,their father is from the Butter Island, Maine flock which is a very interesting story I'll not relate here. Check out the JSBA newsletters .
Bide A Wee Chicory is for sale. She is a wonderful ewe. I am keeping her sister, Bide A Wee Buttercup. Chicory has an amazing pedigree. She gave birth to twin ram lambs this year and is a wonderful mother. Chicory would be a great addition to any flock. To view her pedigree click here *, Chicory can be yours for $150.00. Sold, thank-you Mr. & Mrs. Z !

Mara , EWE With 5 Horns For Sale

Cedar Pond's Mara

Mara has 5 horns. Two are fused making it appear she has only 4 horns. This is Mara and her daughter. Mara is for sale.

Mara's daughter has 4 horns.

Mara sells for $150.00. To view Mara's pedigree click here * , then click onto "pedigree search", then enter "Mara" You will find her name "Cedar Pond's Mara" then click . Mara is a good Mom, and easy keeper. ( Well, all of my Jacob ewes have been easy-keepers) Mara is young and can provide many more lovely lambs and you never know how many horns her offspring might sprout...her lines have 6 horned lambs too. Mara is sold, thank-you Mr. & Mrs. Z !

Pixie ~ Jacob Ewe For Sale ( Unregistered)

Cedar Pond's Pixie ~ Unregistered

These are pictures of Pixie as a lamb. She is a bit different than any of my other lambs and I find her interesting. Pixie has a "lilac" fleece, and she has 4 horns, though one of the horns ( on the side ) is scurred. I did not register Pixie because she does not show distinctive spots. As a lamb her fleece appeared chocolate brown.I never had a lamb fleece like hers. If I had a lot of acreage I would keep her and raise several generations of her lambs to see what characteristics they might show. I am keeping her parents ,Cedar Pond's Goth & Cedar Pond's Ruth so I am not losing the gene pool.

Baby Pixie

Pixie now, 2 years old. You can see her fleece color has faded and appears an all-over color, though when sheared you can see her distinctive large spotting.

Pixie grazing with her Aunt Mally, a six-horned ewe.
Pixie is for sale: $100.00

Thora's Lamb

This is Thora's ewe ( girl) lamb. She is for sale. Thora's lamb has too much solid black on her for registration, but she is a fine little 4 horned lamb.

This little ewe lamb is for sale ~ $100.00.

Saffron & Lamb For Sale

Saffron and her ewe ( girl) lamb. ~sold ~

This little ewe ( girl) lamb is the daughter of Cedar Pond's Saffron.

Saffron and her lamb both have 4 horns.

Saffron and her lamb are for sale, $175.00 for both of them. Saffron is registered and her lamb will come with all paperwork necessary for registration. To see Saffron's pedigree click here* to view the J.S.B.A. site. From there click onto 'pedigrees' and enter her name.

Big Game Hunt! Bag A 4-Horned Ram,But Not Here~

I found the video below on You-Tube. Big game hunt...4 horned rams! These guys hunted and bagged a 4 horn ram! I have a few of these eating alfalfa in back of my house....you will note I have a very BIG 4-horned ram wearing a black leather mask too. ( Goth would appreciate these guys not stalking him here)

Swallow Lane Barnaby, My New Ram!

This is Swallow Lane Barnaby, my new ram. He is still a lamb, but a very well-mannered ram lamb. He is very friendly and tends to snuggle up next to me as I wheel in the days' alfalfa. Isn't he handsome?
This is his first day here, where I confined him with Black Bart, my Welsh / Jacob cross wether. Since Barnaby got along well with Bart I knew he would do fine and dandy with the rest of the flock.
And he did! " When selecting a ram it becomes exceedingly important to choose one that has evenly balanced well spaced horns. The spacing of the bases of the horns is crucial to the direction of the adult ram's head. As the ram matures these horn core bases enlarge in cross section and can become so large in diameter they can impair a ram's hearing if they sweep back and around close to the ram's ears. This would also narrow the air space between the horn shaft and the cheek / or jaw bone. The horn will impair proper movement of the jaw or worse, penetrate the cheek and skull. It is for these reasons that only rams , whether two-horned or multiple horned , should be chosen that have wide sweeping horns in two and four-horned and flesh in between upper and lower bases..." Ingrid Painter~ Jacob Sheep In America

Barnaby seems to exemplify the most desired physical traits of a good Jacob Ram!

Cedar Pond'sVandal

Cedar Pond's Vandal
born 4/9/2009 ( B013-09)
Cedar Pond's Goth ( D021-06) X bide a wee Chicory ( A087-06)

I took this picture of Vandal today. I am still amazed at his size since he is only 13 months old! Size wise and horn size too, he seems to be taking after his father, Goth. Vandal had a very beautiful and abundant fleece for a lamb too! I wish I could keep him, but he is so related to most of my flock....however, if he lingers here at Cedar Pond I think he will find a way to sire a few lambs in spite of my precautions, which could get him into a lot of trouble with his father.