Busy busy busy!

Now that summer is (more or less) done, we've started on our Fall list of farm repairs and planed upgrades. Byron, our new BFL ram arrives on Saturday. I've decided that it's time to separate the horned boys from those that aren't. Last year's rut was a challenge. I prefer to have an easier time of it this year. :-)

One of the severe storms this year tore down the loafing shed in the ram pen. seeing as we had to rebuild it anyways, I decided it was an ideal time to include a few modifications. The biggest one is that the large ram pen is now divided into two smaller pens with a solid post and board fence in between.


I'm hoping that this not only keeps the boys where they belong but is also sturdy enough that if they do decide to butt heads, well... Two strands of electric will be added to discourage the boys from socializing.

The new ram shed (sorry, no pics) has a solid divider wall which creates two 10' x 10' shelters for the rams. We've also set up a shared water trough through a hole in the wall with the goal of running one less water heater this winter. There will be three rams and a wether on one side (Amadeus, Byron, Peanut and our very docile Shetland boy, Blue) and the Shetland boys on the other (Wedge, Aman, Gizmo and Twist). Just a few more minor repairs to one other fenceline to go and we'll be ready to move the boys into their new digs!

Next step: figuring out my breeding groups for this year...

Where did the summer go?

Seriously. Where has the summer gone? I can't believe it's August 18th already. Fall is in the air. Nights are getting cooler, lambs are getting big and my "to do" list is still as long as ever. I've been spending some time on our sales / keeper list of late and I've got some difficult decisions ahead! We had a lovely crop of purebred Shetlands this year and there are so many that I want to keep. Unfortunately, I promised DH that the flock size would not get any bigger so that means, one baby in, one ewe out. I've got a few photos and will work on getting more over the next few weeks as I make some decisions. I thought I'd share pics of some of the keepers as well as some of the sale animals I have now. Message me, if there's anything of interest to you. The more critters you buy, the better the price will be. :-)

This is one of a set of twin ewe lambs by WillowGarden Wedge, out of Valley Road Sarah. Both girls are lovely and I'll be keeping one of them for sure. The other will likely be for sale. Sarah isn't holding her weight as well as she used to so we likely won't breed her again. Hence, why I'm keeping one of her daughters.

This is Daisy. She is a keeper. She is by V Creek Leo, out of Sheltering Pines Hope. At first, I thought she was grey but now I haven't a clue how to register her colour and pattern. The ligther part of her coat is more of a cream colour and her "spots" are brown (almost a dark moorit). Any colour experts out there wanna give this a go? Mom is grey (Ag) and dad was black gulmoget.

This is Daisy's brother. He hasn't got a name yet but he will soon as he is likely a keeper to replace Leo, whom we lost over the winter. He is a lovely solid moorit colour. Yes, he tore his ear tag out of his ear. Silly baby...

This is Petunia (our theme this year for the girls is "flowers"). She is by WillowGarden Wedge, out of Valley Road Sierra. She was a bottle baby as for some reason, Sierra rejected her at birth. Petunia is a light moorit, gulmoget, and spotted - you can see a bit of the sokket on the back legs if you look closely.

I tried to get a photo of Rose, one of our other "keeper" ewes this year but she was feeling camera shy. Rose is another Wedge daughter - can you tell I love his daughters? - moorit, some spotting and a fleece that is absolutely to die for! She is by Ewenique Bella. Bella is a fawn katmoget ewe who is now for sale. I'll be sure to get a photo of Bella in the coming days.

This is Mochaccino. He is for sale. He is by FirthofFifth Aman, out of WillowGarden Chocolantini. This boy is absolutely lovely and already a good size. His full brother, Frappaccino is at Windeyer Farm and plans are that Frap will be their future flock sire.

This is one of two ram lambs out of RuisDair Elwyn. Note the telltale "sugar lips" on him. No doubt in my mind that he is Ag (as is his dam). His twin is a dark grey (may be shaela). Both of these boys are for sale. Ellie is not. :-)

This is a set of our twin girls. Sorry, I haven't got my list in front of me so I'm not sure who their dam is. From the looks of them, I'd say that they're Wedge babies.

This is WillowGarden Twist (pre-shearing). He is for sale as I have too many rams. He is white and carries moorit. I could put together a nice starter flock for someone with him and a few of our ewes. He's a nice tempered boy, very respectful of his shepherds and easy to handle.

