Brief Updates and a Contest

Well, the state of the world is as follows:

1)  All house lambs are doing very well.  Everybody is drinking lots of milk, having crazy little episodes of running around and chasing each other, and generally behaving in a very lamby sort of way.  Excellent.  There are three house lambs now because on Sunday morning we found Leslie's ram lamb very cold and non-responsive, not to mention limp and lifeless.  I quickly milked out half of Leslie's udder.  She is the ewe with the huge udder and the teats too low to the ground.  Although her ewe lamb had learned to suckle from her by going on her knees, the ram lamb had not learned.  We had tried to teach him but he just was not getting it.  Anyway, it took about 6 hours to bring the ram lamb back to the world of the living and he was still weak and wobbly for about 36 hours.  Here he is being warmed under a towel with a hair dryer blowing warm air under it.

He is being bottle fed his mother's milk as often as possible.  As I type this, he is running around the home office being goofy.  He's much better now!

2)  The goats have had their CD-T shots.  They are due April 6, 7, 13 and 18.  They all have the beginning of udder development.  Stay tuned for pygora, nigora, and mini-Kinder (that's a mini-Nubian/angora cross) goat kids in April!

3)  Had a chicken hatch this week.  27 little fluffers are chirping and burping in the brooder.  This year, a mix of Ameraucana cross chicks, Welsummers, and a few random breeds from a batch of mixed eggs that I bought on eggbid.com.  Here's a black Java chick!  (and yes, my nail polish is a mess)

4)  Sheep Names, and a Contest!
I finally decided on some names for this year's lambs.
Alystyne's twin ewe girls born on Monday, March 1, are Amethyst (in the house) and Aurora (with Mom).
Sloan's ewe lamb born on Tuesday, March 2, is the tiny house lamb and she is named Tululu (thanks to a friend of mine from work who was granted naming rights!) although she tends to be named Tula when we are talking to her.
Corsica's black ewe lamb born on Thursday, March 3, is named Branwyn.  That is a Celtic/Gaelic/Welsh name meaning "beautiful raven," which is highly appropriate since she is jet black in colour.  She is a gorgeous lamb.
Leslie's ram lamb born on Friday, March 4, is named Bond.  Kelly named him that because he is a survivor, and because he is destined to impress the ladies.

Here are the three house lambs - left to right, Amethyst, Bond and Tula.

The Contest!!

Now, Leslie's second lamb is this gorgeous black ewe lamb with a silver saddle.

I am struggling for names on this girl.  She is really striking and I would like to name her something elegant, maybe mysterious, maybe with a bit of a Celtic or Gaelic flair.

I'm not naming her something like Blackie or Bessie.  I want something a little bit unique, a little bit different.  She was nearly named Midnight Mint.  To be clear, I'm not very fond of "human" type names for my sheep.  The ewes on my farm that have been named by me include the named lambs I listed above, as well as:  Marshmallow, Lollipop, Clipper, Calypso, Bramble, Pennyroyal and Penguin.  Also I named Luna the goat and a few chickens, including Sketch, Squiggle, Speckle, Henny Penny,  Grub, and Worm.

So, the contest rules are:
1)  You must have commented on this blog before, or be a regular reader that I am aware of, in order to submit a qualifying name entry.
2)  You may suggest up to 3 names.
3)  I will be the one who chooses the winning entry.  Even if I am not 100% sold on any of the entries, there will still be a winner, and I might modify their entry if I so choose.
4)  There will be a prize for the winning entry, consisting of your choice of the following:

• a needle felted sheep made by me  :-)
• 4 oz of roving from my farm, either brown llama/sheep blend or dark grey sheep blend (both have a little bit of vm but it spins out easily)
• a handmade knitting needle/crochet hook wrap/roll, made by me  :-)
• "Living with Chickens" by Jay Rossier - a very useful and interesting chicken book.

I will select the entry a week from today, on Tuesday March 16.  

Looking forward to some creative ideas!