The latest and last babies

We had been waiting for Zoe, one of the Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats to give a sign that she was ready for birthing and 2 days ago looked like she was near. So up she came to the nursery where Grace and twins were ensconced. Just after noon today I heard sounds of labour and sure enough she was already pushing. Grabbing fresh towels I went out to be the support. The first birth was a wee bit difficult for her since this girl decided to come into the world butt first, fortunately the other 2 girls took the proper course and within 30 min. Zoe delivered all three, they were standing and with a little help from me finding the teat and nursing. This picture was taken about 45 min. from when I found her in contractions! It is an incredibly warm day - up to 80*F so these three are having a nice introduction to the world but the sheep are less then thrilled, they are lounging out under the tree probably wondering where spring went.

It's been a week since we had any rain so I'm hoping we get some soon - the heat dries out the garden soil so fast. The potatoes from Moose Tubers, part of Fedco in Maine have come and I'm planning to get them into the trenches either tonight or tomorrow. I'm also going to try growing a few in a tire tower. Meanwhile I am making soap, finishing some weaving and measuring out the warp for some baby blankets. Last weekend I brought home a 25 y/o Glimakra loom and have been reading, studying, putting together, rearranging and generally getting acquainted- remember when you got your first bike or train set? Well, that's what it's been like for me! I think I'll wait until a couple of books come in before actually warping her up because right now I'm a little intimidated. Those papers on the bench there are what I have right now to go from; I'm sure Joanne Hall's book will help me out on some of the mysteries of this loom.
The plans for this weekend are to let the sheep graze behind the house for a couple of days while Bob and I finish fencing the tiny North area and the bigger East field, now that the fallen trees are cut back far enough to be out of the way. Shear the last three girls still in fleece and in the evening wrap and label soaps for the Farmer's Market. I hope where ever you are, it's a perfect weekend too.

Spring is about New Life

It's been a rainy week here in the Mid-East and we are so grateful for it. The grass has gone from crunchy to green and now is beginning to put on some growth. Not quite fast enough for the sheep tho and so I've been on the phone hunting down hay because we are running out. Looks like I've found some but at about $25 more than pre-drought prices. Well hopefully one more big roll will see them through to fresh green grass.

On Saturday in between the rains Faye gave birth to twin ewelings. She's always been a big girl so I wasn't sure if she was really carrying, fortunately she is also an old hand at this so she just laid down delivered these little girls, cleaned them up and was nursing them when we discovered the situation. What a great Mum eh? As usual the pairing of Dorset to Jacob has produced wonderfully colourful lambs and these 2 little girls are going to be great additions to our Adopt a Sheep fleece program. The colour plus the buttery softness of the Dorset is a nice combination that we are getting compliments on. They also are friendly and curious about us 2 legged ones.
On Sunday afternoon Grace, one of the Nigerian Dairy goats, decided it was time and went into labour. But goats aren't stoics like sheep; they yell just like we do in contractions. The first goatling was a backward delivery and not alive, very sad but we had to put him aside and look to what was coming next. Fortunately the next doeling came in the proper presentation and was alive but the third was another backward delivery, she came easily though and I kept her head down and cleared her face quickly so she wouldn't breathe in any fluids which can cause pneumonia later. Mom and babies are doing great and we haven't had any concerns. Now we watch and wait for Zoe, another Nigerian Dairy goat and our last expectant Momma.

In the meantime we have started up another "adoption" program called Adopt a Goat, the information is on a separate page of our website. We are hoping that this program will be appealing to families because kids in cities or suburbs really don't get much of a chance to see farm life up closer than maybe a school field day at a petting zoo. I know we didn't growing up and having a greater understanding may help parents and kids feel more connected to the natural things that happen around them. And it's fun for me too, since there isn't anything better than talking about our family and the farm.

