Ewe Turn

Working Sheep

July 18th, 2009

It is high time that I let the world know what has really been going on with the flock. The old bearded shepherd guy would have everyone think that he has been ever so busy, what with baling hay and such. But after all, it is what he is supposed to do. There is no need to give the guy any slack. (If you have not already surmised, this is Nanoo Nanoo writing. The world does need the ovine perspective!)

We have been quite busy, which is why I have not had time to contribute more to the blog. What the old bearded guy forgets to tell everyone is that we have been harvesting hay nearly everyday since mid-May. We have now been through just about all of our regular pastures twice. We seem to be going through the pastures faster of late. It has not rained very much for the last four weeks. (I guess that we cannot blame that on the old guy.) As a result, the pastures are just not growing anymore. We do not have as much to eat in the same area as earlier, so the old shepherd guy gives us larger areas to graze every day. I certainly do hope that we do not have to start eating that baled hay while we are on pasture (like we did in the last drought of a couple of years ago). It just does not compare to fresh green grass and clover. The old shepherd guy is not letting the rams out on pasture anymore. He says there is not enough for them. The same is true for the ram lambs. They took those eleven boys away from us as they were behaving a bit too much like their fathers. They are also relegated to eat baled hay in the barn. Rumor has it that they are still getting grain, unlike the rest of us.

sheep-visit In addition to harvesting forage, we are keeping up with our job of educating and entertaining the guests from the bed and breakfast. It is a difficult task but we are up to it. The bunch with the nice lady in the picture includes a couple from Milwaukee who we remember from previous visits and some new people from Arkansas. The picture is of a bunch of us showing off the wool under our jackets. We even are getting the lambs trained for duty. That is little Wizzbang, Tabitha’s daughter in the foreground, learning the ropes. She really has become quite the little “suck-up”. Shadow is getting scratched behind the ears while she shows of her fleece.

I think that just about all the lambs that are getting jackets now have them. (Wizzbang has hers.) The shepherds have not given out any more of them recently. By my count there are now 28 lambs wearing coats. That is good; that means they get to stay here! A lot of us adults are getting our jackets replaced. It is about time, since we have been growing lots of wool and those of us who had lambs are starting to fill out a bit after producing all that milk.

Puss Puss with her twins

(It is also about time for the lambs to learn that they cannot have a drink whenever they want it! Someone needs to tell Puss Puss to stop feeding those twins so much.) In anycase, it is nice to get roomier jackets, especially since they are cleaner than the old ones which now are soaked in lanolin.

Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Farm, Sheep | 1 Comment »

Making Hay

July 1st, 2009

June is now history. In the space of the month we have gone from spring (a frost in the first week), to full blast summer (temperatures in the upper 80° F (30° C), to cool and damp. In Door County, June is the time for cutting and baling first crop hay. It would be nice to have the entire job done by the end of the month, but that rarely occurs for us. This year is no exception. The trick for making hay is all in timing. The hay must be cut when it is not wet and when there is at least a couple of days for warm, sunny drying weather in the forecast. If it all works out we can get the hay into bales and put away in the barn before the next rain. While we would like to depend on the forecast to be accurate, it often is not. More likely is that the forecast changes as soon as we have cut hay. So far, we have been both lucky and not so lucky as far as forecasts. Once it warmed up we managed to get a good start on cutting the hay. In this image 5 rounds have been cut and the 6th is on its way (leaving about 60 more rounds to go!).

haying

Our hay operation is in many ways antiquated in that we cannot rely on all the efficiencies of modern agriculture. If we had a modern barn facility we could bale our hay in large squares or round bales. Such bales require only one person to operate the baler and one person to later move and stack the bales mechanically. As it is we cannot get such large bales into our barn. Even if we could it would still be impossible to feed them to the sheep in the barn. So we must bale our hay in small bales. To be efficient small bales require a second person to stack the hay as it comes off the baler onto the hay wagon. There are just the two of us and by afternoon when the hay is dry enough to bale Gretchen is manning the Art Gallery. That generally leaves the stacking to me who is also the driver. If I work it properly I can slide up to 10 bales onto the wagon before I need to stop, hop off the tractor and onto the wagon to stack the bales. As the wagon becomes fuller, the stops become more frequent. It eventually gets finished, but not as fast as it would with dependable help.

baling

After all the wagons are full they then need to be unloaded, which is again a two person job (one on the wagon to unload onto the elevator and the other in the hay mow to stack the bales). Here at least the two of us can work together. Since the barn is next to the Gallery, Gretchen can unload as long as we do not have Gallery customers with whom to deal.

