My gosh- I can't believe it has been over a year since I have posted. So much has happened in that year. I think last summer and fall were the worst I have had in along time. With the economy being down and only working 3 days a week I guess it kinda got me in a down mood. I'm sure a lot of people felt the some way at times. Wondering how things were going to get done and wondering how I was going to pay for things. Saving a little here and a little there for my winter hay I was finally able to get that. Only to find that it had been rained on and 3/4 of it  was full of white mold. I had 30 sheep to feed and no hay  and no more money to buy more. The guy I bought it from would not replace it and besides, he said he had no more. I had to make a hard choice and I had to sell  most of the sheep I had so that I could feed the ones I kept. I sold all but 9. It was a hard choice as to who was to go on to new homes and who would stay. I had 4 I had to take to the auction barn, which broke me heart because I thought they were all going to go to slaughter, but it turned out that three went to a fiber home. Leslie's little boy was bought by an Asian man. I knew what that meant. I  will never take another lamb to an auction barn again. I felt that I sent him to a very horrible death. But any way, things are a little better this year and I have to find a way for my sheep to start paying for their keep. Which means selling fiber, yarns and babies. This winter WILL be better and I told myself that there will only be positive  spirits  in my house this coming year.

Fluffy Pillow

 

Just couldn't resist posting this picture. This is Leslie's little boy using mommy's butt for a pillow. He was sound asleep but he must have heard me come into the pen. The picture on the right(not a good one is it?) shows his little horns. I don't know where he got them from. The Lincolns don't carry horns so maybe they come from the Mom's side? I really don't know what breed she is so I just call her a Shetland type.He did have soft little horns to start out with and they fell off but now they are growing back in very solid. So, do you think he will have horns? Tomorrow I will introduce you to my grumpy, gray Romney ewe. I still haven't finished doing that. Until tomorrow........

Sammi

This is Sammi. As you can see she's a Romney. I picked her up two Saturdays ago.She's almost a year and a half. She wasn't sheared yet when I got her so I thought I'd leave her for a few days until she  got use to her new home. Sunday was really, really hot and she looked so uncomfortable so I  thought I would start working on getting some of her fleece off. Shelly lives on a ridge with a valley on the bottom and a lot of wind goes through. It can really mess up a fleece so it took some time to get off. When I was done I found this tiny little girl under all that fleece. She still is not sure of herself here so when I feed her I put her in a stall with Wilson and Spalding because they let her have her fair share. She's the one in the middle and yes, she is that little. One more step to building my Romney side of the herd and she is a wonderful addition. Thanks Shelly.

My New Babies

My new additions finally stood still long enough for me to take pictures of them.The white one on the left is a little cross bred ram. When you look at him in real life he looks like a tiny Alpaca. Wonderful fiber and wonderful personality. His name is So What. And his name fits him. So what if that sheep is bigger than me. I can still give her a kiss. So what if  that water dish is bigger than me, I can still walk in it.So what if that feed pail is bigger than me, if I do it right I can wear it on my head like a hat. So you see, his name fits him. The brown one on the right is little Sophie. She's a natural colored Romney with wonderful fleece. Her color will be a great addition to my flock. She's a little on the timid side yet but she is learning the ropes. She knows that as soon as I come out in the morning the gate comes open and all the babies get to come out. Right to the garage they head and they snoop around while I get the feed ready. She now is the first one out and standing by the grain bin. Someday soon I hope she will come up on her own for scratches. The next one I got from Shelly is a white Romney ewe named Sammie. I'll have to post her picture tonight because off to work I have to go. What a rude interruption of my day. Quite alright though because I get to make cheese. Until tonight.....

Delivering Sheep

My last two Saturdays have been spent delivering sheep to Asylum Farms for a friend. The first to go up were a Romney Ram and a Lincoln Ram. I must say that these guys were very well behaved since I use my sheep hauling van to pick up and deliver animals. This Saturday I took up a colored Lincoln ewe and her 4 babies. I also brought home for me a Natural colored Romney ewe lamb and a white Romney ewe to add to my herd. I will post pictures of them when it stops raining and I can get some good ones. I got to watch Shelly's dog Bubba in action with the sheep. What an amazing thing to watch. With just one word or a small motion with her hand she could get him bring the sheep she wanted right to us. I can see why so many large sheep operations use sheep dogs. They are really worth their weight in gold. I thought I'd be home in time to get some work done here but I followed a thunder storm almost all the way home. So nothing outside got done. This morning it was nice so  I knew I had to get my grass cut. When you can't even see the ears on the rabbits that live here, you know it's time to cut. I also had to go in and cut some of my pastures. I lost all the sheep this morning. I knew I had them up in the top pasture but I didn't see them. I knew they didn't get out because if they did they would  be on my patio or in front of the garage door. They don't go anywhere. Talk about panic.I couldn't see them anywhere. So I stood out there and hollered " HEY GIRLS" as loud as I could and what do I see? A bunch of  white ears all of a sudden pop out of the grass.  So that pasture got cut down this morning. It seem that if things get to high for them they won't eat it. We have been getting so much rain and the temps have been in the high 80's for so long that everything grows  so fast. The tomato's really love it. I have 3 red ones on the vine I can pick.  The weather man said I was going to wake up to rain Monday morning again  so that means I can do more spinning. That's it for tonight.

