#113 Olivia and two guest ewes: #1805 & # 1547

What a day today.

It started out with new lambs and a stealer this morning.

Ok, I know this is a really bad photo...I cannot figure out how to 

get the flash to work on my phone.

This is one of my guest ewes (Dave's ewe). She was 

bred to my black ram Bian.  She delivered twin ewe lambs.

One moorit (you can see her lamb tag shining) and 

one black with a small white spot on her forehead.

This ewe delivered this morning.  One of her lambs was stolen by the next ewe

who delivered her own lambs by the time I came home this afternoon.

 This is another guest ewe (Dave's) #1547 Bred to Gordon

Both are spotted ewe lambs.

 Below, #113 Olivia also delivered twins this afternoon.

Olivia was bred to Black Pearl.

The black is a ram, the moorit a ewe, I think this moorit ewe lamb

is going to go light.  Maybe mioget, like mom. 

That would be wonderful.

We have 10 ewes that have delivered with many more to go.

I think I will be exhausted before we are done.

#173 Poppy, #162 and #174 Iola

Last evening I went out the supplement Pumpkins' lamb with 

a bottle and #173 Poppy had delivered a ewe lamb.

Poppy was bred to my cross breeding ram a 

Border Cheviot/Shetland.  Not quite noticeable in this 

photo, but she really favors the border cheviot.

 This ewe, #162 is not registered, she was cross bred 

with the border cheviot/shetland ram too.  She delivered this morning.

This is a  ram lamb, he appears to favor the shetland breed more.

 Above and below pics. #174 Iola. She was bred to TwoTone and delivered

this little guy.  He is really cute, he has small circles around his eyes and

a little color at the base of the leg.  The hair color on his ears is white, 

but his skin has color on the ears, interesting.

Many to go yet...

#193 Pumpkin & #192 Thea

Todays deliveries did not go well...

 After coming home from work today I went straight out to the barn.

Knowing we should have lambs.

I found this little black and white ewe looking for her mom and hungry.

After taking a quick scan across the barn to see who she belonged to

I found #193 Pumpkin laying in a corner.  As I approached her

I could see that she had prolapsed and was in shock.

We spent much time with her and to get her treated but I 

think she is still in shock and don't know if she will recover.

I have supplemented her lamb with her milk and 

will continue.  I'm thinking that this little girl is going

to be a bottle baby for now.

Pumpkin was bred to Gordon and delivered a beautifully

spotted ewe lamb.

#192 Thea was bred to Bian.  She delivered this really 

nice dark moorit ewe lamb.

While I was trying to get photos this evening I noticed

that the lamb wasn't visually following her mom, she was

following by scent.  I picked her up and used my open hand to approach 

her eye and she does not blink.  I've seen this before

but didn't know what was causing this problem.

I reached out to some fellow shepherds and believe that

it is possible that since I did treat the whole flock with Corid

for coccidiosis.  Not realizing that Corid blocks the

up take of thiamine.

I have given the lamb .5mm of thiamine with Vit. B and 

will continue this for a few days.  I don't know if

this will reverse or improve her condition.

I will also follow up with my vet as to treatment.

I will be going back out to the barn this later this evening as

I thought I noticed another ewe may be ready to deliver.

#58 Jasmine

We've waited alll weekend long for babies.  

Finally, when I went out to feed this evening

Jasmine had delivered a ewe lamb.

 Jasmine was bred to my black ram, Bian.

This lamb is black with a krunet mark on her head.

I didn't see any white fibers in her ears or lips.  

She does have a black tongue. I'm hoping

she keeps her black color. ...time will tell.

She also has a small slice of a white mark on her right back 

lower leg, front and back.

I have many that look like they could deliver at any time

and of course that is probably what they will do.  

When  I have to go back to work (day job)!

Lambing begins with #161 Troyana

I walked into the barn this evening to hear little voices...

 I went straight in with the sheep to see who delivered and what 

they had.  It was Troyana, she was so proud to show me her babies.

She was talking to me before I even got to her.

I had my phone out and took this picture immediately.

Troyana was looking at me as to say,  Look! Look what I have!!

 Troyana was bred to Two Tone.  These lambs are both rams.