This year we still have over 600 bales left from last year which is always a nice cushion should we come up short with our current crop. Here is the first mow cleaned and ready for new hay, next to the remaining 2008 hay in the second mow. When they are full each of the three mows will hold hold over 3000 bales. As I write we have baled about 550 bales and they are all safely stacked in the first mow. unloading a wagon In the photo above, on a hot afternoon we have just taken a break on the last wagon. This was also the last wagon for the day. Obviously we still have a ways to go before we will be comfortable with our supply of hay for next winter.

Over the last week the operation has ground to a halt. It turned cold and cloudy. Scattered showers became the norm for the last few days; often the rain was followed by periods of mist or fog. It was not weather that permitted any further cutting. Unfortunately we guessed wrong before the rain began: the result is five rounds of hay that were cut the day before the moisture arrived. It still sits on the ground awaiting sunshine and warmth to dry. The moisture does it no good nutritionally as it lies there. Presumable the warm, dry weather will return. When it does we will have to get back to work.

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June routines

June 14th, 2009

It is now the middle of June and we finally seem to have passed the threshold into more summer-like weather. Our apple trees are dropping their blossom petals after retaining them for a wonderfully long period. It has been an extended and beautiful show for them. Everything benefited last weekend from a couple of days of steady and significant rain fall. The vegetable garden is almost completely planted. Until this week the soil temperatures have been too cool for the squash, cucumbers and melons. The cool hardy seedings have finally begun to germinate. The peas, at least, have loved the cool weather. For the peas we are now into the defensive mode of warding off the marauding deer. Electric fencing is up and the motion sensitive sprinkler is aimed at the peas area. Now all I need to do is avoid getting sprayed by inadvertently walking in front of it.

Yes, there is the more sinister aspect of the little spotted guy of the previous post. If he or she makes it to adulthood, it will mean just one more mouth in an excessively large population of deer to over-browse the native trees and flowers, not to mention the plants that we try to grow. I have nearly stepped on a fawn a couple of times since my first sighting. It is impossible to tell if it is the same one. If it is, mom is moving the fawn all over our pastures. It has become much more mobile and more inclined to flee when I accidentally stumble upon it. The next big deer challenge will be to avoid any and all fawns in our hayfield as I start cutting hay in the coming weeks. Avoiding the turkey nests in the middle of the hay will be next to impossible.

Kassia and friends in clover

The sheep are now grazing in the pasture we have named “The Orchard” (the site of our cherry trees of some years past). Hopefully they are all quite happy there. It is high ground for our farm, which means that it tends to catch any breezes that blow and make it a bit more tolerable in terms of both temperature and biting insects. Last spring we “renovated” the forage in “The Orchard” and the results this year are staggering. The renovation consisted of broadcast seeding two types of clover in the pasture just ahead of the sheep. As they grazed it was hoped that their hooves would help pack the clover seeds into the ground where, with a bit of rain, they would germinate. Last fall it was evident that the seeding had taken. This spring the growth of clover is tremendous and lush.

Clover: tomorrow's on right, yesterday's on left

Clover: tomorrow's on left, yesterday's on right

It is also easy to see where I did not quite overlap with passes of the spreader, i.e. narrow strips of grass without any legumes. The clover provides excellent grazing and nutrition for the sheep and also is an excellent natural source of nitrogen fertilizer for the soil. It is too bad that they will just about finish grazing the area when the clover was just about to be in full bloom. The smells would have been sweet!

Sadie

The Gallery has now been open for about three weeks. Currently it is featuring photography from Tom Bast and Gale Wandke, plus the accumulation of the last year’s handweavings by some fellow the sheep (and others) refer to as that grumpy old bearded shepherd guy. The Gallery is open from noon till 5PM every day except Tuesdays.

Opening the Gallery for first day of the season

Gretchen has been busy with a bunch of natural dyeing projects. Earlier this month we picked a couple of buckets of Dandelion blossom for dyeing. The most recent project used the leaves from Common Mullein.

