Even Better...

...than the sheep kicking off a good year of 2016 with babies is... finishing this one with them :)  Our first lamb was born this morning (Wednesday), a little ewe-ling - or whatever they're called.  She's adorable, and mama's doing great.  These 4 Tunis sheep are all between 3 and 7 years old, so they shouldn't have any trouble knowing how to mother.  The only issue we've had so far is with good-intentioned alpacas.  Their way of birthing is for the mother to drop the baby, and then wander off for a while, pass the placenta, recover - while the rest of the herd greets the new member.  So, poor mama Chestnut was trotting around and around the pasture, followed by her little one, both followed by the entire herd of alpacas - and our 19 goat doelings just along for the ride, curious what the fuss is about - just trying to meet the baby, but making Chestnut nervous.  We're going to move her and the other sheep out to a separate paddock this weekend - the others are likely imminently lambing themselves, and of course that means that within a week or two I should start teaching them to milk.  I'll need them separate and closely grouped for that - I can't pull out a feed bucket in the middle of 30 alpacas and goats and expect anything but a trampling!    

Here's a picture of the newest member of the Solace Farm animal family - name TBA :)