And so it begins ...

I can't possibly let the opportunity pass to show you the new arrivals to the farm that officially mark the beginning of my fiber farm dream.  Here they are, 3 fat little lambs who have been carefully bred to produce fleeces that are among the most amazing you will ever see!

This is Stanley.  He is not quite 3 months old and tips the scale at well over 60 lbs. He's still holding a grudge over being moved to the farm but he'll come around. Stanley is the ram (a twin) that will be the foundation of the flock. He is a Teeswater / Cormo cross, which means that he is sporting a thick fleece of silk ringlets.  Even dirty from his former pen in North Carolina, up close his fleece will make a spinner drool!

                                     

These lovely ladies are Stella and Blanche. They are twin, almost 4 month-old, ewes who I have high hopes for next year. They are Corriedale / Finn crosses that have been bred to produce a very fine, luxuriously soft and thick fleece. They also tip the scales at over 60 lbs., though (piggy) Blanche is a bit taller and wider than Stella.

                                

Chester is our newest addition ( I say that, but all 4 of these animals arrived within a 5-day span of time). A beautiful Ethiopian donkey, Chester is going to be on coyote and neighborhood dog patrol.  He's like a body builder among donkeys, and though he likes to snuggle, to be petted continuously, and to be pampered with apples and molasses, if I were the size of a dog, I would not want to make him look at me twice. He was abandoned and left to fend for himself in a pasture and the pasture owner needed him to go to a good home. Ours. (Free is good!)

                             

He spent most of the day on Saturday in donkey time out because he repeatedly tried to stomp the sheep. We ended up working from 7 am until 4 pm on Saturday, mainly just the husband and I until about the last hour, setting fence posts and running wire so Mr. Bad Attitude could have his own paddock. The people are exhausted. He hung out in the shade all day and was rarin' to go. We moved him into his new digs and he still has attitude. Isn't that just like a man for you?

                             

And Rocket got herself a horse. This is Rusty. He kicked me in the knee right out of the trailer on the first day. My hoof-shaped bruise is very ugly and my knee still hurts to bend it. He is a primadonna. We are not friends.