Lambs, lambs, lambs

First, I love this-- it looks like Holstein cows grazing on our flat Minnesota pastures-- only it's two spotted Finnsheep.  Mom, Kora, is on the right and daughter Nappylainen is on the left.  Both produced lambs this past week.  Kora had mostly-black twins, a boy and girl, big and healthy-- and Nappy produced a big healthy ram lamb.  Hers has more spottedness-- but nothing like the moms' spots.   First year Finns often have singles, but after that, it's twins, triplets, quads, and sometimes, more.

Remember to double click on photos to show those lambs' amazing cuteness up close...

A few photos of Mari, the white Finnsheep, and her badgerfaced ewe lamb and black HST ram lamb:  The badgerface girl is going to Missouri, but the boy hasn't been promised anywhere, yet.  Both appear to have wonderful wool coming.  Both are big, healthy twins.  Last year Mari had triplets.  One each brown, black and white lambs.

Forrest's been lucky---here are some of his lambs.

Dear Husband (DH) Howard's first hospital day for chemo coincided with Forrest's butcher date, so Forrest got lucky and missed his butcher appointment.
Then, I got lambing updates from the two farms I leant Forrest to last fall.  Now I don't know:  if I really want a spotted, polled ram, is this what Forrest carries?  Or should I keep looking?  It seems that what Forrest throws are bersugget or headsplashed spotted lambs, but not the spottedness I am after, which is harder to get.  Here's a photo of what HALF of his 10 or so lambs looked like:
Friend Lori, holding one twin he produced out of her ewe, LittleRedOak Mallow, a moorit who has thrown HST lambs (white Head, Socks, Tail).  Forrest, remember is musket-- and had white tracery on his face as a lamb.

This bersugget patterned lamb is also from Mallow.

Next, triplets he fathered from LRO Catnip, a wildly spotted moorit ewe (Mallow's twin! The wool looks tightly crimped.

And finally, a black lamb with white splashes out of LRO SunBear, a black ewe whose mom had even more white head splashes. 

So, what do you all think of Forrest's potential?  Piebald spotting is hard to find;  polled rams are hard to find, and the two together are very few!  I need one!
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Two new lambs, DH returns to work

Blogger changes still confound, but I'll get the hang of it, I am sure.

Yesterday the skies cleared, leaves progressed their slow-motion greening on ash and maple trees around the farm, and Mari the Finn ewe gave birth on the green grass of the barnyard . 
Howard had gone back to work after 2 weeks of chemo (1 in hospital) and chemo recovery (at home).
Em had gone back to school, and I had the farmstead all to myself. A welcome change on a beautiful, sunny day.

 I thought you might like to see some of the steps involved.  First, the bubble of placental stuff emerges.

I sat on a haywagon a respectful distance away, and took pictures as Mari bravely pushed those lambs out by herself.  Stupid, intrusive chickens hung around, though, waiting to peck at any interesting birthing matter... eeeuuuu.

Seems that most other ewes will vanish from the site when one decides to give birth.  I think they are respecting an intensely private moment between mom and babies, but they might think "get me the hell out of here, that looks painful!"

Nice job, Mari.  The little  badgerface ewe lamb is already spoken for.  Her mostly-black ram lamb is not, yet.

Lambs arriving

This is really a test to see if the new Blogger format works.  I'll be back to edit.  (Days later, still don't understand the changed format or how to access)

But it's true-- Shetland ewe lamb, Little Red Oak Trillium, had a white ram lamb on Tuesday.  Uneventful delivery, for us anyway.  We were gone.  She did it all by herself.
On Thursday, Finn ewe, Kora the spotty cow-sheep delivered just two lambs.  She had triplets last year, so, oh well.  And nearly solid black, no wild carnival-splashed up lambs.

Little Annie, the Shetland pet, had moorit twins by Friday a.m.-- boy and girl--

and now it's quiet in the lamb barn.

Last Chance for Forrest

Little Red Oak Forrest has a date with the butcher on Monday, unless you want him, and speak up quickly!

After Shearing Day on Saturday (a great, fun time, by the way, and just look at all of those shiny, cleaned- up sheep) he acted as rams do, and I decided I'd had it with him.  He's just a ram, not particularly aggressive, nor at all wild-- but when the sheep don't recognize each other after getting haircuts, they often butt heads to re-establish the pecking order, and Forrest wants to be No. 1! 

Besides, I have 3 rams for both breeds I own, Finns and Shetlands.  Forrest is so related to most of my ewes--he's a Highland Hollows Bluebell son.  I am pretty proud of everything about him-- his hornless little head, his nice square build.  His fleece is super-abundant, crimpy, and I had him micron'ed.  His AFD was 27 at 2 yrs old, probably "good 'nuff" for many folks.  I just want to keep moving on and keep my numbers down. I will look for an unrelated ram this summer.

