It’s been a typical Missouri winter with temperatures ranging from near 70 to 7 degrees. Sometimes within just a few days of each other. Last night we saw severe thunderstorms ahead of a cold front that left us with ice covering everything. Of course one of our dairy goats decided it would be a perfect time to kid. Mom had triplets and all did well.
Our Shetlands enjoy the cooler weather. The boys don’t seem phased at all.
It’s been a couple of years since we’ve had lambs. Back then, we selectively bred a few ewes to this ram I had gotten from Windswept farms in Michigan. We kept 2 of his sons and they haven’t disappointed as they’ve matured.
We are looking forward to having lambs again on the farm this spring.

Spring 2016 Babies

Ram Lamb: Locksfield Ewe x Windswept Ram

Twins: Ram and Ewe Lamb: Fletcher Ewe x Windswept Ram

After several years with no babies on the farm, I decided to breed 3 of my ewes to a beautiful ram I had gotten from Windswept Farm in Michigan. I couldn't be happier with the lambs that are hear and am anxiously awaiting the 3rd ewe, ready to lamb any day.

Long time no post.......

It's been a very long time since I have posted on here....not because I didn't want to....but, I lost/forgot my password!  I've spent hours plugging in possible passwords, emailed Google,..... and finally, today I tried to login again and on the second try, it worked.  I still have my wonderful little Shetlands.  This fall I decided to downsize to a handful. This is mainly due to time constaints and pasture availability.  Currently, there are no lambs/sheep available.

March Update

It'a been raining since yesterday afternoon and looks like it will continue to rain for the rest of the week. We are glad to have the rain. The shearer came yesterday and we vaccinated everyone. The sheep are much happier without their heavy fleeces. This year the fleeces were really nice. I attribute that to our mild winter. They weren't dealing with snow and ice. I noticed a couple of the ewes looked like they were getting close. It won't be long before we have lambs on the ground again.

January Update

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. Life on the farm has been busy, as usual. We faced a hay shortage and high prices for the hay that was available. This year we stayed away from the alfalfa and fortunately, we found decent hay as we needed it and adjusted the grain feeding in the barn to compensate for the reduced hay quality. I'm down to a dozen or so ewes and 2 rams. Neville went in with the ewes on November 1st. We had an excellent bunch of lambs last year, so I am looking forward to this years and keeping a few back as replacements. We had a wonderful Christmas. My parents made it down for a visit, which always makes it special, and more so this year because about 2 weeks ago my mom became very ill and was diagnosed with cancer- stage 4. It's something we would have never imagined, as our family had been cancer free, until now. So, we are taking things day by day and praying that she recovers.

As you can see, we did see a little snow this year. Not much, and it melted quickly. It has been a mild winter overall and nice for the sheep. The shed peeking out in the corner is one we found at Farm Fest and was on special. It was a treat to finally have a suitable shelter for the sheep in the pen with the sheep vs having to move the sheep to a barn. That never went well as anyone who's had to move sheep can imagine.

Chicago

Navy Pier

This week I had an appointment in Chicago and the University of Chicago Medical Center. Some know that we've had troubles with loosing babies late, and for that last two years, early, and everytime. Sofar all boys...the University of Chicago is conducting research on this type of problem as there is no answer for what is going on. Anyhow....my husband and I flew to Chicago, not really knowing what to expect.
And were pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful, at least where we were down by the lake. It was getting dark when we arrived to our hotel and had to hurry out to see something. Navy Pier was just a block away.
The weather couldn't have been better. I think 80's compared to our whopping 100+. There were many little parks and you can rent a bike to ride on the paths up and down Lake Michigan. Which I would definitely recommend over driving over there :-) That was an interesting experience in itself and we were in a cab. We were literally just a few inches away from other people int heir cars. I can't believe the cars weren't touching. Our cab drivers were both very courteous and honest.
There was alot of activity on the lake. They had cruises coming and going. The tallships were there and that was fun to see. Too bad we didn't have time to ride on one.
In the evening, we had supper down along the canal below at a little cafe. Once we returned to our room, we had a treat. The firework that were going off over the lake could be viewed from our window. It was really a nice trip, despite how short we were there. Next day I had my appointment and we flew home.

Chloe and Clementine

Sometimes things just work out. Several years back, when we had boer goats, we had purchase two, beautiful, white Pyranees dogs who were supposed to be ready to go and good guard dogs. They were raised with goats, and they were probably at least 6 months old. It didn't matter what we did, those dogs would take off down the road. They'd go through electric fence as well, even after we had them shorn. It was like watching Dumb and Dumber. It took about 2 weeks for us to have them sold to someone else who like Pyranees and understood they weren't getting the worlds smartest duo. That experience pretty much ruined our desire for guard dogs.

This past spring, prior to lambing and after the sheep had been moved to a bigger pasture, I thought about finding something to look after them as coyotes are commonplace here. I've heard llamas were a good choice, but after extensive research...it was iffy. You had to get a good one and I just didn't feel up to trying one and having it not be suitable for guarding. So, I looked at the different breeds of guard dogs. Read different posts and it seemed like that was probably the best way to go. We weren't ready to make that commitment yet, and lambing was imminent and the dogs would have to be trained....but, the happiest people, the ones I found anyhow, were ones with crosses between Pyranees and Anatolian. That's what I decided, back then, I would get if I ever did get a dog.

So we lambed out and I lost my first lamb. Pretty confident that it was an eagle that took that one. Just before we had gotten the puppies, another one was killed...by something else. It was either a coyote or a stray dog.

