The flock has been perkier and happier lately with the cooler weather, and who can blame them? Even the dogs seem more content, now that the flies are dying off and they don’t need to burrow into the mud like pigs to escape the heat.

I was tempted to move everyone out to the back pasture a few weeks ago, considering it is full now of beautiful green grass, but decided that with winter coming I’d keep them out front to make it easier to keep their water fresh and unfrozen, being closer to the house.

There’s also another reason I am keeping them in the smaller paddock for the winter and waiting for spring to move them to fresh pasture: lambing.

Yes!

Our amazing shearer Emily is bringing me a loaner ram soon so we can enjoy babies in the spring!  The ram is a gorgeous Blue-Faced Leicester, and I’m thrilled to mate him to our Border Leicester ewes, since I’d like some fleeces for hand-spinning.

Carina here has a beautiful fleece. I can’t wait to see how a lam from her will turn out.

They were NOT having any of my picture-taking shenanigans. They saw me in their paddock with an object in my hand and surely that MUST mean feeding time?

Basil decided that if I didn’t have real food, he’d nibble on my shirt instead and prevent me from getting a decent picture of him.

The bow before the pounce. He and Sabine are always happy to be pushy for ear and belly scratches, or to follow you around the field trying to put their noses in inappropriate places. I’m still trying to beef Orzo up a bit, and it’s just barely starting to be noticeable. He’s really growing into quite a handsome guy, just like his father. Now if only we could cure his fence-hopping wanderlust!