Here are all 3 Shetland rams.  The little brown guy is only 9 months old-- a Forrest son-- he got about 4 ewes PG in a few days-- when I didn't think he could.  His fleece is baby-fine yet, at 20 AFD, so I will keep him to see how he works out.

My husband, Howard, holding the little ram, Apollo, waiting for shearing! 

There are so many big issues happening in my life right now it's hard to believe that a month ago I was relaxing, tying this quilt with Betty Ann-- the lady who was born in this farm house many years ago!

Now my, my, what lovely wool.  Just wish I could remember whose it was!  Emily will remember. 

Flock reduction after Shearing

We shear on Saturday!  and it will be fun, with all of the friends and helpers who come out.
There's a sad shadow over the farm this week, though, as my husband just heard he'll have a surgery and long treatment period  and ... this spring is going to suck for him.   All is very uncertain.

The little flock depends on labor he won't be able to provide, so...
A shepherd friend is taking home two bred Finn ewe lambs on Saturday afternoon.  That will cut my lambing down to only 10 ewes.  I'll still get 25-30 lambs, I bet...

I also need to sell more mature ewes, and have decided to sell my dear Maple, a modified musket Shetland,
and Elise, a white Shetland ewe out of Bramble Elsie. 
I didn't breed either one this winter, because I lacked a solid color ram and didn't want the offspring to have two light-color genes. 

Maple is an old pet of mine.  Well, not OLD, she is 4 or 5-- but my OLD friend.
She and Elise have given me lots of twins.  Elise's are always black or white, while Maple's have been musket or brown and last year, black gulmogets.  Elise has crimpy even-length fleece, while Maple has the super-abundant longer wool of her mom, Highland Hollows Bluebell. 

More ewes, rams, and lots of lambs will need to be sold soon, but I have to decide who.

I'll put some photos in here soon.

Thanks, Everyone, for the nice words and prayers you've been sending up for Howard.

Shearing Day March 31st!

Kitter on a cold tin roof-- of the sheep lean-to. 

Sat. March 31st, I think-- I'd better confirm with that shearer.  If you need specifics, email me or call.  Comment here if you don't have the contact info!

Helpers welcome, 10am. Potluck lunch, plenty to do until mid-afternoon.

Now, here's a great photo of Emily, showing off the handspun, handknitted gloves I asked a Spinning Guild friend, Elizabeth, to make for her.

 

They are finn wool-- so we posed Emily with our biggest Finn ewe, Kora-- wait, I joke.  We could not make a ewe do this, she was simply the one who went over to Emily, seated in the field.   Nevertheless, she's lovely, don't you think?  (both girls, really)

The gloves are fingerless, with a mitten-fingertip flap buttoned back, see?

Now, here am I, sitting nearby, approached by... Kora, again!  The biggest Finn ewe here, on right, the youngest, tiny Shetland ewe lamb in front, Artemis-- and her mom, Annie, off on the left.

Another nice day in this very warm winter in Minnesota.

If you want Elizabeth to make you gloves, I'll pass the word on, just ask!

Dr. Seuss wisdom

A New Year

I didn't write much all year.  It was a hard, sweet year saying goodbye to two elders in my life, and quite consuming.  In March, to my papa, who helped me so much on this little farm.  83 is a good, long life, so we can't say we were cheated out of time with him--but I miss him terribly.  My dad really liked driving out the 40 miles from his Minneapolis home to work around the farm, building chicken feeders and nest boxes, indoor pens and outdoor chicken yard;  later, sheep feeders and salt boxes-- then rebuilding the old sheep lean-to.  He grew up on a farm, and after raising us in the city, liked experiencing the animals and farm decisions all over again.  From his ancient vocabulary came words like "Clucks"-- the name for a broody hen, and "the dead furrow"-- the furrow at the edge of a field where rain water pools, having nothing planted in it.  He enthusiastically showed us how to butcher chickens and ducks-- and how to use his shotgun for unwelcome animals. 

A picture from Dad's last visit to the farm.  My mom, their  slightly younger friend, and my dad  on the right, talking to Howard, obscured, next to him.

From my garden, I made him pickled beets; liver pate and whole roasting birds from our chicken flock; and he was delighted when we brought orphan lambs to his house, one Easter Sunday.

He wired the chicken house, the pig barn and the granary for me, being a retired electrician.  He taught me how to use power tools when he was in his 60s and I in my 40s-- and how to tie bundles of brush when you cut a tree down.  He left me his miter saw, which we used to cut up cords of small firewood together.

