An update on Stuck and the Triplets, and the new little villian, only a week old.

Stuck is growing fast, as are Tash's triplets, two out of the three triplets are having a bottle as well, but the ewe lamb prefers mum, and here is our new little villian - his dad is called Pirate, so we have been calling him Blackbeard - it is now Smee - the only pirate I can think of, beginning with S - he is a twin, and they are only one week old, and he is as naughty as he looks! (what me - sleeping under the hayrack, you must be mistaken, think it was my brother) and when the lambs all have wacky races, he is in front - what a character!!

Babies first venture out.

Babies first venture out into the big wide world, what fun these wacky races are, it really makes you sleep.

Nancie and baby - called him Roston Stuck

The last of our shearlings has lambed this morning, Nancie had this little fellow at 10;30 am, he is just one hour old, he is now asleep standing up - hard work this being born - we have called him Roston Stuck - perhaps the biggest lamb we have ever had.

Tash's first day out - well hour!!

Tash had her triplets on 21st Feb. and it has been a gorgeous day today - a rarity up on the Moorlands this time of the year, so they have had a lovely time for an hour or so, back in their pen now, fast asleep. Glad we do not have triplets very often!! We are offering the bottle to all three, they are taking half a litre between them at the moment.

The first creche - taken all day to set up!!- A RUCK OF RYELANDS!!

The first lambs have been put together now, been like world war three all day - but peace at last!!. We now have our set of triplets, only the third time in 17 years, thank goodness, really don't like triplets. Mum is still a little weak, but, typical ryeland, a super mum - keep offering the bottle to the lambs, but not really bothered - four more ewes to lamb, but these will be spread out, be glad when we have finished!!!

Novas babies - very special ewe lambs

Nova has just lambed!! she is a very special ewe, who won the Ryeland Grist Trophy in 2010, and the lambs are out of Kaspar, who also won the Grist Trophy in 2009. We now have eight lambs so far, and would you believe, six are ewe lambs - last year we had fourteen ram lambs, but they all turned out excellent, and went for breeding. They were out of Kaspar, Nightspeed and Luciano - this year the lambs are out of Kaspar, Nightspeed and our new boy Pirate - so - lets see how they turn out, I find great joy in watching them grow.

daddy's favourite girl

our first lambs, 2012.

Our first lambs!!

Our first lambs, born yesterday, one single ram lamb - all he has done since he was born is drink and sleep - well, he is a boy, and twin ewe lambs, mum is so proud of them - have yet to see them suck - they do worry you don't they, certainly don't want to know about the bottle, know they are drinking, it is like the old kitkat advert!! most are now due around the 12th to 19th Feb. so - watch this space, and I will post some pictures later.

ladies in waiting - 28th January, 2012

It is very cold this morning, but incredibly sunny, and not even 9:00am. All the girls are happy in the big barn, and lambing is not far away now. Our very experienced shearer came a few weeks ago, and sheared all our sheep - he leaves just over a quarter inch of fleece on, it makes lambing so much easier and cleaner, and the show team will be just about right for our early shows. They have been separated into early lambers and twins, and late lambers and singles. The camera is set up, the baby monitors have been checked out and I will hopefully set them up today - they are great for picking out "the noises" the ewes make when starting to lamb. Eight lambing pens are now set up and duty shepherds spare bed is made up!! We have bought a whiteboard and all the ewes are listed - don't know why we didn't have one before, much better than my clipboard. I am going to attempt to add two photos to this blog, one of the pregnant girls and one of the recyclable lambing pens we have - ideal for ewe with single lamb - orphan lamb - lamb adopter - we have used these for a few years and are very pleased with then.

Just a little more news.

Welcome to our blog Flynnblob, tried to send you a message, but the site is having none of it!! anyway, hope you enjoy reading about our Ryeland sheep - I try to keep it updated regularly, we are still waiting to have our website updated, must ask our man again. Well, all our sheep have been winter sheared now, and are all cosy in the big shed, the boys have their own shed, and all are settled, they love to be sheared, and are jumping about like naughty kids!! and, of course love to be inside - what is it about Ryelands, or is it just ours!! Lambing should start at the end of this month, and apart from a couple of stragglers, all should lamb in February, fingers crossed.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to everyone, and to our new German friends, Astrid, of Nutztierarche Stocksee, and no, Astrid, I am not stopping posting, just having difficulty sometimes putting a photo on with text - put it down to inexperience!! Let us all hope for a good 2012, and happy and successful lambing to everyone. Well, it is very, very wet here on the Staffordshire Moorlands, the pregnant girls are undercover today, to keep them dry - they are due to have their Heptavac P Plus on Monday, and then in a week or so, all our sheep will be winter sheared, the big shed is all ready now for them - very cosy!! I will be posting some pictures in the next week or so.

