It's almost here! National Hug a Sheep Day!

I'm busy choosing one but in the meantime, plan your trip to a farm on October 27th for....(drumroll here) National Hug a Sheep Day! Wooooo Hooooo. There are actually a bunch of participating farms listed here.

Additions Merge

The new flighty girls are merged in with a small group of 2-year olds. They are so light that I've decided to keep them separated so I can work Beau on them. This will build confidence and will "dog break" these ewes who may not have seen a herding dog before? They are all meshed in with the group of 3 I put them in with. Funny thing...you can tell these ewes are from a range flock. They really don't graze, per se. They much prefer hay or to browse. Our pastures are so nice, there isn't a lot of "browse" except for weeds once we get drier later in the season. Funny how different breeds like different stuff to eat.

Stella - A Goner

I wrote about Stella a few posts back. Sadly, Stella was killed last week by a cougar. Another lamb is completely poof. We did find Stella's body. She probably had a quick demise, which is all you can ask for when this sort of thing happens. Sampson and the dogs were carrying on like crazy late last Saturday night (2 Saturdays ago now actually) and we shushed them in no uncertain terms....like "shut UPPPPP!" Two grumpy shepherds wanted their sleep. We thought feral domestic variety cats were fighting and heard yowling but it didn't sound like BIG yowling. Ya know? Won't be ignoring a "little cat fight" outside again, let me tell you. 

It was a cougar! How do we know? The mechanism of kill for one thing. You can read all about predation and kill mechanisms here

Secondly, the neighbor called us about 6 weeks ago saying their dogs treed a cougar across the irrigation canal from our property, so it probably scoped out the smorgasbord we supply here on the sheep farm. We were on the lookout for a couple of weeks after that sighting but we got lazy....as happens to two old shepherds who want their sleep again now that lambing is over

So, we are again on the lookout. Things have been quiet for the past week. Did hear the usual coyotes calls last night which the dogs love to join in and sing. Beau has a tendency to have this really high-pitch baby bark anyhow...the most annoying, silly thing ever. You want to put him in a diaper or something. LOL!

Over and out for now.

Th- th-th-that's all folks!

All finished lambing. Hurray! 73 lambs all told, 38 ewe lambs and 35 ram lambs...well, now a whole bunch are wethers. : ) Lost 2...boo.

So, I washed up all of the towels and little lamb coats and put them away for another year. Still have milk replacer in the kitchen and bottles because I'm supplementing a couple of lambs from a couple of my old, old ewes that just don't milk like they used to.

Tonight after work I went out and watched the group have their evening races while the mothers ate their dinner. It's hilarious. They run and split up at one point and meet back up again. It makes me smile. 

So, this is Stella....I named her this because I wanted to go out and yell "STELLA!!! STELLA!!!" just like Marlon Brando. Hey, a girl gets her farm kicks where she can.

Stella is a twin out of an old ewe . She sort of got lost in the shuffle for a few days until I took off her lamb coat she was all hunched up and sunk in. Now she's filling out and is my sidekick and her mother is acting like I'm doing her a favor instead of tossing Stella into La-La land of bottle fed lambs.

I have a new project....will share next time.

Baa'ck! With lamb photos too!

Okay, it's been a long while since I've posted.

But...the real baa'dgirls are keeping us busy....

Bringing us these little cuties!

 

31 so far....but expecting 80 this year! Can you believe it? Whew.

Meet "Socks", the Border Leicester ram

This post is all about sheep today and dog puke. Prepare thyself accordingly.

I would like to introduce you to my Mother's Day gift to me..."Socks!" No, not a new pair of socks but they are looming in my future! Took a trip across the valley yesterday to Starshire Ranch and picked up this lovely little guy. He's about 2-1/2 months old. He has a twin brother who is equally as cute but had a teensy bit of black on his face and I have a thing about having my flock of all-white sheep, not for any silly prejudicial reason but for common sheep-sense reasons...can't sell meat lambs to Superior Packing with black fleeces. Marks on the face are okay but I like to avoid any possibility of black whenever possible due to that.

