All is revealed

(assembly line shearing!)

I wanted to have a clever post title that included the words naked girls, but was afraid I would end up with some unwanted visitors here ... so I refrained.  In a manner of speaking, that is just what my girls look like right now.  The shearers arrived here early yesterday morning and got right to work getting that years worth of fleece off.  It was quite cold in the morning and we even had a dusting of snow on the ground, but the sheep didn't seem to mind at all.  That was a big relief to me because I'd been awake since before daylight worrying that the sheep might be all shivery and pitiful after being sheared.  Instead they  seemed completely comfortable and they even chose to go outside and graze a little on our nonexistent grass.

So, there were some important questions answered yesterday morning.  I know I mentioned before that Brynn (the Wensleydale ram) was not wearing a marking harness, so my only hope to know whether he was working was to see him actually breeding a ewe.  I only saw that one time in the two and a half weeks he was here.  While I was sorting through the ewe flock and getting ready to put them in with him, I put Gabby in to keep him company and he bred her several times, right then and there.  After that, I saw no activity from him.  Nothing.  Well, apparently he prefers the privacy that night time offers because it appears that all the ewes I gave him got bred.  (There's even a possibility that he bred a few I didn't give him.  The last night he was here, he managed to get himself into the pen where the other ewes were, so time will tell if we have some bonus babies.)  I used Rowdy as the backup ram and he marked three ewes, who all appear to be pregnant.

(the official maternity ward)

It appears that we have at least 12 ewes who are bred.  Gabby will start it off, sometime next week and there are several who appear to be not far behind her.  Now that the lamb-cam is up and running, you all can check on them too!  There's a bonus with the lamb-cam this year that I absolutely love.  If you look at the top right of the blog sidebar, you'll see the link for viewing on your computer and under that, a link for using an iPad or iPhone!  I'm really excited about this because it means I can check on them from anywhere.  Sometimes technology really does seem magical!  If the weather is decent, you may not see much going on in the daytime, except possibly a few chickens and a peacock scratching around in the straw.  Evening feeding, night-time and rainy days will bring everyone in (though at this stage of their pregnancies, the ewes mainly assume their beached whale positions when they're inside the barn).

(another sign of spring)

 Mike brought these in with the mail yesterday.  Lambs are coming soon and the daffodils are blooming, two signs that we have survived this long, long winter!

Biding our time

Jim Dandy is wearing his spring finery

Oh boy, has this ever been a winter.  Just two days ago the temperature here at the farm was 73 and this morning it was around 15. Back and forth, back and forth.  Just when we start to believe that spring is really going to happen this year, we get jerked back to reality.  That one day of warmth was so encouraging. I wanted to be outside all day, digging in the garden, setting up the lambing pens, straightening up the barn.  Of course, I did none of those things.  My right hand is still wearing a brace and I had to be at physical therapy for my neck at noon. :-(  To say that I'm not happy with the situation would be a huge understatement!  I've always been a person who believed I could just push on through, but that philosophy is not really working for me at the moment and patience is not one of my strong points either, so these last two and a half months have been physically and mentally challenging.  I'm clinging to the hope that warmer weather will bring some relief and then I can get back to normal (normal for me, which I realize is quite abnormal by most standards).

Luna most definitely needs a haircut!

I've had the call from the sheep shearers and they''ll be here in within a week.  I'm excited to see what the girls fleeces look like.  It's a whole year of work for them and me, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are as nice as they usually are.  Having all that fleece off should reveal the status of pregnancies, too.  Assuming both boys got the job done this year, Gabbie should go first, as she was the first one I put in with the Wensleydale ram and I actually saw him breed her.  Her udder looks as though she'll give us the first lambs in about two weeks.

