Woodland farm owner Nikita Woodhead said the final arrivals of her Valais blacknose cross lambs were expected by the end of this week.
She put her purebred Valais blacknose stud ram Angus over her 16 ewes — a mix of crossbred Valais and commercial breeds, such as Texel.
``They are pretty cute at the first cross.''
So far this season all the ewes had produced twins and triplets and none of them had been empty.
Valais blacknose were widely considered to be the cutest sheep breed in the world, she said.
A purebred Valais blacknose ewe costs about $10,000.
Rather than buying a purebred ewe, she was ``breeding up'' — a more cost-effective way of producing a lamb, which was 96% Valais blacknose.
As the percentage of Valais increased, the lambs’ faces became blacker and the wool became longer and fluffier, giving it a ``teddy bear'' appearance.
This was her second season lambing on her property.
She would keep the ewe lambs to continue breeding up.
The ram lambs would be sold as pets or as breeding rams.
Demand for ram lambs had been strong but not all of them would be leaving the property.
``We want some for our freezer.''
