Ewe Tube and Fleece!!

After a wonderful visit with my Dad and no lambs, I returned to my normal routine.  This started early Monday morning with a quick trip out to the barn.  My plan...to offer the two smallest lambs some milk from a bottle, fill the milk bucket and just check on everyone.  Of course at 4 am before heading to work is when little Jan decided to show me her new baby.  He is adorable and what a chunk!! 

We named him "Jack"

He has a very neat coloring that can't be seen in the picture.  He has a dark red with grey/silver tint to his fleece.  It will be interesting to see what it turns out to be. 

Jan is a good momma and very protective of her baby.   So, that brings our total to 5 lambs and yet another color.  :)  

Little update on my fleece.  Turns out, it's fantastic fleece!  I didn't ruin it at all but....and there is always a but.  There is too much VM (vegetable matter - HAY)  in the wool.  So, I'm off to try and think of a way to keep them cleaner when they eat.   The feeder allows them to get covered in hay and it's hard to get out of wool.  She wanted to get some Tunis wool and I just happen to have 4 leftover fleeces from my Tunis flock a few years ago. 

It's fleece time!!

Well, I sheared little Dewey/Daisy yesterday with my new shears.  Let me tell you, Daisy was a champ, and the shears weren't.  So, I'm going to have to call the company tomorrow and talk to them.  I have used other brands and they worked so well and these didn't do the sheep any justice.  So, after too long, I finished her up and went in to relax in front of the wood stove.  Early this morning, I spread out a sheet and began the task of skirting and picking the vegetation out of the fleece.   I remember something about wanting to blanket the sheep before the "hay" season started and that is something I think I will look into this year.  Wow!  2 hours it took and it's not all out, and only kept 1/2 the wool.  

Note to self:  got to get a weight scale.  Fleece is sold, purchased raw based on weight.  (not only but mostly)

  I am also not sure if I didn't ruin the wool with those dang clippers.  So, off to the spinning friends this week for some good constructive criticism.  Looks like I've got some nice crimp and some 3-4 inch locks.  But, this is my first lamb to fleece, so I'll let the experts look it over.

After I talk to the manufacturers of my shears, I'll try again, or send them back and purchase another brand.  Time will tell and I don't want to ruin my future fleece. 

Ewe tube

I have started a 2011 lamb video with our babies.  It's not finished as the lambs aren't finished.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhkap0b9gog

Ewe Tube!

Well, life is good at Borderhauss!  The lambs are doing really well.  We had a little ewe get an upper respiratory infection but is doing much better.  Everyone is eating and playing and growing!

I am so excited for all the color already!  Woo hoo!  We love color!  I can't wait for the other lambs to arrive.  More "ewe tube".

ewe tube in full swing

Today was an eventful day for us at the farm.  We got home late last night to find another little Finn lamb born from Dewey.  Registered Daisy.  She had a cute little white ewe.  So, that was a nice surprise.  It's the loudest little thing ever and Dewey is great Mom!  So, all is well, off to bed. 

We got up the next morning to go out and check on the Moms.  As we walked into the barn, there were a bunch of little legs all around a couple moms.  Dewey had picked up a couple new lambs and big huge Maggie, wasn't so big anymore.  She was in the corner with a single lamb.  So, we stood there trying to make sense of the confusion.  We figured out that Maggie had triplets, spotted black and white.  Two look like little cows and one was all black! 

So, our big problem now...Maggie doesn't want her babies.  After giving birth to these triplets, she's confused, in pain, and tired.  To her, these foreign sheep are a threat and caused all that pain.  So, one of the her babies had gotten tired of trying to nurse on Maggie and getting rejected, so she wandered off to find a Mom that would let her nurse.  Behold, little Dewey took that lamb as one of her own.  Maybe because the two moms lambing so close to each other in time?  Dewey wasn't really sure either, but we aren't questioning it and just let her take care of the new baby!

Now, we are left with trying to get Maggie to take care of the other two.  She will allow one of them to nurse, probably the first born.  She won't however, let the other nurse.  So, in the sheep world, we confine or tie the ewe and let the little girls nurse away and Mom can't get away or head butt them.  They are strong babies and are fighting to get to the udder, so with Maggie tied to the hay feeder with food and water, babies can get in there and eat.  Yum!  We'll give her some time to get accustomed to her babies and hopefully she will develop her motherly instincts.  They are beautiful, though, and all girls. 

Sorry for the placenta in the picture...I don't even think twice about that anymore. :)  That is about how far Maggie can lower her head, otherwise, she butts them away.  Now, our total lamb count is up to 5 colorful ewes.  Yeah!!  There is still a little confusion between moms as they all learn each other's calls, but it gets worked out eventually.  We have three more ewes to lamb any day, then a break for the next group. 

In the meantime, we needed to stay around the barn to watch Maggie all day so, off to Home Depot to rent a mini excavator and fix the water hydrant that rusted out in the barn.  Looks like Paul on his little tonka toy!

A small but mighty machine.  He dug up the pipe through the frost in about 1 hour.  We got the new hydrant and Paul put it in...yea, I did help shovel the dirt back in the hole, a little.  :) 

I'm having fun but this is a lot of work.  Feel like we didn't do much today but I'm beat!  I wish I knew exactly when babies were on their way!  OH yeah, we got 6 inches of snow that fell right after all this fun!!

Ewe Tube 2011

Paul and I headed out to the barn to feed and check on Maggie.  As we were looking left at huge Maggie, nothing looked any different.  She was standing there, looking back at us, with no change.  We both casually scanned the barn and looked to the right toward the feeder.  At the same time we both said, "who's baby is that!!"   A little lamb was standing all alone at the hay feeder, looking around.  I immediately looked back at Maggie, trying to figure out if she was a little smaller and maybe lambed partially :)   Then, Betty came forward and claimed her little, adorable baby!  So cute and exciting!

Meet Miss February

Brown ewe lamb born Feb. 17, 2011 (registered Finn)

available for adoption

Dam: black trip - lambed at 10 months

Sire: white quad

This is the first lamb of the season and our first Finn lamb.  What a great way to start the season!  49 degrees in the middle of February and an adorable brown ewe to watch.  After watching her and checking Betty to make sure there is milk, no more babies to come out, nursing well and finding the placenta; we decided all was well.

What is it about baby animals that makes it so hard to keep your hands off! 

We are looking for name suggestions and she is available to adopt. 

We checked the other ewes for signs of more lambing.  Looks like little Dewey (my first Finn purchase from Woodspryte Farms) will be getting close to lambing, too!  She has a litter udder and a big round belly.  So, we'll definitely be watching closely for more babies.  Can't wait!! 

Still waiting for the "ewe tube"

"Oh Maggie, when will you lamb?"

This morning when I went to check on Maggie and feed, I saw this look in her eye, that she's ready.  Not really sure if her body is ready but boy oh boy, she's getting wide!  We're still watching and waiting.  It's also about 5 degrees outside this morning so, I'm okay if she waits.  There is a definite increase in her udder and swelling in her girlie parts.....but all we can do is wait. 

Look at that belly!

This last photo is Maggie with her husband, Hemi. 

She was still down, relaxing when I got out this morning...is this a sign she is getting closer?  Or, just more uncomfortable?  We shall see as I am now checking her three times a day in this extremely cold weather.  I am so glad we have the big barn to get out of the elements.