LAMBS!

Lambing seems off to a slow start. Usually the barn is full a few days after the first lamb is born, but not this year. The first due date I had marked on my calendar was today, February 26.

The first lambs were born February 20 - a set of twins to Zinnia and sired by the ram we picked up in Oregon, Ruby Peak Tamarisk.

Here is how that little yellow lamb looked today, 6 days later.

Four days later I checked the barn in between Zoom meetings and found this scene. Two ewes and two lambs. Upon closer inspection I knew that only one of these ewes had lambed. Ginger is the one on the left and these twins were hers. But Dilly was in early labor and sometimes the ewe’s hormones take over and they are anxious to mother a baby. Can you see how confusing it could be for the shepherd to sort out lambs? This is why I think it is important to keep checking the barn and when I think a ewe is in labor I separate her. These are two experienced moms but if there is a young ewe involved she might completely lose track of her lamb if an older pushier ewe intervenes. Even with these two if I’d been there an hour later I might not have known which lambs belonged to which ewes.

This is Ginger with her twins, sired by Axle. There are photos of the sires on the Ram Page.

Dilly had her own lambs but then Ginger thought maybe they were hers. You have to realize that this desire to claim lambs from another ewe doesn’t last long. In fact not long after this Ginger was hitting the fence when those other lambs got too close. It’s only possible to get an orphan lamb grafted onto another ewe with a lot of work and skill (and luck) involved.

One of Dilly’s twins.

Later that night (actually the next morning at 12:30 a.m.) Anise lambed with twins. The black lambs are crossbreds sired by Peyton, the BFL ram. See his photo on the Ram Page

This morning Betty lambed. There is another reason I like to get these ewes into the lambing pen before they lamb.

The lamb on the right is that one in the photo above after Betty got her cleaned up. The one on the left is how they look if they are delivered in a clean pen.

So my goal every time I go to the barn is to figure out which of these ewes is the next to lamb.

Shearing Day 2021 - Part 2

I wrote a post about Shearing Day a couple of days ago but there was more!

There were photos of Ginny and Oakley (the shearer’s dog) in the last post. Rusty even wanted to play. Not bad for an almost 15 year old dog.

The last post ended up with a lunch break. (Too bad we couldn’t have the fabulous potluck that has happened in other years.) I had brought a friend’s sheep here to dry out and stay dry so they could also be shorn. They were the after-lunch group.

We were amused by this sheep’s fluffy hairdo.

I watched this sheep butt others with her horns and she must have been doing that earlier to come in with this look.

Farm Club members helped clean the barn after we finished shearing, and they valiantly braved the lake to dump the wheelbarrow loads.. This is what happens after only 2” of rain.

They also spent time looking through fleeces.

After finishing with all the sheep I like to take some photos of how they look without fleece.

This is Sheila.

Meridian Axle.

Ruby Peak Tamarisk, on the left, is the sheep I picked up this summer in Oregon (blog post here). Meridian Jasper is on the right.

Rocky is a wether whose only job is to be a buddy sheep when I need to move someone else (usually a ram) into separate quarters.

Peyton is the BFL ram who weighed in that morning at 281 pounds!

Farm Club members took some of the fleeces but there are still a lot left.

Shearing Day 2021 - Part 1

Shearing Day was 5 days ago on 1/29. I can’t believe that I haven’t shared photos yet. I often think in terms of photos and blog posts, but they don’t always make it to the computer. The first post I meant to write was about getting ready for Shearing Day.

Tuesday night the area was hit with a wild storm and huge winds. On Wednesday we drove to a friend’s farm about 5 miles away to bring her sheep to our place so they would be dry for shearing. We now know how many sheep we can put in our trailer—that would be 20 in full fleece. The sheep were soaked but by bringing them here they had a chance to dry out and our shearer added them on after shearing our sheep..

Tuesday night our power went out and stayed out for almost 24 hours and we were luckier than many to be out of only that long, especially since I didn’t think John would want to hand shear 88 sheep.

Wednesday morning I got the barn organized for shearing. I found the plywood we save for shearing next to the stack of straw. It looks as though last year someone labeled it so that it wouldn’t be cut up and used for something else before this year. Good idea.

We started with the rams. This is 2 year old Jasper.

