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Saturday, February 9, 2013

LAMBS!!!!

I finally got my camera out to the barn and what a beautiful day it is..can you tell is 5 degrees?  All the animals were out in the sun with no wind, the sun was warmer than the barn after such a cold night. 
Our two horses with ice on their whiskers


These two twins were born about 4 days ago, they belong to, Jan, our resident tunis/texal ewe.  She and Walker had fun and now these girls are here.  They are cute little things. 


Maggie, our other non-finnsheep had triplets and is doing well with them.  They are about 12 hours younger than Jan's and you can tell a little as they are smaller.  It's hard to feed three but Maggie is doing well. Two boys and a girl.  Good job, Mags!


This is our first ram born a few weeks ago.  He is a brown, non-fading registered Finnsheep and is gorgeous.  I will be watching his fleece as he ages but really a great guy!  
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These are Kaarina's quadruplets, as an update. (one didn't survive the birthing) They are still in a lambing stall as I am teaching them to drink from an orphan bucket.  Momma Kaarina is a fantastic mom and has the best fleece in the flock.  Last Spring she sufferer mastitis so bad that her udder was left too scarred to raise them herself so, I'm helping.  They are growing like weeds and are doing well and have gone from 7 lbs at birth (imagine that! 4, 7lb lambs at one time) to now 8-9 lbs in a week.  They will hopefully be out of this stall and out with the other kids soon. Two girls and a boy.
 

  
  Most of the lambs will be available for purchase. 

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Brrrrrr....

Lambs

It's cold out this winter, much colder than last year.  We have had a few more lambs born here on the farm and it's exciting and busy now!  Kaarina, a wonderful mother and gorgeous fleeced animal, lambed early Monday morning.  She was busy as she delivered quads this year.  Unfortunately one did not survive.  I am guessing in all the confusion of four lambs, it might not have gotten it's mouth and nose cleared out in time. One a brighter note, she has three still here and doing well.  All three have the beautiful fleece that my best Finns carry.



 Kaarina had a terrible case of mastitis last year.  She is a very hard sheep to read and she didn't show her sickness until an infection had given her a high fever and she was barely able to walk.  After 10 days of antibiotics, infusions, hot packs, milking her, and special feed, she recovered.  She lost all her wool from the fever and one side of her udder has never been the same.  I was concerned about her feeding lambs this year but bred her anyway, knowing I might have bottle lambs.  She is producing milk out of the bad side and the other is fully functioning.  She loves her lambs and I am supplementing at this time.  For now, all is well and I will introduce them to the orphan bucket soon so I don't have to feed so often.

Jan, our Tunis ewe lambed to big ewe lambs and they are doing really well!  Not very exciting and that's how I like my lambing to go.  Going out to do chores with a cup of coffee and seeing new lambs, all fed and loved by their moms.  Uneventful

Monday, January 28, 2013

50 Days Till Spring!

It's been a while and I'm back, for now.  We have a few exciting times happening on the farm right now and I'm hoping to get things back into a routine.

FAMILY

In Decemeber, we had our first child, Gabrielle Elyse Maulbetsch.  She was born on Dec. 4 weighing 7 lbs 9 oz. and 20.5 inches.

 2 weeks old

She is a riot and I'm adjusting to motherhood pretty well, I think.  It's not unusual for me to have something or someone completely dependent on me but it's never been a physical part of me before.  Together, Paul and I are figuring this out and enjoying every minute with her.  She has been sleeping through the night (8 hours) since about 4 weeks old, so life is good in that department. 


 1 month old



FARMING

In the farming news, we have acquired the 10 acres next door that does a little "L" shape around our property so we are now 20 acres and almost square.  Paul is excited and has already been clearing the trees and limbs down so we can get into the new barn and get it fenced. 

We added a calf to our farm, Moo-Cow-abelle.  I cute little girl that is warming our hearts each day and she will probably end of being a big dog around here.  

We have started lambing but with just a couple early moms.  The rest of the ewes should lamb next week at the beginning of February.  Fleeces will be available in a few days for purchase.  We have 17 nice pure finn fleeces in all colors to sell. 

Our silkie chickens have been laying eggs all winter and actually hatched out two broods in the past month.  So, we have babies running around and I can't believe they are surviving the cold. 

The runner ducks are still running, cold or not.  They aren't laying eggs yet but I'm sure will start up again soon.

DOG TRAINING
   
My students are doing well and I have added a few new teams in the last month.  The advanced students are going to a trial this Sunday for CPE agility and I'm going to join them with Tweed.  I'm excited to get back into trialing as I have only been able to do a few trials over the last few years.  I have made a video of the first trial last Fall that they did and after having a fun weekend, there are a few students that are ready to go again!  CPE is a such a wonderful place to start trialing.  


SPRING IS ALMOST HERE!!