Tag Archives: Pets

Tag Day!

The new Vet came out today to take care of tagging the lambs’ ears and banding their tails and (for the boys) testicles. The boys weren’t overly pleased with the process, but the ewe lambs were vocally pissed.  They threw themselves on the ground, flailing about and yelling as though the world were ending.

In reality, they were fine.  A bit of initial discomfort, and then their tails (and testes) go numb.  The blood stops flowing to those extremities and they become dessicated and fall off. In fact, by the time we did evening chores they had gotten over it completely.

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Don’t they look spiffy with their new tags?

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Bennett with her boys, Keswick and Brunswick.

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Lamb pile on Wren!

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Wimbledon.

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Miss Wembley, looking mighty pleased with herself after throwing an epic post-tagging tantrum.

The vet gave all these beasts (seriously, they’re HUGE) a clean bill of health and approved putting them out into the pasture this weekend.  We’ll be letting the goats out first to test the fences (juuuuust in case.  If there’s a weakness, goats will find and exploit it) overnight and if all goes well, the babies and mamas will be frolicking on fresh green tomorrow night!


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Saturday in Lambs

I cannot believe how fast the lambs are growing! They seem huge to me now!

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Wembley is quite a character out there (and yes, they have all started nibbling on hay already!).  She enjoys hopping on top of the dog house and chewing on clothing.

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You can’t turn your back on that one!

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Everybody loves a good lamby cuddle.

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That X!

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Who, us? Troublemakers?

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Wembley the nibbler strikes again!

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Some of the lambs are already getting too big for Oona to pick up.  Actually, I struggled a bit picking up Staunton today.  We’re trying to enjoy their little-ness while we can; soon they’ll be headed into the general population with their mamas, and after that, everyone will be put out of the winter pen onto……..GRASS!!!!!!

Yes, we are finally getting nice and green in the pasture.  I can’t even tell you how happy this makes everyone.  I can’t wait to look out and see a happy flock grazing on grass.

 


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Lamb Update

At the last update we had 9 lambs.  At the conclusion, we have 15.  It’s quite a nice number; we could have wound up with so many more.  As it turns out, there were ewes that we thought were bred that were not, and not many twinned.

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Our last lamb to arrive, Esmont (ram)!  He is Margaret’s lamb.

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Knightsbridge.  See his “X”?  It kills me!  He and his twin Wimbledon are Lyra’s babies.

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Cant enough enough of him!

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Perivale, a ewe lamb born to Bootes.  Neve calls her “Bat Lamb” because of the coloring around her eyes.  She’s technically colored flock since her mama is a colored ewe and she’s not completely white.

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More “Bat Lamb”!

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Keswick.  He and his twin, Brunswick, are Bennett’s babies.

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Jubilee and her hilarious ears, with Brunswick peeking out from behind Esmont.

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Staunton and Chesapeake.

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Yeardley.

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More Jubilee.  Because I couldn’t help it.

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This was the best picture I could get of Wimbledon; he kept nursing off of Willoughby, who is decidedly NOT his mama.  She didn’t seem to mind.

As I’ve mentioned before, the best time to check in on lambcam is after 6 pm.  That’s when they have their “play time”.  It’s really not to be missed!

 


Tagged: Farm, Pets

More Adorable Than We Can Handle

We are up to 14 lambs, with one ewe left to go.  We were prepared for lots and lots of babies, but many of our ladies did not twin, which has been a blessing.  We are pretty tired from taking care of all of these adorable babies and their mamas!

Even so, the adorable levels here have gone through the roof and it’s hard to not be out playing with them and watching them frolic ALL THE TIME!

Today our friend Lisa came with her little one to meet the lambs and took some pictures for us.

Thanks, Lisa!

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If you’ve been watching lambcam, the best time is  evening (after 6 pm).  That’s when the lambs get playful and will run and jump around.

 

 

 

 


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Lamb Count

Nine lambs born and five ladies yet to lamb.

Picadilly and Paddington

Piccadilly and Paddington

Jubilee

Jubilee

Stauton

Staunton

Galax and Monticello

Galax and Monticello

Yeardley

Yeardley

Paddington

Paddington

Chesapeake

Chesapeake

Wembley

Wembley


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Spring Slam

It’s that time of spring where it’s really crunchtime.  SO much work to be accomplished before the true heat of summer hits.

It also happens to be lambing season!

Even though I am completely exhausted (We check on our ewes and lambs every two to three hours around the clock), I’ve been managing to still get a fair amount of work done.

We took delivery of hay yesterday:

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It’s gorgeous.  This picture does not even do justice to how soft and green it is.  It smells heavenly, and I imagine it tastes it as well.

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The goslings and ducks have graduated out of the brooder and into the poultry tractor so they can roam around on fresh grass.  Pretty soon they will have a big pen out back with a giant water tub to swim in.

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Wild irises are growing up around the edges of the stream (I am crazy happy for these lovely volunteers!).

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My blueberry bush is fruiting!  If I can manage it soon I will be putting in a peach tree or two as well, to compliment the three apple trees we planted last year (yes, we have many years to wait before they fruit, but it will be worth it when they do!).  I also managed to put in two basil plants, and if all goes well later this week I will add two more plus some lavender and rosemary bushes.

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Neve and I put down straw in the front garden along all of the pathways to discourage weeds, and I managed to get all of my bean poles staked and roped for the beans and peas that have sprouted.

I leveled out a spot next to the beehive for our second hive, which is going in on Tuesday (eventually I have to level out the first one as well!).  The first hive is crazy productive and I  had to add a third hive box on top since they’ve already used up the first two!

