The Fun's Just Starting

Tuesday evening Meghan and I went to our local airport to pick up two kids she'd bought from Twincreeks Farm in Texas. The kids arrived on time, but it took a bit for them to unload all the baggage, so we didn't make it home and get them fed and bedded down until around 11 p.m. These kids are both from CH lines and striking to look at--I promise I'll get around to taking photos soon.

So Wednesday morning I dragged myself out of bed about two hours later than normal(7 a.m.), started a fire, drank some tea and went out to feed everyone. The numbers are climbing and I believe we are up to around 52 different animals on the homestead. I begin with the smaller barns south of the house where the more mature ewes and Meghan's goats are housed. Then up the hill and back to the largest barn where the main sheep flock and lambs from last year are bedded down. Just as I was passing the windows of the main barn I heard a lamb call. We don't get lambs in mid-March and had seen no breeding activity, so I started to make a mental list of which ewes were due the end of the month thinking perhaps we had premature lambs?

Turns out one of Meg's youngest ewes decided to sneak in a heat cycle way before anyone else and had dropped a lovely tiny ewe lamb sometime in the wee hours of the morning. The ewe was being a very attentive mom. And the lamb although very small is exquisitely made, vigorous and healthy. So we put up a jug and got them settled in for the day, let the rest of the flock out into the paddocks to eat their hay and tried to regain our composure.

It helped that the day was sunny and warm, so we could spend part of it outside with the new kids dancing on the snow.

Will take photos of everyone soon. In another two weeks we've got a number of ewes due to lamb, so the party's just starting.

Ode to Plastic Snow Shovels

The beginning of March we had very strong, gale force winds hit the Upper Peninsula from the east. Since Lake Superior has no ice this year these winds produced a lovely snow machine which proceeded to dump more than 36 inches of snow in blowing layers over our homestead. Paths that had been religiously shovelled all winter to our four barns had to be abandoned and snowshoed over to insure we kept the barn doors clear and enough paddock space open for our very pregnant ewes and does to get out and exercise.

It was somewhat disheartening to see areas that had so very little snow(which for us was like a summer vacation)suddenly disappear under glacial drifts, but we perservered and the sheep were out within 36 hours eating their hay in their paddocks despite the fences being completely covered over. The sun came out, the temperature rose and we started the slow meltdown of last week.

At first we just continued to boot walk over the pathways, since they were packed enough to handle our weight. But two days ago when the temperatures rose above 50 degrees and the nighttime temps failed to go below 32 I knew it was either shovel or have a tough spring of falling through knee-deep snow & slush. It took us two days to completely shovel out all the paths including the one to the stream, but we are now back to working order and eagerly awaiting the first lambs/kids the end of this month.

I would have taken some photos of all this but I was a bit too busy just living it. And the folks in upstate NY totally negated what little snow we had with their ten feet or more.

Finest of the British Breeds

I first began raising Shetland sheep in 1992. From the beginning I always believed in their heritage as a finely fleeced, soft wooled breed. I've become more and more dismayed during the past 15 years as I've seen breeders working in the opposite direction towards coarser, heavier fleeces. I've heard that it is impossible to breed Shetlands that average 23 microns, but I've always felt it was achievable. And now I know it is true.

My entire flock averages at last rib/midside 27 microns or less at maturity. And now I have a two year old ram who is dark moorit in color named Tennyson whose last rib test is 23.8 MFD, 5.1 standard deviation, 21.5 coeffient of variation and only 8.3% of his fibers are greater than 30. My daughter's young polled ram "Mac" tested 21.4 MFD, 5.5 SD, with 7.3 fibers greater than 30(lamb fleece). Both these rams are bred to the majority of our ewes for spring lambs. We are very excited to see what they will produce for us.

Rogue River Studios

My daughter Meghan started collecting Breyer horses when she was about five years old. That hobby has developed and grown over the years. Now she buys "resins"(white plastic sculptures of horses)and preps and primes those models before applying layer upon layer of acrylic paint, pastels and colored pencil to achieve a realistic horse. She has gotten to the stage where she now takes these models to compete at shows. The photo above is of her most beloved model horse who has taken some firsts in tough competition against professionally done resins. Meghan does accept a few commissions to paint models for other people. For more information go to: http://rrstudios.equusrising.net.

Homestead Cats

Meghan and I used to volunteer at the local humane society socializing the cats and kittens that were waiting to be adopted. "Goblin" was one of those kittens. A palm-sized, potbellied little scruff of a thing who was always intimidated by his brother. When Ghost was adopted and Goblin remained for several weeks, we grew alarmed he might end up being euthanized. The only answer was for us to adopt him ourselves. So the still extremely small "Goblin" came home and immediately was renamed Scrabble for his inability to jump well. He went over obstacles by clawing and scratching and managed to always look inept.

Needlesss to say the tiny kitten turned into a rather large cat--38 inches from front paws to back when stretched out on the bed(which is his favorite activity). We now believe Scrabble is part Maine Coon. He tends to squeak to us when his food dish isn't readily available or he needs some other attention. He isn't overly excited about hunting and seems to think his main job in life is to hold the bed down. This he does with great aplomb.

Because Scrabble was allowing all manner of rodents into the garden and barns we decided we needed another cat. Enter Billy--a stray orange tabby rescued from the shelter because even though he had a heart murmur he also purred profusely and liked to be snuggled. The "indoor only" cat quickly became an in-and-out cat because he is either going all out at a dead run or holding the bed down with Scrabble. Billy Bob Thornton Cat has shown a certain ineptitude at catching rodents although he is willing to race up a 60 foot maple tree if there is a squirrel badmouthing him. We continue to hope that one of these two rather large cats will eventually figure out they do have jobs, but for now we must be content with being their laps and gofers when the food dishes need filling.

Glenmore Staccato

Stacey came to us from my dear friend Louise Hooper in Indiana. Louise owned a small flock of Shetlands who lived the good life in her green pastures and apple orchard. Stacey's dam used to love to just hang out with people--hanging her head on your shoulder to "chat" for as long as you wanted. Stacey has that same personality and a gorgeous, dark musket fleece that spins up into a lovely rose/grey yarn each year. It sells before it is even spun. Her mature micron test was 22.6 AFD with an 8.2 SD. So far Stacey has been stingy with her lambs...only giving us one per year. She has thrown some very dark brown lambs that have held their color. This year she is bred to Tennyson.

Wintertime Ruby

Ruby is my daughter's NASSA registered Sandstone daughter out of a 75% UK bred black ewe we call "Izzy". Izzy goes back to Drum Black and Drum Jings lines and has a very short, crimpy fleece she "sheds" that tested 24.5 with a 5.4 SD her second year. Izzy's problem is she just doesn't look like a Shetland--being too long and round-boned with a shorter head. Ruby is a definite improvement in type and has a wonderfully crimpy, soft modified moorit fleece. She also likes to go into the showring, so since she was on the small side, we left her open this year so she can be Meghan's yearling ewe at the July Jr. All-American show.

Izzy was A.I.'d to Todhill Jericho for 87.5% UK bred lambs in late March. We are hoping with his shorter, more refined build and longer fiber he'll improve type and maintain the fineness of her fiber while adding a bit of length to the staple.