2023 Lamb Photos
Aurora with her ram lamb, Walter
Noni with her lamb, Ynda
Ebony's triplets Ylur, Yrkill, and Ylfa
Georgette's ram lamb, Jurgen
Georgette's ewe lamb, Oona
Dina's ram lambs, Yrkir and Ymur
Ny with Yrsa and late black lamb
Rosa leading her two lambs
Sushi with Rambo & her late ewe lamb
HERE COME THE SGGM SHEEP!
Late Breaking News Update:
December, 2023:
A link to the Agri-View article, Sheep intrigue genetics 'nerds'
is below. Click on this link to view article and hear audio.
In October, we added Alsey, a rare sggm badgerface coexpressing gray leader sheep. He will not be bred until 2024. (Alsey is pictured at the right.)
In late September 2023 we welcome two new sheep to our flock! Mona and Porter will increase our number to 16 ewes and 5 rams. View their temporary photos at right. We will be adding more photos of them in their new home soon!
This 2023 update is dedicated to Ynda (meaning delight in Norse), an sggm badgerface ewe lamb and Ylfa (a common Icelandic girl's name meaning powerful, wolf, furious, or wild) an sggm moorit ewe lamb. They promise to bring great joy to the FBGS which has had several losses since the last update.
A previous update noted the farm was seeking the elusive sggm gene. Venus, a ewe lamb born to Lily x Charles in 2022 has been coded as an sggm ewe. In 2023, 5 of the13 lambs were coded sggm, joining sggm ram Valgerour born here in 2022, sggm ram Taejang born here in 2020 and Violetta, an sggm ewe purchased in 2022, making a current sggm total of 4 ewes and 2 rams. Two additional sggm ram lambs born in 2023 have not been sold; one will join the breeding queue this year or in 2024 making a total of 4 sggm rams.
First the goats: Luna, the only doe in the quints from Isabella who was one of our original does, passed from new onset anemia. As the only doe of the quints, she was small but always raised healthy triplets. She left us with Arie, a gorgeous gold and white doe who will be bred this year. Mia, one of Snowy’s does, raised healthy triplets her first breeding. Just before fall 2022 breeding she developed diarrhea but later passed despite treatment for infection. Enej, Snowy’s doe born in 2021, is company for Arie. Julissa passed in a tragic accident in which she got her head stuck in the gap between a gate and fence post and passed trying to extricate herself. The 2022 goat breeding season was challenging with kidding in a frigid barn despite non stop running of the heat lamps. Only 2 of the 3 does with Fireball were bred. Camilla’s triplets and 2 of the triplets from Zeus passed, with a total of only one surviving doeling. Rocky was prematurely unable to breed-his blue eyes in the kids will be missed. The Farm of Beauty recently added 2 unrelated bucks-King, a 3 year old tan colored proven breeder and Klondike, a golden colored buckling who will be mature enough to breed this fall. Both new bucks have outstanding pedigrees, particularly with regards to high milk production standards that are measured by the American Dairy Goat Association.
At the end of summer 2023, Ruby goat, our oldest doe, also just passed. She developed a pneumonia which had nearly totally cleared and made it through an intense and long heat wave with the vet optimistic for a full recovery. Then she stopped eating and passed suddenly. The vet noted that the recent poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires seems to have affected area livestock raising the possibility that this led to this recent loss.
In the interval since the last update, 6 ewes passed over the rainbow bridge. River who was only 6 years old experienced non stop seizures from a probable brain tumor and had to be euthanized. Nott and Noni who had been exceptionally healthy both experienced sudden death. Lily passed from an infection shortly after 2022 lambing. Eliza and Rada passed recently from ring womb, failure of the cervix to dilate for lambing, and were unable to be saved by the vet. Nott’s lamb, Undina, was close to a year old when Nott passed. Noni’s lamb Ynda was supplemented with goat milk and has become very personable drinking the milk from a bowl, and is growing well and will be bred in 2024. Lily’s ewe lamb Venus and her ram lamb Viktor grew well on goat milk from our does. Viktor was sold. Venus will be bred in 2023.
Quineska and Georgette were sold to a fellow shepherdess who has other Farm of Beauty sheep. Sushi who is a two year old ewe who was bred to Ulrik was sold as part of of a starter flock. Ginny, a 5 year old black ewe born here (sire Dominik, dam Leaka) was purchased from a fellow shepherdess who was rehoming some of her sheep due to a demanding full time job.
Most recently Lauga, a solid moorit ewe lamb, and Lyra, a solid black lamb were purchased to bring the ewe group to 15. They will also be bred in 2024.
At the time the website was being completed, south central Wisconsin experienced a severe heat wave. Ulfur, a badgerface ram born here in 2021 who was the favorite of the breeding rams, passed from a heat stroke. Ulrik, a black gray mouflon ram acquired in a 2022 swap, Taejang, and Valgerour will be joined by one of three remaining 2023 ram lambs that were not sold. These rams will be discussed further in the lamb section.
Charles, last bred in 2021, sustained an infection to his right face area necessitating removal of his right horn and eye. He survived the extensive surgery and did well, passing secondary to bloat that may have been secondary to parasites interfering with normal rumen function. Atlas sustained a fracture dislocation to his right hip area that could not be repaired necessitating euthanasia. Both wethers passed-Lennon from old age and Miles presumed from a spinal disc event that left him unable to walk. They will be missed a lot as companions to any rams or ewes that required separation from the main flock. Miles was the first lamb born at the Farm of Beauty. Lennon was part of our original flock.
