RAMa-LAMBa-ding-dong!!

If you remember last year I leased a ram from some other shetland breeders.

He was awesome and produced some lovely lambs

Leasing has its benefits for sure but there are also some perks to having your own ram.

I would have loved to have my own ram but really don't have a set up for keeping a seperate pen for the boys.

But- then it happened. A fellow shepherdess by the name of Corinne of CrossWinds Farm  posted all these gorgeous pictures of her lambs. They  truely are lovely sheep and anyone who loves fiber will drool. One lamb in particular jumped out at me. A gorgeous grey ram lamb. Could I possibly make keeping a ram around work? Well, he was spoken for so it didn't matter.

But the more I thought about, the more I wanted to have my own ram. So, I messaged Corinne again and asked her what she still had available. She was going to send me pictures but my friend and enabler Tamara of Zen Goaties and I wanted to visit her neighbor Miss Effies You pick flower farm  and decided to make the trek over to her place and check out her rams as well.

We had a great time at Miss Effies. Anna and I picked flowers and played in the gardens.

  looked at all the wonderful creations in her summer kitchen

Tamara talked Miss Effie's ears off - or the other way around, not sure. But we eventually made it to Crosswinds farm. She had many lovely rams available. But then, little grey lamb or Gunnar as I would soon learn was his name came into view. Hmm..is he still available? Well, Corinne didn't know for sure. She would find out. In the mean time, Corinne did the unthinkable and parted his lovely locks for Tamara and I too see. If I wasn't hooked before, I was hooked now. One word - GORGEOUS!

Well, I decided to wait and see if Gunnar would become available but a day or so later I heard from Corinne that he was indeed still spoken for. Oh well, I made the trip back to her place and picked up a wonderful Moorit Ram lamb to be my flock sire.

Meet Neptune

He is lovely too.

Neptune has adopted Priscilla as his mother and follows her every where.

 I'm not sure what she thinks about this arrangement but she tolerates him well.

Priscilla, Shillelagh and Neptune

I did however let Corinne know that if this other shephardess changed her mind about Gunnar because of his horns not coming in right, please to let me know. I would take him too. Too? TWO? Did I really just say that?

Well, I ran into Corinne again at Miss Effie's Ice Cream social and asked about Gunnar horns. She said he was still at her place as of right now. Well, let me know!!

A day later she told me Gunnar was going to be picked up the following day. And then it happened. I got a message from her that that the other shepherdess didn't want him. Didn't want to take a chance on his horns.

Gunnar 

She told me yesterday, hmmm..about 2pm- we brought him home last night! LOL

So, that is how I went from zero-two boys on the farm in a matter of a couple weeks.

Yeah, I'm making all kinds of plans now!!

Breaking and Entering!!!

I've been building fence, rearranging the pasture. Up till now,we have had the pasture by the barn split so the chickens and sheep were kept seperate. I decided to open it up and see how they got along together.

"hello? anybody home?"

"Come on, coast is clear"

This could be a problem!

"I'll keep look-out!"

"caught! no where to hide"

A pitiful look if I've ever seen one

 "get out and don't come back"

"quiet down in there, can't a girl lay an egg in peace?"

Yeah- I don't think your suppose to be in THE BARN either!

~counting my blessings and thanking God for each day ~
life is such a gift

~enjoy~

Kathy

Truly a Fabulous Farm Friday

Spring is finally here and the rain has finally stopped long enough to get outside and start planting. - except for my garden of course, we will talk more about that later.

There is a lot going on at the farm right now. I think for the sake of time, I will combine everything into one post.

The fields were at last dry enough on Monday to start planting. We have managed to plant some 700 acres of corn so far this week and several hundred acres of soybeans.

But what really makes my mouth water is the first draft of sweet corn was put in the ground yesterday!

My two oldest boys filling the planter with sweet corn.

That's Maggie my son's border collie "hiding and waiting" for the next car that should come down the road.

Show off!

