Stinkle lives on Ellsfarm in Union and she’s the only lamb there even though it’s a sheep and lamb farm. Stinkle doesn’t live in the barn, she lives in the house. The rest of the sheep are being kept on Winterwind Farm for a few more days.
Stinkle with Emmy, Perry Ell’s daughter.
Perry Ells, the owner of Ellsfarm, cleaning the hooves.
Today was sheep shearing day on Winterwind Farm where the sheep are being held until Ellsfarm is rebuilt. Perry normally does the shearing herself, but everything is behind this year due to the loss of her barn during the major February storm.
Today was a day out for Stinkle as well. It was her first time hearing and seeing all the other sheep. Her mom got sick while she was pregnant and very stressed during the storm of February 25 and 26. Stinkle’s mom and all the other sheep were transported to the Whittier’s farm Winterwind.
Winterwind Farm in Union
Stinkle’s mom fell into a trough the first night at Winterwind and remained there for several hours. Perry thought she had died when she found her. She hadn’t. AND she gave birth to Stinkle within 24 hours of being found. Stinkle was very sick when she was born, so the family took her into their home back on Ellsfarm to nurse her back to health. Yesterday was the first day Stinkle stood on her own.
Walking into the sheep barn this rainy morning.
Their tummies can’t be full when they are flipped on their backs to get clipped. That makes for some loud sheep during shearing.
Shearing a sheep.
Not all sheep have wool, but the dairy breed Ellsfarm chooses does have wool and must be sheared. Something new I learned today.
Cleaning the fleece.
The fleece bag. Some of the wool will be sold to the yarn makers but most will be sold in a wool pool.
Meredith returning the freshly sheared ewe.
There was an audience for all of this hard work.
Pretty cute. I don’t know her name and ALL the ewes have names. I’ll introduce you to a few.
You already met Stinkle. I am not sure if this ewe’s related to Stinkle or not. Perry has the genealogy down and knows all the ewes by name. This is Rachel Ward. I like Rachel, because we share the same first name.
This is Meryl Streep. Yes, all of the ewe’s are named after movie stars. According to Perry they start to take on the character as well. Angelina Jolie didn’t want to have her own lambs for years. She was always adopting others as her own. She finally had one (I didn’t get a picture of Angelina).
Where the sheep are being held until this Saturday when they are reunited with Stinkle on Ellsfarm.
Ellsfarm is a small 63 acre family owned sheep farm located on a hill top in Union. They milk up to 60 ewes in our Maine licensed & inspected dairy from March thru August. They sell liquid milk to a cheesemaker and occasionally to restaurants. Their sheep are raised "all natural "-- our grains do not contain any antibiotics or synthetic hormones. The flock is managed using the rotational grazing method, eating fresh grass from frost to frost (that's 6 months in Maine!), for the best tasting and healthiest milk possible.
You can buy Ellsfarm lamb at Megunticook Market in Camden and other mid-coast stores.
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