Category Archive: sheep
Miss Juliette wants to be a dog most of the time. She must think the dogs have it better and maybe they do.
She wants me to see that she can play bow, run and jump just like the dogs. She only wants to be a sheep when she has babies. So do we class Juliette as a dog or a sheep? Seems she is as confused as some people.Stack and flip flimsy
This “Stack and Flip” flimsy from Missouri Quilts was fast and easy to do, using a jelly roll. It’s also bright and fun. I used 33 of the strips and will use the others for binding. The instructions are on their site. For the sashing I used Kona Snow.
Some just want to be sure they are at the table in time to get the choicest morsels. And the easiest way to make sure is to lie on the table.
Skirting fleeces
My neighbor came over today and we spent a good amount of time skirting fleeces for the show in 2 weeks. We first put them on this table which is made from spaced PVC tubes. Then we take off all the bad parts around the edges, neck, rear, all around. We checked to make sure there were no breaks in the fleece and removed as much of the hay, weeds, whatever they embedded in their fleeces as we could. We then rolled them up with the cut side up, and slipped them in plastic bags, ready for the judge to look at as well as the buyer.
We have many more fleeces to go through, clean and advertise.
I did get some more tomatoes started today. I’m hoping for a long summer so they will get ripe.
Road work, tagging
Road work has been the “item” the last two days, the men have been working on this road which has been a big mud problem. It is 300 plus feet long and in the wet winter can try to eat a vehicle. Midweek they will be laying the gravel. (and I’m betting we will be on a starvation diet after this expense). But what a treat it will be to walk up to the barn from the house (you see the garage in the distance) on dry ground.
Yesterday after sweeping, mopping and other household chores we spent considerable time
tagging the babies that are big enough – actually we were a bit late in tagging and had to watch to see which lambs claimed the rights to which mother. Rams are tagged in the right ear, ewes in the left. This is Kaarstan, a keeper. She is gorgeous and will be shown this fall. She was born February 13, so is about a month and half. They grow so fast.
Dinnertime is crowd time.
We pray each of you has a wonderful Passover, Easter, or maybe just a wonderful Sunday tomorrow.
Stem cell – day after
We found last night when changing for bed that the areas from where the fat was removed was very bruised. So we slept carefully. But that was the extent of it. A small price for the benefits we should receive.
Today I am headed to the other side of the country for a “Celebration of life” for my sister-in-law. I’ll be back on Sunday. But I don’t want you to miss the lambs so here’s a cute face and another photo of how mothers hold the little ones.
Younger and stronger
Yes, all this sheep work is exercise, but I bought the sheep to “make me younger and stronger” by keeping me moving and that is what they are doing. They need me to be able to care for them. My muscles are slowly growing. Now I need to learn to better prioritize so that I still have time for quilting and the food garden as well as sheep care. Bottle babies don’t help the schedule. I need their mothers to care for them. I had to laugh when a neighbor stopped by to see the lambs and said “well, I’m 76 and when you get my age…….”.. I didn’t want to ask her how old she thought I was. I am her age. That was a great compliment even if she didn’t know it. And it makes the hard work worthwhile. I am noticing a difference in balance and walking and plan to continue improving. I am happy.
There is so very much to learn in caring for these wonderful animals, that I am in a constant state of learning. These 3 sets of Shetlands were combined today as the mothers and their offspring are now bonded. In 2-3 days, they will be able to go out with all the sheep as the little ones will then know how to dodge the big sheep.
Lambs and a workout
Lambs photos will follow. But first a photo of a good workout. As you can see there is much hay, straw, and poop to remove from one of these pens. So today, this was most of my workout. The mother in the back with lambs was the other part. She wasn’t interested in coming in for two of bonding. She is the 4th new mother in 3 days.
I had a request for lamb photos and these are what I was able to capture today.
Most are Cormos as the Shetlands are just starting to have their babies. This last photo is Shetlands. The mothers yesterday and today had the same color babies, with them being ewe lambs yesterday and today they were ram lambs.
I did find time to gather in a 4 gallon pail of Swiss Chard. It seems nothing discourages this vegetable, which is good, since it is actually good for the body. It is now cooked and in the freezer.
St Patrick’s babies
The rush to be St Patrick’s babies started a day early, and maybe because of the new moon. These are Poly and her ram and ewe lamb. She had them yesterday, but still hasn’t decided if she wants to keep both. So it’s possible there could be another bottle baby, but I really hope not.
Then last night Zelda decided she couldn’t hold out another day and had twin ewe lambs. These are Shetlands and 1/2 the size of the Cormos, weighing in about 4#.
This afternoon, Zoe, another Shetland, got it right. These are the St Patrick day lambs. At least as of right now. Sometimes a sheep will not give any indications that she is going to give birth and other times, she looks like it for a week or two ahead of time. Zelda didn’t indicate. We’ve been watching Zoe for 2 weeks. The orange color on the coat indicates it was a difficult labor and will wear off soon.
These sheep will have incredible fiber next spring and most of them will have moved on to their new homes. It will be difficult parting with them
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2018 shearing DONE
We had 15, mostly Cormo sheep left to shear for this year. Elizabeth came with lots of energy, ready to shear the rest of them. She is so calm with them, they nearly fall asleep while she is shearing them. And now 2018 shearing is done
Babies find a mom who will tolerate their climbing – at least until she is sheared. And they do need a ladder to reach into this feeder.
See this handsome fellow? The head and horns are incredible! Sheep are very visual and after shearing do not recognize each other. So there is much noise because babies can’t find their mothers, and the ewes don’t know each other. The two males had to re-establish their pecking order, which meant they were brutal to each other. We have to put the males in a very small pen for a day or two so they don’t have room to back up and get a run at each other and kill the opponent. The two boys were in a 4 x 6′ area with chain link on three sides and 2 x 12″ lumber on the other. They bent the chain link and were trying to go through the wood. They were acquainted with each other enough this morning that we were able to put them back in their big one acre pen with hot wire. If you ever see two of these fellows establishing who is primary, you will have a very good understanding of the word “ram”.
Here is Beau in the car with all the bags of wool. He is making sure the car is not moving without him in it.
Fleece, fleece everywhere and we must skirt it to make it ready to sell. Then there is the web page to make and the shows to enter.
And now have your tissue box ready as this is that funny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92lofCtx52k
With arms wide open
http://www.elefantz.com/2018/03/with-arms-wide-open.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JennyOfElefantz+%28Jenny+of+ELEFANTZ%29
The mountains are coming along. It will be about 48 x 50″ plus whatever I decide on borders.