Breeding Season Begins

So it's that time of year again...Breeding Season.

After giving much thought to the ram lambs, we've decided our lives will be easier with them all in the freezer. This means we will have one breeding group, and Xavier (pictured below) will sire the whole crop of lambs.
Of our six breedable ewes, five decided to join him on Sunday when we mixed things up. Wynona, our crazy ewe, decided she didn't want to be part of the fun this year, and we were just as happy to have her not join. She tends to make the other ewes spook and makes life much more difficult when moving animals around.

The five ewes that are in with Xavier are two who we used last year and three first-timers. Below is Poa who gave us two ram lambs - yay for grass-fed lamb!

And Clover, who gave us this nicely fleeced ram. Yay for more lamb!

And Mocha, Crystal, and Kira (back to front), non of whom have lambed. Mocha and Kira were '08 lambs and Crystal was an '09 lamb. I'm hoping to get some HST lambs from the Crystal-Xavier cross.

Hopefully we'll get a mix of lamb colorings and markings in late March. It's always nice to have something to look forward to in March!

AND...time for the mystery game. Can you guess what this is?

It's a HUGE mushroom! This has been growing under our Maple tree for the last few weeks. Gus isn't quite sure what to make of it.

The chickens are still laying and enjoying scratching for bugs.

And I'm very excited that in a week we'll have bacon! These are two of the three pig-pigs we've been raising for the freezer. Hopefully they'll fit in the freezer!

On Sept. 12 we put the meat birds in the freezer - all 60 of them! They weighed in at an average of...11 lbs for the roosters and 7.5 lbs for the hens! I guess we'll have enough chicken for the year. We calculated a cost of $0.88 per pound if we excluded bedding. Next year we'll have to find a way to exclude bedding! With all this chicken our 22 cubic foot freezer is almost full!

Update Conclusion

And finally...

Here is a recent photo of the ram, Xavier. I'm still monitoring his horn growth as it approaches his jaw line. The ends seem to be straightening and curving out slightly, and I'm hoping they'll make it past the danger line so we can continue using him for breeding.

He and Otto are pasture-mates in our big field. 

Here's Sherman on the rocks. 

Hops has an itch. I guess those horns serve some purpose. 

And finally, for Shula, a picture of our friendliest sheep who thinks she's a dog, Crystal. This was taken in January, but since I haven't posted an adult picture of her, here she is. Crystal always greets us with a "maaaaa" and a tail wag. She even braves the goats for a chance to get a scratch or a little treat. She is everyone's favorite sheep. 

Lamb Update

Three months ago three of our ewes gave birth to five lambs. There were four rams and one ewe. There were four moorits with white face markings and one katmoget. Of the five we plan on keeping two and freezing three. Here are the two we plan on keeping. 

This first lamb is our only ewe lamb for 2010. Margaret Chase Smith, or Maggie, is out of Wynona and Xavier. Fortunately, she does not have her mother's unpredictable nature, and she's become quite curious and friendly.

Here is Maggie at three days old. She had the most white on her of the four moorit lambs. 

Here she is at two months enjoying some grass in the back field.

And again at three months. 

Maggie has actually become friends with Clover's ram lamb, George Aiken. Here's George at two months. George has always had incredibly silky-soft fleece and large, nicely-shaped horns. He is also the most curious of the five lambs and the most macho towards the other rams. Of the four rams he is the one we're considering keeping. 



Here is George at three months. His horns are continuing to grow in a favorable manor. I'm hoping to use him this year to improve our fleece in future lambs. 

Other Farm News

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, so here it goes...

The triplets are all grown up. They're enjoying the new fencing  in the big pasture that was completed in May, and they spend their days rock-hopping and munching on a variety of shrubs and grasses. Here they are getting some garden treats from my sister. Gus greets Penny through the new fence. 

In February the sheep were sheared and their fleece is STILL stacked high waiting for processing. This is Otto's fleece on the skirting table. We've got a lot of cleaning to do before it gets shipped off. Hopefully we'll get some of it out before Labor Day. We did get a loom last month, but now we just need to get the fleece processed to weave - and learn how to assemble the loom!

Here is Gus sitting very attentively. He still loves herding the chickens and helping with chores. He's just started working in the meat bird pen, and he's been a huge help nudging chickens out from beneath the coop at night. He's also been enjoying the company of a new friend, Supai. She's a yellow lab and the newest addition to the farm. 

The layers are still laying. From 24 birds we get about 15 eggs per day. Here is our nameless rooster. He's a Silver Spangled Humberg. This June we hatched some of our own eggs via an incubator and got some beautiful black and white birds. 
After my last posting (lambing!), we bought three piglets. Here they are about two months after we got them. They're growing quite large and enjoy rooting up their wooded lot. In October we'll have bacon!
Sheep posting coming up next...

Lambing conclusion...

The last 48 hours have been exciting! Yesterday afternoon Wynona had twins, and this morning Poa also decided to lamb. Both ewes had primarily solid, moorit twins with white flecks dotting their heads. Of the four lambs, three are rams and one is a ewe. The ewe was the largest at 7 lbs! The rams were all just over 5 lbs. I thought Wynona was going to have triplets she was so large, but there were only two (one being the ewe). All lambs are bouncing around and seem to be staying snuggled in the hay to stay warm in our snowy weather.   

Here is a picture of Clover's ram (still nameless) that I couldn't resist posting. He's doing very well and has very tightly crimped fleece. He's quite curious, and he's already tried challenging our wether through the fence! This is our only lamb with different markings from the rest. 

I'll try to post more pictures later in the week after everyone gets outside. Hopefully things will warm up in the next few days!

Ewes and Lambing!

In November we chose three ewes to breed to our ram, Xavier. Here are Clover, Poa, and Wynona (counter-clockwise from the left) in mid-March. The shearer came at the end of February.


Here's Clover looking like she's getting ready for lambing. She is a two-year-old, and this is her first lambing.


Yesterday morning Clover finally lambed! Her newborn son popped up from behind her when I checked on the ewes at 6 am. He weighed approximately 4.5 lbs - a little guy! Unfortunately, Clover also had a much larger ewe lamb that didn't survive the birthing process. Hopefully we'll have better luck with the other ewes.

Here he is again. He's very curious and still a little wobbley. Mama and baby are happily enjoying a private stall until he gets a little stronger.

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!