Mullein growing in #4

It is an alien weed with large, flannel textured leaves. Later in the year it will produce tall yellow spikes of flowers. It seems to like thin, poor quality soils, which means that it thrives in the eastern edge of our #4 pasture. For whatever reason it is one of the plants that the sheep refuse to graze. So rather than just pulling up the offending plants and casting them on a compost heap we cooked down some of the leaves into a dye solution. They yielded a number of lovely shades of yellows and browns.

4 Mullien dyed skeins on left, 2 Dandelion on right

4 Mullein dyed skeins on left, 2 Dandelion on right

Eventually the resulting dyed wool and yarn will work their way into our spinning, knitting or weaving projects. If you visit the Gallery, you may see the big, red crock-pot bubbling away on the back porch. It is getting a good workout. Just ask to see “what’s cooking”; it can be quite interesting.

Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Farm, Fiber Projects, Gallery, Sheep, What's New | 2 Comments »

New Arrivals

May 29th, 2009

We have just finished three days of soft, steady rain. It was a much needed two+ inches of moisture, which seems to have given the spring time flush of growth the kick-start it needed. Our apple trees are just about ready to bloom. That is usually also the sign that the new born Whitetail Deer fawns are arriving. This morning as I was moving the fencing for the sheep to resume grazing in the back pasture, I was “greeted” by this little fellow. fawn-1 He/she was dead-still in the middle of the previous day’s pasture. I had to literally step over it to remove the temporary fence. I made sure not to touch it to leave any of my scent. I am sure that mom was somewhere in the woods next to the pasture, keeping an eye on both of us. fawn-2 Luckily she had not left the little guy/gal in the middle of the deeper grass that the sheep would soon be grazing; I would never have seen it then. The discovery of the fawn by over 200 ewes and lambs would have led to all sorts of chaos.

I returned an hour later to check on both the flock and the fawn. The sheep were eagerly working on their breakfast and the little guy was quietly sleeping in the sun. Just another beautiful spring day….

Morning, May 29th, the view from the third pasture

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First days on pasture

May 25th, 2009

It has definitely been a while since I last wrote something here, but I finally made it! Yep, it’s me, Nanoo Nanoo, back online. I have not written anything since prior to lambing. Since then I, like so many of my fellow flock mates, have been busy caring for my new lamb. Unbelievably she is nearly 60 days old. I thought of writing something sooner, but then we got to go out on pasture for the first time this year. That is so wonderful and exciting that I just plan forgot that I have been designated the flock scribe and have the sworn duty to present the sheep view fairly and without bias!

Before I attempt to bring everyone up to date with flock life, I would like to thank Queso, my good buddy and flock photographer, for filling in for me while I was busy with my new lamb. Queso did a yeoman job with her interview with the Nice Lady. Queso has begged off further written assignments…she is more into graphics than the written word. Anyway, thanks Queso for filling in for me.

Wambam... my little gal!

My lamb was born March 26th. She is a ewe; everyone calls her “Wambam”, so I guess that is how she will be known. She is adorable (what else can a doting mother say?), and she has already learned that being friendly to the grumpy old shepherd guy can earn her lots of extra points. So I think she has a future with the flock. The shepherds are beginning to fit the chosen lambs with jackets. I am pretty sure that I heard them talking about Wambam getting a jacket when she is two months old. That is usually a good sign that they want her to stay. I am also a grandmother again. Daughters Pookie had twins and Toodles a single. In addition I am now a great grandmother, as Pookie’s Ulayla had twins.

We finally got to go out on pasture. Today is the 13th day that we have been out. Has it ever been nice!

First day outside - lots to investigate

The chickens got out four days ahead of us. Can you believe that! The old bearded shepherd guy was mumbling something about there being enough grass for birds but not for us. For the first eight days it was just us ewes who have lambs who were allowed out. Then this week the retired ladies, including my mom, Mindy, joined us. We are still waiting for last year’s lambs, including my girl, Va Va Voom, to come with us. The grumpy guy says that there has not yet been enough grass for all of us. Grudgingly I have to admit that he is right. It just does not seem to want to rain like it should this time of year. At least it has been cool, so the grass is still growing, but just not as fast as we are accustomed to. It has been nice just to be out in the sun and fresh air.

Ursa Bear and her Winnie

The lambs have had a grand time. This year’s brunch has been really quite smart learning all about electric fences and how we work our way out to the various pastures.