At the feeder

 The adults are getting a rare feeding of grain today. Usually after winter and they go on pasture, the grain stops.So they were very happy to get some good stuff today. They still are all so fat and I don't know how to get the weight off. Things are starting to get done here and I feel like I'm making some head way. I have to put up a little chicken coop on one end of my sheep barn for when my chickens come. Right now they are being raised by Laura (Psalm 23 farms) until they are big enough so I hope I have a little bit of time yet. I can't wait to have fresh eggs and good chickens in the freezer.

Finally huh?

I finally found some time to sit down and catch up on my blog. Between the rain storms I really had an awful lot to get done. Why is it that there is always so much to do in the summer? At least I can say that all the baby lambs are doing very well. Spalding and Wilson have me wrapped  around their little hooves. They are both a little smaller than the others but at least they have some get up and go now. I go out to feed in the morning and there they are standing by the gate ready to be let out. They follow me into the kitchen while I get the bottles ready and then it's back out to the creep feeder where they get feed and the other babies get their grain. So life is a lot better now. That's it for tonight.

No Pictures tonight

I have no pictures tonight but I am going to post some very happy news. When I go out to the pen I usually take two bottles out. One for Wilson and one for Spalding. Wilson always runs up to me and drinks all 8 ounces of his bottle. Spalding is a different story. I usually have to corner him and try to get him to drink something but he won't. Well......tonight when I got home from work I made two bottles as always and thought, it's been a week and Spalding hasn't taken a bottle and he seems to be doing alright (by that I mean he's still alive. Weak but still alive) and I thought I'm not going to chase him down tonight. Just feed Wilson and let Spalding be for the night. He is eating creep and going out to pasture. I thought he'd be fine. Any way, I take two bottles out to the pen and Wilson runs up like usual and starts drinking. I'm down on one knee feeding Wilson and low and behold, Spalding comes up and stands by my side and looks up at me with the sadist face. I put the other bottle by his mouth and he just went to town with it. He drank the whole bottle. I was so happy. I hope he does the same thing in the morning. I think that's what he needed because I just went out and checked on him and he was cuddled up next to Merrie ( one I have to introduce yet) and I swear he had a smile on his face. He had a full belly for once and someone "Mommy like" to lay next to .I haven't seen him that content since his mom died. Maybe he realized that he was hungry and there was good stuff in that bottle or maybe he was just having a tuff time  missing his mom. The bad thing now though is I have to band all the boys soon, real soon and I'm afraid he'll stop eating if I do. I think I'll wait a while  to do   Vanessa's boys. That's it for tonight.

Back to the herd

This is Daphne Duck, she's a 2 year old Lincoln and she had one baby last year that I kept. There is nothing special about Daphne . She is a layed back, quiet, friendly girl. She has wonder fleece also. I have some of her fiber on my wheel that I'm experimenting with right now. I'll show that later. I'm really happy with how it's turning out. I finally got some of my flower beds weeded out and I was amazed to find so many different flowers that I forgot were there. Now I have to till my garden up and get that going. Saturday hopefully. If I can stay away from the babies I find I can get a lot of work done. Vanessa's babies will hopefully make it. Neither one would take a bottle at first.  I went to check on them  when I got home from work tonight. Wilson ran up to me so I thought I'd try giving him a bottle. I made 8 ounces up and took it out and he drank THE WHOLE thing. I think he was really hungry. I made one for Spalding and took it out but he refused it again. I'll try again when I get up. He seems to be doing okay though. Maybe he is getting enough grass and grain to make him happy. They are only a month old though and they really need milk yet. I'll watch him very closely. That's it for tonight.

