Jet, the couch potato

I just entered Jet in two dog shows in Cleveland.  Jade will also be showing Jet in Junior handling and Jet is also entered in Open.  Our friend Carmella will be coming with us to show her Blue Tick Coonhound, Adele, on Saturday 12/17 with us too.

Now we need to get the lazy little basenji in shape.  I got her some canned food to get her bulked up, and even put her coat on and drug her  out on chores with me tonight, but she would rather sit in front of the heater or on

Jet relaxing on the couch

the couch – or even in her crate.  We really love her but sometimes wonder if she’s really a basenji!  Mabye over the weekend we’ll get the dogs out together to play a rowdy game of chase or to hunt voles in the pasture.   Sky loves the cooler weather, but Jet just doesn’t appreciate it.

Craft Show Experience

Today, I participated in a little employees only craft show at work.  I sold one felt ball, but had a enjoyable break in the middle of the day and got to check out what other people like to do in their spare time and talk about what I do.  We had about 20 people as vendors and didn’t have a lot of business, but next year they are thinking of inviting the public.  I bought some nice homemade soap and Kelly picked up a kitchen towel set and hot pad. 

The sweater Alex in unwillingly modeling in this picture was for sale at my booth.  Alex says it’s a bit itchy, but I think it would be really nice and warm with a turtleneck.

Alex wearing a hand-knit sweater I made

Alex wearing a hand-knit sweater I made

Updating our Sheep for Sale

Black Mouflon Ram lamb

I am working on updating our list of sheep for sale and have listed two Icelandic ewes so far on the for sale page.

We have 4 Jacob ewes left – 2 yearlings, 2 lambs, all 2 horned.

2 Icelandic ewes and 2 or 3 Icelandic ewe lambs.

We are keeping one ram lamb and will have 3 more, who will be sold for meatfor if they don’t find a breeding buyer by the end of September. Our two Icelandic rams will both be for sale or trade this winter after breeding.

I think we are keeping our Tunis-Jacob ewe lamb for Kelly’s “meat flock”.

Produce at the Hay auction in Wooster

Kelly and I attended the hay auction that happens every Saturday morning at 9 in Wooster, OH.  We are pretty stocked up in hay for winter, but lately they have been selling eggs and produce at the end of the auction.  Last week, Kelly brought home sweet corn and melons.

Thanks to Brigetta, my escaping sheep, I have almost no sweet peppers since she ate all but one of them down to nothing and my tomatoes got in late and are only just starting to produce, so we thought we’d try to pick up some of each to supplement our garden and get some canning and freezing done.

We bought some pumpkins for sheep treats and Alex chose one to practice carving for Halloween – since it won’t be good that long.  We bought  a mixed box of peppers and some quarts boxes of yellow banana and Anaheim peppers and several quarts of small Roma tomatoes to add to my homegrown paste tomatoes.  I canned 4 jars and we cooked down a big pot of sauce for spagetti and later meatball sandwiches.  I finally got the peppers all cut up and frozen this afternoon while it rained.

Peppers and a watermelon we bought at the auction

 

 

 

 

Tucker’s fleece

Tucker has really pretty fleece. His outercoat, or tog, is reddish, which his inner coat z(thel) is more of a darker brown with just a few white fibers.  It’s pretty easy to separate the coats too and I’m looking forward to seeing what his lambs’ fleeces are like.

Tuckers fleece

Tucker after shearing

Planning for Breeding season 2011

Tucker seems to be a bit lazy lately so I sheared him last week, except for a spot on his leg when he decided he’d had enough.  He has such pretty wool.  Yesterday was hot, but he sure had a good appetite.  We had an cantaloupe that was getting soft and a pumpkin we picked up at the hay auction in the morning.  I even put mollases out in some water and he lapped it right up.