Widget sticking close to her mom, Nutbread

After all, we are already out on the back five acres. That is a quarter of a mile walk from the barn. Except for one day when Waldemar and Wesley were goofing around in the barn and got left behind, all of the lambs have made it on their own. (Boy, was the old shepherd even grumpier when he had to catch Wesley and carry him all the way out. At least Waldemar figured it out once they got him out of the barn.)

Wendolyn in her new coat

We have even had visitors out on pasture. The people who stay up at the place they call “the House” have been out to schmooze with us. The Bobolinks also arrived back from Argentina this week. It is always interesting to hear about our Corriedale cousins down on the pampas. So, all in all life is going well for us. Got to go…there is grass to be eaten!

Jorgina and the rest of the flock already in the third pasture

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It’s May! The race is on

May 9th, 2009

It is difficult to believe that it is already the second week of May. So much seems to be happening, yet so much does not seem to be getting finished. Spring is still dragging its heels. It is cooler than normal (a frost warning for this weekend!) but at least we are starting to get some much needed rain. The pastures are slow to grow, perhaps at least the ewes with lambs may get to start grazing this week. There still is not enough forage to let the remaining dry ewes join the main flock.

Getting the pastures ready for grazing has been a major task this year. The winter has been tough on the fences and water lines. The snow load was heavy enough on the fences that a couple of posts were broken. The wires and their tensioners were ripped lose or broken. Strangely the snow and strong winds did not bring down any large trees along the fence lines, but did deposit a couple into the edges of the hay fields. The sub-freezing weather arrived so quickly that much of the waterlines to the pastures froze before we could drain them. Nearly half of the connectors which allow us to plug in the water buckets were blown out of the pipes. Luckily the majority of that ice damage involved re-connecting the segments, a tedious job, but not unpleasant on a warmer sunny day.

The Bed & Breakfast is open. For this the sheep are glad. At least they are getting to visit with someone else besides the two of us. They can suck up to all sorts of folks who let them get away with it and who enjoy it almost as much as we do. This is the time when the friendly lambs really shine and some of the shier lambs surprise us by suddenly learning that getting a scratch under the chin can be a good thing.

Next on the schedule horizon is the 15th annual Shepherds’ Market, which takes place this next weekend (May 16th and 17th). The web site covers the event in general. Right now let’s look at some of what Whitefish Bay Farm will be offering for sale. Since most of our raw fleeces have already been sold, our offerings at the Market will be concentrated on yarns and roving.

A rainbow of hand-carded wool batts

Gretchen has spent her “free time” this winter and spring huddled up with her drum carder creating all sorts of colorful blends of fiber. The bulk of each roving batt that she has prepared is based upon wool from our flock of Corriedale sheep. Some of that wool is in its natural shade (white, grays, black or brown). Other batts have a Corriedale base which has been dyed in a rainbow of colors. In addition most of the batts have other fibers (natural colored and/or dyed) blended into them. In the mix is mohair (from angora goats), angora (from angora rabbits) or wool from a number of different breeds of sheep. It is always a treat to open the trunk in which most of the batts have been stored. The sensation has been that of releasing a rainbow. Most of the batts weigh around three ounces, enough to permit a generous amount of spinning, depending upon ones style and preference.

White Corriedale blended with hand-dyed Merino

There will be lots to see and to buy at the Shepherds’ Market. Hopefully you can stop by and enjoy the festivities.

Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Fiber Projects, Fleeces & Wool, Sheep | No Comments »

The 4th and Last week of Lambing (and then some)

April 29th, 2009

The thermometer certainly does not want to convince us that it is spring yet. Nonetheless, the pace has quickened like it always seems to when we hit spring. Lambing was finished a month and a day after it began. On the 10^th of April Ursa Bear delivered a single ewe lamb, Winnie the Pooh Bear. She was followed by Pookie who gave birth to twins, Wascal and Wabbit . Since then the ewes and their lambs have been doing well. In total we had 112 lambs born this year. As always some of the lambs are growing faster than others. A few lambs have had minor health problems and a couple of ewes have had to deal with mastitis. In the later situations it looks as though we have it under control. It should not result in any devastating losses as it sometimes can.

Enjoying the sun on a cool morning

As we worked through the final week of lambing we also had enough time to prepare for the annual posting of our fleeces to our web site. The 127 fleeces went up for sale on April 15^th. The vast majority were sold within the first 24 hours. (A couple of our long term customers refer to the first day as a fleece “feeding frenzy”. At the time it often seems to be an apt description.)