Aslan will not be getting his summer "do" just yet

I have hopes of getting the lamb-cam back on-line sometime around the first of next week.  Then everyone will have a chance to see the girls, first in full fleece and then shorn with only an inch or so of wool.  It's amazing how much more room there seems to be inside the pens, once all that fleece is gone.  We'll do some rearranging of pens, so that the pregnant ewes can be seen on camera and, if you're lucky, you may even get to witness a birthing!  No matter how many years I've gone through lambing season, I'm always excited and a little anxious until all the babies are on the ground.

While you're waiting for the lamb-cam to come online, check out the workshops we have scheduled for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this year.  They are really, really good, if I do say so myself.  We've got some big names that you might expect to travel quite a distance to learn from and some very popular Kentucky folks offering a wide array of classes.  Don't wait too long to sign up.  We've already had a good response and you don't want to miss out on the fun.

Moving forward

(Rainy days are adding green to our world)

 The farm is waking up these days, even without the presence of my precious baby lambs in the barn and pastures.  The ewes are happy that we have green grass and if we could just get the temperature to moderate a little, it would be so great.  I've planted a few things out in the garden, which have promptly been eaten by what I'm guessing is a rabbit.  Without our dear Holly here to patrol, the night creatures have moved right in.  I guess we are going to need to drag the electric fence out early and maybe put row covers over things in order to harvest fresh greens anytime soon.  I sure hope rabbits don't like asparagus because it should be coming up soon and it will break my heart to not enjoy our yearly asparagus bounty.

The morning that Holly died was also alpaca and llama shearing day.  The alpaca boys, along with Strawberry and Pippi got to ride over to Seldom Scene Farm for their yearly do.  It's always a big relief to have all the shearing over with for the year.  I've been trying to decide whether I'm going to keep the alpaca boys or sell them.  One day I think keep and the next day I think sell.  I'm trying hard to simplify the routine around here and having multiple species always makes things a little more complicated.  On the other hand, I do love having those alpaca fleeces to blend with my sheep fleeces.  So, back and forth I go.  No matter what, Strawberry and Pippi (the llamas) will stay because they get along beautifully with the sheep and are used to being part of the ewe flock.

I've been working along preparing for the natural dye workshop to be held here at the farm next week.  I'm really excited about hosting this event.  Dagmar is so knowledgeable and having three full days of hands-on instruction is going to teach us all so much.  At the conclusion of the workshop, each participant will go home with 75 (!) mini-skeins that we will have dyed during the three days.  Each of those mini-skeins will be tagged with the "recipe" for recreating the color and will be a resource we can use forever.

Of course, because it's spring time on the farm, I'll probably be out mowing until hours before the start of the workshop.  Fast growing green grass is a blessing and a curse in the spring.  By the time I finish mowing a round, it's time to start all over again!  We've had some wonderful sunny days this week and now the rain has arrived again.  I swear I can see things growing right before my eyes.  There is something wonderful about the arrival of a new season.  For me, it's a sign of new opportunity combined with the comfort of tried and true activities.  I love autumn best of all, but spring might be next.  I love planting the garden (though I'm not so crazy about tending to it in the heat of July and August) and shedding the coats, boots and woolen hats. I enjoy bringing the pots out of the greenhouse and putting them back around the koi pond on the terrace and eating dinner on the screened porch.  These are all things that happen year after year, but somehow seem new and exciting at the change of the season.

And speaking of new and exciting, we've had a new addition to the MacDonald clan this week.  Just yesterday afternoon,  Mike's son, Taylor and his wife, Crimson welcomed their son, Atticus Euclid MacDonald, into the world.  We're so excited about having a new baby in the family.  Though Mike has been more than willing to embrace my eight grandchildren as his own, this is his first official grandchild ..... and the one who will carry on the MacDonald name.  We can't wait to start teaching him about life on the farm!

