Arapawa sheep
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 12:51 am
Some of you may know that I'm doing the rare breeds thing and breed Arapawa sheep along with my beloved Spanish horses.
Thought you may like to see something a bit special. This is Crepe Suzette [by Crunchy] with her beautiful twins Pikelet [ram] and Pancake [ewe] by Bambam.
What is unusual about these purebred Arapawa lambs is that they are white or nearly all white with small spots. Arapawas are feral sheep and are nearly all black, sometimes brown and have a white blaze down their face like Ms Crepey has. It's taken about 4 years of experimental breeding to produce these ones that have a lot of white on them without losing the hardy nature of the breed which is resistant to fly strike, parasites and footrot.
Crepe Suzette was reared on the bottle by myself then fostered onto one of my goats because her mother disowned her after she slid under the fence like a pancake at birth.
These 3 lambs I bottle fed this year after their 3 "teenage" mums couldn't count their 2nd twins and refused to feed them, Rhum Baba [ewe] at the front, Muffin [ewe] in the middle and Sprocket [wether] at the back.
Here's Sprocket a bit bigger and wanting me to get up and play with him - cos I was just sitting there amongst the lambs!
Thought you may like to see something a bit special. This is Crepe Suzette [by Crunchy] with her beautiful twins Pikelet [ram] and Pancake [ewe] by Bambam.
- Crepe-Suzette-twins-small.jpg (226.65 KiB) Viewed 11857 times
What is unusual about these purebred Arapawa lambs is that they are white or nearly all white with small spots. Arapawas are feral sheep and are nearly all black, sometimes brown and have a white blaze down their face like Ms Crepey has. It's taken about 4 years of experimental breeding to produce these ones that have a lot of white on them without losing the hardy nature of the breed which is resistant to fly strike, parasites and footrot.
Crepe Suzette was reared on the bottle by myself then fostered onto one of my goats because her mother disowned her after she slid under the fence like a pancake at birth.
These 3 lambs I bottle fed this year after their 3 "teenage" mums couldn't count their 2nd twins and refused to feed them, Rhum Baba [ewe] at the front, Muffin [ewe] in the middle and Sprocket [wether] at the back.
- 3babies.jpg (131.94 KiB) Viewed 11857 times
Here's Sprocket a bit bigger and wanting me to get up and play with him - cos I was just sitting there amongst the lambs!
- sprocket.jpg (25.33 KiB) Viewed 11857 times
They are all just gorgeous!