Another one of the ram lambs we have for sale. At first I thought he was moorit, but now I'm starting to think he may be musket. I'll have to take a closer look on the weekend. His tag number is 25 so I'll look up his parents. Given his colouring, he is likely an Aman baby. And yes, he is for sale.

I have another incredible Aman son for sale. He is mioget, lovely even fleece, nice and correct so far, horns included. He's got his sire's presence. He didn't feel like standing to have his picture taken yesterday but I'll be sure to get a shot of him this weekend. His tag number is 22 and he is as yet, unnamed.

That's everything for now. Well, almost everything...

I'm very excited about the new 4-legged addition that will be arriving in September. We've just bought a second Bluefaced Leicester ram from Windblest Farm (Amadeus' breeder). His name is Byron and he is a "natural" coloured BFL ram. He is unrelated to Amadeus and we are really looking forward to breeding him to Amadeus' yearling mule ewe daughters this year. And maybe a Shetland or two... :-)

Mea culpa, mea culpa

It's true. I've been remiss in posting to my blog in the past month. Things have been so busy in and around the farm that time has gotten away from me.

We've finally finished lambing. I'll post the statistics and some photos in a separate blog. Out of all ewes bred, only two did not catch so I figure I'm not doing too badly. :) Lots of twinse this year and some really beautiful lambs. Our naming theme for the girls will be flowers. Not sure how I'll name the boys yet. And there are definitely some boys worth naming! So far, I have five ewe lambs that I've already tagged as keepers. Uh oh... DH may have a bit of an issue with my flock management plan this year. Hmmm...

On the duck front, we had six ducklings successfully hatch this month, four drakes and two hens. The hens will stay, the drakes will be for sale. Unfortunately, I lost my last remaining adult drake. :( it looks like the girls may have trampled him somehow. So this fall I'll be on the hunt for a new Runner Drake. It's a good excuse to hit the Fall bird auctions. We've got the new duck enclosure and summer duck condo built and the ducks will be moving into their new home this weekend. I think they'll be very happy ducks.

We'll be busy over the next few days / weeks as we begin our first cut (hay) of the season. The hay fields have grown incredibly well throughout the month of May and they are ready to be harvested. I'm hoping we'll get two cuts in this year. It would be nice not to have to buy as much hay as we've had to buy in the past few years. The past three hay seasons haven't been the greatest around here and it's about time we get a good one!

There are many more things on our "To Do" list this summer and I'm looking forward to getting to it. So off I go!

Lambing update - May 18th

We are getting close to the end of lambing 2011!

This morning, our horned ewe WillowGarden Chocolatini gave birth to a lovely fawn katmoget ram lamb. This is a repeat of our 2010 breeding which produced Riverglen Farm Frappucino. Frappucino is now the flock sire over at Windeyer Farm. This year's boy is just as lovely.

This evening, I came home to Riverglen Farm Willow and her two newborn ram lambs. Sire is Wedge. I *think* both boys are grey but it's sometimes hard to tell in the first few days. I may change my mind on their colour next week. Willow is a first time mother this year. She appears to be a very good mother, typical for a Shetland.

So our statistics so far are: 9 sets of twins, 6 singles for a total of 24 lambs out of 15 ewes. We have 6 Shetlands and one crossbred left to lamb down.

And just for Bill, here is the breakdown by sire:

V Creek Leo:
3 sets of twins - 3 ewes, 3 rams
*All of Leo's lambs are on the ground now

FirthofFifth Aman AI:
2 sets of twins, 3 singles - 2 ewes, 5 rams
*We have two ewes bred to Aman that have yet to lamb

WillowGarden Wedge:
2 sets of twins, 2 singles - 4 ewes, 2 rams
*Still 3 ewes bred to Wedge that have yet to lamb

Windblest Amadeus (our BFL ram):
2 sets of twins, 1 single - 3 ewes, 2 rams
*One ewe still to go for Amadeus

Pics of the new additions will follow *hopefully* in the next day or two. Until then...

Lambing Update and some new pics - May 16th

We've had a number of ewes lamb in the past few days and the nursery is getting full! We are officially past the halfway point for lambing this year and I'm starting to look forward to the end of it.

Here are pics and details of the new arrivals. I am doing this by memory so may get some of the genders wrong. I'll double check the records this evening and post corrections, if applicable.

Let's start with pics of Tatiana and Easter's babies.

I was able to get a photo of Tatiana's ewe lamb but her ram lamb appears to be camera shy. We'll have to try again later this week. The twins are sired by our BFL ram, Amadeus.


