Got an email from Al Caldwell:"We have word that Betty Rowe died Saturday morning in a New Zealand
hospital. She had suffered a series of strokes a few weeks ago and was
unable to recover. Betty was the centerpiece of the conservation effort of
Arapawa Island goats. We will miss her in many ways."
Betty Rowe was an American living in New Zealand. When the New Zealand government decided to kill off the Arapawa Island goats (as part of a plan to save endangered plants/animals on the island), Betty Rowe got involved and arranged for the rescue of many of the goats, providing a foundation stock for preserving the breed.To view a picture of Betty Rowe , view the Arapawa Goat Breeders USA news page.
It's that time of year again--- lambs being born all over the place. We had two new ones born this last Sunday, here are some pictures.
This first picture is of Roswell the lamb and his mother Philomena. Both are purebred Shetlands.
Roswell's sire is Nikolai, a white flecket ram. 'Flecket' means he is white with black spots. Roswell is kind of flecket, too, but he only has one 'fleck'. See the picture below.
Yes, his 'fleck' is Down There, by the Important Part.
He's a cute, lively little lamb. His grandsire was Area 51, who was the sire of most of my self-shedding Shetlands.
He's going to be kept intact for the time being as a potential breeding ram either for this farm or for sale.
And this is our second Sunday-born lamb, Rebecca. We're on the letter 'R' this year. Her sire also is Nikolai.
Her mother is Perpetua, another Area 51 daughter. Perpetua and Rebecca are from bloodline A. (Roswell and his mom are bloodline C).
Rebecca is probably going to be kept in our breeding herd.
Here are the twins, Rei and Rhys. They are both black with white marks on their heads. However, their black wool may turn out to be grey, moorit (brown) or fawn. Their mother is a moorit, Ladislava. She's an older ewe.
Rei and Rhys were quite small at birth--- Rei was 3.5 pounds and Rhys only 3 pounds. But both get around quite well. They are about a week old in this picture.
Rei is really good at following mama out to pasture. Rhys, however, get about halfway and runs back to the barn to look for mama there.