Shearing Day is usually an Open House and we have a lot of visitors and fleece buyers. This pandemic year was an exception, but I was glad that some Farm Club members could come and help. In fact they did most of the work of moving sheep and handing them off to John.

Sheep-eye-view of the holding pen.

The whole day went so smoothly. Everyone had a job and knew what to do. The few brand new Farm Club members jumped right in as well and the “old-timers” showed them what to do and talked about handling sheep.

John sheared 8 rams and wethers and then moved onto the ewes.

Mary scooped the fleeces off the shearing board and her husband, Russ, held the bag open for the fleece.

Kathleen was happy to do her regular job of weighing fleeces.

As usual Ginny entertained herself with the ball. This time she put the ball through the fence where John was shearing, hoping that someone would throw it for her. This time John’s dog, Oakley, picked it up and they both ran off.

Later Oakley found a piece of horn which I think he liked better than the ball.

John sheared all 68 of our sheep and then took a break before shearing the my friend’s 20 sheep.

While John ate lunch we held a raffle that was open to those members who had renewed their membership. We raffled off the shawls that our Meridian Jacobs teams had woven at 2019 Black Sheep Gathering and 2020 Lambtown Sheep-to-Shawl contests. It was fitting that Marina won the shawl woven by the team she was on in 2019. Two other members who couldn’t be at shearing will pick up the Lambtown shawl and another that I wove as a sample before the Lambtown competition.

The ram lamb (almost a year), Rambler and his wether buddy in the background. Remember this look—you’ll never see him this white again.

Stay tuned for more shearing photos tomorrow!

Looking Forward to 2021 with Lambs

Here is one thing to look forward to…in 2-1/2 months. Believe it or not that photo below shows lambs!

I have never learned to read an ultrasound. Maybe next year when we do this I’ll make sure that I have a lesson. I was preoccupied this time with catching sheep so that we kept the flow moving. But the biggest problem was wearing glasses with a mask on a cold morning. My glasses fogged up so much that I had to take them off. Then I couldn’t make out anything on the screen.

Three UC Davis veterinarians were here to ultrasound all the ewes.

I haven’t done this for the whole flock before. We used to ultrasound those ewes that we bred out of season to lamb at the State Fair Nursery. That program was managed by UC Davis so they provided this service. The Nursery was discontinued a few years ago and I haven’t had ultrasounds since then.

This is Belle, my granddaughter Kirby’s sheep and I will take every opportunity I get to share this all-time favorite photo.

This is Belle’s and Kirby’s debut at the State Fair last year. Kirby was so excited to get a PINK ribbon. Who needs blue when you can get pink?

This is a photo of Belle’s twins. Wouldn’t it be great to think that Kirby could show these lambs at the 2021 State Fair? I’m afraid that may be wishful thinking. But maybe she can at least come from Texas to see them.

I kept taking photos even though I really couldn’t identify what I was seeing.

Here are the ewes lined up for their turns.

This is afterwards. Remember the green marks on their rears that indicated breeding? Now the green marks on their faces were our marks that they had been checked and were confirmed pregnant.

The results? Fifty ewes are pregnant. Of those, at least 38 are carrying twins. Three of the six ewe lambs that I put with the rams are pregnant. Fortunately they all have single lambs. It’s hard on those young ewes who are lambing as yearlings to carry twins—they are still growing themselves. By doing ultrasounds I know which ewe lambs to monitor. In January I will start bringing them in for a little extra food and the upside of that will be that I will end up with more friendly sheep!

Good Morning From The Flock

Yesterday’s photos will have to do for the Happy Thanksgiving morning post. There is a strong cold north wind this morning and I’m glad I took photos yesterday.

Meridian Rambler (Jasper x Ruth), the ram lamb born in March. He and one other ram are the lucky ones who stayed here this year.

You have seen these adult rams in other photos. They seem to pose as a a threesome whenever I am out in the field. That’s Meridian Axle on the left, Meridian Jasper on the right, and Ruby Peak Tamarisk in the center. Thankfully they all get along just fine.

I walked out into the pasture to the west and the flock followed. This is three photos stitched together in Lightroom to create a panoramic view.

This is the view as we walk into the pasture. Notice how dry everything is. That is the dallisgrass that has gone dormant. We haven’t had enough rain to start much else growing yet.

Goats of course are front and center. These are the two doe kids from this year. They have become friendly and would really like back scratches.

