Orpah & Obed

Naomi had the first lambs , twins- a boy and a girl. She is one of my older ewes. Nine years ago she was born to one of my favorite Jacob sheep, Ruth. I have kept the biblical names for this line of sheep, particularly names from the book of Ruth. I think I will name these twins Orpah ( the girl and not to be confused with the name Oprah) and Obed. "And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying "A son has been born to Naomi !" So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David." Ruth 4:17 This is a beautiful story in the Bible and if you read it you will see the son was born to Ruth, Naomi was Ruth's mother-in-law, the mother of Ruth's first husband who died leaving Ruth childless and Naomi without children, or grandchildren . The book of Ruth is the touching story of Ruth, a foreigner, and her love and respect for her Mother-in-law Naomi . This little book in the Old Testament also"shows an oasis of faithfulness in an age marked by idolatry and unfaithfulness." comment in my study Bible. Ruth was the great- grandmother of King David.

Sheep Midwifery, And Good Friends

~I am holding a lamb prior to Hubby tagging her ear and banding her tail. ~

~I checked out my sheep while I drank my morning coffee and saw Naomi acting strangely.She was pushing against the shelter panels.~

~Oh, she was going to have her lamb! I watched as she pushed out some birth matter, then eagerly awaited the gushing out of a new lamb. I waited, and waited, and watched Naomi have big contractions, pace around, baa, lay down and roll and baa some more. Hmmm, this went on for awhile. Oh no, I was home alone and I knew I needed help. Someone to help me catch Naomi and check her out. ~I am so blessed to have some of the best friends and neighbors. I called Lanny ( from It's the Dirt) and even though she is sick, she rushed over with her daughters Bet ( from Paddle In the Pond) and Anna ( Terriers and Tabbies ) ! Bet and Anna helped me corner and catch Naomi who could run pretty fast in spite of her distress. I held Naomi while Bet carefully checked out Naomi's interior nursery and she discovered the big lamb was breech. Bet manipulated the lamb's feet into a good position and carefully pulled her out. She was big for a Jacob lamb. Then Anna suctioned the excess mucous out of the nostrils and mouth with one of those little suction thingys , grabbed the lamb by the back legs and swung her around her ( Anna's ) head. This action helps force the mucous out of the lungs and mouth and nose, allowing the lamb to breathe. This works well as long as you don't let the slippery lamb fly out of your hands. I usually wrap a towel around the legs before I do this. This action also works for distressed newborn puppies and goats. ~Naomi was pretty tired and at first ignored her lamb. Oh no, I am going to be gone for the weekend and Hubby doesn't need to deal with a bottle baby. I left Naomi alone with her lamb for awhile and when I checked back, she was cleaning her lamb off.

~The little lamb is a noisy girl, but she was not up and around. I squirted some nutritional supplement into her mouth and stood her up. ~

~She wobbled and wavered, but remained standing! Tonight Mom and lamb are doing well!~ ~I am so grateful this happened while I was home, that I have such great friends , that THEY were home too and willing and able to rush over and help. In the 17 + years I have kept Jacob sheep, I have only had to assist 3 or 4 ewes with lambing. I would have been very sad to have lost Naomi due to lambing problems. She is one of my favorite ewes. "There are numerous breeds of multiple horned sheep throughout the world. Of the eighteen breeds mentioned by A.R.Werner in 'An Enquiry Into The Origins of the Piebald or Jacob Sheep', thirteen of them are known to have the polycerate ( multi horned) trait. Many of the spotted , horned breeds of Europe had become extinct by the turn of the 20th century."JACOB SHEEP IN AMERICA by Ingrid Painter Blessings: good friends, healthy lambs and ewes

Shearing Spotted Sheep

~Hey, no, not HAY, I said "hey", girls....come on into the shed to get your wool done.A little clip and your coats will be like new...awww, come on in, please ? "In levying taxes and in shearing sheep it is well to stop when you get down to the skin." Austin O'Malley

~Dirt is here to shear 5 of my ewes who are due to lamb sometime soon, at least according to what my very own eyes spied them doing with Goth, January and February are the months my lambs should be arriving. Yes, it is cold, but they can take it!~"It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not skin them." Tiberius

~Dirt sheared 5 ewes and gave them their overeaters' shots. He sheared 5 of my sheep in an hour, it would have taken me all day to shear one. As he finished taking the fleece (wool) off a sheep, his daughter Bet and I would skirt the fleece. That is, we would take or pick out of the wool all the undesirable things, mats, clumps of manure, hay, etc., and then I would bag the fleece to be washed and dyed later. ~Oh the indignity of it all ! Naomi has her head right in a sensitive area of Dirt's anatomy. You can just imagine the uncomfortable position Dirt finds himself in when he shears Goth. Although, the ewes have some mighty pointed horns and they are sharp. Dirt has not been harmed by my sheep that I am aware of and he has been shearing my flock for quite a few years now. ~My naked flock of Jacob Sheep! I was glad to find that under all their wool they were in good shape, not too thin, not too fat. The ewes all have begun to udder up, which means their udders are filling with the colostrum and milk for their lambs. My poor naked girls, they are huddled under the heat lamp I hung for them.

~"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth." Isaiah 53:7

~Blessings: sheep, wool, Dirt: friend AND shearer, Bet ~

Spot on Bathing Spotted Sheep

I am NOT happy !HELP !!! 

Leave my momma alone!

Oh, the humiliation. I hope my wool coat doesn't shrink. That could be a problem.

Naomi and baby Ruth are reunited after Naomi's stressful bath.

~Fair time is coming up. Next week my Jacob sheep and I will be in the 'Animals of the World' exhibit. Please visit us at the Puyallup Fair in Puyallup ,Washington from the 17th to the 21st of this month. There is a lot to see and do at the State Fair ! ~~~I want to make sure the sheep are clean and showing the true color of their wool. This requires I bathe them, showing the brown and beige wool to be the black and white wool it really is. The lanolin, dirt, and sun work together to make the true colors look brown and beige. After a few years exhibiting my sheep I was surprised to learn most people thought the sheep were brown and beige. How would they know ? Normally we do not bathe wool breed sheep. The wool is left until shearing, whereupon the wool is washed and carded...and the true color is revealed during this procedure. Because my exhibit is meant to be educational I have chosen to bathe my sheep this year, thus preventing all the puzzled looks from the public as I explain why my 'brown and beige' sheep are producing black and white wool and yarn. ~~~My sheep do not like baths. I do not like giving them baths. I am usually drenched in suds and water myself at the end of the baths. During the bath I trim their feet and clip off undesirable clumps of manure around their tails. Then I give the sheep a dose of nutrients combined with a probiotic paste to help them with the stress of bathing and exhibiting.

Fair time is approaching quickly and there is so much to do !

" Fair ; An occasional or periodical exhibit of agricultural products, manufacturers, or other articles of value or interest;" Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary