Archive for April, 2010

Announcing a Literary Event

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

I suspect that many of you have been wondering what I have been up to for the last few weeks. After all, for quite a while the old bearded shepherd guy has been hogging most of Ewe Turn space. I figured I would let him get away with that, since most of what he has written was directly related to the flock. At least, for once he has gotten his priorities straight.

You may well then ask what I, Nanoo Nanoo, have been occupied with for the last few weeks. As you probably remember, this is my first spring in which I did not have a lamb. I kind of missed it, but then again it has been pretty nice just taking it easy with the rest of my retired buddies. We at least have gotten to witness and, in some cases, help with all of the births. Best of all, with the new scheme, after the lambs are born I don’t have to do all the rest of the work. I know, that really takes a lot out of you as a mom! But, I digress….

Few of you are aware that the flock at Whitefish Bay Farm is actually a multifaceted enterprise. One of our branches is Baa Baa Doo Press, of which I am editor-in-chief. Over the last few months, while many of the ewes were occupied with the gestation of their lambs, I have been helping the grumpy old shepherd guy with a “gestation” of his own.

As editor-in-chief of Baa Baa Doo Press, I am please to announce our first publication, The Ruminations of a Grumpy Shepherd. As you probably guessed, the author is the old shepherd guy. He has collected together essays about life on this farm since he came here 27 years ago. He has written those pieces over the last 14 years. Now he has combined them into a book. He will never admit it, but I actually did a lot of ghost writing for him on the project. (We all know that he needs lots of help!) But I will give him credit since a lot of it was written prior to my birth. I was at least able to get a few of my own literary gems incorporated into the book.

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As part of my duties as editor, I have the task of shamelessly promoting the publication. The book is printed both as a paperback and a hardcover. The old shepherd guy and the nice lady will have some of the paperbacks to sell at the farm. If you wish to order a copy it is better to go directly to our printer. They do a better job of packaging than the old guy will ever manage and the cost will be the same.

If you wish to purchase the paperback click on this link. The cost is $19.95 plus shipping.

If you wish to purchase the hardcover (my personal favorite) go to this link. The cost is $27.50 plus shipping.

So do the old guy a favor and buy his book. It will make him feel good. It is his first and, probably, only opus. He is too shy to do his own publicity so I will continue to handle it. Oh, and did I mention there are photos of us sheep and even one with the old guy and me together? What more can you ask?

Thanks, Nanoo Nanoo

Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Farm, Fleeces & Wool, Sheep, What's New | 5 Comments »

Lambing 2010 – Into the Home Stretch

Friday, April 9th, 2010

I failed to keep up with the weekly lambing report. Instead, I will almost be able to wrap up the season with this post. It has been an amazing lambing at Whitefish Bay Farm. From March 10th through April 1st we had at least one birth a day, save for a day’s rest on March 24th. Nonetheless, we never experienced a day in which we were overpowered by large numbers of lambs being born. Since April 1st, we have been waiting on Tess and Trixie, a couple of slow pokes, due sometime this week or early next week.

The whole operation reminds me of being parked at a railroad crossing, with a long, slow moving freight train passing. The progress was ever so steady and even, for such a long while. The only problem is that someone unhooked the caboose and we are still waiting for it to coast by on its own power. In the meantime, the crossing gates are still down and we cannot get on with our travels.

To date we are up to 55 ewes having delivered 85 lambs, 46 of which are ewe lambs. We are please with the overall health of both the ewes and their lambs. Now we just hope to continue that way. Tonight we began weighing the lambs at their 30th day. Xanadu, the first born, is now at slightly over a respectable 37 pounds. Tomorrow is Zahra’s and Yoko’s turn.

Zahra and her mom, Ultima, are especially close. The photo below is of the two of them taking a nap, along with Zahra’s cousin Yaakov. ultima-xarha

We were especially excited with Oeuf’s twin ewe lambs, Yo Yo Maa and Yo Yo Baa, the later of whom resembles a Jacob sheep with the fineness of a Corriedale fleece (and no horns!).

Yo Yo Baa

Yo Yo Baa

Perhaps even more exciting were Lucy’s twin ewes, the first of whom is a true Moorit in terms of coloration. Moorit coloring is a soft brown with perhaps a tinge of red at an early age. It is a recessive color gene usually hidden by the blacks and grays. It is rare when it shows up in American Corriedales. Usually in the USA, it shows up with Corriedales crossed with another breed that is carrying the Moorit genetics. Needless to say that little ewe has already assured herself a place in the flock!

