The New Girls

These are the ewe lambs that are still here after selling everyone (almost) that I intend to. (And there were 81 lambs this year.) I'm very pleased with this group and proud that my breeding program has led to this selection.Meridian Janie (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Jane)Meridian Maybelle (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Mae) This ewe was going to be on my sale list but she had an unexpected tryst with Cayenne and may be pregnant.Meridian Ruthie (Meridian Cayenne x Meridian Ruth), who just broke her horn and is somewhat bloody on one side. This is another ewe who may be pregnant after the aforementioned incident.Meridian Zora (Meridian Cayenne x Meridian Betty)Zora is a pretty little lilac ewe who was chosen from Day 1 for her cute markings, although "cuteness" isn't listed under the JSBA Breed Standard selection criteria.Meridian Quartz (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Jade). Quartz was chosen because, besides being a nice looking ewe, her mom is everyone's favorite pet sheep and... ...I want to see how her 6 horns grow out.Meridian ??? I haven't named this lamb yet but she certainly deserved a good one. (Meridian Serrano x Unzicker Shenandoah)bide a wee Marion (Ruby Peak Cinnamon x Meridian Maven), who didn't go home to Oregon after the AGM we hosted in August.Meridian Janna (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Janis). Janna is a big tall ewe lamb and is out with the breeding group, possibly to be bred by Meridian Axle.Meridian Soprano (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Sonata) has definitely been bred by Axle. It looks as though I am missing photos of one ewe and that is Meridian Haldana, who is one of the lambs that went to the state fair. Everyone else is accounted for here.

Shortest Breeding Season

The last post was about breeding season that started for us on October 3. A week ago, only 24 days later, I called it quits (almost). I had five breeding groups and one non-breeding group. I get tired of feeding hay to all these different groups especially when there is still green feed in the pasture. But mostly I get tired of the rams tearing up the fences. Also, Hug a Sheep Day was the next day and two groups would cause trouble with that. The young ram, Clark was in the most accessible (to visitors) pen and I don't trust him if someone stands right at the fence. In addition I thought that we might need to park behind the barn and that's where Buster's group was. Time to be done with all these groups. I decided that Axle would get to remain with the ewes in case someone had not been bred and Peyton could keep his ewes for another few days. But that meant that Buster, Cayenne, Clark, and Spark (who had not been given ewes) would be back together. I brought the groups in one at a time and separated the rams. That's Buster in the pen. His nose is already bloody because he was ramming the panel to try to get to Axle, the young 2-horn ram in the middle of the photo.Most of the ewe flock was back together now and that was Clark's lucky day! That's him in the background with his head turned away.Meanwhile the other four rams went into their "buddy-up" pen. The point of this is that they are confined enough that they can't do much damage. That doesn't mean that they don't hit each other but at least they can't back up 10 feet and come charging.After a few days of learning to be buddies again they went back to the ram pen with minimal fuss. They all had figured out the pecking order. Cayenne (above) is #2.Cayenne. I love a nice two horn head.This is Spark, Cayenne's full brother, born this year. There is the difference a year makes. Cayenne was born last year.Brothers.Bide a wee Buster is #1 in the ram pen.Buster is 3 years old and Clark is his son from this year. Bookends?Here's the lucky ram who gets to stay out with the ewes for another few weeks. This is Axle, also a 2018 ram. He is wearing a blue marker......and I finally saw some real color. This is ewe lamb, Soprano.Today I moved most of Peyton's ewes back to the flock. Three of them were the Pope Valley sheep that came this summer, and they immediately found their two friends. That's the five or them in the front. Large Triangle, 4-Horn, Small Triangle, White Ear, and Crooked Blaze in the back. (They do have names but I remember them better by what I called them at first.)

Start of Breeding Season

I'm behind on posts. The start of breeding season was October 3, the day after I got back from Texas. I have found that when I wait until October all the ewes are cycling and ready to breed. That tightens up lambing season in March. Farm Club members came to help move sheep and we split them into four breeding groups and a non-breeding group of lambs.This is part of Peyton's group. He got 11 ewes. Peyton is a BFL and these will be crossbred lambs.

Next was Buster. He was given 16 ewes.All the rams had yellow markers.

It may be hard to tell here but Buster had his tongue out in all these photos.Clark is next. He is Buster's son from this year. It's hard to pick him out in this photos because the ewes are all bigger than he is.Clark was given 11 ewes.Last we have Cayenne with 10 ewes. 

Last, there is the group of ewe lambs that I chose not to breed this year.

There were also two more ram lambs to keep away from the others and, at that time, still a few butcher lambs. This means a lot of juggling of fences and trying to keep free space in between these group.

Stay tuned.

Rams

I selected three ram lambs to keep--not that I need all three, but these are the ones that I have selected to see how they turn out as they get bigger.   With Jacob sheep it's frustrating because you may have a ram with nice fleece and good conformation but, if the horns don't grow correctly, he can't be registered. With two horn rams it is important to select a lamb with horns that are growing away from the head.  With a four horn ram there needs to be space between the upper and lower, but not too much, and the lower horns should not grow into the jaw, or the neck. Too much to ask? It seems like it. I had a lot of nice two horn lambs this year, but not so many four horn ones. I sold some nice ones and some of the ones I was keeping my eye on have finally been culled due to horns fusing. There are a few left on the website. I moved the three lambs into the big ram pen figuring that they would not be old enough to get into trouble with the adult rams. It's true that the young rams didn't confront the older ones but there was a lot of chasing on the part of the adults.

The three big rams come to see what's going on.The 2-year old 4-horn is Buster and the yearling 2-horn next to him is Cayenne.  The lambs aren't named yet but this one is a full brother to the yearling ram that I took to Maryland this spring and who now lives in Pennsylvania.Since the young rams can't find the older rams they will fight among themselves. That two horn lamb is a full brother to Cayenne in the photos above.

 Buster again and that two horn yearling is Gotham (for sale, by the way). Gotham chasing the lambs.This is the other two-horn lamb that I'm keeping for now.Gotham in pursuit.This young guy has got moves!

State Fair

The CA State Fair was at the end of July but I was too busy with back-to-back events to post about it. Now we'll go back in time to the fair. Of course, entering the fair is about showing sheep. But for me an important element is the display and the Marketing Award. A lot of effort goes into that from me and from Farm Club members. We've been using the old tin backdrop for a long time and I still really like the look. It worked especially well with the natural dye display we made this year. There are also signs about Farm Club, examples of yarn and wool on the table, and a continuous loop of about 45 minutes of my farm videos. The Touching Table is popular with fair-goers.There are more signs over the sheep pens. My potted plants were dug out of the pasture and include a sign about what is in the bucket.

There is always someone demonstrating at the booth. I was glad that I brought my loom this year. It drew a lot of interest and I wove six scarves while I was there.

Speaking of weaving, this is Lucien, who was with the Eureka! Mohair Farm across the aisle from us. He was interested in weaving so I brought the Cricket loom for him to use. I forgot the warping peg, but notice that we found something to use instead. By the next day Lucien had woven off this scarf using a clasped weft technique for his first piece! Yarns in his scarf and mine are locally grown Anderson Ranch yarn and my handspun.

Here is closeup of some of the yarns on display. Farm Club member, Lisa, dyed most of these. One of the kids' activities we provide is this sheet for drawing in details on the sheep. Not everyone takes them home.We are also here for the sheep show. Fortunately Jacob sheep don't require a lot of fitting, but it is nice to get them cleaned up a bit.The horns looked pretty good after a scrubbing. This is a ram lamb named Axle.This is Jana on the right and a less-glad-to-be-there Halcyon. The Primitive Breeds show was Saturday afternoon. This is a yearling ram, Meridian Gotham. (Look at those shiny horns.)Unfortunately there was very little competition this year and I had the only rams. So it's nice to get a Champion award, but it would have been nice to have other breeders' sheep there. Marina and Betsy helped show. This is the ram lamb class.Meridian Maybelline was awarded Champion Ewe.Thanks so much to Betsy and Marina for pitching in and showing sheep. And thanks to Dona for the photos. Here we are with a pile of awards, including Premier Breeder and Premier Sire.

Winning Champion, even with little competition, means that you take your sheep into the ring on Sunday for the Supreme Champion competition. No, Gotham didn't shrunk overnight. He was the same size as always. It's just that those Suffolks are like ponies. This is the Supreme Champion Ewe competition. In between the Supreme Champion Ram and Supreme Champion Ewe competitions they announce the Marketing Award winners. We did pretty well! Best Marketing Program. Best Program Directed at the Public. Best Signage. 1st place Herdsman. 1st Place Educational Program. 2nd Place Educational Program over all the livestock species during the three weeks of the fair. Can't ask for more than that!

But there is more! Loading up in my new trailer! Oregon here we come in 2019!

JSBA AGM

I wrote blog posts about getting ready for AGM but was overwhelmed with too many photos to sort (and other parts of life) to do more until now.                The handwoven Jacob wool goodie bags were ready, filled with locally made or grown products.The friendly parking attendant was ready. Sheep were given last minute instructions about behavior. (Karen Lobb from bide a wee Farm in Oregon)Guest were arriving.Our first gathering was a welcome by me and then a talk/book reading by Farm Club member Stephany Wilkes.  She read passages from her book, Raw Material, Working Wool in the West, to be published in October. This introduced the attendees to the concept of Fibershed and to Farm Club all at once.Next it was time for dinner. Farm Club member, Kim, provided background music throughout dinner and we were told how much people enjoyed listening to her.

The after-dinner entertainment was Project Runway, Jacob Style where we modeled garments made of Jacob wool.Most participants led sheep (some willing and some not so much) down the barn aisle... ...but Dona led Rick......willingly?

 Doris was the recipient of the People's Choice award.

This was only the start to a full weekend of sheepy fun!

Summer Shearing

I've written two blog posts about acquiring 12 Jacob sheep in what became something of a rescue operation. The sheep were healthy and well-fed, but had not been shorn for three years we think. This was shearing day for these sheep. The photos in this blog post were all taken by Farm Club members, Dona and Gynna. Thanks!!

                 John is the Rock Star.

                                                 We checked teeth to try and figure out the ages of the sheep.                   This sheep had a 13 pound fleece. The average for Jacob sheep is 3-6 pounds.                   It was a multi-person operation to stuff some of these fleeces into plastic bags.              The usual suspects were there to watch and cheer John on.                            Not a bad looking group of ewes after shearing.                            The two rams.                       After shearing we looked at all the fleeces. The longer fleeces have a break about 4" in from the outside, but the rest of the fleece seems sound.                                                                  It will take some time to work through it all.

                                                                As we pulled out staples from some of the fleeces I thought it would be a good idea to get a photo. Susan and Gynna worked on this while we opened up and re-rolled the fleeces.                       Note the measurements marked on the sides and down the middles. Weights are below.                                                   This was a fun day for all of us and a good day for these sheep.

Sheep Adventure Follow-up

Monday's  Sheep Adventure started because someone had asked for help in selling Jacob sheep that his parents couldn't take care of. I didn't consider it a rescue operation although I didn't know this person and I don't need anymore sheep, at least sheep of unknown background, and I didn't really have a plan for what to do with them other than try to sell them. When he called again last week things were a bit more desperate because his mom was in the hospital and the family had no clue of what to do with the sheep...other than to get someone else to deal with them. That's when I said I'd get them. Dona and Rick were up for the adventure but we didn't know what to expect. What we found: Sheep that really are Jacob sheep--there are a lot out there that people think are Jacob because of horns or spots, but they are not; Sheep in relatively good health EXCEPT for in desperate need of shearing. So the Sheep Adventure turned into a Sheep Rescue of sorts.

Yesterday I took time to look at each sheep more closely. Now that I'm spending time with them, the group is kind of growing on me. "I don't need more sheep. I don't need more sheep. I don't need more sheep...."                  This is a ewe they called Athena.                                                      I think that this is at least a 3-year fleece.                   I love the markings on this ewe's body. I don't have any information about her.                 This is a ewe they called Caliope. She is pretty wild.

A ewe called Dimitria. The wool is very pretty, but its as long as my elbow to my thumb.

                Markela, one of the original ewes purchased by this family.                    No idea about this ewe...                 ...or this one. Don't you love her horns?              Paniota...

            ...and her fleece.                 The lamb named Easter because that is when she was born.                New temporary quarters.            Stay tuned for a Shearing Day post.              Let's not forget the rams. Tikes on the left and Costa on the right. I think they are yearlings.

