ilO-Lancamr Fanning, Saturday, March 11. 1995
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
Inside her home, Yvette Stoltzfus
plays the strains of “Mary Had A
Little Lamb on her vioUn.
When Yvette steps outside, not
one but four lambs follow her
around the farm.
The four quadruplets were bom
several weeks ago.
“We were walking up the lane
from school when Mother said that
she had a surprise for us,” Yvette
said of the day when the lambs
were bom.
“They were wet and slimy when
we first saw them,” Yvette’s
brother Jared said.
The lambs are now a soft furry
white. Although they are penned in
the bam, the lambs prefer to run
outside when Jared and Yvette play
with them.
The lambs appear to be identical
Yvette and her sister Vonda bottl
These are sewing projects that Yvette has made. “I’m
lucky to have older sisters that help me sew,” Yvette said.
ids
Everywhere That Yvette Goes,
Four Lambs Are Sure To Follow
in looks until Jared and Yvette
point out that one has a curlier tail.
So it was named Curlicue. Another
has smaller ears and curlier fur so it
was named Curly. The markings
on the lambs’ faces are a bit diffe
rent so the one with the whitest face
was dubbed Whitey. Of course, the
one named Jumpy does a lot of
jumping.
All four lambs make a lot of
noise. Their constant baa-ing is
their way of talking.
Yvette and Jared are the children
of Judy and Jake Stoltzfus. Two
older sisters, Vonda, 18, and Waft,
20, help out with bottle feeding the
lambs. At first, the lambs were
bottle fed five times a day, now
they are fed three times daily.
“We have 16 mommy sheep,”
Yvette said of the mixed breed
raised on the farm.
The sheep keep about four acres
of meadows surrounding the farm
ise rambunctious lambs don’t like to pose for pictures. Jared and Yvette take
some time to play with the sheep quadruplets named Curly, Curly Q, Jumpy, and Whi
tey. The lambs look all the same to visitors, but Jared and Yvette can easily tell them
apart.
trimmed so that Jared doesn’t have
as much mowing to do.
A goat Lieza chomps the thistles
in the meadow since sheep prefer
the taste of tender grass.
Lieza doesn’t stick to thistles.
Once a feed salesman laid a bill on
top of Lieza’s pen. She jumped up
and ate the bill.
Maybe Lieza thought that she
was doing the Stoltzfus family a
favor; but, unfortunately, they still
needed to pay the bill.
Although both Yvette and Jared
are 4-H members neither have
sheep or the goat as a 4-H project
“We should get a better breed
sheep if we do that” Jared said.
Jared prefers to make wood
working projects.
“I have a band saw that I learned
to use on my own,” Jared said. He
also likes to help his dad saw wood
for use in the wood stove.
Recently Jared completed a
model of his dream car a 1994
deep blue Mustang.
“I like Mustangs because they
go fast and they have a cool
design,” Jared said. “I guess I’m
Ford-minded.”
In addition to mowing around
the farm, Jared has two mowing
jobs that he does for other people.
He also cleans out the hog pens and
helps with feeding.
Jared plays soccer at Manheim
Central Junior High School and is a
member of his church youth group.
Yvette is in fourth grade at H.C.
Burgard Elementary School. She’d
rather play the violin or sew than
go to school. Recently she com
pleted two quilts that she hand
knotted. She also stitched two
dolls.
orfce
Her dream is to be able to sew
dresses for people.
The Stoltzfus family has a 1,300
hog finisher operation on their
Nine-year-old Yvette plays “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
V
\s
11 'A -acre farm in Manheim. They
have one dog named Rainbow and
five cats, Tigger, Fluff Ball, Ale
xander, Mikey, and Licky.