Ulrika's fleece

Since that time sales have continued on at a more dignified pace. As I write, we are down to two remaining fleeces, both colored. Ulrika and Roxie both need their fleeces to find a loving home. They urge any and all spinners to visit our colored wool page.

Roxie's fleece

Despite the cool temperatures we are still experiencing, we are creeping onward into spring. The last few evenings as I have done my evening “bed check” in the barn, the sounds of peepers and tree frogs could be heard in the pond to the north of us. “Our” barn swallows returned during the last week of lambing. The barn is now a happier, noisier place with them swooping in and out. The first few pairs that arrived are already rebuilding nests. With any luck we hope to have at least 30 nesting pairs by early summer, the majority of whom will bring off at least two broods of chicks before summer’s end.

It is time to get the pastures ready for grazing. Once the grass is high enough the fences must already be repaired from the damages of winter and the pasture watering lines pressurized and checked for leaks. The first day that the flock gets out on pasture cannot come too soon for both the sheep and us.

One of Q.T.'s boys, Wazir...14 days old and serious about it!

On other fronts, the two of us are starting to gear up our other operations. The Bed and Breakfast will once again open for guests on the 1^st of May. The Art Gallery follows with its opening just a little over 4 weeks later. Sandwiched in between is the 15^th annual Shepherds’ Market which is put on by the Door County Sheep and Goat Raisers and hosted by us in and around our gallery space on May 16^th and 17^th. There is always a diverse collection of fiber related products for sale. The two of us will be selling any of our fleeces that otherwise have not yet sold. In addition we will have a selection of handspun and mill spun yarn, some finished products made with wool from our flock, plus a beautiful selection of rovings that Gretchen has been working on over the winter. (More about the roving next time!)

So far the Hepatica are blooming along the edges of the woods. Soon their blooms will appear throughout the hardwoods to be accompanied by Blood Root, Trillium and Trout Lilies. It is a good time to be where we are and to be able to be out to enjoy the show!

Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Fleeces & Wool, Gallery, Sheep | 3 Comments »

An interview with the nice lady

April 12th, 2009

Nanoo Nanoo is not here at present. She is off somewhere in the barn looking after her new born daughter, Wambam. Instead it is me, Queso, the flock photojournalist and, for the moment, special correspondent. Nanoo Nanoo asked me to look after things and to make sure that the sheep perspective is not given a short shift while she is on maternity leave.

Queso - special correspondent

The barn is finally settling down, as all of my pregnant buddies have delivered their lambs. As I mentioned Nanoo Nanoo had a girl. The shepherds claim she is “cute as a button”. (Whatever that means, we have no use for buttons.) The girl is growing well at more than ½ pound per day. Nanoo Nanoo is a very good, attentive mother.

Over the last few days I have spent a lot of time with the shepherds, making sure that they do their jobs properly while the ewes are in labor. While we killed time waiting on births, I had a chance to talk with the nice lady about our fleeces. Here is what I managed to get recorded.

Queso(Q): So, nice lady, what can you tell me about our fleeces this year?

Nice Lady (NL): The fleeces this year are really quite beautiful. As you know, I look carefully at each fleece during the days and weeks after shearing. Then I write down all my observations.

Q: What are you looking for?

NL: I look for any vegetative matter and try to pick that out of the wool along with any short little bits of fiber. I test each fleece for soundness, that is, I look for any tender spots in the fiber length that would break as it is being spun. This year we had no fleeces with tender spots.

Q: How long does it take you to look at each fleece?

Queso interviews nice lady

NL: It depends. The least amount of time is probably about 15 minutes. Some fleeces take up to 45 minutes. Some of your friends here in the barn tend to be hay magnets. Even though you all wear jackets, some of you like to collect vegetative matter along the edges of your jackets. Some of it even works its way underneath the jacket. After I have the fleece examined, I measure the staple length, I try to describe the color and characteristics of the wool, and then I place the fleece in a clear plastic bag with the name of the sheep clearly visible. Finally, I weigh the fleece and record all this information on a chart so that we can put that information on the website in preparation for the annual fleece sale.

Q: Which fleeces have you spun from our flock?