So, I've been dealing with trying to keep my sheep in their fence. (hence the reason we have no garden-what I did have planted, the sheep have eaten) We had existing barbwire fence already and was trying to make it work. It won't work. We have been Rigging it trying to keep sheep in till it rains and we have time to re-fence it with proper fencing.

Still Priscilla insists on getting out. That's me, trying to rig the fence to keep her in. Her black wool is all over the barb wire. 

Its hard to get a shearer to come to your farm for just 4 sheep. After Priscilla made her latest escape I noticed how badly she was rooing. I'd heard and read about other shepherds who rooed their sheep. Hmm...I could try that. So, after lunch I decided to give it a try. My husband was rather skeptical when I told him what I was planning to do and he found his way out to the barn to laugh see if I was having any success. It was working but I was more then thankful when he stepped in to lend me a hand. It was quite a job.

Priscilla after being rooed- I missed a few tuffs of wool on her underside but I have to say she looks better then she did after the shearer got done with her last year. I was really disappointed to see all the white hairs in her pretty black wool. Almost like an old lady going grey, but she is only 2 years old. She was solid black last year. 

One of my darling little helpers.

My other helper and one of Brie's ewe lambs - Sunkiss.

Aren't they cute?

Caleb and Shillelagh

I need a nap!

I've been getting an abudance of eggs lately. Anyone who stops for a visit has been known to be given

a dozen eggs.

Give a little - Get a little!!!

One Friend I gave eggs too, wanted to return the favor and delivered to my door step, just in time for desert this beautiful pavlova. It was every bit as good as it looks.

It has been a very blessed week and truly, truly a fabulous farm Friday.

~Kathy

Delilah's Ram Lamb

Monday morning- 7am. I went out to the barn to do my chores. I had 2 more girls yet to lamb and I was expecting Brie to be next.

You can't tell from the picture but she is large and her udder is very full. I hope she has twins in there. I really expected her to lamb last Saturday, just cause I was gone all day, but here it is almost a week later and she still hasn't had her baby. Guess she likes to keep us guessing. Last year the vet was out and said she was a few weeks off from having her lamb. Well, she wasn't even pregnant. This year it was the exact opposite. The vet said she was 100% sure she wasn't pregnant and there is no doubt in my mind that she is.

So, back to Monday morning- I found Delilah in labor. She obviously wanted nothing to do with me so I decided to head inside, take a shower and get dressed (yes, I do my chores in my p.j.s) and check on her again.

When I returned she was finished and had delivered a lovely little white ram lamb.

I am now very confident in my ability to sex newborn lambs. It was in fact quite obvious that he was a boy- did not even need to turn him over!

He seemed to be doing rather well but on Tuesday I noticed he was very lethargic. I made a call to another shepherdess who thought he could benefit from some Nutra drench. I didn't have any.The little farm store we have here in town never has anything we need. Waiting for the mail wasn't an option. I texted my friend Tamara who raises goats and asked if she had any. I figured I could run over to her place and be back in an hour to treat him. Well, she immediately called on the phone to find out what was going on and when I told her she said "I'll be right there". Tamara did in fact drive all the way out to my place and came with nutra drench as well as other stuff and quickly doctored the little guy. I'm so lucky and thankful to have her for friend.  So, little ram lamb is since doing fine and is full of spark and energy and he is ever so sweet.

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the vets around this neck of the woods don't know alot about sheep. I would be really lost without the help of the other Shetland sheep breeders, both Chris of Shepherd woods farm and  Corinne from Crosswinds farm who have both been more then generous with their knowledge and willingness to answer my silly questions. And where would we be without good friends who are willing to drop everything and come to our aid?

Life is Good!!

Check out Priscilla's twins. It's Playtime!

I wonder what Mom is thinkin?

Another little Girl arrives!

This is so exciting!

Sunday morning- I found Esther having just given birth to a little ewe lamb.

I guess my girls have decided that I don't need to be there when they have their babies. They are all first time mothers and doing very well without any help from me.

Esther and her baby

I was wanting a white ewe- is she white?