My Lovely Vanessa

I got Vanessa when she was 6 months old from a breeder here in Wisconsin. A beautiful little black Lincoln. She fit in so well with the white girls I already had. She was my only black Lincoln. As I watched her grow it struck me how elegant she was. The way she looked and the way she walked. Her first year she was bred by mistake but she gave me little Chelsea. A better mom you could not ask for.

Doder

And now meet Doder (pronounced Due der}. Doder is my little clown. He is a year old and a whether. Early in the morning before the heat comes on you will see him and Tamarra running races in the big pasture. Tamarra always wins. But that's okay, he gets even. When she is laying down and chewing her cud he sneaks up on her and sits on her.(I really need to get a picture of that). He also gets behind her when shes eating and pushes her by her rear end as far as he can. You can tell just by looking at him he's full of mischief. Can you tell I spend a lot of time out in my sheep pens? It's amazing how each one has a different personality. I hear people say all the time that farm animals are dumb and all they are there for is to eat. I beg to differ.I really speak my mind when it comes to that. Cows, pigs, chickens, sheep and horses all have their own ways of going about their daily lives . They have their own way of having fun and their own way of telling you what they want and what they don't like. Basically like a dog does. You gotta love them all. That's it for tonight. Tomorrow.....my big hansom dudes. (forgot to tell you, Doder is a Lincoln/Romney mix. He has really beautiful fiber)

Busy Days

I have had a lot of busy days it seems. I think everyone has this time of year. Trying to clean pastures and pens up, putting fencing up, taking care of Vanessa and her prolapse, banding little boys and fighting an ear tag infection. But things are under control for a little while, so it's back to introducing the rest of the herd. The next one is JC. She is the one on the right in my opening picture.She's also KC twin sister. She's also a registered Lincoln. My sheep are all sheared in case you guys are wondering. I'm just trying to pull up pictures of them in full fleece so you can see what the breed looks like. JC is my mild, layed back girl. She had one ram lamb last year that I kept. I DE-ram ed him though because I didn't want a lot of rams. I'll introduce him tomorrow. I have 15 adult sheep and 7 babies . So I have a lot of sheep. The couple that bought Jennifer's babies came up to visit them today. As everyone with lambs know they are not approachable until the moms start weaning them so they had to watch them from a distance. Then they become your best friends. I wish they wouldn't grow so fast. Wilson, one of Vanessa's boys has an ear tag infection so I have been putting peroxide on it every day . He is getting use to being handled ofen and he discovered that the back rubs really feel pretty good .So he's not afraid of me. Temps have been in the 90's the last few days with high humidity and I'm afraid of fly strike. I have to really have to watch Vanessa for fly strike too. Her prolapse is out a good 6 inches and the harness will not hold it in. I wash her every other day and I spray her with screw worm spray twice a day to keep the flies off. Does any one know if I can use pin tar on a rectal prolapse? Well....that's it for the day

Tamarra

The fuzzy little dark one is Tamarra, KC's daughter.She looks like a little mess doesn't she? She is a registered Lincoln and she tries so hard to act like a little lady but fate gave her the tom boy gene. She can out run and out jump any of the boys (whethers} I have. If there is a puddle of water out there she doesn't go around it like everyone else,you'll find her jumping around in it. When it comes to the hay feeder that you see behind her,she goes for comfort when she eats. She jumps right in it and lays down and eats. See why she looks like a mess? I love her to pieces though. I think I really have a strange group of animals here. I can never go into the pen and not have at least one good laugh.Especially with Tamarra.{See little Oliver in the back ground?} Short post tonight because it's past this old lady's bedtime. Haven't decided who I will put on tomorrow. There are a lot more to do. Until tomorrow.......

Boy,we go from 50 degrees to 90 degrees today.It was to hot out today to do anything so my work had to be put on hold until I have off on Wednesday. On to the introduction of my small herd. This is KC. She is a registered Lincoln Long wool and she's 3 years old. She is the one on the left in my opening blog page. Her sister JC is on the right. They are 4 months old in that picture. I took this when I took her coat off to get sheared . She's the only one that kept her long facial dreadlocks this year. I got a wagon load of hay in November that was full of burdock. Not a fiber sheep's best friend. So I ended up doing a lot of cutting of face and neck fleece. She had her first baby at the age of two but I did not breed her this fall. She had a gray ewe by the name of Tamara which I kept. I will introduce you to her tomorrow. She ended up giving me 21 lbs of very nice fiber. Her average length was 13 inches. She's beautiful isn't she. And that's it for me until tomorrow.