All is revealed

We had a rude awakening this morning to snow on the ground.  Where it came from, I have no idea.  I didn't watch the weather last night (which is unusual for me), but instead got straight into bed with a new copy of British Country Living magazine and drifted off to sleep soon afterwards.  The poor naked sheep are wondering if the end of the world is nigh.  It was 70 degrees on Sunday when they were shorn and there was quite a lot of frolicking about.  Today I think they are doing laps around the pasture to try to stay warm!  It actually isn't that cold, in fact, the snow is already melted away, but the wind is unpleasant and makes it feel much colder than it really is.  The younger girls have been out and about and the older ones are content to stay in the deep bedded straw inside the barn and bellow for more hay every time they see me.  I've heard that warmer temps are on the way and I hope green grass is not far behind.

Shearing went off without a hitch.  Bill Haudenschield and Gavin McKerrow were here on Sunday morning, bright and early and by 2:00 o'clock we were all done and they were on their way to their next stop.  Well, we were not completely done because I still had some fleeces to skirt and the barn to clean up.  I finally got to the house just as it was getting dark.  It's a wonderful feeling to have that task behind me for the year.  I was totally worn out and was still dragging some on Monday.  Hmmm, wonder if that's another sign I'm getting too old for this stuff?

Shearing did not reveal all I had hoped for in the way of lambs we could be expecting soon.  It appears that Mr. Bates didn't quite get the job done.  Several girls don't appear to be pregnant and the ones that probably are seem to be lagging behind schedule.  I knew there was some risk of this because Mr. Bates was on the young side, but since I was only exposing six ewes to him, I thought he'd be able to manage it.  Anyway, it will happen the way it's meant to happen, so I'm trying not to be too disappointed.  Given the situation with my shoulder, less is probably better this year.

Shearing did reveal some pretty nice fleeces.  Overall, I'm quite happy with the quality of the fleeces and the body condition of the sheep who grew them.  I'm especially pleased with the fleeces from the ten ewe lambs I kept from last spring - the ones that are half Wensleydale.  There are some beautiful, long, lustrous fleeces in the bunch and as soon as I can get a little time, I'll put up some photos (and maybe even do a little washing and sampling myself).

Our idea of a good day ...

Believe it or not, Sunday was a good day here at the farm.  It was one of the hottest days of the summer (we've broken records lately) and what did we do?  Why we had a little shearing party!  Okay, it wasn't really a party, which is a good thing because it also wasn't much fun.  It felt good in that way that doing something painful feels, when you stop doing it, if you get my drift.  The shearers happened to be passing through my part of the country, on their way to someone else, and called to ask if it would be okay to get my lambs done now.  I was so, so happy to have the lambs fleeces shorn.  Because of our ridiculously hot weather, everyone has been suffering.  Sunday it was 103 degrees and I have nothing but admiration for these guys being able to work so hard in that kind heat.  Then, to make the day even better, that evening we got about 1/4 inch of rain (the first rain in many, many weeks) and, best of all, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees!  Monday morning when I turned the lambs out into the field, they actually ran and jumped up in the air because they felt so much better!  I might be inclined to do the same, if I thought I could without injuring myself.

So, how's the Tour de Fleece going with you all?  I'll admit to just barely fulfilling the spin daily requirement.  Which means, of course, that I have very little to show at this point.  I'm seriously needing to pick up speed.  There will most likely be some moonlight riding in my future.

It was fine

Shearing day for the alpacas and llamas went as near perfect as possible.  The weather was great and everyone behaved admirably.  I penned all my alpaca boys the night before and put Strawberry and Pippi in the big pen with the Easter mom and lambs.  It's always amazing to me how gentle and curious the llamas are with the tiny lambs.  They move slowly and carefully, sniff around some and seem to enjoy watching the lamb antics.  I've mentioned here before that Strawberry has even served as part of the exercise equipment by allowing the babies to climb up on her back (when she's lying down) and jump off.  Pippi is not quite ready for that.  She stands up if the lambs begin climbing on her.

