100% Twin Rate This Spring!!!

This spring we were very impressed with all of our bred ewes, each one of them lambing out twins!!!  All of them healthy, big and impressive!  We're thrilled with this crop of lambs.  We now have a grand total of 34 Dorper Sheep.  The photos below were all taken earlier this spring (March/April).  The lambs have grown quickly and some are very big already.  I will try to upload some more recent photos soon!

Newborn twins... less than 15 minutes old.

Some of the lambs in the house paddock.

A couple of perfect ewe lambs.

More Lambs!

4:00 A.M. this morning, Speedie had twins!  A boy and a girl.  Again we're thrilled as they are faultless.  The little girl we have named "Uwelina" in honour of my dad... it is after all Father's Day!!!! 

                Speedie and her new Ram Lamb, a strapping young male!

                Speedie with the Ram lamb - the first born of the twins.

               Speedie's girl "Uwelina".  She's super cute!

Another perfect ewe lamb!

Such a great start to lambing this year.  This one's another beauty!  Stocky, excellent conformation and coat and colour!  What a strong vigorous lamb this one is!  This is mom's (Stunner's) first lamb and she's a knockout!  Mom's looking a bit raggedy as she's just in the process of shedding out.  We've named her "Tempesta" which means storm, as she was born outside during a bit of a howler!

First lambs of 2012!!!

B.B. has had her twins!  We're very happy as they're both perfect.  The one on the left with the little white star is Oliver, the one on the right Olivia.  A good start to our lambing this year!

Almost fully grown!

Our young Ram "Honu" is now 8 months old and is looking fantastic. He's well put together with good solid legs and feet and good size. We're pleased with how this young fellow is turning out.

New Blood!

We're extremely grateful to http://lochenddorpers.ca for leasing us a couple of Rams with different bloodlines than our ewes for our lamb production this summer! A big thank you to Bob and Kate Janzen. The Rams have settled in nicely and all is content at Castle Rock Farm. We're excited to be moving forward with our plans. Stay tuned for more photos and news.

One of the Rams wearing his breeding harness.

At the Gate

As the weather cools and grass pickings are slim, the sheep are hanging around the barnyard and home much more waiting for a "handout"!

Farm views

Out for a fall ride. This photo shows the grasslands that our farm sits on. It's beautiful. Simba is looking towards the homestead (which is visible in the distance).

Yellow Grass

Fall has arrived on the farm. The grass is drying and yellowed and the animals are focused on eating constantly as if they know that cooler weather is on it's way. The spring lambs have all grown beautifully this year and are only fractionally smaller than their moms. We're getting our hay in the barn tomorrow and making our own preparations for winter.

Mid Summer...

Honu has now been weaned. He's a real sweetheart and a looker too! Here he is at 4 months of age.

This ewe is showing the typical shedding out pattern. This was a number of weeks ago, and she is now nicely shed out. This is one of our lambs from 2010 and it was her first shedding. It appears that the Dorpers first shed their wool between the ages of 14-16 months.

Most of our flock grazing near the house... shameful amount of weed due to all the moving of dirt we did in the spring with our tractor! Nice thing about Dorpers is they also graze the weeds!!!

By early afternoon, the flock has headed back to the barnyard area for a rest in the shade.

Ram Lamb - May Photos...

Our handsome Ram lamb is now 7 weeks old. He's a gentle boy who's turning out to be quite the looker. He's strong, stocky, beautifully put together and sweet tempered. We're about to send off the registration papers and were thinking of calling him "Honu" which means turtle in Hawaiian. Contact us if you're interested in purchasing this guy. He'll be weaned sometime this summer.

Our only Ram Lamb...*** FOR SALE ***

This is our only Ram lamb this spring and he's a knock out. Perfect colouring and conformation and a sweet and calm temperament. Very pleased with this one! Ram H Lightning, Del'Mar Winston and Missy BF background. "Ram H Lightning" is the sire of one of our best ewes. Her daughter has produced a stunning ewe lamb this spring! He's barely 3 days old in this photo. Name TBA... More photos of him coming soon.

Lambs Have Arrived!

Well, here they are! Some of our babies this spring! They are all only between 1-3 days old in the photos! We're thrilled with our lamb crop this year. Healthy, vigorous beautiful lambs - all of them! Thankfully we've more than doubled our ewe flock.

Lambs Due Soon!

As you can see, our Dorper Ewes are all getting rounder. The end of March will be an exciting time as the new spring lambs arrive! These photos were taken in December. I'll head out with my camera and take some more recent photos and post them soon.

Later on this year we hope to acquire a significant number of young Registered Dorper Ewes to greatly increase our sheep numbers. Stay tuned for updates and progress!