Farm Day - May 2015

Where is Dona when you need her? As much as I like taking photos I don't take very many  on a Farm Day because I'm distracted. Seven Farm Club members were here this morning to help with some specific tasks. We accomplished those easily all the while enjoying each other's company. This is such a great group of friends First we caught all 76 lambs. We weighed all of them and vaccinated the older ones. We chose four ewe lambs and 4 ram lambs as the most likely options (narrowing it to 2 each later) for taking to Black Sheep Gathering next month. Because my flock lambs in March the lambs are still young and it's hard to think who I might want to take to the show in June. We also caught the 4 yearlings who did not lamb this year to choose which of them I'd take and also to replace their lamb ear tags with larger easier-to-read tags.  After we finished with the lambs I showed Gynna how to go about halter breaking lambs that she is going to take home with her in a few weeks.The birds were happy when we finished in the barn because then they had free access to their babies without worrying about all the people and dogs.

After lunch Kathleen, Gynna, and Peggy went to the barn and helped me change this pile into......this one. By sucking the air out of the bags with the shop vac we condensed that pile of wool into about half the space. That's a much easier job with more than one person.

 Ginny found an out-of-the-way place to sleep.Later this afternoon Dan put the mower on the tractor and I mowed the pasture behind the barn.

I've  been trying to clean out the freezer and I found a turkey the other day. It's in the oven now and I'm getting ready for turkey dinner (without all the trappings because that would take too much work).

Reviving a Lamb

I went to the barn a little after 6 a.m. this morning and found what looked like a dead lamb along with two lambs who were up and nursing. The lamb that was flat out on the ground had membranes over his face and was cold and still. I pulled the membranes off of the nose and surprise! That lamb wasn't quite dead yet. It made a little sound and started to breath raspilly. (Spellcheck says that's not a word, but it works for me.) First, get lamb warm. The heat lamp wasn't fast enough... ...so I brought it to the house. After it started to revive I substituted a heating pad for the hot water. Tube feeding with colostrum was next. Fortunately I had a couple of ounces in the freezer.  I switched the heating pad from under the lamb to over the lamb while Rusty made sure he didn't go anywhere. I carried the whole bundle back to the barn so I could get on with chores. That's when I set up the heat lamp. I also milked some colostrum out of the mom and tube fed the lamb  another few ounces.It got up before long and now sports the most glamorous in lamb-wear. If a ewe lambs with a single lamb in the next few days I will try to graft this one on. That will be another post. These are the other two sets of triplets and their moms.

Shearing 2015

Although we had a cold start the weather for Shearing Day turned out great and a lot of people came out to watch and to buy fleeces. Ewes before shearing.  Farm Club members handled all the jobs. I don't have photos of all of them but FC photographer, Dona, will probably have some for me to add to another post. That's Stephany and Gynna who wrangled sheep all morning.  Alison and others helped skirt fleeces that people purchased.  Here is a view from above. Carol and Amy are in place to sweep between sheep and to let the shorn sheep out the gate.  John Sanchez has been our shearer for several years. The fleeces are always beautiful and the sheep look great too. He's prompt and he's fast too. He finished everything in 3 hours.Looking at this photo I wish that I'd done a series of photos of footwear. There are a lot of stylish boots in our Farm Club.

 Jackie kept track of names and cards...

...while Mary scooped the fleeces into bags. All Farm Club members rotated tasks and helped all day--answering dozens of questions from visitors and also helping in the shop. Thanks to everyone: Alene, Alison, Amy, Betty, Carol, Dona, Gynna, Jackie, Janis, Joy, Kathleen, Lisa, Mary, Peggy, Polly, and Stephany (and to Judy for joining us).Jimmy is one of two wethers (castrated male) who was well marked so that the shearer would be told to watch for different parts while shearing off the belly wool.

 Amaryllis was probably glad that she wasn't on the shearing list.

This is what Dan made out of the pressure tank we had to replace a couple of months ago. It provided a welcome place to warm hands. Maggie behaved admirably all day.Rusty kept watch.Ginny was in the barn with us but had her own pen to keep her out of trouble.

  Bags of fleeces for me to sort through. 

This is how I felt at the end of the day.

Farm Day

Shearing Day is coming up so next weekend and Farm Club members came Saturday to help get things ready. Dona took a lot of great photos and all of these are hers. There is always barn cleaning.  A break for puppy-time.After finishing with the barn......it was time to preview fleeces. Mary made cards to be put into bags as the sheep are shorn and she recorded which fleeces were reserved by Farm Club members. .Maggie watched from above.

   Everyone was anxious to get hands-on the fleeces.

This is Isadora and her July lamb, Isabelle. Shearing Day is an Open House so if you're in the area you are welcome to come. See this link.