NL: I have spun or am spinning fleeces from current flock members including Justine, Kassia, Luscious, Mindy, Nutbread, Octavia, Prunella, Ruby, Stud Muffin, Tabitha, Trudi and, of course Nanoo Nanoo’s and yours. When we first started with the flock back in 1990, I spun a small amount of every fleece from the original 20 flock members. And, I have spun fleeces from flock members that are no longer here.

Q: I have heard that sometimes you add color to our wool. Is that true?

NL: Yes, sometimes I dye the wool. I especially enjoy adding color to the pale gray and vanilla gray fleeces. Those light grays add a nice undertone to the color. I am starting to use more and more natural dye materials. I especially enjoy trying out new plants as possible dye sources. Some experiments work, others are not so good.

Q: Am I ever glad you do not try to dye our wool before they shear it from us! What happens to the yarn you spin from our wool?

NL: Some of the yarn is used by that grumpy old guy when he weaves blankets, scarves, and other items. I use some of the yarn in knitting things like hats, mittens and socks. I also use some of the yarn as embellishments in felting projects or in dressing the teddy bears I make. Occasionally, I will sell some of my handspun at the Door County Shepherds’ Market or through our Art Gallery.

Q: I heard a rumor that each year you make a list of your favorite fleeces for that year. Is it true? And, why do you do it?

NL: Yes, it is true. Each year I pick 5 or 6 of the best (in my opinion) white fleeces and 10 to 12 of the best naturally colored fleeces. I keep my list from year to year to see how my opinion changes and to see which members of the flock are producing consistently good fleeces. Fleeces on this list may end up being priced differently than other fleeces in the flock. For example, this year one of the top fleeces is going to be Violette (a lovely lilac gray lamb fleece) which is going for $15.00 a pound.

Q: Am I on the list?

NL: Oh yes, you are on the list. This year my favorite naturally colored fleeces are from: Limburger, Naomi, Nutbread, Nanoo Nanoo, Queso, Sunflower, Toodles, Tessa, Tallulah, Upsadaisy, Ulayla, and Violette. My favorite white fleeces are: Cynthie, Quiche, Portia, Quazar, Ukiah, and Vanilla. All of these fleeces have lovely color or whiteness, are consistent from front to back, and all have a lovely crimp. It is unusual for two lamb fleeces to be on the list but both are very special this year.

Q: I have heard that each year you usually keep at least a couple of our fleeces for your spinning projects. I cannot imagine what you do with all the rest of our fleeces. After all, there are over 120 of them this year.

NL: Every year we put most of your fleeces up for sale on our web site. People from all over the U.S. and Europe then buy them. In fact we will be having our next fleece sale this week. People who are interested can have a look at the Fleece pages on the web site. You are even welcome to look.

Q: I really am not interested in buying back my fleece. What good would that do me? In any case, thank you for telling me about our fleeces and what you do with our wool. It was also very nice of you to spend so much time scratching me behind the ears. I think I’ll go over and see if the old bearded guy will give me a rub for a while….

Posted in Fiber Projects, Fleeces & Wool, Sheep | 2 Comments »

Lambing in 2009 – Week 2 (and 3 & more)

April 4th, 2009

It had been my hope to post an update to the Ewe Turn about once a week throughout the four plus weeks of lambing. I managed to attain that goal just once. The second and third weeks have already passed and we are working feverishly to make it into the heart of the fourth week. At least the pace has slackened and I can bring the Ewe Turn up to date.

The first week went so well and the weather that accompanied it was so beautiful, one had a foreboding that it all could not last. Mother Nature definitely came through in that regard. The weather turned colder and produced a series of snow storms and cold, wet east winds off Lake Michigan. It was not pleasant for sheep and shepherds alike. While the temperatures have moderated recently, it still does not qualify as spring.

QT with her twin boys, about 10 minutes old

Unlike the first week in which we experienced numerous robust healthy lambs and no labor and delivery problem, the next two weeks threw a bit of everything at us, good and bad. We had 2 lambs that were still born, 1 that died at birth because the ewe did not clean its face quickly enough (and we happened not to be with her at 3AM), and 1 born with major birth defects which resulted in his death. One ewe had a uterine prolapse. We and our vet managed to save her and her lamb. Another ewe that had triplets last year had only a single this year. That lamb is dumb as a log and did not/has not learned to nurse from mom. We have struggled to teach her to nurse and continue to supplement her. At 2 AM a first time mom had left one of her new born lambs in a corner and followed the other to a different location, eventually forgetting about the first. When we found the first lamb it was ice cold and barely breathing. We managed to get her warmed up and fed, but mom rejected her. After a week in stanchions where the lamb could nurse, mom finally found “religion”. At least it is now a happy family. We have lost a ewe to pregnancy toxemia and have another ewe (who we did not breed) come down with salt toxicity. Most of these problems we have experience over the course of 19 years of lambing. The salt toxicity is a new one for us.