In Memorium

The biggest, gentlest Rooster of our farm, was laid to rest yesterday evening. Winston, a Buff Orpington, came to us 3 years ago from a friend who knew that we would keep him until the end of his days. He wasn't named then but because he would emphatically shake his head, making all his wattles move and at the same time give low croaks and croons - I was so reminded of Winston Churchill and his low voice that the name seems very appropriate. So Winston he became and he ruled over the small flock of Buff Orpington girls but with a gentle touch. He always stood back so that a hen could have the food, was a perfect gentleman with me and will be very much missed out there in the home paddock. Over the couple of days that he lay sick, I noticed that many of the hens would come, one at a time and sit with him. He passed at night with his family around.

A Quiet Week

This has been a week of quiet and resting. A terrible cold gripped me all week, which left Bob to pick up all the work, even coming home at lunch. But now I'm teetering about and getting boxes of fleece out to the post was the big job of the day. Fortunately everyone was pretty well behaved, the only 2 miscreants were and are Llew and Lashes who have decided enough with being stuck down in the middle part of the farm by themselves - they want up where the action is! So they jumped the netting and have stayed ranging around the house all week except on Monday when Llew led the way down the drive to take himself and Lashes for a walk. Fortunately I saw this and was able to trot out after them. They were told in no uncertain terms that they'd gone far enough! Lashes headed right back but Llew had to think about it...the rascal. Anyway, they have been good as gold since but it still gives me a start to see one of them cushed down outside the kitchen sink window. This picture is of Lashes just after checking out the little chicks.
And then the lambs:

The chicks are now a month old and almost completely feathered out. Here are a few that are hanging out in the spring sunshine and snoozing. They are always ravenous and I've teased Bob about not falling down in there because they would have him for dinner! They are old enough to go onto new homes - so I've posted them up for sale for people who'd like their own little "biddies" as they're called here.

And, no we don't have 2 Corriedale mums, we have a Auntie who doesn't mind lending a little body heat on a crisp morning. That's Betty with little Geode, the boy and Lacey the girl is up with Precious. All the lambs are doing well and confidently moving around, even straying off from the Mums.



The jumping and running has started a little but only with each small group not together yet. I stood out the other night trying to catch some pictures but mostly I got this:








Gotcha! Here's Geode doing laps!


So the plans for this weekend are to move the sheep over to the garden area - there's better grass there than almost any other place on the farm- and the field behind. The goats and the llamas will be moved onto the Middle pasture even tho we should really cross fence first, but we haven't the time and they need the fresher green stuff and exercise, especially the 2 Mums to be, Grace and Zoe. Oh and shear Fancy because someone is waiting for her fleece. So that's the agenda for tomorrow. Sunday will be finishing up the perimeter fencing around the East Field, since in a a couple of weeks that's were the sheep will need to be. Hope everyone has a productive weekend too.

The new black lambs

After spending the day shearing, our early evening was enhanced with Precious getting serious about lambing. She was in light labour for about an hour and spent about 30-45 min or so in heavy duty work. I, of course, stood back trying to remember that holding my breath during her contractions wasn't doing any good! With towels and bags on hand, it was just a matter of time. She passed 2 water bags which confused both of us; she kept turning about expecting to find a lamb to clean up. But finally the first one showed his front hooves in the classic delivery position. Shortly after the little girl came sliding out and we were kept busy rubbing, drying and stimulating them. Pretty soon they were up looking for the first gulp of colostrum. Between the evening twilight and wetness we couldn't really get an idea of how black these lambs really were. But here they are in daylight out snoozing with Mum. Isn't that face wonderful! I don't know yet by sight which is the boy and which is the girl but we'll have to come up with some special names for these special Spring Equinox babies. Now as a hand spinner, it will be exciting to watch as their fleece grows to find out what the combinations of Corriedale and Jacob genes produces. Certainly both parents have mellow personalities, so I expect very laid back, easy and friendly kids; makes visiting the flock so much more fun when they come up to see me, rather than running the other way. Bethany's trio are learning to hop a little, so in another week or so the lamb games and races will begin. In the meantime it's mostly follow Mum and nap.

