Puny Mahlon

This is Cedar Pond's Mahlon just prior to being sheared, so- named because this line of my Jacob Sheep are all named from the Book of Ruth in the Bible...and because the name that fit her is the name of Ruth's first husband ~ Mahlon, which means 'puny'. I will call her Mally for short , no pun intended!

Does anyone else have a Jacob Sheep this tiny? Mally is a yearling ewe lamb and she is no more than 25 pounds...maybe even less. The newborn lambs stand as tall as her. She also has 6 horns, 3 on each side of her head. They are fusing to look like 2 very short fat horns, but for most of last year they were 6 very distinct horns. ( Hey, maybe all her growth went into producing horns!)

We had Mally sheared last weekend and she is not underweight for her size. Definitely not malnourished. She has been wormed and had her shots. She does not lack for all the alfalfa she can eat, which is plenty.She is perfectly healthy and active in every way. In other words, she is not stunted for lack of proper care. She is just very tiny. Her mother is small, but nowhere near this tiny. Her Grandmother, Cedar Pond's Naomi is pictured elsewhere on this blog and is one of my larger ewes...never , ever tiny. Mally's father is Cedar Pond's Goth, and he is not small either. So I ask again, are there any Jacob Sheep owners out there who have a teeny tiny sheep every so often?

More About Mally~

This is Cedar Pond's Mahlon, or Mally, pictured shortly after her birth last spring 2009. As you can see, she is a normal sized lamb. Her mother, Cedar Pond's Ruth is short and stocky and probably does not weigh over 50 pounds. Mally's mother has 4 horns, but her horns have fused so it looks like she has 2 fat horns .

Here is a side shot of Ruth and her daughter Mally.

Mally' pretty cute, I think.

Mother and daughter are still attached to each other, even though at this writing Ruth is due to lamb any day now.

So you can see from the pictures that Mally started her life as a normal little Jacob sheep lamb who at this writing just hasn't grown much. Are there any of you Jacob Sheep owners with a normal, healthy, but very small sheep? Please let me know, I am interested!

Spots Of Distraction~

I am not the only one distracted by the little bouncing spots! This group of Jacob lambs surrounded a ewe ( you can't see the other 3 ) and they were running around her, one bounced off her. They bounded under her and in her way. Fortunately she is the mother of 2 of the 6 in the lamb gang so she knows to be patient, but really, aren't they just too cute and distracting?

Children Of Goth

Cedar Pond's Goth's harem this year consisted of only 4 ewes and they all lambed within 6 days of each other! This was an easy lambing time, all 4 ewes gave birth quickly and without any problems. The lambs were on their feet and nursing quickly. What more could a shepherdess want?

The first lambs were twins born to Cedar Pond's Naomi on February 4~ a ram lamb & a ewe lamb. I have named them Orpah and Obed. ( above )

Delilah, my half Jacob, half Romney gal gave birth to a lovely little ewe lamb February 6. I named her Dinah. ( above )

Bide-A-wee Buttercup presented me with a huge and healthy ram lamb February 8 and I have named him Basil. ( above)

The last of Goth's children to be born were a set of twins to Bide-a-wee Chicory. They were born February 9 and I have named the ram lamb Chervil and the ewe Coriander.

I think Goth sired some very nice lambs this year!

Lambs are some of my favorite animals to watch and I spend as much time as possible enjoying watching them in the short space of time they are young. Are you taking the time to enjoy the many taken for granted blessings you already have in your life today?

Swallow Lane Barnaby~

This is Swallow Lane Barnaby.

He is not quite 1 year old yet.

I think he is a pretty nice looking Jacob Sheep Ram.

Barnaby was sheared today and now he is very naked.

I decided to spare him the embarrassment of posting his nakedness on the internet , but I was pleased to see he is plenty healthy and fleshed out enough for a young ram who spent the early winter months with a small flock of ewes. Barnaby is now sharing a larger pen with his buddy Black Bart, a Jacob / Welsh cross. They seem to be able to work out the differences in their partnership very well and hold their own with each other. Let's hope this continues, for both their sakes!

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)

Valkyrie, Ewe of Many Horns

This is Cedar Pond's Valkyrie [ B083-08 ]. She has 5 distinct and broad horns. Valkyrie is a ewe who , with the exception of her horns, looks very, very much like her mother and her mother's half sister. They both came from Bide-a-wee Jacobs in Oregon.
Here is Cedar Pond's Goth,[ D021-06 ] the father of Valkyrie. He has 4 very large and strong horns and is himself the son of a ewe who had 5 distinct and large horns. Her name is Cedar Pond's Tiara.[ C048-03 ]
Here is a picture of Valkyrie's mother, Bide-a-wee Buttercup [A088-06 ] pictured with last spring's lamb, sibling to Valkyrie. Both Buttercup and her half sister Chicory are the daughters of a ram ( Huntsberger Royal [FF095-03 ]) Karen Lobb and Doug Montgomery purchased from a flock of sheep that have a very interesting history . There is an article in a JSBA newsletter about this flock being rounded up on an island , Butter Island, off the coast of Maine after living there for a few years. They subsisted and thrived solely on what was growing on the island, proving to me that this primitive breed is well suited to living on land that could not adequately feed most modern and "improved" breeds of sheep today. Anyway, I digress, but hope to get back soon to post about this interesting bit of history regarding my favorite breed of sheep, and particularly MY sheep.

Here is Valkyrie at a few months of age.

As you can see, the last two photos show her distinct 5 horns, and the first photo was taken last month showing the horns are broadening and getting longer.As she is not yet 2 years old I think her horns are very large for a ewe and am curious about how the horns will fill her head and possibly fuse as the years go by.

I love the diversity of horns, spots, wool type and texture my flock of Jacob Sheep provide. After having Jacob sheep for almost 20 years now I am still not tired of having them and look forward to 20 more years with this remarkable breed of sheep.