The smiling sheep

I recently discovered Babydoll sheep and I immediately decided I couldn't live without one, or a few! If you have ever seen one in a photo or in person, you know what I'm talking about. These sheep have a permanent smile! They are so darling with their fuzzy faces and small stature, it makes them hard to resist! A good friend of mine kept sending me pictures of a Babydoll ram from Tracy Porter's blog page. His name was Mr. Fluffy Buns, aka. Baron Von Chubs and he was adorable. I started to follow Tracy's blog too and looked forward to the amazing photos of this darling ram in her house, and around her farm. So when he passed away, I think we were all saddened. But it did spark a new animal interest for me and I began my research into this breed of sheep. Babydolls are one of the oldest breed of domesticated sheep from England. They are miniature which makes them quite suitable for smaller homesteads or people who just like their livestock to be smaller and easy to handle. They produce nice wool and meat and are more docile than other breeds of sheep. And they have faces that are always smiling back at you. So I was smitten! I found two wethers from a woman in Michigan and brought them home a couple of months ago in the back our our Suburban. They are Winston and Franklin. They fit right in on the farm and we moved them in with our Mini Silky Fainting buck, Sherman. I think he was happy to have the company. Then I added Mildred, a sweet 4-H ewe to the group. They are very calm, sweet natured sheep and if you hand feed them some grain they will come right up to you. I am currently on a list for some more in the spring that are in Tennessee. I plan to add a black ram and two black registered ewes to the group so that we can have some babies of our own. Our plan is to move the sheep to the front pasture as soon as the weather breaks and then they are out front where people can see them from the road and I can see them from my kitchen window.  Babydolls are hard to find in Michigan, and most registered flocks are down south: Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas. So it will great to be one of the only registered Babydoll breeders in this part of Michigan. It's a new chapter for the farm, but a very exciting one. Babydolls have stolen my heart!