Baaaaa! New Sheep!

We've been thinking about expanding the herd for awhile when an opportunity fell into our laps. These are Icelandic Sheep, a very hardy breed and great for our climate. They are used for their fibre, meat and milk. The ewe (mama sheep), gave birth to twins on April 26th. She took to the male lamb, but abandoned the female lamb in the field. Icelandic Sheep are usually good mothers, but she was only a year old and maybe didn't understand what was going on.

We picked up the sheep from Oyster River on April 30th and brought them back to Coal Harbour. The ewe and boy lamb are settling into their own pasture outside and the female lamb has a small corral inside the house with us.

This is Louise (mom) and Larry (boy lamb). Louise has thick teddy bear black fibre that makes big dreadlocks. We will have to shear her before the summer comes. She is timid, but protecting over her son.

Larry has great white markings on his feet and face. His horns will grow into big, double curls, and you can already see that they will be white and black.

The lambs are only a week old and so fun to watch!

This was the first introduction of Larry and Luna. Hopefully they will become good friends when the time comes to have them live together.

This was the night we brought the sheep home. Chloe is actually bigger than the lamb! The female lamb that was abandoned will have to stay inside the house with us for about four weeks to keep her fed, warm and loved.

We named the female lamb Luna Bonnie (after Bonnie Henry, BC's Provincial Health Officer).

We all love taking turns feeding Luna! She is so sweet. She will follow you around the house (but we have to clean up her pee and poo) and run after you. She must have instincts to look for her mother because she will nudge and nose up underneath any black jacket or housecoat hanging on a chair... she thinks its her mama!