Sheep Work Day ~ Lambs Come Home

This afternoon I corraled all of the girls and wormed everyone and tagged the ones who needed their tags. I also collected a 2 inch sample of wool from their midsides to send in for micron testing.

I figured it was time. I'm curious as to what the tests will show. Not concerned though. This is a starting point and I am looking forward to whatever the results may be and being able to use that information in selection future rams. Lately I've taken some time to evaluate my long term goals for my flock. There are alot of options out there- spots, modified........I can get a bit overwhelming, especially when one has a small flock. I have come to the descision that I am going to aim for excellent conformation and excellant fleece. The rest will come in time.
This weekend we drove out to Seymore, Missouri and I picked out a couple of my lambs that I had sold in the spring. One of these was an ewe out of Locksfield Braeton and Locksfield Joaquin. This is she. A super little ewe. Her fleece is matted from burr on the surface but underneath she has a soft fleece that has good crimp and alot of luster. She'll have an intermediate fleece. Her conformation is great.

Here she is from the backside.

This little ewe lambs is from Locksfield Rosebriar and Minwawe Tornado. She is also a terrific little ewe lamb. Great conformation and a very nice fleece, also a mess from the burrs.

She also has a super little tail.

Here is Locksfield Braeton. Dam to one of the above lambs.

And Locksfield Kaya Pepper. She is going to be our stinker. The only ewe that wouldn't come into the corral area, even for feed. Isabelle said that she was scared. I told her that she wasn't scared, she was smart. I offered $5 to the person who caught her.

Locksfield Kaya Pepper

Locksfield Kaya Pepper is an older ewe I purchased from Malinda at Locksley Fields. She is out of Fletcher Sundance and Fletcher Cassidy. Her markings are unique and I thought she would be an interesting addition to the flock. My plans are to pair her with Fletcher Crescendo this fall.

Sheep-itis

Isabelle, Veronica and I (1/3's) are now proud owners of Locksley ? . Nope- don't know her name, forgot to ask! They saw her and really liked her appearance.

She really is a lovely ewe. Her coloring and patterns are really pretty. Her fleece is beautiful. A bluish color.

Look at that nice little Shetland tail.

These chickens are one of several groups running around our farm these days. They manage to dig out despite our efforts to keep them in their designated area.

Our peacock was sitting outside the window here as I was putting in this post, so I took his picture. Apparently we are more interesting than what is going on outside.

Wool Washing

Early last week I decided to shear the two spring lambs. Their fleeces were so nice that I hated to wait and have hay particles get buried into their fleeces. The neck wool on these lambs was 100% free of any debris.

I have one of my helpers looking through the locks for anything that needed removing.
The fleece is on a skirting table that I had made. It is foldable and when open is 8 ft. long by 4ft. wide (approx.). I had to make a minor change in the wire width and place a bar down the middle of each section. We couldn't get the wire in that width without buying a large roll at a very high price. I had found the pattern online at: http://hawksmountainranch.com/skirtingtableinstructions.html


A lock from the fleece.

Our wash vats in the barn come in handy for washing the wool . The water is 160 degrees F up there and with 2 vats and a washing machine handy, I can move along quickly.

Busy Week

It has been a busy week. Monday I went over to Allena's and got a Carding 101 lesson on her Fancy Kitty carder. I had washed several fleeces and brought some over for her to look at. I wasn't too sure they were clean enough to send out. We started plucking and make a couple of batts. Adding Bamboo to one and some other stuff to the other. The transformation from the raw fleece to the batt and then roving was amazing. I was hooked. Tuesday, I grabbed my change bucket and headed to the bank. I needed to get myself a carder. Based on the UPS tracking, my Fancy Kitten will be here tomorrow. In the meantime, we've finished prepping the wool and I made a stop by Allena's and bought some wonderful brown and grey alpaca, also some bamboo. You can guess what I'll be doing on Saturday.

Our first batch of eggs made it into the incubator today. Mostly Salmon Faverolles, some Marans and Ameruarcanas. We went with the Hovabator Genesis 1588. I added water and turned it on when it came. It's needed no adjusting and has held it's temperature steady since.
Caroline, who is in the background, said she was staying there until they popped.

Next Spinning Project

I'm currently working on "Soul Windows" from Spunky Club. It is a Corriedale/10% nylon blend. I have 8 ounces of this fiber total and have about 3 ounces left to spin. It has blues, greys, browns, greens, white/cream and even a bit of yellow in spots.

Update** Finished spinning the singles on September 13th.

Spinning

Finished up my first spinning project on the Jensen D-30 Production wheel I received last December. It's amazing. I still have alot to learn on it. They come with several whorls and I'm not sure what is best to use and when. The fiber shown came from Spunky Eclectic. It was from her Spunky Club, fiber of the month and I can't think of the name of the colorway. It is Merino and really soft. I had 8 ounces of it so I'm hoping there is enough for a sweater for one of the kids.

Fiber

Single

2 Ply


3 Skeins