17th December, 2011

Well, tis the week before Christmas, and all is fairly quiet at Roston ryelands, all the sheep are at home now, the pregnant ewes are very fat, and they have only had grass, they love to be inside - that is - a stone barn with the doors wide open and access to a paved yard - the water and haylage are outside, so they have to come out sometimes!!! well, they are Ryelands. We start lambing around the 31st January, 2012, and they have been scanned (164%), so, after Christmas it will be all go - vaccinations, shearings, lambing pens up, and the big shed fully operational. I will not write any more, I seem to have difficulty putting text on the blog, I can get the photo on easily, but it will not take the text - so - this may or may not get published - we will see - happy christmas to everyone, and a successful 2012 lambing.

One of our ram lambs 2011.

It is Monday, 10th October, still raining!! Not a lot to report, all our ram lambs have gone to their new homes, and fingers crossed, all our ewes are in lamb - we usually have two or three who come over again. We have some of our ewes with Kaspar, some with Nightspeed, and just a couple with our "new kid on the block" Dolwen Pirate - chosen for his blood lines, he is a super chap - his two ladies have both come over, so we will wait and see what happens, if they come over again, Kaspar will be a very happy boy, he would love two more ladies in his hareem!! Well, it is now Thursday, the 13th October, and I have just seen that I have used this photo before -- I must really like this little fellow, so no apologies - hope he is going to be a daddy soon!!

Ashbourne Show August, 2011

Well, not a lot to report at the moment, did forget to show you some of the photos from Ashbourne Show, so, these three, show us winning the shearling ewe class, and taking second as well. We also won the ewe lamb class and our other ewe lamb took fourth. The class winners went on into the final line up. Well, our rams are with their respective females now - all seems to be going fine - one or two have come over this week, but it is early days for Ryelands, we prefer to lamb early February, but our Ryelands prefer mid/late February!! We will see!! Snow is forecast for October, so maybe they will be coming inside sooner rather than later - last year it was the 8th November, and the year before the 13th November.

ram lambs for sale - 4th September, 2011

Well, we had a very successful day at the Ryeland Show and Sale at Ludlow - our ram lamb Pascal was awarded second, out of 33 ram lambs, and we sold the three we took. We have a few booked into Melton Mowbray rare breed show and sale on saturday, 10th September, these photos are of three of them. We bought a new breed line at Ludlow, a ram lamb, called Pirate, hope he manages to cover two of our ewes, giving him the smallest!! then we can have a bit of a rest after Melton Mowbray - been a very energetic year!! Will be nice to meet you at Melton, - its a good day out - the ryelands will not be there on the friday, just the saturday, being judged early saturday morning, before the sale at 10:30am.

Going to the Ryeland Show & Sale

Just been trimmed and sprayed, two of our ram lambs, Pascal and Peppe, and one shearling, Naaman in the third photo, all ready to go to the Ryeland show and sale. The first picture is of Peppe, he is out of Nightspeed, who has won two reserve supreme championships this year, and the second photo is of Pascal who is out of Kaspar, our very special stock ram, who has won many championships, and the third photo shows Naaman in the middle, our shearling ram, who is out of Luciano, who also won many prizes as a lamb, and was sold into a pedigree flock as a shearling.

Burwarton Show 4th August, 2011

What a day, thank goodness we took the gazebo! It poured down during judging, then the sun came out!! I have posted a few photos, we had a good day, winning the group of three and the Malcolm Collins trophy - Kaspar won the senior ram class - and our shearling ewe Nova won the shearling ewe class, going on to win champion female, then reserve supreme champion Ryeland she came home with six rosettes and the Marston Bros. trophy. It has been a pretty good year for us - takes a lot of hard work to look after sheep, and preparing them for show, think we are very tired now! just one more show to do - without Kaspar - he is officially retired from showing - he needs to rest now, he has an
important job to do soon, making lots of babies!! proud of you Kaspar, you are a lovely boy.

Roston Nabil our shearling ram

This is one of our shearling rams, he is very handsome, and has a lovely nature - he is going to his new home on Thursday - we will miss him - have a happy life Nabil and have lots of babies.

RAM LAMBS 7th JULY, 2011

7th July, 2011 - 6:00pm - just been down the field and taken a few photos of our ram lambs - growing well now, the show boys are still separated at home, we have sold one of the show boys, Clint we called him (Clint Eastwood - man with no name!) real name Pino, he has gone with Lotus's boy now called Peppa, to their new home, together with four of our ladies - sure they will be very happy.