Here is a photo of Easter's ewe lamb. She is by FirthofFifth Aman. She's got a bit of a funky lamb fleece and I'm reserving judgement for now. We'll see how her fleece develops over the next few weeks. I've had a few born like her in the past whom I didn't like as newborns but had fantastic fleeces once they were 2-3 months old.



And now for the new arrivals...

Late in the evening of May 12th, WillowGarden Joan Crawford lambed twins by V Creek Leo. One ewe, one ram, both are black gulmoget. Now if only I could remember which has the krunet... It's a good thing I wrote it down. LOL!



On Friday, May 13th, Dailley Dailley presented us with a lovely pair of twins by our BFL ram, Windblest Amadeus. The white one is a ram, the other a ewe.


On Saturday evening, May 14, WillowGarden Aretha Franklin presented us with two lovely babies by FirthofFith Aman. Both are moorit. One ewe lamb, one ram lamb. Don't ask me which is which in these photos. They are both solids and I can't tell them apart unless I look at the plumbing. :-)


And finally, this morning... (Sorry, no pics yet.)

Sheltering Pines Hope produced a nice set of twins by V Creek Leo. I forgot to check genders. Will have to do that tonight!

Ewenique Daphne produce a nice big healthy ewe lamb. She's black gulmoget and by WillowGarden Wedge.

Lambing Update - May 12th

The lambs continue to arrive safe and sound and at a rate of one ewe per day. I wonder if this is going to continue... :)

On Tuesday, Ewenique Tatiana delivered a nice pair of BFL cross lambs. One ewe, one ram. Both appear to be grey. The ewe lamb was getting a bit of a slow start but after some colostrum supplement courtesy of DH (Dear Hubby), she is doing just fine. She is much smaller than her sibling so we'll be leaving them in the lambing jug for an extra few days to be certain that she is getting enough to eat and is thriving.

Last evening, Fibreworks Easter delivered a HUGE single ewe lamb by FirthofFifth Aman. I purchased Easter from Vicky Foster last Fall and this girl has already earned a special place in my heart. She is the sweetest, friendliest ewe I've ever met. Easter is shaela in colour. Her ewe lamb appears to be black but I'm reserving judgement on that for a few days.

Pics of the new arrivals will be posted soon.

Lambing has started and so has the sales list

Last Thursday, our first lambs were born. I had expected lambs about a week earlier but apparently, the girls decided that the cold, rainy days were not suitable for newborn babies. Thank you girls! I certainly appreciate your thoughtfulness!

The girls are lambing at a leisurely rate of one ewe per day at the moment and they are being very civilized in their lambing times; no middle of the day or night arrivals so far. Fingers crossed that they continue this way.

Here are the new arrivals so far:

Thursday, May 5th: Ewenique Eve (bred to V Creek Leo)

- Dark brown (moorit?) or black gulmoget ewe lamb with a small krunet. I'm having a hard time identifying her colour right now. I'll have to give it a couple of weeks to get a better idea.
- Dark brown or black gulmoget ram lamb with a small krunet - nice tight soft fleece. Very nice lamb. I will be retaining Eve's daughter and so Eve is now for sale. She can be purchased with her baby boy as a package deal. *hint hint* :-)


Friday, May 6th: Valley Road Sarah (bred to Willow Garden Wedge)
Twin ewe lambs, one black, one moorit gulmoget. Lovely little girls. One will stay for sure, the other may be for sale. Sarah is getting older and didn't keep her weight as well as I would've liked over the winter. I'm very happy that she's given me daughters this year as this is likely to be her last lambs.


Saturday, May 7th: Riverglen Farm Bryn (bred to FirthofFifth Aman)

Twin black ram lambs. Bryn is a first time mom and just like her mother, Hebe, she is doing a fantastic job with her babies. I am not retaining any ram lambs this year so if either of these are of interest to you, let me know.

Sunday, May 8th: Ewenique Bella (bred to Willow Garden Wedge)

A lovely moorit krunet sokket ewe lamb with the nicest fleece. She's a keeper for sure!


Monday, May 9th: Willow Garden Cilantro (bred to Windblest Amadeus)

Our first Shetland x BFL mule ewe lamb was born yesterday. I had to double check my breeding records to see who I'd bred Cilantro to as I couldn't believe my eyes. Baby is a grey katmoget. DH is thinking that he'd like to keep this little girl.

More pics to follow as more babies are born.

As my friend and fellow shepherd would say, Life is good! :-)