Who's Your DADDY!

 Who's Your DADDY!

So you may or may not know that I grossly miscalculated when to put which ram with what ewes!
Lambs starting coming way, WAY before I could be certain that the 145 day gestation period guranteed who the sire of each lamb was.

So we are dna testing all the lambs so we know which ones are lambradoodles(tm), babydolls or harlequins.

It has actually been kind of fun!  Since it is stormy and wintery and we are staying inside a lot (when we are not re-bedding the animal enclosures and tucking everyone in) it is proving to be a very satifying passtime: guessing who the father is based on looks, personality etc.

So herin we offer you a chance to play along complete with a guide to all the players!

First... lets discuss the breed goals for the Lambradoodle Sheep

Now lets meet the potential sires and take a look at their parentage as well:

First up for consideration:  Garalt.

  (personally, I LOVE this lamb!)  I did want his mom to have a babydoll lamb from  Herman and I am fairly suspicious that Garalt is from Ozwald.  Not even so much because of the markings... more because of the shape of his muzzle and curls in his fleece.  

But the jury is still out......

This is Blue Bonnet.

  I love her grayish tint and am pretty confident she is full babydoll.  I am guessing by the white little tufts on her face, her forehead and the set of her ears.  I've seen those little white face tufts a lot!

Valentine 💘

This little ewe lamb is out of a harlequin mom so the babydoll characteristics are a bit diluted to begin with.  But look at that fleece!!!  That is big fleece!  Ozwald maybe????

Perdy Girl

Like Valentine, Perdy's dam is a harlequin.  In fact, Paddy is an F2 harlequin which dilutes the babydoll-ness of the lamb even more.  Going by markings and fleece... we are tossing the coin to guess who the father is with her.

Thumbelina

Thumbelina is out of my favorite babydoll ewe, Ruby.  When I saw she was pregnant this year I was THRILLED!  Herman did not breed her last year and I was so disappointed.  But then this year... a baby bump!  Yay!  But then little Thumbelina arrived way, WAY before the separation date so that means Ozwald could have fathered her.  
So my guess is soap opera inspired: Since last year, the mature ram rejected this year, she found a young enthusiastic suitor.  So I am guessing she is Ozwald is Thumbelina's father.  
So either we have a super super tiny lambradoodle or... we have a really nice spotted babydoll.  I love the two little dots on her nose!  Ruby's older daughter, Baaabette (who is also one of the moms in Who's Your Daddy) has those same two dots 💓💓

Little Tyra is such a little cutie!

Tyra's dam, Tinkerbell is a very petite babydoll ewe.  

If Tyra is Herman's her coloring makes a lot of sense.  Quite often a white ewe bred to a spotted ram (I know Herman looks brown but when you sheer his fleece... you can see all the spotting) will get a white throat and some white galaxy looking markings on their sides.  (in fact, that is what Herman has)

Also her little face looks very babydoll lamb to me.  But we will see......

Tyra's twin brother Tyrone

Tyrone also looks babydoll to me and being all black, he is a very typical color for breeding between a white babydoll and a spotted babydoll.  Black is a dominant, default color)  

Here is the interesting part:  We did dna samples on BOTH LAMBS!  Because just like with dogs, different sires can father lambs in the same ewe!  Wowsers!  Mind blown! They might each have a different dad!

Beejz: a super tiny ram lamb!

This little guy is so tiny!  But then again his mom, Bijou is out of Ruby and is very petite herself.  Take a look at Bijou's dam pic:  it is from when she was a lamb.  It shows that the spotted babydolls can have similar color patterns including black on the face, ears, knees, hocks and feet.... just like the valais.  So you can't go by color alone as your indicator.
He isn't super wooly so that could mean babydoll. 
We did however purposely put Bijou in with Ozwald (even though we did it probably too late)  We did that because a Herman/Bijou breeding would be father/daughter line breeding.  Although you can line breed we just wanted to introduce more vigor.
Beejz is so sprity and beautiful... it looks like whoever dad is, Bijou got a gorgeous baby!

WE have a couple more lambs to add to the roster.  Betty, a black F1 harlequin has yet to give birth and Baaabette just gave birth today!

We will take blood on Baaabettes baby tomorrow and send it in to be dna tested with the others.

So now it's time to take a look at everybody and make your predictions!  We should have our results in a couple of weeks.

ENJOY💕