I couldn't use tools all of 2011 because it made me too sad.  Finally, in December, firewood needed cutting and I got out the miter saw... and it was fun to remember him while working.

The other elder I lost was my old friend, Paul, who left his life in my hands when he had a stroke 2 years ago.  He was my "job" (as his guardian) all of 2010, a sweet obligation.  In May, 2011 he died suddenly,  a blessing, considered so by his many friends.  By then, I was getting pretty good at arranging end-of-life care, and we honored him well.

All of this overshadowed the farm life-- which was full and rich on its own.  We had 36 lambs born-- the most ever.  Our four, mature finnsheep ewes  had their first triplets (3 sets) and quads (one set).  My little family worked so well together, all year.

Emily insisted we have another big vegetable garden, and we all took care of sheep, meeting the buyers, transporting sheep to new homes-- until our little flock was down to 22 again.

Now the sheep are calmly waiting until the excitement of lambs in springtime.  The gardens are all trimmed up, though curiously lacking the snow cover of a normal, January, Minnesota winter!  It's been above freezing many, many days this winter, and snow exists only in shady patches.

I'll put some photos in here soon.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Nearing Turkey time

 The sheepies are getting winter coats on; they still like to sleep outdoors here and there around the barnyard.

This is Candy, a stunner who didn't like us until midwinter her first year. 

Emily fed her and a few other ewe lamb companions their hay in a small barn-- then sat in the middle of the hay until gradually, she touched each one, then stroked, and then mesmerized them. 



Now Candy is our pal.

 

Here are a few of this year's ewe crop that we are keeping:  the spotty one, far back, is a finnsheep, Nappylainen.  Love those spots and all else about her. 

Bluebell's white, phaeo-spotted daughter, Trillium is next.  Looks just like Bluebell as a lamb.

I love her.

In front is Nina, a sweet little ewe lamb out of Boston Lake Niav and Kimberwood Harrison.

It was hard to let Trillium and Nina's mothers move on to other Minnesota flocks, but we did.

The consolation prize is having girls who look just like their moms, and are just as friendly.

Halloween!  Emily was a "mage"-- she tells me, an enchantress. 

But she had a minute to plink out some piano tunes before her night out.

 

And another  moment to hug her mama, who wrapped up in the lovely cloak Auntie Iris made.

We have had a very dry autumn in Minnesota.  I got so mad at crows drinking from my ewes' water pail, until I saw bluebirds doing the same, one day.  A flock must've been migrating, as there were about 30 bluebirds all in one group, taking turns at the "fountain".  I sneaked outside with a camera and hid behind the pumphouse to capture this:

I have been extra busy taking care of my elder mom, post-op from a big surgery-- but she's mending now--
and at this late date, I've been selling ewes and rams left and right!  How strange, so late in the season-- but how nice to have my flock the size I want it to be!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

So it's Autumn now....

DH, Howard, was out taking pictures on the weekend morning, again:

Sheep come running to us now that they get a bale of hay every day.

Farmers took up most of the corn and soybeans all around us, last week:

I love the look of this little Finn ewe lamb, one of quads born on Easter

Fall will soon give way to, well, you know...

Before I give in to Autumn...

My vegetable garden in late August, before September's frost took it. The beach umbrella is a genius device for vegetable picking out of the sun:

We planted a huge area in coreopsis, thinking there were plenty of vegetables. I tried to catch the sheep grazing, beyond:

Frances the kitty had been resting among the swiss chard, until I pulled the camera out:

In the sheep world, I can't believe I did this, but, when Karen Byron needed a moorit ram, I sent LittleRedOak Ash home with her!
Forrest, the musket ram, is every bit as good, just light color, I reasoned. And there's a little guy born in June who may be equal to Ash. The mighty, curently still-tiny, Apollo!
(Pictures soon)

Some of my lambs left in the past month; there are still a half dozen ewe lambs and ram lambs that need homes--more finns than Shetlands.

This has been a hard-working year for me, actually, two-- with elder parents, in-laws and an elder friend all needing lots of time. We may not even breed some sheep this winter-- for an easier springtime at lambing season.
Fewer lambs means more time to enjoy them! We'll see.

Tour de Flock

I told you my polled ram, Little Red Oak Ash, came back here after living at Sabrina's a while, and Becky's a shorter while. Here he is, in his bulked-up, bareheaded glory:

And this is his uncle, though a year younger, LRO Forrest. Forrest is out of HHW Bluebell and Kimberwood Leonardo. He produced a pair of beautiful twins this year, but he is for sale. Too many rams live here now! He's musket (oatmeal color), with fleece samples and a photo of his offspring available upon request.

