Arapawa sheep

All about the animals that are in our lives that are NOT horses
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Baroque
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Arapawa sheep

Postby Baroque » Tue Dec 05, 2017 12:51 am

Some of you may know that I'm doing the rare breeds thing and breed Arapawa sheep along with my beloved Spanish horses.

Thought you may like to see something a bit special. This is Crepe Suzette [by Crunchy] with her beautiful twins Pikelet [ram] and Pancake [ewe] by Bambam.
Crepe-Suzette-twins-small.jpg
Crepe-Suzette-twins-small.jpg (226.65 KiB) Viewed 7146 times

What is unusual about these purebred Arapawa lambs is that they are white or nearly all white with small spots. Arapawas are feral sheep and are nearly all black, sometimes brown and have a white blaze down their face like Ms Crepey has. It's taken about 4 years of experimental breeding to produce these ones that have a lot of white on them without losing the hardy nature of the breed which is resistant to fly strike, parasites and footrot.

Crepe Suzette was reared on the bottle by myself then fostered onto one of my goats because her mother disowned her after she slid under the fence like a pancake at birth.

These 3 lambs I bottle fed this year after their 3 "teenage" mums couldn't count their 2nd twins and refused to feed them, Rhum Baba [ewe] at the front, Muffin [ewe] in the middle and Sprocket [wether] at the back.
3babies.jpg
3babies.jpg (131.94 KiB) Viewed 7146 times


Here's Sprocket a bit bigger and wanting me to get up and play with him - cos I was just sitting there amongst the lambs! :lol:
sprocket.jpg
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Flight
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Re: Arapawa sheep

Postby Flight » Tue Dec 05, 2017 8:22 am

Ohh wow! Soooo cute!!! Thanks for sharing :) They are all just gorgeous!

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Imperini
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Re: Arapawa sheep

Postby Imperini » Tue Dec 05, 2017 2:45 pm

So much cute in just a few pictures! My barn owner recently got some sheep they are just keeping for pets/wool, I don't think they intend to breed at all. They started with one Finnsheep and one Gotland then I went away on vacation and when I came back they had multiplied and there are now four! :lol: Anyway they're super cute and having never interacted with sheep before I'm finding they have great personalities in addition to being cute.

Dapple Field
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Re: Arapawa sheep

Postby Dapple Field » Tue Dec 05, 2017 7:22 pm

Love your sheep!! The lambs are adorable.

heddylamar
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Re: Arapawa sheep

Postby heddylamar » Fri Dec 08, 2017 2:36 am

They're adorable!!

I've been trying to convince my husband that our herd will be perfectly rounded with a sheep or two :)

He wants nasty goats. I have PTSD from my nana's nasty tempered randy goat.

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orono
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Re: Arapawa sheep

Postby orono » Wed Dec 13, 2017 10:02 pm

Thanks for sharing, as a mom of twins I find pics like this extra heartwarming. <3


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