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I cannot wait for our first honey harvest!  Speaking of which, one of my new favorite things is to watch the bees returning to the hive laden with pollen:

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They are very docile bees.  I have their hive situated in my garden, and I have been spending a lot of time quite close by them weeding and working with spring plants, and they haven’t bothered with me one bit.

I haven’t gotten to the back garden yet, but that will be squash and tomatoes, and the growing season for them is longer than for the spring crops out front, so I still have a little bit of wiggle room.  When I am not quite so cranky and tired I will get out there and get that started (hopefully within in the next 4 or 5 days).

In the meantime, the best part of our days (and nights) is cooing over (and snuggling) all the little cuties we’ve been blessed with so far.

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I can’t think of a cuter reason to be so tired!  Six lambs, roughly 9 pregnant ewes left.  Let’s get this done!

 

 


Tagged: Farm, food, Garden, Pets, Seasons

Surprise Lamb

I’m going to steal Susan’s blog post again – it’s sooooo much easier than running back in the house, cleaning myself off and writing one myself!

A lamb made its way into the world while we were at Tractor Supply.  And I thought for sure my two sheep would lamb before any of Susan’s sheep did, but nooooooooo.

 

by Susan on May 15, 2014

Amy came home from the feed store and found this little surprise awaiting her.

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photo 5Another ram lamb, born to Georgia this afternoon. We’re calling this one Stauton, because Austin Val asked.


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Farm Fresh Lambs!

We’ve had a lot going on here lately, and I’m going to let Susan tell you all about it (from her blog post today):

Amy and Neve welcomed two new members of the flock yesterday! Twin ram lambs made their appearance between 10:30 and midnight last night. Both are in great shape, as is there mama, Willoughby.

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The winners of our naming convention vote were Pat Hommel with Virginia Place Names and Kari Bahana, who nominated London Underground Stations. We have chosen to name the Cormo lambs Virginia Places and the Colored lambs for the underground stations, which meant that Pat and her family got to name these two lovelies.

May I present to you, Monticello and Galax, the first member of our 2014 flock.


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Udder Checks

We’re just a few short weeks away from our lambing window, but I’m already keeping an eye on the ewes’ udders and hoo-has.  There shouldn’t be anyone lambing earlier than May 4, but I feel most comfortable when I can get a really good feel for how everyone looks and how they are acting leading up to the event. This helps better notice subtle changes that occur so I know when I should be out every two hours and when I can get some sleep.

Of course, Susan and I have been plenty surprised by sheep and goats alike that show zero sign of impending labor and then are nursing their babes next time we check them!

Right now udders and teats are easy to see since the ladies have been sheared, and though there’s no significant “bagging up” of their udders, they are becoming just the slightest big bigger every day.

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They are getting wider and wider every day, too!

Occasionally just after feeding time I can sit with Piper and rest my head or hands on her belly and feel a little kicking in there.

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Wren’s udder hasn’t enlarged very much, but her teats have been getting fatter and more pronounced.

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This lady has been looking wide, but there’s not much udder or teat development.  This could mean that either she was bred a lot later than some of the others, or it could just be that she won’t bag up at all until she lambs.  Sometimes they do that.

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Just like any other mammal, no two sheep are alike, no two pregnancies are alike, no two lambings are alike.  Some get all dramatic, some are quiet and reserved. Some bag up huge way ahead of time, others never bag up at all.

There is one way they are all alike, however.

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They don’t like me checking out their backsides.  They are very suspicious of this activity, and will quickly turn and sniff at my face (or camera).

It’s going to be an interesting mix of lambs this year: our ram was a white Border Leicester.  Some of the ewes are colored Border Leicester.  Some of the ewes are white Cormo.  And yet other ewes are a mix of Cormo and Southdown. I can’t wait to see how the babies turn out!

As for lambcam (which I know everyone is waiting for!) we are waiting on some new equipment, but it will absolutely be working before the lambs come. We’ll let y’all know when it’s back up.


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Spring 2014 Shearing Party

Another shearing party, come and gone!

Yesterday’s super laid-back party may have been my favorite one yet (aside from the absence of several people that shearing just isn’t right without).

There was plenty of food, beautiful weather, a great new venue, and lots of friendly faces!  For us, not having too much going on to worry about made it easier to enjoy, and we were free to spend more time talking to the people that came out to see us.

Since we had fewer animals with us to shear, Emily was free to take it a little slower and entertained the crowd with anecdotes and explanations about the various fleece types and how the animals react to being sheared (hint: they really don’t).

Unfortunately, Susan was laid up in bed as-per doctor’s orders, but Mike brought her along via Skype and she got to see how we were doing at various points throughout the day. It was pretty strange not having her there, but we had some extra help in our good friend Trina, along with her daughter, Rachel, and Maddie brought her friend Hanna to help as well.

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Paul, Trina, and Rachel.  I couldn’t have managed without these three.

Because we had rented a pole barn in the county park there were plenty of people out who just happened by either walking their dogs (always a bit dicey for us) and riding horses (the park has quite a lot of trails for horseback riding).   It made for a pretty varied group.

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Susan sent samples of the newest Juniper Moon Farm yarn for everyone to try out.  (My favorite is Marlowe!)

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The kids were very entertained by the animals.  Emily made sure they got to pet them before and after their “haircuts”.

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Emily patiently answered questions, explaining that shearing doesn’t hurt the animals one bit, and that they are bred to relax when handled properly (key word: properly).  It’s something that those of us who see them every day know already, and forget that not everyone else is aware of it.

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I hope everyone who came out had as much fun as we did, and that we were able to answer everyone’s questions.

Trina took a lot of fabulous pictures all day and they are posted on the Facebook Shearing Party page, HERE.

 


Tagged: Farm, Pets