I caught the ewes resting in the shade, all together. Then they saw ME and came running!

Little Rams, Finnsheep, for sale

Of finn ram lambs, I have two black ones. Both have a brown dad, so carry brown. This one is from my white ewe, Mari. His tag is no. 114. Good looking boy. (both finn rams are now SOLD)

Same boy, in between two black Shetland lambs (polled/scurred!):

Looking quite the same, but a few weeks older and several inches bigger, this ram lamb is from my cow-spotted Finn ewe, Kora.


I'm publishing these pics for TaraLyn in WI, who bought Shetlands from me a few years ago.

I'll get photos of some of our ewe lambs next. I have Finns in brown and black; Shetlands in black and gray gulmoget, a gul-kat, a white, brown oh, many more. All colors. We are now getting the number of lambs down so that our pastures are greening up, and happy to have fewer to tend to.
Happy End of Summer, everyone!

Selling sheep before winter

Emily and I made up breeding pens and lists of must-keep and oughta-sell sheep this week.
We very sadly decided to sell Highland Hollows Bluebell, our older, first favorite ewe. It was a few years ago, when Kim of Kimberwood Shetlands noted: "If you want to breed for polled rams, getting rid of your ewes with horned genetics [will be necessary]".
I remember gasping. We love some of our older ewes.
Nevertheless, I have been selling 2 or so each year to other breeders. None have had to go to, well, you know.
Bluebell and Minwawe November may be the last of the older girls (born 2005) who are left. There are a few who may have horned genetics, but I think all remaining ewes have a polled gene.
We also decided that since LittleRedOak Ash (out of Maple, Bluebell's daughter) is coming back to Little Red Oak, we need fewer polled rams.
We will therefore sell LRO Forrest, Bluebell's 2010 son. He is musket, pretty full of himself but also, friendly.

This is a lamb photo of Forrest, taken last summer.
And his fleece:
Newer pictures of him appear in last April or May's post-- of all the rams? But he was a thinner lad then. He has muscled up now.
More pictures, soon.
I can hardly bear to say goodbye to Bluebell...

West Coast and Back Again

Whew, we left for 10 days, during Minnesots'a second heat wave of 2011. It was 100 here, and around 68 where we were, on the coast of California and Oregon.
We had a fabulous time with friends who are funny and oh so accommodating. They live near San Francisco-- a couple our age with two teens around Emily's age.
They were gracious enough to invite us on a jaunt up to Oregon. We hiked lots, kayaked in a sea slough, played Scrabble on the beach, and laughed a lot.
Emily once stated she really wanted to see Redwood trees.
Here we are, hugging one:
But the most fun site we saw was this one, at Umpqua Hot Springs in Oregon:

And the reason was this: Here are (husband) Howard and friend, Steve, in one of the hot springs, and oops, who is that sprite flitting offscreen on the right?

(Remember, you can double click on the photos to biggify.)
The kids were so embarrassed they headed right downhill to the river below!

Puulo at Gale Woods and... Ash returns!

Chicago relatives were here for the 4th of July and we met them up at Gale Woods Farm park, sister-in-law's idea. Puulo, our bottle baby was there, just 5 days, and we got to visit him. A nice sheep volunteer, Ann, greeted me by name! and later sent me photos she'd taken of him. He's looking like a normal, handsome ram. It always seems a miracle when a tiny 2+lb preemie survives the week and gains ground to catch up with all the others.

Three little Finn lambs went to WI on Saturday. Karen, a fiber person, bought a brown ram and a white ewe lamb; Kara, who owns a CSA farm and sheep dairy, took home my other brown Finn ram lamb. No time for photos that day. The weekend was blasting hot and we worked from Friday to Sunday to get sheep tagged, vaxed, wormed and moved-- boys weaned from moms. Then we mowed, watered, tidied, in preparation to take a little vacation. Our faithful farm-sitters will tend things here while we travel to CA and Oregon. They've done this for us for three years, now-- and taken freezer broilers for their trouble. Lucky us!

Next, I saw that Becky Utecht, River Oak Shetlands, advertised for sale a solid brown polled ram we bred here-- Little Red Oak Ash, and we asked to buy him back.
Ash in July 2009
This years' ram lambs, while wonderfully hornless, are few, all solid black except one scurred brown lamb, and we do need a good brown, solid color sire. Besides, while he lived with Sabrina at Boston Lake farm, she microned his fleece and wrote him up as a stellar Shetland speciman, so, I'm believing her!
When we sold him it was because I HAD another brown, polled ram. I now need another.
Enjoy the week if I don't post here again-- we will be reading your blogs and comments, though!