Tucker right before shearing 8-25

We are also keeping a ram lamb this year.  His mother was “Socks”, one of our foundation ewes and Kelly, my husband’s, favorite sheep of all time.  She was feeding two fast growing lambs who were taking a lot out of her and then she came down with grass tetany, or magnesium difficiency.  We had the vet in and he treated her, but her age and condition made it hard for her to recover.  Luckily, Ralph and his brother were big enough and off to a good start so they have continuted to grow well despite losing their mother.  We plan to try linebreeding him to one of his half sisters from a previous year – Rose, plus some of the ewes who had ewe lambs we are keeping this year, like Andromeda.  Ralph should carry spotting so he and Andromeda have a chance of producing a spotted lamb.

Ralph following his father Tucker

Spring flowers

our shady garden area

All the rain seems to be great for the spring flowers.

Blooming vine and sumac below. Sky wants us to mow his yard!

blooming aronia bush

Wet weather causes some garden delays.

too much rain – our swampy yard

Onions and stuff

Garlic, fava beans, cabbages and lettuce

 

We have been having a lot of rain lately and it probably will continue. Our garden is going to get in late because some parts can’t be rototilled. Luckily, there are things already in raised beds.

Our winter hardy scallions and Egyptian onions survived the winter plus some alfalfa that I left in the garden.

It’s been a busy weekend!

Periwinkle's ewe lamb

Periwinkle” ram lamb

young texel cross ewes

I had the shearer scheduled for 4 on Friday, but at lunch, I ran home from work to give a lutalyse shot to Chloey who had a retained placenta. Chloey got her shot but there were two new lambs to deal with as well. Periwinkle, our last Jacob ewe to go besides a yearling, had a ram and ewe, but they seemed sort of off and weak. The ewe was a bit uncoordinated in her movements.  They stayed in their corner during shearing and Periwinkle guarded them and fed them a few times but they seemed a bit more lethargic than they should have been. 

Shearing went well. I had shorn a couple ewes early myself, but we had 20 shorn Friday evening and even had a couple people stop in to watch some of the sheep get shorn.  Even Checkers the llama got a full haircut but after the spectators left.  He was not pleased!  He looks pretty slick now though and is ready for the warm weather. Our shearers do alpacas also and were just getting ready to go on the road to do alpaca farms throughout the country so we were lucky to have them. When shearing was all done, I put the new lambs and Periwinkle in the maternity stall to spoil them and let them bond, but the lambs were too thin and weak and Periwinkle’s udder was a bit hard for them to work with. Just to get them off to a good start, I got up every 2 to 4 hours Friday night and tub fed them with colostrum.  By morning, the ram lamb was doing great, but I kept tubing the ewe a couple times until I saw her getting around well and nursing with more gusto. They seem to be doing well today since I saw them play and jump around together and they have the nice fat feeling I like.

Saturday, we scheduled a trip to go pick up some meat-type ewes.  They are last years lambs born in April or May and are both 75% Texel.  The white one is  25% Finn and the black one is 25% Dorper.  Kelly wanted to try out raising some meat sheep and we named them “Kelly” and “Chocolate”  the brown/black one is Chocolate.  They may be bred to a Texel ram, but we don’t know for sure.

I actually sheared them myself today and wormed them and and they got to go out with the flock since it was a nice day.  The older ewes were  a bit rough on them, so I’ll probably put them in a stall tonight. 

Last of all, when I went to feed and bring the sheep in, I was greeted by Roxy, a younger yearling ewe, who was surprising large and bagged up at shearing, with a lamb head and foot sticking out of her and in distress.  Alex, my 9 year old sheep assistant, helped me get her into a clean stall to have her lamb.  The lamb needed some help coming out as her one leg was back, and I was almost at the point of calling the vet, but mother and daughter survived the ordeal, as did Alex and I.   At least little Roxy didn’t cry the whole time and she’s a natural mother.  Once they rested a while, Roxy let the lamb nurse with no coaching – which sometimes the first time mothers need.  I didn’t get a picture yet, but the lamb is a black/gray Icelandic ewe and very large.  I’ve been calling her Lucy. 

Checkers the llama with a professional haircut