Maa-Maat is a little Tunis ewe. Her mother, Evil, was very sick when she was born and died shortly afterwards. Because of this Maa-Maat has been completely hand-reared. The picture was taken when she was only a few days old. She was born early and had very little wool, hence the sweater.She's now about three months old and is doing fine. The only problem we have with her is that she is a little more than just slightly overweight. I've been doing some clicker training with her, and so far she knows to jump up on a bale of straw, kneel down and crawl a short distance, and jump through a hoop. Her "jump through a hoop" isn't all that great because...well...she's not all that great a jumper. Did I mention the weight problem?
In addition to Maa-Maat, we have two other lambs, Merlin and Rachael. Merlin is a little black Welsh mountain wether (castrated male) and Rachael is a Jacob ewe. In the mornings and evenings, the three of them line up at their stall door for me to put their collars on. Once they have their collars, they go out to graze or explore or whatever. Although they don't come when called, they will come if I rattle a grain bucket. They also come running down the center aisle of the barn periodically just to check if I have any treats for them.
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I really think you need a little Shetland wether in a lovely shade of brown to compliment your others! Do you spin? It really is a lovely little addiction; my Shetlands eventually seduced me into trying it and now I'm hooked. I have a cousin who raises and shows Paso Finos in Washington state....
ReplyDeleteI've avoided spinning so far. It sounds like it would be so rewarding and far too much fun. Right now, the last thing I need is another addiction!
ReplyDeleteAs for another lamb....I'm thinking my little flock may need expanding just a bit next spring. Definitely going to go with a wether as they seem so much more affectionate and easier to train than the ewes. And those shetlands are just too cute....ARGH! don't tempt me like this!
Oh, by the way, what's your cousin's name? Maybe we'll see her at Nationals this year?
ReplyDeleteMy cousin (actually, my cousin's wife) is Carmen Riederer. She doesn't show as much as she used to, so I doubt you'll see her at Nationals. But perhaps you've run into her before?
ReplyDeleteThat picture just tugs at my heart...where in the world did you find a sweater to fit that lil girl?
ReplyDeleteIt's funny about the sweater. My husband's Admin Asst frequently buys little outfits for her dog, and my husband is always giving her a teasingly hard time about it.
ReplyDeleteWell.....when Maa-Maat was born she just had little knobs of wool and was always cold so husband went out on his lunch hour and bought her a small size dog sweater.
He swears that the loss of face + the unrelenting teasing has permanently scarred his psyche.
Awwww, that's just the sweetest. You can't ever let him forget that you appreciate his wonderful soft side, no matter *what* it does to his male psyche! :-)
ReplyDeleteIs this the beginnning of your blog, then?
ReplyDeleteAre you a newbie??!
Yay! Welcome to the blogger world!
Addiction is next...be wary! hehe
So, now I understand what happened to Evil. I'm kind of sad. I'm sure she would have made for some very amusing blog posts, especially with your talent of story telling.
Thanks again for visiting my blog and leaving comments. I'm glad to have found yours and will be back :)
~Lisa
Clicker training a sheep? I never even thought of that! How cool. Seems like you have a few different sheep breeds, so you have a favorite?
ReplyDeleteYes, Twinville, I've just discovered blogging and am loving it. So wonderful how you meet people from all over the country and even the world because of it. And thank you so much for your kind words. Really made my day!
ReplyDeleteChristy: I really have a lot of fun with Maa-Maat and the clicker training. Just sorta stuck right now trying to come up with something else for her to do. Only problem is the "recall"...she will only come when she doesn't have something else better to do--like eating blackberries or briars. As for favorite, it's really hard as they all four have such different personalities. I think for sheer sweetness, the little southdown Happy Jack is my favorite. He's so quiet and sweet and never gets upset at anything.
I have never heard of clicker training. You should put up a demonstration some time. I would love to see how it is done. Could I train my farmer wannabe husband with one of those?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you've seen this, but just in case, here is the link to an amazing clicker-trained lamb in some other country: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKnSls3zz9A&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fallena%2Ethethreeringranch%2Ecom%2F
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