Get ready, get set, GO!

I didn't even have to say it. (Not sure I could have said it fast enough!!) We brought the ewes in, wormed them all and trimmed their feet, if needed (which was not easy given that we've had no rain in forever). I looked at fleeces, lambing records and made my final decisions about who was getting bred to whom. We divided the ewes and put them in separate fields and brought the boys in for worming, feet check and the strapping on of the marking harnesses. By that time, the temperature was close to 85 degrees and the sun was shining brightly, so I made the boys stay in the barn, cooling their heels until the sun started going down. I haltered each one and led him to his group of girls and got out of the way. Good grief! When I checked on everyone about an hour later, both rams had already marked two ewes! Guess my 2011 lambing season will start in a big way early in March.

Henry (That Henry) is quite the gentleman and is calm and sweet with his group of ewes. Ollie is still a little too youthfully exuberant and I worried that he might just have a heat stroke for a while there, but he has calmed down and is being attentive and not so rowdy (and a little tired, I would imagine!).

So the cycle begins again. I recently read on someone's blog (wish I could remember who) that they always felt like fall was the start of a new year. I share that same feeling. Even before I began raising sheep, having three boys head off to school and a quiet house to myself, always felt as though it was time for me to start something new. These days, fall means planning for spring and the new crop of lambs that will brighten my days and it means winter is coming (I hope, I hope) and prime spinning and knitting time is ahead of me.

(sorry for no pictures today-camera issues and heat combined to defeat me!)