Crystal Fullerton Fine Art

Bella - Clun Forest Ewe Lamb

Bella- Purebred -Clun Forest Ewe Lamb

Yes, I am still on the Photography kick. My still life pepper is starting to wilt and the canvas is finally dry enough to work on today so with all luck there will be an assortment of art work for your perusal in the future!

I had to show off my daughters 4H lamb. Bella is a Purebred Clun Forest Ewe. That is a relatively rare breed in these parts and truth be told there are less than a dozen breeders in the country as a whole. I presently own 2 part bred Cluns and love how tough they are and resistant to any sort of bug or gunk that comes their way. No hot house flowers here so when Anna wanted to do the sheep project in 4H I figured lets get a purebred.

When she started training Bella it did not look good and I seriously second guessed my judgement in regards to a "showable " animal. Bella pulled moves WWF wrestlers would have been proud of! So when Anna announces she wants to walk her lamb in the exhibition parade I, as a mother immediately began to stress out. A long walk, a hot day and lots of scary things to help fuel a sheep's flight into orbit. Yikes.

To Anna's credit she never gave up. She walked that lamb everywhere and mauled her like a child would a kitten.

Parade day arrives and so do we to the many varied and speculative eyes. One well known shepherd who's grandkids are in the sheep program (and are really good) looked at Bella and said, "She's a Clun." As if that was enough to find her guilty of some unknown sheep law, Anna smiled , hugged her and then proudly trudged of to 4-H float.

It took about 2 seconds for throngs of folks to mob Anna and Bella. I needn't have worried. Anna beamed with pride as her pristine lamb stood still to be rubbed, petted and gushed over. Another sheep member who is from a dairy family decided to walk with Anna during the parade and by the end of it he was in love with Bella saying he thought sheep were "cool".

Anna and Bella and escort stopped many times along the parade route and lots of people both young and old got to touch a sheep. For many of them it was the first time.

I walked along behind with another shepherd and we were both blown away by how well behaved and forward moving Bella was. As we neared the end of the parade route my friend laughed disbelievingly, "I would never have picked a Clun for a 4-H project but wow, she is a bomb proof lamb." No greater praise was given and I didn't have to tell Anna. She was so proud of her little lamb as she announced.

"I knew she could do it Mom."

I now know she can to. As a parent it was one of those new steps in life where you realize your kids are growing up and they don't need your assistance quite as much as you think. It is actually a great feeling.

I would me remiss if I did not include my son here also. He is a big chicken lover. He has been in the poultry project for many years and he was quite pleased to be in the parade (on the float and NOT walking) and showing off his bantam White Whyandott Rooster, Brewster. I was focused on Bella and the catastrophe that didn't happen but I was told that Brewster sat on the edge of the float watching the world go by and occassionally clucked at the crowd.

So all in all it was a great day. All the Fullerton farm animals came- went- saw and returned home in great shape. Lets hope all future journeys fare the same!