Lucy's lambs, Moorit to the left

Lucy's lambs, Moorit to the left

The other unique aspect of this year’s lambing season has been the weather. Never, since we had our first lambs born in 1991, have we gone through the entire month of March without any measurable snow fall! This year it happened. In addition we received just a trace of rain for the period. The temperatures were generally pleasant. The result of all the “nice” weather was a lambing that was much less stressful for lambs, their moms and the shepherds. Throughout all of this time there was a little voice that whispered a warning about the dryness. Things were not boding well as far as pasture growth, not to mention the welfare of plant life in general. However, April has compensated us so far. On the 6th 1.2″ of slow, steady rain fell. On the 8th we awoke to a heavy wet snow of at least 4″. Hopefully we will continue to get the much needed moisture as we work into spring.

Lastly, here is a smile, compliments of Xarha. xarha

Posted in Farm, Sheep, What's New | 3 Comments »

Preparing to Sell Fleeces

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

An event that is always intertwined with the birth of lambs at Whitefish Bay Farm is our annual fleece sale. We shear the sheep just prior to the beginning of lambing. We then spend the time in between shearing and lambing preparing the fleeces for sale. By the time that lambing is nearly completed, we are ready to sell our fleeces on-line. The sale usually lasts, at best, a day and a half. Its intensity is even greater than the busiest single day of lambing.

The information that follows is intended primarily for our fleece customers (past, present and future). For those of you following the Ewe Turn for other reasons, we hope that you will also find some of this to be interesting.

We have nearly finished with the final skirting, sorting and evaluation of all the fleeces. When that task will actually be finished depends upon the cooperation of the few ewes who are still pregnant. If all goes smoothly, we hope to have fleeces ready for sale by early to mid April. Before the sale day, a number of things will happen for all of our fleece customers.

Previous and Current Customers - For all of you who have purchased fleeces from us within the last two years, we have just sent you an email to alert you to the information that you are currently reading on our blog. That email is also intended to verify that you are still using the email address we had for you a year ago. In the near future, we will re-contact you regarding the fleeces that you purchased last year. If you purchased one or more fleeces from us last year, you will get the opportunity to reserve the fleece(s) from the same sheep again this year. This assumes that the sheep is still with us, and that the fleece does not have an imperfection that makes it unsuitable for sale (e.g. a wool break). We will ask you to reply with your decision if you wish to again purchase this fleece(s). We cannot and will not reserve any other fleeces ahead of time. We will also alert you to the exact date of the upcoming sale.

Potential New Customers – If you have contacted us since last year’s fleece sale and given us your email address, we will send you an email prior to the sale date so that you will know exactly when it will occur.

Buying Fleeces – If you are new to the sale, be aware that the fleeces tend to sell very quickly! Pay attention to the date and time of the sale and do not procrastinate! On the day of the sale, we attempt to answer your emails and phone calls as quickly as possible. As previous customers know, things get very hectic that day, but we will work things out. There are just the two of us and the technology we are using is slow and relatively primitive. (We have no pool of “operators standing by waiting for your call”!) This procedure is imperfect. We will do our best to get you the fleeces that you want. We will also be happy to discuss any of the fleeces with you once they are ready for sale. We have left all of our listings of fleeces from 2009 up on our web site to help you as a memory jogger. The fleece listings start at our Fleece Page.

Address changes – It is important for us to know ahead of time if you have changed addresses (postal and/or e-mail) since last April. If you have a new address and have not already notified us of it, please let us know now, so that we do not miss contacting you and so that your fleece order does not get shipped to an old address (that has happened!).

If you do not want to purchase fleeces from us in 2010, or you wish to be removed from our mailing, list please let us know right away. The correct e-mail address to use is: fleeces@whitefishbayfarm.com.

Shipping– We will make every effort to ship the fleeces in the least expensive fashion without jeopardizing the welfare of the wool. Please recognize that the cost of any form of shipping continues to rise dramatically. If you have a method of shipping that you prefer, even if it is more expensive, we will honor your wishes.

We are also quite happy to ship fleeces directly to a processor if you wish to have it washed and carded by them. We have had experience using a number of processors; we are happy to discuss our opinions of each as it relates to Corriedale fleeces. We also have some very strong feelings regarding certain of our fleeces that should not be sent to a commercial carder, if you are to maximize the fleece’s beauty. If you prefer direct shipment to a processor, you will need to have processing instructions ready for us when it is time to ship the fleece.

Feedback- As always, we welcome feedback from you regarding our fleeces. If there is a way in which we can improve our product, we would like to know about it. If you have questions or problems that we may be able to help with, please let us know. We look forward to hearing from each of you and we hope that we will provide you with some wonderful fleeces in 2010. Take good care….

Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Fleeces & Wool, Gallery | No Comments »