Sheep For Sale

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Introducing the Lambs.....

It's been a busy start to summer here on the farm. Soccer is finished until fall, but there are many more things to take its place. Swim lessons started this week. The fair is coming up and it's time to be thinking and more importantly, getting some of those projects done. I am still working at getting the garden in. Most of it is planted. We've been renovating the pastures that the beef have been in. The grass was poor, thin and it needed some attention. The dairy pastures have been getting replanted, some are planted yearly. Right now the sudan is going in.
School is officially done, but we do some here and there yet. I've been working on the curriculum and ordering books. I've officially transitioned to a classical curriculum, which I have already been doing except for the addition of latin and the advance literature-of which mine are just getting old enough to start into those levels anyhow. Most will be an adjustment of how I teach and incorporating their participation in discussions.
To understand this method, to which I have always been drawn-but it seemed so foreign (words like trivium and quadrivium), I was fortunate enough to attend a conference up in Kansas City. Laura Berquist was the featured speaker. She taught her own children, several others and started Mother of Divine Grace School which gives children a classical education.
There were other speakers- I attended several on nature, literature and working with older children. It was a wonderful experience.

This past Wednesday, we finally sheared. It was much later than I would have preferred. At least it's done and I am certain that the ewes are appreciative. While they were up, I trimmed hooves. They were pretty overgrown this year. The only thing I can attribute to this may be the wet weather we've had.
The older lambs were pulled to be weaned. I had already pulled 4, several weeks ago. I went ahead and tagged, banded and gave CDT vaccinations. We've been bottle feeding our lambs for about 2 weeks, just to help with making them more friendly. This has been a great thing for the wethers. They love to come up and be scratched, pet and enjoy being around people. There are several photos of lambs here, there are many not pictured.
This is our favorite little ram lamb. He is wethered, so we can keep him for a pet. He is a pretty little boy.
We love the markings on his face.
This was another ewe out of Crescendo. She is interesting as I have not seen another like her.
She is pretty white, just a few brown hairs, more, perhaps over her top. But I didn't notice that many more.
Here, you can see into the fleece and how white-or cream, colored it is.
We were happy to see Kaya have this pretty little ewe lamb. Kaya is also mom to the ram lamb/wether we like so much.
Salem had this black ewe. Right now, her fleece is black. The only white I've seen is around her face.
She is a nice ewe with a great temperament.
This ram lamb was the only one retained for use in a breeding program. He was the most correct and is a nice little boy.
His tail is super, although the wind was blowing and you can't really see.
Another nice ewe lamb our of Allena's ram. Also, correct with a nice tail.
Our escapee hens have been busy. It's always fun to walk into the barn and hear the sound of new baby chicks, somewhere. Eventually mom brings them out. I've incubated and raised chicks, but it is much better for the hens to do the job. They do it better than I ever could. It's amazing to watch the chicks and how healthy they are.
One of our giant Blue Cochin roosters.
Those little Muscovy ducklings have grown quite alot over the last several weeks. They've made themselves at home in the chicken house and I am not sure that they don't think they are chickens. I've seen a duck, raised with several border collies, think it was a border collie and would work horses just as the dogs did.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Lamb Photos

The weather has warmed up and we've gotten quite busy. A couple of the kids are playing soccer this year and are really enjoying themselves. The older girls are busy preparing for the Stockton Music Festival this weekend as well as their first horse show. Isabelle is going to be showing her new horse, "Peaches". It'll be the first time she's taken her out. We've been calving in since February, with a little break in between then and now. The beef who were due this spring have all calved, except for one. The sheep started lambing- earlier than I thought. Sofar there have been no problems and the one new mom I had, did great. I'm still waiting on several first time ewes. I've been so busy with other things that I've not been doing much in the way of spinning. My roving came back from the fall and is still sitting in the box. Computer ended up in the shop after a storm. It was unplugged- the only thing we can figure would be a charge went through the antenna that is attached to the wireless modem. It's been in and out of the "shop" for the last 2 weeks. I'm still reloading things here and there. Several things are completely gone, along with my emails and addresses. I had a short stay in the hospital after having emergency surgery. I'm feeling good aside from dealing with a low blood count. As long as I sit- I'm good. LOL I've long given up on resting-just not possible with a busy family.
1st Soccer Game
Nibbling Leaves
Kaya's Ram Lamb
Kaya's Ram Lamb
Kaya's Ewe Lamb
Concetta's Ewe Lamb- also out of Crecsendo
Not sure who's lambs these are
Salem's lamb.
Braeton with her lamb