A buyer had come for some sheep and she mentioned she had puppies- they were the crosses I was looking for, it crossed my mind that maybe I should get one. But I still wasn't sure. And, they were spoken for. Later, I made a comment that it crossed my mind to get one and it turned out someone didn't get theirs. So 2 were left. Of course when she emailed the photos that pretty much made the decision. At first we were only getting one, but decided on the pair. It was a good choice. One of the best swaps I've done...thank you Tabitha for the wonderful puppies.

These 2 little girls are really smart and they pay attention. Dont' run off, either. For the first week they just stayed on the porch and hung out with us. They were curious and would follow us into the sheep pens. They are now in with the girls, have their own pen right now, mostly for their own safety. I have a couple ewes with attitude :-)

I think these little girls will work out well.

The Boys- Sold

Sorted sheep again this week. Some of the sale ewes had gotten loose and in with the main flock and some of the ewes from the main flock decided to go in with the sale ewes. This gave me the opportunity to go ahead and catch my ram lambs and separate them from the ewes.

They adjusted to the change well. A little head butting and running around, but it didn't last long. Neville-the big ram, would get in on the fun and when he'd hit them, they'd go rolling. That pretty much put an end to the fun.

This guy is solid black. Super nice fleece. He is one of two black rams that were born this year.

This little guy is another really nice one. Nice fleece, conformation...... this year there just weren't any "bad" ones.

.

The Boys

Sorted sheep again this week. Some of the sale ewes had gotten loose and in with the main flock and some of the ewes from the main flock decided to go in with the sale ewes. This gave me the opportunity to go ahead and catch my ram lambs and separate them from the ewes.

They adjusted to the change well. A little head butting and running around, but it didn't last long. Neville-the big ram, would get in on the fun and when he'd hit them, they'd go rolling. That pretty much put an end to the fun.

This guy is solid black. Super nice fleece. He is one of two black rams that were born this year.

This little guy is another really nice one. Nice fleece, conformation...... this year there just weren't any "bad" ones.

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Ram Lambs

I have several nice ram lambs available. Colors range from a dark black, grey, fawn and moorit.

Price: $175

I've sold several of the ewe lambs. As with the ram lambs, the ewes came out super nice. Excellent conformation, fleece-the whole package. Prices are $175 3 or more together- $125/each

I have a few 2-3 year olds to move out. They are $75.

Sale Ewe Lambs

44

44

43

43

27

27

26

26

39

39

25

25

Sold

33

33

Lambs on Ground, Photos Soon To Follow

It has been a busy winter. Lots happening- good and bad. Computer was down in January and I still don't have the new tower up and running. Got it a couple weeks ago and haven't had the time to finish reloading everything. I've been working on this laptop in the meantime and am really liking the portability of it. It's nice to work at the kitchen table instead of my little computer cubby.

Lambing wrapped up just about 2 weeks ago. My first lamb was on the ground early March and the rest all pretty much came 2 weeks later, in a span of a few days. I've somewhere around 25 this year.

Vanderbilt Home - Hyde Park, New York

We had arrived in New York a day early and made a stop in Hyde Park. The Vanderbilt's had built one of their homes there and it is available to tour. The view as you drive into their former estate was beautiful.
One can walk the grounds for free, and they are vast. There is a gift shop and the office in one of the homes they had built for guests. This is the main house. We were able to tour it for a small fee, but no photos were allowed inside. It was something to see the beautiful woodworking, sculpted marble, painting on the ceilings....... They brought in skilled laborers from Europe and everything was done by hand.
They had a nice view of the river from the back of the house.


This was the back of the house.

It is something to see all of the detailed hand carving on the pillars and around the outside of the home.
They had several greenhouses at one time and vast gardens. Off to the left, there were terraces where they would have sat at on time.
In the back ground is the gardener's home. When the Vanderbilt's had lived here, there was a farm, as well. It's owned by a private individual and not part of the tour, but you can see the tunnel that went under the road and connected it to the main property. The farm workers would show the livestock at the Duchess County Fair.

At the back of the garden is a water feature that they had. The tour of the house is guided and it was informative. The rest of the grounds your are free to walk and look around.

NY Sheep and Wool Festival

This year I was able to make the trip to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York. I brought two of my daughters along and we made our trip via the train. It was a long trip out there and back, but well worth it.

There were barns and buildings full of different vendors with beautiful yarns, rovings, shawl pins, handmade drop spindles, hand woven and hand knit items............. It was almost overwhelming. The grounds were packed full of festival go'ers and it was just about impossible to maneuver through the buildings at times.
One of the buildings was dedicated to crafts and wine/food tasting. We came home with several cheeses and a bottle of wine from the Finger Lakes region of New York. Outside, there was a vendor selling various apples and pears from their orchard that was located a few miles up the road from Rhinebeck. They were delicious and we brought home some of those. There were a variety of sheep, lamas and several alpacas. We spent some time watching one of the shows.
We had arrived a day early, hoping to take some time to enjoy the area. We weren't disappointed. The fall colors were beautiful. The water in the background is the Hudson River.
We took a little time to visit the Vanderbuilt mansion in Hyde Park. It offered the chance to drive down to the rivers edge.
One of the last places we visited was the lighthouse in Saugerties.

It's been a long, hot summer here. We saw many days where the heat index soared up to the 100's. There was a brief spell of cooler weather that lasted about 2 weeks. A relief for both humans and animals. The sheep had a rough time with the heat and humidity .
Some of the ewes are in the picture above. We are up to 21 adult ewes with a variety of colors and fleece types. It's about where I want to stay. So next year, there will be several for sale.
This is one of my favorites. Her fleece is extremely soft and has a nice feel.
The lambs were moved to their own pasture. I'm happy with the lambs this year. They are looking good. Nice conformation, soft, crimpy fleece.
The girls named her Cinderella. She is a sweetheart. As friendly as can be. Her mom is Lockfield Eloise.