Thanksgiving Birds

Well, we decided we'd had enough of the turkeys, so we did them all in the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We had 11 adults and 5 of our own poults that were hatched on the farm. In all, there were 4 toms and 12 hens averaging around 11 lbs each. Our two adult toms were 17 lbs, and our smallest hen was 8 lbs, which is average for Naragansetts.

Here are some photos of the toms in early November.

While these birds were great fun to watch, they did take a lot of work and management that we felt we didn't have the time for. Hopefully they'll be back on the farm in the future - their meat is superior to any other turkey we've tasted!

Fall Update

I finally got a picture of Penny who didn't make it into the last post. Here are Penny and Grant in November.

Gus is doing well on the farm. He loves the chickens - especially when they get out!

Here are three of the non-breeding Shetland sheep. Back to front are Mocha, Crystal, and Kyra. Hopefully next year they'll be part of the breeding flock.

A close-up of Mocha's fleece. It's so crimpy and dense!

Here's the non-breeding flock - all six of them.

The Goats

Trouble!
Double Trouble!!

Triple Trouble!!!
Sherman, Grant, and Mama Hops pose for the camera. Look at that smile!

The Boys

The rain brings out the crimp in the fleeces. Here's a close-up of Otto's curls.

The boys look for the camera. Xavier's horns are coming in quite nicely. Buckwheat's horns are re-generating after a traumatic visit to the vet. Hopefully they'll continue to come in away from his head. 
Again, Otto shows off his crimpy fleece. 
Xavier is growing up so quickly! He now has a very masculine "maaa".
He really is as sweet as he looks. 

The Flock Continues...

These three ewes are the misfits. These ladies are a little more timid than our others and are learning how to be social. In the foreground is PikeHill Poa. The two ewes in the back were purchased in '08. Laxwanna is a border cheviot-tunis cross (i.e. - meat mut), and Wynona is a solid moorit adult Shetland. 

Here's a view of the friendly flock - all eight! 

Near the end of June we added our last two lambs. These two came from Ridgeway Farm in MA. Both lambs exhibit the HST (head, socks, tail) markings. 

Here is our newest ewe - meet RF Crystal. She is a black HST lamb. This little lamb is adorable, especially when she wags her tail in anticipation of a scratch!

And...the ram. Meet RF Xavier! This little guy will be father to our future lambs. His horns are developing nicely, and his fleece is soft and crimpy!

Yesterday, while all the other sheep grazed, Xavier curled up next to me in the paddock to chew his cud. He has such a great personality! Hopefully he'll pass on his good looks and good behavior to our first lambs next Spring. 

Introducing the New Flock

On June 15th we had three sheep. By July 1st we had grown to 11! 

We purchased four Pike Hill Shetlands mid-June - three ewes and a wether. 

Here is PikeHill Clover, a yearling fawn katmoget ewe. She is a very affectionate ewe and has become flock mother to our new lambs.

Our other new yearling ewe, PikeHill Mocha, is a solid moorit. She's a little less friendly, but she's warming up to us.

This is our yearling wether, Buckwheat. He is always looking for a snack! PikeHill Poa is our adult ewe and is the fourth adult sheep we added this year. Look for her in future posts.

In addition to the four adult sheep we added four lambs. We began with two wethered ram lambs from Painted Knoll Farm in NH. These two wethered lambs are Mac and Otto. Both have incredibly soft fleeces and love attention. Mac is a black katmoget, and Otto is a solid moorit. 

To this new friendly flock we added Kira, our "lawn-mower", to encourage her innate friendliness. She's also a yearling Shetland, but she's one of the original three sheep we purchased in 2008. Kira was the color of a toasted marshmallow and her fleece has whitened. She has become Clover's side-kick and now enjoys scratches, too.

Kira was shorn mid-June, so she looks a bit naked!

An Introduction to Our Farm

In June 2008, we began farming in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Within a month we had chickens, turkeys, goats, and sheep. We've since added a dog. 

Our first farm animals were the chickens. We received 55 chicks in the mail. The majority of these birds went into the freezer, but we still have six laying hens and three roosters. Our original hens are all heavy breed birds, and we have a variety - Delawares, New Hampshire Reds, Barred Rocks, and Buff Orpingtons. 

The next animals to arrive were the turkeys. We raised 18 Narragansett heritage birds to adulthood, putting six toms in the freezer. The remaining 12 were kept for breeding. We now have 2 toms and 9 hens. The hens are very broody and have hatched out several poults.

In late June we were given two dairy goats. These are mixed-breed, horned goats. We now have one milking doe, Hops, and her three kids - Penny, Grant, and Sherman. Grant and Sherman have been wethered and will stay on the farm as herd companions. Penny will be bred late this fall to begin her milking career. 

In December we brought home an English Shepherd pup from western New York. Gus loves to be in the barn and is currently learning how to "be nice to the kitties". He is truly a shadow dog and loves to be at our sides.