So, Socks came alone to the farm and as you know, sheep are not alone kind of critters. They must have companionship to eliminate stress and help them adjust. But, we have a pretty strict health policy around here of a 3-week quarantine time for new sheep on the farm away from our flock. So, we grabbed "Rosebud", a yearling ewe that because of being a bottle lamb is very tame and was easy to catch. Threw her in with Socks and she was not a happy critter! She thinks boys have cooties (I can't say I disagree some days) and his pestering did not help. He's already showing signs of his future job around here...surprised me! DH said...won't THAT be interesting to have fall lambs. Not! I am sure Socks is free of any sheep diseases and in 3 weeks will be put out with the ewes (along with Rosebud) and lambs until we wean in June and then he will go in with the ram lambs. The older rams are WAY too big and ornery for this cute baby. In fact, since being out on pasture they have ballooned into gargantuan rams. My goodness. 

In case you're wondering, I have broken down and bought some sheep coats and begun the process of coating our Coopworth and now BL sheep. Makes cleaning them up for processing a breeze and their value more as well. It's a pain in the brain as the coats have to be changed as their wool grows but hopefully it's going to be worth it. I HATE skirting fleeces! It's boring, back breaking and tedious and BORING. I have a very short attention span for this sort of work. I'd rather be dyeing, spinning, carding, anything but skirting.

Anyhoooo, Socks is going to be bred to all of our old Coopworth ewes this fall in hopes that we will get a nice bunch of BL/Coop replacement ewes next spring. Coops are a breed developed from BL/Romney breeds so this cross is going to be hard to tell from a purebred BL. With our scrapie certification status, it's difficult to find other pure Coopworth ewes to buy. It's nice being certified but it's a pain for bringing in new bloodlines. Hard to always rely on rams to do that for us. Also, BL have wool that is very very nice for sock yarn....can't wait for his first shearing next year and the babies to come!

And now folks, I promised you I would write about dog vomit and I will not let you down. I must go and clean up the dog barf that Daisy just deposited on 2 rugs and put the comforter in the dryer that she proceeded to urp on earlier! This happens always after the farrier visits...because she insists on over-indulging on hoof pieces. Life on the farm....and dogs in the house. On that happy and distasteful note....off I go!

Happy trails. 

Shearing 2010

Got behind in my blog posts. Been BUSYYYYY. Sheared the flock, went on a sewing extravaganza girls getaway and then an anniversary trip to Port Townsend over the weekend. It's the calm before the storm of lambing when I am homebound and can't go anywhere for a while. Great fun though! Oh, and a first birthday for my nephew, River, too! Gosh, it was just too much fun.


I have pics from shearing. Martin is a great shearer. Now I have 50 fleeces in the garage waiting for some attention. They are bagged and labeled but not skirted or washed yet. If anyone wants to purchase a fleece, now is the time before I put too much time into them. You can do the work and get a very good deal. $20 each, I'll quick skirt them and you can do the tedious stuff. They seem very clean to me with not nearly as much vegetable matter as you might think. 

BEFORE

STERLING WATCHING OVER HIS GIRLS

THE DREADED MACHINE!!!!

MARTIN DOING HIS THANG

NOW THAT WASN'T SO BAD WAS IT?

Pre-Lambing Ewe Care

ewesfeeder
Originally uploaded by cookecreeksheep

The Baa'dgirls are fed hay throughout the winter months but don't start getting grain until the last 6 weeks or so of their pregnancies. We do this for 2 reasons - 1) They are getting so full of babies that their rumen cannot hold enough hay to give proper nutrition to the growing lambs especially with multiples and 2) grain really helps get a nice full bag of colostrum built up for the lambs. In lambing, colostrum is what makes the world go round. Like breakfast for humans, it's the most important meal of a lamb's first day of life.