Another Sheep Adventure

This Sheep Adventure started the night before with hooking up the trailer, gathering halters and panels,  and checking to see which roads would be closed due to the fire burning in the general vicinity of where we were headed. Someone named Michael in Idaho had called me a couple of months ago asking if I could help him sell Jacob sheep that were at his parents' place in Napa County. It seems his sister and father got some sheep a few years ago but Michael thought that they had lost interest or there were health issues or for whatever reason the sheep weren't getting the attention that they needed. I didn't hear from him again until a few days ago when he said that his mother was in the hospital and the sheep needed to go.

Dona and Rick got here about 7 and we took off. I drove my truck with the trailer and Rick drove his truck with a sheep crate in the back.

                                                      I brought Ginny because Michael had thought that we might need a dog to catch the sheep. I had my doubts that we could do much with sheep that had never been worked by a dog and were possibly wild but it was a good excuse to bring Ginny along. She is not a big fan of car rides.

The map on the phone showed it would take about 1 hour 50 minutes to get to where we were going near Pope Valley.  What with unclear directions and road signs (and maybe a bit of distraction as Dona and I talked the whole time) I had to turn around and back up the trailer in the middle of the road three times before we got to where we were going.

We were met by Michael's brother who evidently is the person who has been feeding the sheep. He told us that their mother had just died a few hours ago but he'd help us get the sheep rounded up.

               He said that he would be able to get them in the fenced in area with some grain, so we stayed out of sight while he enticed the sheep into the pen.               This is nine ewes and one ewe lamb. Two rams were up the hill in another area.                    If you know anything about sheep you'll see that this ewe is way overdue for shearing.                All but one were in this condition. I wonder if the ewe in full, but not horribly excessive fleece (in the back in this photo) might have had a fleece break a year or more ago, lost that fleece and now has only a year's growth.

             We didn't get photos of the process but we set up our panels to help catch the sheep. We put halters on the ewes two at a time and brought them to the trailer. Next we got the rams.  It was a tight fit for those nine adult ewes with as much fleece as probably should have been on 25 sheep.           The rams weren't much better.

The drive home went better as far as not missing turns and having to turn around.                           However we did have another mishap.                                      The first clue I had was the thump/thwack that I heard. Fortunately I was able to pull over in a wide driveway on this windy road (Hwy. 121) and the weather was relatively mild with a breeze because those sheep were really packed in. Fortunately Rick was there because he had the right tools in his truck -- I never did find the lug wrench in mine (although now that I think about it, maybe it was under the hood). Fortunately Rick was there to get the lug nuts off because with as much trouble as he had with the last one I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to do it. I had made sure before we left that yes, I had paid the AAA membership that was due...but there was no cell service here. Rick replaced the tire with the spare and we lowered the jack. That tire was too low to drive on so Rick jacked up the trailer again, took the tire off, and left in his truck to find somewhere to fill it up. I think he was gone almost an hour before he came back with a fully inflated tire--he had found a group of fire trucks and been able to get the tire filled by the crew.

The original plan was to take these sheep to Dona and Rick's place in Wilton where there were empty pastures waiting. But with no spare for the trailer (and the other tire looking in not very good shape) I didn't want to drive an extra 2 hours on the freeway in rush hour traffic and 100 degree heat. So we unloaded at my place.After getting our hands on these sheep I think that they are in surprisingly good health. They seem to be in decent condition under all that wool and from their teeth I think that they are all four years or under.  There are two with ear tags that indicate a friend's flock. Those two are docked. None of the others are docked and I think that all of those descended from those two and maybe another that I was told had died. I don't think that any of those born at this place have ever been shorn. So that's our first order of business--to find a shearer. Then Dona and I will figure out the next steps.

Sheep Portraits

I've been updating the Sheep for Sale part of the website. Here are some sheep photos.                 This is the yearling ram, Cayenne. He is not for sale.              Yearling ram, Gotham, is for sale.                Ewe lamb (Meridian Catalyst x Shadow Mountain Shelby).                   Ewe lamb (Meridian Catalyst x Meridian Delight).            Ewe lamb (bide a wee Buster x bide a wee Hallie).                 Ram lamb (Meridian Catalyst x Meridian Ava).                  Six-horn ewe lamb not for sale (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Jade).              Four-horn ewe lamb, Janna, not for sale (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Janis)                   Oops! For sale, but not for breeding. Ugly-horned ram lamb. If you're interested in lambs for meat see this link.