That spotting pattern we were trying for has certainly come out

 I've been preparing for lambs, as I have several that look like they could 

go at any time.  I moved Troyana off into a corner pen, large enough 

to accommodate two more ewes with lambs.

Hopefully this will kick off with all of these lambs coming soon.

I would like to have a close age on all these lambs, it just 

makes for easier feeding arrangements as we move into 

creep feeding and weaning.  ...we'll see.

Successful day of shearing

Although I have no pictures of the actual shearing this year

I did get some of the ewes afterwards and the many fleeces.

Thank you to all those who came out and braved the weather

to help us on our shearing day.

 Shearing went smoothly with all the help..."many hands make light work"!

 A few of the rams after shearing.  My black ram, in the bottom

right corner wanted some attention, you can just see part of his 

horn.

 More of the girls post shearing.  You could tell they were

glad to get their fleeces off.  Afterwards they were rubbing 

on every gate or feeder.

 Now we are on "baby watch".  It is much easier to observe their 

progress into late pregancy without their fleeces.

The first possible lambing date was Feb. 28th.

I think a have a couple that will be delivering soon.

The moorit (brown) ewe and black ewe in the center of 

this photo look ready now.

I am hoping that we can get the barn cleaned out next weekend.

I wanted to get it cleaned out prior to lambing, I hope everyone 

holds off till we get this done.

 I've had no time to go through the fleeces yet.

I've just made room for them.

I've arranged them by color.

This shelving unit has all the white fleeces on top (7 or 8).

3 pure black fleeces below the white (some were sold on shearing day).

The bottom two shelves have Shaela (2) and greys, from 

dark grey to light grey, (9)

The brown and brown color based fleeces are on my skirting table.

14 in total.  A couple of dark brown, one mioget and 

many shades of brown.

Anyone that is looking for freshly shorn fleeces contact me via email.

In May I will be sending out three large batches, white, grey and brown to have combed top made.

I usually get my product back in September.

I do still have some lovely dark grey combed top available,
also some fawn colored roving from this past years fleeces.

A beautiful winter day on the cusp of shearing...details below... (and lambing).

What a beautiful morning sky we had one day this week.

Some snow is on the ground but the feel of better weather is in the air.

It has been busy here, just coming off of the Wild and Wooly festival.

What a nice event I must say.  

This was just what I needed to get me back into the swing of things.

I wanted to give everyone a heads up on our SHEARING DATE !!!

We will be shearing the morning of Friday, March 6th!!

This is a week earlier than normal but the weather is warmer this year than last

and it just works out with our shearer to get it done earlier.

Our shearing will take approximately 4 ish hours. Hopefully beginning at 8am and finishing around Noon.

We have just over 50 sheep that will be shorn and their fleeces will be available for purchase.

 

If anyone is looking for farm fresh fleeces contact me by email to participate in my shearing day.

In recently sent out my yearlings fleece samples for micron testing.

 

 These fleece samples are from seven ewes born in 2018 that are now 2yrs. old.

All of them are nice.  There are some that are not has fine as others due to the latest ram we brought into the flock to use for breeding.  Although I tried to pair him with finer ewes, it still sets you back a little. 

 Thea's micron average is 24.0

 Pumpkin's micron average is 23.6

 Gretel's micron average is 23.9

 Ginnie's micron average is 28.2

Gretel and Ginnie are sisters (twins) and there

is a big difference in their fleece types.

 Ziva's micron average is 22.3

 Speck's micron average is 26.4

Lark's micron average is 21.2

As of today I have begun to prepare for our shearing date.

Starting with trimming hooves, I plan to get them all trimmed over this next week.

CDT shots will be next and then clearing out my wool room....

aka. reorganize, stack and clearout to make room for possibly 50 fleeces.

In the meantime ....

I have begun to see udders appearing on some of the ewes.

I hope they hold off till after shearing.

We started to feed the ewes our better hay during these last few weeks before lambing.

This has really boosted the nutrition level they are getting from their feed.

Which is what you want in the late stages of pregnancy.  They don't have as much room in their ruminant (stomach) for food so you want to be sure that the food they do get is good quality.

That's all for today.  Contact me if looking for some wonderful wool.