Back to the grain story. Well, even though the Baa'dgirls are used to being fed hay, the addition of this grain the last couple of weeks has shown their "grain is chocolate" side. Now, whenever anyone goes outside near the gate to their pasture and feeders, they all look over and if they are out in the field, they come a'runnin! These girls can be bought....the hussies are easy, let me tell you! Here is a pic from the other day when this very thing happened. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera quick enough to catch them all running in. Just caught the hard stares and the "where's the bucket" query.


This weekend we're giving pre-lambing shots to the Baa'dgirls. We give the shots 6 weeks out from lambing (although it's really only about 4 1/2 right now so we're late this year) so that the colostrum will carry the immunities through to the lambs. It really works well.


So, busy weekend here with sheep. Tess the border collie extraordinaire will love it...she gets to moooove sheep. She loves that!
Happy trails...

Busy Saturday

Whoa, slow down Saturday! DH started out the day butchering a lamb for us as the freezer is empty. He ran it up to the meat locker to age and get cut and wrapped. That was one of those chores that just had to get done before the weather warms up.


Secondly, Leroy, an almost yearling ram, got picked up today by his new owner and is on his way to Idaho. He is a real nice boy and will sire some nice crossbred Texel meat lambs. So, 2 less sheep mouths to feed. That's a good thing.


My fellow shepherd friends are beginning to think about shearing so been selling a few wool sacks from the bundle I got from Will at Utah Wool Marketing. And of course, when we shepherds get together, we've got to take some time to talk sheep.


Sold a sewing machine I had listed on craigslist today too. More visitors. 


Usually I don't see any humans besides DH and the gal in the mirror over the weekends but today was a revolving door. I need a cup of tea and a nap. : )


Daisy the Boston Terrier would agree. She gets excited when I sit down on the couch....and if I get the blanket, she's in doggie heaven cuddling up so close I can't move. 


Been working on redoing my studio as well. I am trying to prioritize and focus more on my studio business and get things setup for more production oriented sewing. I am getting rid of a ton of stash...everywhere through the house. That was one of my resolutions at the beginning of the year was to simplify and prioritize...make my time count on the stuff that I need and want to do and let the rest gooooooo for a long ride somewhere and not return. 


Hoping all is well with my traveling friends and my recovering from surgery friends and in particular with my friend whose mother-in-law is dealing with end-stage cancer. Can it be that mom has been gone 2 months already? Yeppers, it can be and it is. My heart breaks for my friend going through this. If I could take it from her I would. 


Hey, I'm going to post pics of my studio re-do next week. Got a couple of fun projects to show you in the kitchen too....one is going to blow your socks off! 


Happy trails. 

Some lambs pics

Here are the pics of lambs so far. We had 2 ewes lamb yesterday, this one with a set of twins and another one with a large single ewe lamb (in the coat at the bottom). Stay tuned!!! Lots more on the way.

First set of twins of 2009, 2 ram lambs.

A big vigorous girl...you should see her eat!

It's been a while....

Gosh, it's been 10 days since my last post. Busy. Tax time (ugh) and getting ready to butcher some locker lambs, getting customer orders and cutting instructions. Then last night DH's pack horse, Charlie, was acting "off" so we caught him and investigated and he has a huge wound that is spurting out green stuff and blood on his chest so he's off to the vet this morning. We did what we could for him last night with a shot of penicillin and betadine wash, etc. What a mess it was. Good thing it's cold out and there are no bugs around or it would be full of maggots and all of the nasty critters that like to live off of a wound. Gross, huh? Well, it's the real deal and that's what you'll get from me every time!

So, I've been plain busy! How about my bloggy friends. Whatcha been doin? Still in a frozen fog weather-wise here but supposed to clear out here soon according to the weatherman.

We did give all of the ewes their yearly shots last weekend. It wasn't easy with as much wool as they have on right now. Got to call the shearer and make an appointment.

Over and out for now.

