Sunday, March 20, 2022

#210 Tallulah, #201 Lark, #247 Luvasia & #58 Jasmine

 Well I took Friday off work from my day job to "get myself caught up",

Well, many of the sheep kept me busy on Friday and Saturday.  
Needless to say I didn't get everything done that I had so planned to accomplish.

We had FIVE ewes deliver lambs on Friday
and again on Saturday, another FIVE.

I only had time to snap some quick pics. of the four ewes that gave us purebred shetland lambs.

#210 Tallulah

was bred to Diamond Fred.  She delivered twin rams, a grey katmoget and a black.

#201 Lark
Bred to Diamond Fred delivered a single black ram lamb.

#247 Luvasia
Bred to Moogega delivered a single ram lamb.

#58 Jasmine
Bred to Moogega delivered a single ram lamb.  This was our only delivery today.
We repeated this breeding, hoping for a ewe lamb.  Last year she delivered 
twin ram lambs, of which we decided to keep one of the lambs, who is a very striking 
spotted dark grey with an 18.9 micron average.

This little guy will probably be similar.

Many of these ram lambs will available to new homes.  We expect to have very good micron numbers from them since the two rams that were used this year had 19 & 22 micron averages.

More to come, stay tuned! 

Thursday, March 17, 2022

#1511 Lydia, #235 Jaleia, #245 Marisol & #70 Laurel

 It has been busy, working my day job full time and lambing at the same time, makes for some tiring days.
 


#1511 Lydia a moorit flecket ewe
bred to Moogega, a black flecket ram
produced this cute moorit flecket ram.
This little guy will most likely be available to a new home upon weaning sometime in June or there after.


#235 Jaleia a black krunet shetland 
bred to Moogega, who was sold to another shetland breed this past fall.
Produced this duplicate of Jaleia!
This is a ewe lamb.
We haven't made any decisions yet as to who we will be retaining in our flock 
this will be decided at a later date.


#245 Marisol, beautiful solid black ewe,  
bred to Diamond Fred a black katmoget.
Produced this nice sized black ewe lamb with a small white fleck on her forehead.


#70 Laurel, black ewe who has she is getting older has begun to get white fibers in her beautiful wool.
She was also bred to Diamond Fred.
Producing this nice set of twins, a ram (nursing) and ewe (laying).

We've had fourteen ewes deliver, with many yet to got.

We will have quite a few crossbred lambs available once weaned and group pictures will be posted soon.



Sunday, March 13, 2022

#161 and #212 Maci

 
#161 Troyana was bred to Diamond Fred and produced this 
beautiful dark grey katmoget ewe lamb, just like her Sire.
Lamb born: March 7, 2022

We've had three other shetland ewes lamb that were bred to our crossbred ram, 
so far it looks to be a year of ewe lambs.

When I went out to the barn on Friday evening, March 11th, I walked in to see
that #212 Maci (bred to Diamond Fred) had recently delivered her lamb as a  first time mom 
she delivered a single ewe lamb that looks to be to be a bit early.

This little ewe is a fighter, she was up and hungry when I found her.
Her mom didn't have her milk in yet so she has been supplemented with colostrum milk.
I did get some milk from her Dam the following day but not much, so I plan to continue to supplement her with milk replacer.  We had a terribly cold weather system come in this weekend,
low's over night of 14 degrees Friday night and 10 degrees Saturday night.
I couldn't leave her in the barn under a heat lamp, it just wasn't warm enough for her.

So off to the house we go!  We've set her up in a laundry basket, which she is not able to get of yet.
Rip was so excited and tentative with her.  Constantly checking on her and licking her face, which actually was a positive experience for the lamb, causing her to respond with tail wags.

The stimulation is very much like she would have received from her mother.
We have hopes to take her back into the barn this week, temperatures are to be much kinder and  under a heat lamp if needed.  We will see if Mom will accept her back, we are hopeful.


Saturday, March 5, 2022

Post Shearing Day and continued fleeces sales...

We had a great day today Shearing our Sheep.

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped, many hands make light work!  



We began shearing at 8am and finished up about noon.

We even had three that we were able to Roo.
Many fleeces were sold today fresh off the sheep but we do still have about 30 left.
Several black, a few white, a few grey and several brown or brown based colors.

We will still be available Sunday, March 6th if anyone would like to come and we what we still have available to purchase.
Contact me directly via my email address so I can provide more details if you would like to vist.


These are the rams we currently have in our flock.
The two in the bottom left side are the newest additions.
I plan to share a post on them in the future.


We also had a new addition to the flock during our shearing.  A single ewe lamb.
She is a grey katmoget pattern, but she is a crossbred.
This lamb will be available to a new home sometime in June, once weaned.


Thursday, March 3, 2022

Shearing Day - Saturday, March 5th 8am

 Our shearing is will be here shortly.

We've been preparing for this day for two weeks!

Most of the sheep are coated and have beautifully clean fleeces.  A couple had their coats come off and I just didn't get them put back on, so they will have a small amount of VM.


Lambing will begin soon too!  I will be sure to post all of the ewes that deliver purebred shetland  lambs, I only bred 14 ewes pure.  Many of the ewes were crossbred this year and I will share lamb photos but they will most likely be in groups of lambs.


We have an "open house" on our shearing day and invite spinners to come and purchase freshly shorn fleeces from our sheep.

We plan to shear on Saturday, March 5th.  The shearer plans to be here at 8am.

Shearing will begin once he has arrived.

If you would like to come, just send me an email at: 

dschrader001@yahoo.com

I will provide further information for those coming to our open house.

Hope to see you!