The Boys and Their Lambs…

It’s always a busy time of the year when the kids pick out their fair lambs in April.  The next 4 1/2 months are busy spent training, walking, washing, shearing, their lambs.  This year they went to a 3 day camp in Bozeman to learn more about showmanship, lamb care, shearing with a jackpot on the last day.    IMG_9114 IMG_8894 IMG_8846 IMG_8834 IMG_8828 IMG_8824 IMG_8816-2 IMG_8743 IMG_3727

Kids walking their lambs…IMG_3676

Garrett shearing his own lamb…IMG_3655

Garrett helping some kids with showmanship…IMG_3732

Getting ready for fair…IMG_3731 IMG_3728

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Thank goodness for grandmas who will stop and feed the starving kids on her way home from work.  The first couple days of fair are extremely busy and we generally eat really late but grammy had pity on us and fed us.IMG_3736

Practicing with his lamb…IMG_3735

Then show day!

Waiting for his turn to show…IMG_3808

This year at fair they worked very hard and Garrett and Hayden ended up being in the final round for showmanshipIMG_3805 IMG_3790

Even, Teigen did very well in showmanship for his first year.IMG_3785 IMG_3782 IMG_3780 IMG_3777 IMG_3771

Waiting for the “market” portion of fair.IMG_3767 IMG_3764 IMG_3746 IMG_3742 IMG_3739

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Hayden even won a purple ribbon in market placing in the top 8 out of 60 lambs for market.  🙂IMG_3820 IMG_3771 IMG_3764 IMG_3750 IMG_3741

Then comes the last day of fair, the last day of the project.  They have sold their lambs to local businesses and they have to load their lambs up on the trailer that is headed to the processor.  There are generally lots of tears and sadness but the kids understand where their food comes from and have a deeper appreciation because of it.  Something that is lacking in todays culture..

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Lambing…

We had a surprise lambing while we were gone on our trip over the weekend…IMG_0531

She was even born on Valentine’s Day…and it’s the letter “H”‘s year for naming lambs…so we couldn’t resist naming this little girl Heart!                   IMG_0524

The mama is one of our Suffolk ewes and daddy, we are thinking is one of our Icelandic rams!  An unknown breeding must have happened before we separated our sheep last fall.IMG_0537

But she’s awfully sweet and like the looks of her.  🙂IMG_0543

We were glad that our older kids were at home.  When they went out to feed in the afternoon she was dried off and had a full tummy.  🙂  Thank goodness she is half Icelandic to give her some vigor.

IMG_0528Does this mean that Spring is here officially?

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Ewe Working?

This past weekend we had the pleasure of working the ewes, checking body condition, udders, and giving them their CD&T vaccination.  We like to vaccinate the ewes a few weeks before they start lambing so their lambs will have some passive, temporary immunity when they drink their mother’s colostrum.  This temporary immunity lasts for about 6 weeks, giving the lambs a good start.

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Mark luring the ewes in with a bit of grain…P1140010

A handsome helper…

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Giving shots…

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Working hard…

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Frank dog…

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Next…

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Did I mention the mud?

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Sapphire all finished.

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Little lambs sunning themselves…

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 Astrid giving chicken rides…

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My wonderful crew…

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Us, a bit mud-spattered!

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Fair winnings…

 

 

Our little Braaten bunch did pretty good at the fair yesterday….

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Tori received Reserve Champion Showman in the Senior division and placed 4th out of about 35 lambs and received a purple top 10 ribbon in the market class!

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Garrett also received Reserve Champion Showman in the Junior division and placed 5th in Market and received a purple ribbon.

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Maddie placed 4th in the Junior division for Showmanship and her lamb placed 10th in Market getting her a purple ribbon!

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Hayden received Grand Champion Showman in the Junior Novice division which had two huge classes of lambs!  He did sooo well his first year showing.  His lamb was one short for making the cut to final round in market.

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Teigen even showed in the Peewee division where all the participants wins a ribbon!

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Our fiber and breedstock projects did an excellent job as well!  Dodge ram won overall Grand champion in the breedstock division and Blossom’s ewe lamb won Reserve Champion.  Our lambs received the majority of the rest of the ribbons too!  Edge ram won Overall Grand  Champion over all other fiber animals and in his own division.  Feebee won Grand Champion in the ewe division for fiber and we received the majority of the rest of the ribbons awarded!

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Wonderful Day!!

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Absolutely Typical…

For a Montana spring day…

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No worries though, it was all gone by early afternoon.  Lambs were snuggling up, napping and just enjoying the sun…IMG_2974 IMG_2986 IMG_2992 IMG_3069

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