Bethany's triplets have arrived

Well, the weather is gearing up to storm, high winds and the changes in barometric pressures pushed Bethany into labour this morning. She wasn't too quick to the hay was our first sign that today was probably the day. Then about 8 am she started laying down, getting up and this just got progressively more so as we approached 10am when she went into full labour and pushing. Within 30-45 minutes she had delivered 2 girls and a boy. Of course this was out in the field so I went out to help her clean them off and get them dry as quickly as possible. When they began to get shivery I went and got the sleeve coats. Here's what they looked like sporting their outerwear. But now that we're up to 70F it's time to take them off so they didn't over heat and get a good look at their colouring. Of course getting a picture of all three in one frame turned out to be a wee bit challenging so here's 2 with the third hiding behind Mum. These Jacob sheep are extremely vigorous and hardy. The lambs were up and nursing within 5-10 min. of being born and certainly Bethany births without much fuss.

Now all the others are roaming around the house and into the garden area but I see Precious, our other Mum to be, standing around looking like she's listening to something far away ... I've got an idea her labour will be soon too. We, of course, hadn't planned to bred Precious, a Corriedale to Issac a Jacob but I made the classic error of trusting to a ram who normally respects electric fencing - baaaad move! So would be sheep farmers, please do not feel sorry for your ram in his nice field fencing pen or you too will have unplanned lambs.

Shearing Time

Another year has past and it's time once again to get out the shearers and unzip the sheep from their coats. On Wednesday Bob took a vacation day and spent it holding sheep for me. Actually we didn't get going until 10 am once all was set up but from then until just after 4pm we plodded along. Plodding really does describe it because I shear with the sheep standing and skirt as I go along, each sheep takes about 30-45 min. Good thing we have a small flock, eh? Here's a picture of Bob and Faye who was the first. He sits on the front steps mostly and I manuevre around with the shearers, scissors and hoof trimmers. We set up a pallet floor and then I throw the fleece over into three piles on another board that's swept between sheep. My piles are prime, second and compost pile. This is a picture of her "prime". Once we're done with the shearing, she gets a treat of cracked corn whilst I trim hooves and then back into the front paddock where the rest of the flock is.


Here's a picture of Mr. Darcy's "prime":

This is a picture of Teacup's rump after I've made a couple of passes. Look how freckled she is under there! And her fleece is heathery grey half way going to cream. I've not seen that before; that's going to make a very nice handspun yarn

I'm pretty pleased with the cleanliness of the fleeces too, keeping the pastures clipped so that the weeds couldn't seed out really made a nice difference and then feeding the hay out in troughs rather than free choice from the round bale also made a tremendous difference. Since they get 2 meals a day, they are eager to eat, eat it all and don't waste it over their neighbor's back. We've spent almost $500 on hay this year and expect the prices to double for next fall so every little bit needs to be eaten and not wasted getting into someone's fleece.

So 4 sheep finished and 14 more to go, rain is forecasted for Sat. and Sun. but just a light rain so we may get a window to do a couple of more before that much needed moisture actually comes in. If not then we'll be fencing the garden in that rain since I need to keep the hens out. This afternoon's project is getting the dividing fence between Ranger and Mr. Bunny arranged better. Ranger has been able to hop over to visit Mr. Bunny and that was looking ok until this morning when I found that they had actually been fighting which resulted in Mr. Bunny getting slightly hurt. So they aren't getting along as well as it had originally had looked. Right now Mr. Bunny is hanging out in the bathroom and I'll fix up that fence and fill in some holes.

Hope everyone's weekend turns out well and is productive too.

PS: the fleeces are for sale! I'll have all pics and prices on the web site as we shear. In the meantime adult Dorset is $5 a lb, adult Jacob $8 and the few remaining available hogget fleeces either Dorsetx or pure Jacob are $12. This is for the raw, skirted fleece and if you'd like to have it sent to a mill directly that can be done too. I'll charge actual postage, no handling fee.