Courtship time. Rams snicker sweet nothings into the ears of ewes who batt their eyes coquettishly. The pas de deux that will bring new lambs to the farm next spring.

And I'm telling you, with so many eligible ewes and four outstanding rams, it was very hard sticking to my original plan of limiting the numbers for next spring's lambing.

Ultimately, we made sure each of flock matriarchs (Cocoa, Buttercup, Pansy, Charlotte) is represented by either a daughter or grand-daughter (or in the case of Cocoa, grandson). And then we took a close look at ram lineage to avoid crossing back on bloodlines. For the first time, we've put each of the rams to work, taking care to keep sufficient distance between groups to discourage rivalry. Teaberry (right, above) is courting Belle and Aberdeen.

Moorit ram, Chai (below) is wooing several gals in the carriage barn paddock.

Parsley (below) is flirting with Chanel . . .

and then putting the moves on Donatella.

Cinder, our black ram "lamb" from '09 is courting the moorit ewes Bailey and Cognac. With luck, we'll have a moorit lamb this spring. 

Naturally, it's hard to predict what this will mean in terms of numbers. I'm guessing we'll land somewhere between 16 – 20 lambs, depending on birth multiples. I'd be thrilled to have all twins and don't mind singles; I could live without the excitement of triplets and bottle lambs this spring. If all goes according to plans, our first lambs will arrive in the last week of March.

Wish the boys luck.