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Twins

  • Kaya Peppers new lambs out of Fletcher Crescendo. The one that is mostly white is a ram and our black one with a white face is an ewe.
This little guy loves attention and follows a person around.
She is equally as friendly, not yet as mobile as her brother. I was surprised to see two and how they are marked.

Lambs on the Way

Kaya is going to be our first to lamb. She is definitely in labor today,so hopefully we'll have a lamb before evening.

Our weather had been interesting. A 70 degree day and then this. Snow.
This past Saturday it snowed, and snowed. By the time it was through, we had over 9 inches on the ground.
It was really amazing.

As of today, it's pretty much all gone. Everything is green and it looks like spring.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Short Update

Lot's of snow-since Christmas, we've had snow on the ground constnantly. Usually we have a snowfall, and it melts right away. Not this year. It's been nice and we've enjoyed our snowy winter.
It's been busy since the last post. School, lessons and appointments. The dry cows and heifers have started calving in. Over the last few weeks, 20+ have calved in. Lots of calves. Several of the Angus cows are close. Hopefully it'll warm up for them. The sheep are looking pregnant. Soon it'll be time to vaccinate and shear off the growth since fall. I decided to lamb later this year.
My Hello Yarn Fiber Club roving arrived last week. It's a Mohair blend, mohair, some nylon and 2%merino. I'm almost done with the last batch of fiber. The swirl shawl is coming along. I have 8 swirls finished.
Made a change to leaving comments-had comments that weren't really comments, I'd say and not needed- so I am screening them for now.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Error


Yesterday I went back over the breeding group posts from last fall- double checking lambing dates- and there was an error with Three Ring Henry's data. I had mistyped in the AFD at 36.6. That was wrong- His AFD is 23.6. SD 7.9 CV 33.5 Garrett posted a comment bringing it to my attention and I somehow missed that comment.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

New Project for the New Year

I spied a knitted scarf in this pattern at One City Market some time ago. I couldn't resist picking up the pattern in hopes I'd make on too. Today I cast on...........
I'm knitting mine using Jojoland Melody 100% superwash wool-Dye Lot 005, Color# MS27. I finished the first octagon. It was a little bit of a challange getting started. It called for a Knit On Cast On. I'd never cast on with that before and I still tend to be a little awkward with the DPN's. I ripped back a few times until I became comfortable with the pattern. Once I got it, it went quickly and was really easy. It's a pretty neat pattern and I enjoyed getting the first octagone done. I'll pick up 10 stitches along one edge and cast on another 50 and do the same thing over and over...for row A. When I get to row B, I'll pick up 10 on one edge, 10 on another and cast on....
More winter weather on the way. We are forecasted to see another 1-3 inches by tomorrow afternoon. It's cold enough that it'll stick. We have to bring a heifer in, she's due to calve and she can't do that out in the frigid temperatures we are seeing. The horses had to be moved around. They can be a pain sometimes. You've always got someone wanting to fight. Glory and Misty are no exception. We thought we put the two timid ones together- Glory kicked and bit Misty- leaving her with a pretty sore and swollen leg. We thought we were doing a favor for Glory. She is at the bottom of the herd with the other horses and they'd tend to keep her out of the barn. That's why we put her in with Misty. Now, she will just have to cope with the others. Last night something got one of our chickens. Ripped it to pieces. Could be a coyote-they've been getting close. We also have seen stray dogs around.