The Last Mom

This little girl is Leslie. I call her my Shetland type sheep because she's small like a Shetland. I thought for sure she was going to have triplets because she was so wide. She ended up having twins. A boy and a girl. He weighed almost 15 pounds and she weighed 7 pounds . That explained why Leslie was so wide. I swear they are the reincarnation of a married couple. As soon as she was born she started yammering and she wasn't quiet until the little boy answered. He can't leaver her side, even today or she yells at him until he comes back. And they are always talking to each other. It's kind of spooky to me. Any way......he has a black nose and black feet and she has a pink nose and white feet and a very sharp voice when he walks away. That poor little boy. I'm wondering if she is going to let me band he of if she's going to holler at me too. They don't have names yet so if anyone has any ideas you can pass them on for consideration. Next you'll get to meet the rest of the herd.

Jennifer's Babies

Jennifer is my big,tall,stately Lincoln. She stands almost a whole hand above the other Lincolns. And she throws beautiful babies. Log legged babies. Her babies were sold to Tom and Joanne even before they were born. I'm thankful she gave birth with no problems. The new owners named the little girl Daisey and the little boy is Ba Ba white sheep. They were hoping that one of the Lincoln's would have a black baby because they wanted to name him Ba Ba Black sheep. No body wanted to give me colored this year. All white. Seeing as how we have a "Daisey" I found this daisey and I knew that little girl just had to have it. And I just had to have a picture of her wearing her Daisey to send to Tom and Joanne. So that's the picture of the day. Tomorrow you will see my last mom, Leslie.

Introducing The other Babies

After Chelsea had Little Willie there was a three week gap and finally more babies.Vanessa my black Lincoln had twin boys. That poor girl really went through a lot to have her babies too. She had vaginal prolapse. The harness did not work on her like it did on Chelsea. Dr. Bill had to come and put a stitch in her to hold her in. And if that wasn't enough, she prolapsed rectally. So Dr. Bill had to put a stitch in that area also. He thought she was close to being due so he gave her a shot to induce labor. He said she would give birth in 36 hours. He was right on the money.I'm glad I was home when she went into labor because I had to cut the stitches so she could give birth. He also thought that after the babies were born things would be better for her. He was not right on that one. He ended coming back the next day and stitching her up again. This was all caused because the breeder I got her from docked her tail to short. She has no tail at all. Things like this are really going to make me look at a sheep a lot better before I buy any more. She has no muscle control in her rectum any more and he thinks she will not get it back. Why do people do this to animals? He suggested that she might have to be put down too but I'm going to try to devise a harness to hold her in. She did have two beautiful white baby boys though. They are three weeks old today and they are doing very well. They bounce around so much .They reminded me of basket balls because of all the bouncing around they do so..... they got the names Wilson and Spalding. As for mom, I think she is doing a lot better. I am starting to get some hope up.Tomorrow I will introduce you to Jennifer's babies.

A Tribute to Oliver

Oliver came to me two years ago. He was a sweet goat.He was my only goat.He loved everything and everybody.He was also a special needs goat. He went through so much in his short life.He spent a lot of time with Dr. Bill. He was in Madison and then he went to Michigan for medical treatments.The treatments lasted for a short while then the problem returned.Nothing could really be pinpointed as to what was really wrong.He had a lot of trouble walking after a while.Saturday he could not walk at all.He was just kind of crawling to the pasture to be with the other girls. Sunday he was the same way.Monday and Tuesday he was up for a little while but come Tuesday night I could hear him crying in pain. I went out twice to give him some aspirin to take away some of the pain but I knew then it was time to let him go.Dr. Bill came out this afternoon and Oliver peacefully left the world. It was so hard to do.I know it was the right thing but I still question it.I hope I gave Oliver a good life here.Rest in peace my good little goat.You will be missed greatly.

And The Wait is Over

Meet little Willie. He is 3/4 Lincoln and 1/4 Romney. He really had a tough time coming into the world. His mom prolapsed a week before he was born. Laura from Psalm 23 farms came over at 9:00 at night and put her uterus back in and put a harness on her. She has been such a help.I sometimes wonder what I would do if she wasn't so close. I have 3 more sheep to go and then it will be over.After reading all the other blogs and hearing of all the rams verses ewes this year I sure hope I have some ewe lambs. I had the rest of the herd sheared on Wednesday and will try to post some pictures to introduce you to my outside family.I'm still trying to figure out how to get things to go where I want on this blog thing.

Still waiting

Still waiting for the babies. I thought they would come last week end but nothing.They sure are getting wide.I had the ladies sheared last week by Peter Halm. He is the head coach at Lakeland Collage.Peter and his dad do blade shearing at Old World Wisconsin in the spring.