Anyway, as I was saying,  I had no problems.  I loaded Strawberry, Pippi and one of the alpaca boys into the trailer first and the rest loaded themselves.  All I had to do was get in and remove their lead ropes and away we went.  At Lindy's, I was able to back right up to the barn door, put them in a stall and let them be worked through the gates until it was their turn.  The shearers were a study in speed and efficiency, all the while treating the animals with care.  They have a tag-team system where they shear two animals at once, on mats across from each other.  Each shearer has a specific task; one shearing the 'blanket' (that's the prime part of the fleece), others doing head, neck, tail and legs.  They also trimmed feet and I was able to give each animal a shot of Ivomec (de-wormer), all while they were safely restrained.  After seeing how the professionals get the job done, I cannot imagine what it would be like to try shearing an alpaca or llama while they were standing up.



When I went through my camera, I was amazed to see that all I had taken were two short movie clips.  I could have sworn I took more.

Guess what's next on my to-do list?  Have a great weekend everyone!

Ladies in waiting

Shearing day is one of those yearly events I love to hate. I'm so happy to harvest the fleeces that have taken a year to produce, but it takes several days of flat out hard work to get through it. I spent Friday preparing the barn and getting set up for the shearer, then all day Saturday skirting, labeling and bagging the fresh fleeces. Friends who live nearby were using the same shearer and graciously came to help, then after we all had a late lunch here, we went to their farm and did it all over again. It made for a long, but satisfying day.

It's difficult to judge body condition when the sheep are in full fleece, so the first thing I look for is whether the ewes are in good shape and have been getting enough nutrition. I will say that we rarely have an animal who does not give their best effort at mealtime. Everyone on this farm seems to have a good appetite, and that includes the people :-) All the pregnant girls look to be about right and the yearlings (those silly teenage girls) are growing into a nice looking bunch of ewes. The first morning out of the barn after they were shorn, the yearlings really kicked up their heels. They ran, they jumped, they butted heads! So silly and so much fun to watch. I know they are healthy when they have the energy for that. The "ladies in waiting" didn't do any jumping or running, but did seem to step a little livelier. Losing 10-12 pounds in just a few minutes will do that, I guess! With all that wool gone, it is really obvious that we will be having lambs very soon. The lambing pens are set up, my supplies are gathered and now we wait.

And here are the bad boys, with poor Buddy thrown in to referee. They've been confined like this since Saturday and I'm thinking I might let them out into the back barnyard to see how they behave. Buddy is the big boy we wethered last year after he had bred the ewes and he is still a sweet and gentle giant. My hope is that he will be a calming influence on the two young rams and they'll quit all that butting and shoving. I'll let you know how that works out!

All will be revealed

Tomorrow is shearing day and a year's worth of effort on my part (and, of course, the sheep have done their part) will be revealed. Since I just last week got the last of the previous year's fleeces processed, you'd think I wouldn't be that excited about getting another whole bunch to skirt and wash. What can I say? I'm a fiber addict and the fiber from my own flock is so special to me.

It never fails that the weather turns rainy just before the scheduled date and this week has been no exception. There's been a threat of rain every day since Tuesday. I don't like keeping the sheep inside because there's always the chance of them getting more vegetable matter (hay or straw) embedded in their fleeces. Wet fleeces mean no shearing, so, into the barn they go. In fact, they have been in and out of the barn several times a day all week long!

The pregnant ewes are looking like they need a "wide load" sign attached to their backsides and several of them have big milk bags, so very soon I should be able to put some sweet lamb pictures on here.

These two bad boys are in time-out right now. I'm not sure why, but Mr. Lucky and Ollie have been head-butting and jousting with each other all week and when I brought them into the barn, things got even rougher. If they are out of sight from one another, they bawl and carry on, but if they are in together, they fight. So, this is the solution we came up with yesterday. They can barely see each other and the solid panels keep them from climbing up or trying to fight each other. I'm thinking we are back to the squeezed up pen after they get sheared. Nothing like extra testosterone in the barn to keep things lively!