Is it spring in January?

I'm finding it a bit hard to contain myself...it does so feel like spring in Ellensburg the last few days. It brings on the spring fever...to plant, to be outside and to spring clean the house. I will fight the last thing with all my might. Ha. I did forge into my studio last weekend and did a big cleaning. I can see my cutting table top again! This is my $1 desk from the university surplus sale last summer. It's up on bed risers to make it tall enough to stand and cut out projects and the piece of marble tile on the left-hand side is for working with the glue gun and hot knife for wood burning. Got that at a yard sale. Works great.
I organized all of my UFO projects and put them in a big tub next to the machine on the floor. It's like pick up the top thing and get 'er done...go on to the next, etc.

On the sheep front, we're gearing up to bring in the ewes and give them their yearly booster shot of Covexin-8 pre-delivery and trim some feet. This ensures the lambs are receiving the antibodies in mother's milk and until weaning they are 'covered'. Got to call the shearer next for an appointment for next month. It's hard to believe that it's time to gear up for lambing. I have a few things to do yet so need to get a fire built under my winter-blah buns and get 'er done.

A wooly lady in waiting

Here in this weird spring atmosphere in January (fleeting I am thinking)...is one of the girls, a lady in waiting wondering what in the heck is going on. It looks like spring, it feels like spring with the notorious Ellensburg wind blowing away. It's almost time for shearing, another month and she'll get off that thick coat of wool that has been keeping her insulated from the weather. This is a Coopworth ewe, no name, just one of the girls who produce a fine set of twins for us every year. She has great wool that is available as yarn and roving. Clara from Knitter's Review said it was a fantastic yarn representing the Coopworth breed exceptionally. Isn't that cool? Proud sheep-mom here.

Winter weather - always a surprise

Here's a picture of the path I showed you a couple of days back.


We had 50 mph gusts last night and then it began to rain and rain and rain. We don't get a lot of rain so it was quite an interesting sight to wake up to...the fields are spotted with snow but mostly grass is showing through, though dead and brown, the sheep have gone out and are grazing this morning. This is something they haven't done for a while now. We have a "lake" at our front door from the snow melting off of the roof last night. DH is worried about the run off from the mountains...it's warm up there too and raining so that affects the snow pack and our future irrigation water come spring. I'm saying prayers today for the folks on the west side of the state, especially farmers - flooding is eminent. Last year many many head of livestock were lost in the severe flooding and I hope and pray there isn't a recurrence.

The reality of a farm in winter

The feeding path from the hay to the livestock.
Winter is hard on the farm, no way around it. It's do-able but it's still a challenge for both human and critter. Today we woke up to 30-40 mph winds and blowing snow. Yesterday the guard dog, Sterling, had softball sized snowballs stuck to his back feet and was having trouble walking. DH got them off but this morning Sterling is barking and hanging at the gate a lot...really wanted to get out of the pasture this morning. He has a house to get in out of the wind and he can go to the shelter too, but he's just had his fill today I guess. Thankfully the sun is coming out and even though it's not going to be high temps today the sun will help. He's a good boy. Might have to let him in the garage tonight if the weather doesn't improve for a break. He deserves it and the sheep aren't going out into the field far right now so I don't think the coyotes will come this close to the house where the sheep are sleeping at night.

The sheep are in the shelter today after their breakfast. They don't mind snow but with wind combination makes them take shelter. The horses have no reprieve. They are out on pasture and have to tough it out. We feed extra but I just fret and worry. DH says they're made for it with their winter coats. He takes a tougher stance than I do. I want a BARN! A real barn and not another stupid shed.

Here's the spot where DH and I sit and have our coffee in the morning before work...ha..not right now of course, but reminds me of warmer days! We can see the mountains and the sheep/pastures there including the horses...nice spot.
'Nuff said...I am thankful for the sun shining today and thankful we have a tractor being repaired to plow the driveway. Now I just need to practice patience. Easier said than done.