On the positive side we have lots of healthy, vigorous lambs who are growing rapidly. One realizes how the time has passed when you see that the early lambs are already loosing their tails. We have already started our 4^th mixing pen. The first three pens are already combined, allowing the lamb races to begin in earnest (more on the races next time!).

Toodles with her lamb, Wuddle

As of this morning we have had 105 lambs born. The last four pregnant ewes are due to deliver sometime in the next 8 or so days. The pace has been frantic enough that I have yet had time to figure out how many ewe and ram lambs we have and how many of each are colored or white. I do sense that we have achieved our goal of producing quite a few white ewe lambs and that we will also have a good choice to make between our colored ewe lambs.

Lambs in the 1st mixing pen

The two of us are a bit “punchy”. It has been 4 weeks since we started getting up at 2 AM every morning. We look forward to sleeping 8 hours straight. I knew I was in trouble a couple of mornings ago when I was shredding lettuce to feed to the chickens and realized that I was systematically dropping the lettuce into my coffee cup rather than the plastic container I use for the chickens. Then again their eggs may turn out to be laced with caffeine….

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

Lambing in 2009 - Week 1

March 19th, 2009

Today, the 18th of March, marks the eighth day that the ewes at Whitefish Bay Farm have been lambing. So far life has been going very well for all concerned: sheep, lambs and shepherds. Appropriately, our first lamb, Winter, was delivered by Spring a day ahead of schedule while the weather was still unseasonably cold and wintry. The remaining ewes decided to wait a couple of days and begin in earnest on Friday. It was as if the ewes knew that spring weather was on its way.

On Friday, when the next six lambs arrived, the temperatures moderated. Warmer winds out of the south pushed the first Eastern Bluebirds back to the farm just after sunrise. What a joyful sound their calls were to start the day. By the beginning of the new week temperatures continued to climb. Yesterday afternoon it climbed above 60° F (15°C). With each surge of warmer air came new bird arrivals. An Eastern Phoebe greeted us outside the barn on Saturday morning, along with the first two Eastern Meadowlarks singing from the top of the large ash tree just south of the barn. Waves of Robins, Redwings and Common Grackles have since filled the air. Later, we heard our first Sandhill Cranes bugling overhead. By Sunday evening the winds had calmed completely. On the way to the barn for evening chores we heard a mature Bald Eagle flying directly above us before we saw it. It was so close that we could hear the soft beat of its wings as it flew over. It was warm enough last night that we almost felt that we might hear the first Spring Peepers. Wishful thinking on our part, but it will come soon….

Wally, Winola, Winona, Winter and friends in the first mixing pen

To date, twenty ewes have delivered thirty one lambs. Overall there have been more ewe than ram lambs. We have been a little disappointed that the number of white ewe lambs has been low, as we are hoping to increase the number of new white ewes in the flock this year as we have some vacancies to fill. We are still in the early stages of lambing however, and there is a good chance that the percentages will even out. The two of us are holding up well. The lambing pace has been steady, but there have yet to be times where new arrivals threaten to overwhelm us. It has also helped that we have had all normal deliveries, none of which have required assistance on our part. Add to that the fact that every lamb so far has been healthy and robust. Only one ewe, Tiara, has been slow to come into milk and we have as a result had to supplement here twins, Winn and Wynne, for a couple of days. Now, four days after lambing she seems to be taking over the full support of her lambs. Another sign that things are going well for us is that so far we have managed to name all but the last three lambs. It is a sure indication that we are starting to tire when we get behind on names.

Ruby checking out available housing for lambing

We have not been able to stray away from the farm as the snow melts and signs of spring are everywhere. Our “outdoor” experience currently consists of the 50 paces between the house and barn and back. So far it is a pleasant walk. So it is down to another three weeks, if the last ewe scheduled is pregnant and if she delivers when scheduled. That’s it for now from Wingding, Winkie, Wilfred and Wilfreda, Whitney and Whoopie, Whiskey and all the rest.

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