Ewe lamb, Coco (Jasper x Ruthie) has what look like will be a beautiful hornset.

Another ewe lamb, Roca (Jasper x Raquel).

Jasmine is a 3-year-old ewe.

Betty is 6 years old.

Quartz, in the back, is two years old and Pistachio is a lamb born in March. Sheep are considered lambs until they reach one year old.

Bide a wee Marion is from the bide a wee flock in Oregon. She came to visit the year we hosted the Jacob Sheep Breeders Annual meeting and she stayed.

And now for some fall colors…

Rusty is still hanging in here at age 14. He’ll be 15 in the spring. You wouldn’t know he’s that old when he chanses Ginny with the ball, but he is stiff and has a hard time with stairs. Now that it is cold both dogs sleep in the house at night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just Another Sheep Post

You’re not tired yet of sheep posts, are you? These sheep all lined up for the photoshoot.

This is Coco, one of the March lambs.

Hazel, who is becoming one of the tamest sheep here, just like her mom, Jade.

Belle, my granddaughter’s sheep born last year.

This is a wether, Rocky. The wethers are the lucky ones—they didn’t end up in someone’s freezer. He would not have made it as a breeding ram. He has six horns and that’s acceptable for registration as long as four are differentiated and balanced. I keep a few wethers around so that there is always a buddy sheep in case I have to isolate a ram for some reason.

Here is Addy, a BFL x Jacob ewe. She is so much a pet that she won’t move out of the way when I want her to.

This is her gorgeous fleece.

Enough of sheep? How about a goat? This happens when I clean the barn with goats around.

Hearing that we might finally get some rain, Dan focused on getting the pasture mowed one last time. It is good to mow the dallisgrass as close as possible to give other plants a better chance to grow.

Breeding Season is Here

I wrote a blog post about picking up the new ram in Oregon a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t ready to turn him out with ewes at that point, but today was the day. Yesterday I went through registration papers and made my lists. This morning we started sorting sheep. We brought all the ewes into the barn and as we looked at the list we either marked the faces or moved them through one gate or another. Then it was time to catch the rams, fit the marking harnesses and put them with their ewes.

Peyton is a Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) and the crossbred lambs he produces are ready to sell for market earlier and at a higher weight than the purebred Jacobs. Peyton gets the few ewes who are not registered and a couple of very freckled ewes. Freckling of the wool is a trait that is very heritable, and I don’t want to be tempted to keep lambs from those freckled ewes. There is also a 50:50 BFL:Jacob ewe that was sired by my previous BFL ram. Her lambs will be 75% BFL. Peyton has 7 ewes.

Ruby Peak Tamarisk is the new ram and we gave him about half the flock. I think he ended up with 30 ewes. He now gets to go out on the pasture instead of being cooped up in a smaller area.

Jasper (third from right) bred the largest group of ewes last year and produced some nice lambs, but he is also related to many of the ewes. He has 7 in his group.

Axle, a 2-horn ram near the front part of this group has 8 ewes and gets to go to a paddock in the south pasture. One of the challenges of using multiple rams is keeping them apart. Ideally they should not share a fenceline because they may fight through it. I’m taking my changes at the beginning of the season thinking that these rams will have enough to keep them happy until all their ewes are bred. Then I may have to do some rearranging.

At first I didn’t plan to use five rams but I wanted to see how this ram lamb (Jasper’s son, Rambler) would do. So he has a group of five ewes. One of the ewes is a big one (on the large size for a Jacob) and I almost wondered if we’d need to provide a ladder.

I have to allow some space for the non-breeding group also. I put a few 2020 ewe lambs out with the rams but saved some back. I may reevaluate these and put a couple more of them with rams. The ewe lambs usually breed later than the mature ewes and almost always have single lambs instead of twins. If we are going to shows next year I’d like to have a few of these lambs to show as yearlings and not worry about their condition and weaning lambs. But who knows if that will happen.

The goats are also in the non-breeding group, along with a few more lambs that are still for sale.

It didn’t take long to see some action. This is Jasper and Dilly.

Tamarisk and Terri and Betty.

Zinnia is one of Tamarisk’s ewes but I don’t know if she is bred. She certainly has green marks but they aren’t as solid as the others. Time will tell if this is adequate. I will change the markers to another color in about two weeks and I’ll be able to tell if ewes are marked again. They won’t stand for being mounted unless they are in heat.