Spring began yesterday-

I have always liked spring- but  I think it has to Now be my favorite time of year.

What is your favorite time of year??

And what do you think we should name this little girl who was born on the first day of Spring?

I am feeling immensely blessed these days!!

~ Kathy

Barn make-over (A.K.A. Best christmas present ever)

I've been waiting to blog about this for sometime!

My excitement can no longer be contained.

When my hubby asked what I wanted for Christmas I know he would have loved to hear me respond with something he could get at the store and wrap, but instead I exclaimed "a barn make-over". His response, "wouldn't you like a new diamond?" -"hmmm..Nope", was my reply. I really didn't expect to get a barn make-over..but honestly was the only thing I could think of that I really Wanted.

Well, Christmas morning came and I got some really nice packages from my wonderful hubby -New PJ's and fuzzy socks, Good smelling perfume, oh and a coupon to the nail salon for a pedicure(loved that) and I really don't remember what else -cause the last present was the best of all- a handwritten Coupon for a barn remodel. - I had about a week to come up with a plan and decide what I wanted and needed for my hobby. Laying a wake at night planning a barn is a lot more fun then laying awake at night and worrying about your teenagers.

So, the Barn is nearly complete- We are just waiting on the electrician to  add  lighting and receptacles. (there are absolutely None on this side of the barn)

So..Now for the before pictures.

The barn was once a dairy barn- converted into a machine/storage shed. It is divided into 3 section.

Before picture

Broken window- extension cord provides electricity to the chicken coop next door.

Here you can see that I share my barn space with a bunch of my hubby's Junk Things.

The cattle gate is nice but lets be honest- I'm getting older and don't think I want to continue to climb over it and lift sheep up and over.  Do you like the pallet leaning against the back of the sheep's pen? Yeah- I use that as a door when I need to keep them inside. The rabbit hutch you see is being used to house 2 of my chickens that were being henpecked to death.

The snow on the ground is from the big sliding door on the left of the picture. Snow was drifting in from underneath and also since its so heavy, I would leave it open a few feet so I didn't have to open and close it constantly.

Lovely, huh?

This is my barn today

 

A wall and door was added to separate my barn from the rest of the barn.-storage shelves, My entire section was walled in AND we didnt' plan it but we ended up doing the ceiling as well.

A cozy little coop for my "henpecked girls" honestly I think they have the best pen on the farm

A bulk feeder for my chicken feed. My hubby came up with the idea of using these bins that seed beans came in and my 18 year old welding the stand to put it on. Saves time, money and ecofriendly!(no more bags to throw away)

Sheep's pen - I have a gate! They will both open flush against the walls so I can clean the pen with the skid steer if I want too.We have 3 lambing jugs up and ready to go- I figured I would only need 2 right now so the third is holding my hay. I also have a fourth one built should I need it and they can come down after lambing season is over. Oh- and yes, the pallet is still there - but is no longer needed as added 2 sliding doors to the back wall.

It would have cost us $800-$1200 to replace our heavy door or close it in and since that was a huge portion of our budget we decided to add the board to the bottom to keep out the snow and our carpenter added a walk in door for me!

Yippie!!

Thanks for letting me share.

This was a lot of fun for me and I will be able to enjoy my animals even more now.

Cirrus Arrives

Today Cirrus Arrives

Courtesy  of Shepherdwoods Farms

He is quite the gorgeous fellow

and so far - well behaved.

I wish I could have gotten better photos of his interactions with my girls.

Esther Clearly seems unimpressed.

"Will work for food!"

He is just visiting for the fall/winter

and he has work to do.  One male surrounded by 4 young females...

I doubt he minds.

Anna gives Esther her daily treat from the other side of the gate

 and keeps an eye on Cirrus.

She's not to sure what she thinks of him but has been instructed to stay out of the sheep's 

pen while he is visiting.

We are soo looking forward to babies in the spring.

Thank you Tamara -who goes with me on all these crazy trips to shop for animals, admire and sometimes

gawk at the farms along the way...and who always drives. I appreciate you!

~ Kathy