Peyton and Anise.

Anise isn’t the only one with color everywhere.

Another view of Axle. The green mark on Ginger is more on her side than her rear, but it’s a nice solid mark.

Rambler didn’t mark any yet. There are only five ewes so it’s likely that no one is in heat yet. He’ll get his chance.

I know where I’ll be February 26. The barn will be a busy place.

Lamb Update

I try to get photos of all the lambs for the website because that is how I sell them—not paying on-line, but by people seeing the selection. Here are the ewe lambs and here are the ram lambs. If you look at these links you’ll see that there are a lot of gaps and I need more photos. I tried getting photos a few days ago and I’m going to share some here—most are duplicates of lambs that were already pictured on the website.

Here is a cute ewe lamb #2003.

A very pretty ewe lamb #2060. Someone emailed me about using a photo of this lamb as a screen saver. I’m glad to share but lost track of that email. If you’re reading this email me again.

Ram lamb #2030. I always think it is cute when these ram lambs have tufts of hair at the end of their horns.

This is a yearling ewe, Evelyn, who is friendly. That is why she is here—she wanted to become a pet last year. As a lamb she would approach me and just sort of wait for attention—not to be petted, but to just be nearby.

Ears and her triplets. Ears is a BFL-Jacob cross and the triplets are 75% BFL-25% Jacob.

This is a a nice looking ram- #2076.

Not a sheep! This is Amelia. She is due to kid at the end of the week! I have to start baby watch duty at night.

Another ram with fuzz on the end of his horns.

Lambing Season

Lambing is almost over and I’m just now sharing some photos. We had about 65 lambs in 2 weeks and now we’re waiting for the stragglers—some ewe lambs who will lamb in the next couple of weeks.

When a ewe looks like she is about to lamb or if we find the lamb(s) already born we put them in a lambing pen.

They stay in these pens for 2-3 days if we have room. Sometimes we get so many lambs at once that that we not only have overflow pens in the alleyway of the barn, but they get moved out more quickly.

Most mature ewes have twins although there are some triplets. The youngest ewes (one year old) usually have singles.

After two or three days in the pens three ewes with their lambs are moved to a stall. This gives me more time to keep an eye on the lambs and gives the lambs the chance to figure out how important it is to stick around mom and not bother other ewes.

We usually put a bale of straw in the stall. That gives the lambs a way to get away from an aggressive ewe and it also provides seating if we have the urge to sit and cuddle lambs.

This is all rather labor-intensive. Thank goodness for Farm Club—several members live close enough that they like to come help out. And with the unprecedented corona-virus shut-downs, we like to provide a FarmFit experience for those whose gyms and exercise programs are inactive.

After a few days in the stalls, the ewes and lambs are put outside.

In a “normal” year (will we ever have another normal year?) the pasture is too wet and soggy in early March to go out. This year the sheep are in the pasture, but because it is cool we are moving them from paddock to paddock fairly quickly so that the clover and grass has time to recover.

This is BFL-X ewe, Ears, with triplets. She has had triplets three times.

The lambing board. Ewe/ram births are color coded. They are numbered and weights are recorded. The board is filled to the bottom of the third column right now but I don’t have another photo.

Life Goes On

The injury that I talked about in the last post has kept me from doing a lot of my normal stuff. I’m way better but my motivation isn’t there and everything (including taking decent photos) just seems hard.

Farm Club member Dona took a lot of photos of the winter and early spring events going on here and I’m finally getting to a blog post where I’ll use them. Thanks Dona.

Shearing was in early February. Thanks to Farm Club for doing all the work involved in making Shearing Day go smoothly.

Farm Club members went home with their fleeces and other fleeces were sold.

The sheep just kept on coming.

Since I’m not going to be ready to trim feet for awhile our shearer trimmed each sheep as he finished shearing.

Farm Club members and fleece buyers were able o skirt fleeces before they took them home.

The goats were probably glad that they didn’t need to go through the shearing gate.

Lincoln was the youngest person at Shearing Day and I know that in future years he will be a fixture at area fiber events.

Hank is another well-known fiber-immersed baby.

The rams don’t look so impressive after shearing. This is Meridian Axle.