copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not take content or images from this website without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
Nothing yanks me out of bed as fast as the sound of lamb in distress. That's what I thought I heard at 5:30 a.m. today. Patten Hill is socked in by mist this morning, making it hard to do a head count. But when I arrived in the pasture (above) all was well. But the farm looks like a different place in the fog.
Late yesterday afternoon Holly and I had moved the entire lamb flock with mothers and Crackerjack to the open barn pasture on the west side of the road – the lambs' first experience crossing the street. That alone is a nerve wracking moment, as we're never quite sure if the group will move in unison or will "freak and split". The timing of the UPS truck almost blew it, but we managed to close the gate before anyone had second thoughts. Wish I could have filmed it, but I was holding Crackerjack on lead, a beacon for the lambs.
So I suppose I had my ears open all night, knowing the lambs were in a new place. The fences are tight, but predation is always a possibility lurking in the back of my mind. I was more concerned about a lamb becoming ensnared in grapevine or the tentacles of multi-flora rose. If you look at the shot above on the right you'll see how they love to browse the lower branches of the wild roses and munch away the leaves. But I've had critters get "stuck" and when they do, they panic which only gets them more stuck. I was afraid I might find that when I got here today. But thankfully, no. So I just got to spend a few lovely moments with the lambs in the fog with my camera.
I've split this post into two posts, since it's photo-heavy – and also since I've missed posting this week (having my hands full with scads of new yarn – both the summer and fall shares arriving here at once, egads!). And I'm teaching handspinning for newbies at Webs this weekend which is great fun but intense. I might not have a moment to post again till next week. So enjoy.
xo
copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not take content or images from this website without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
After a stormy weekend, it's always good to get back to our usually scheduled program. As I mentioned last week, we're already well into our rounds of grazing rotation. The flock is divided into several groups based on age and gender.
Caitlyn's charges (top photo), a mixed group of Cormo yearlings and adults are bivouacked in the upper pasture for the moment. The mothers and lambs are centered at the "home farm" pastures – safest and closest to the barns – under Crackerjack's watchful eye. The rams hold the high ground up by the house, their usual summer digs – at a safe distance from the ladies! This year we have a small group of wethers (neutered males) on loan to a friend to maintain his open land. This is an experiment that has gone well so far. The boys are earning their keep.
June is passing so quickly, it will soon be time to think about weaning the lambs. More about that in another post – and I'll have some lamb antics to share, too.
copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not take content or images from this website without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
What a tough call. I waited right up until 9 this morning to decide to postpone our Sheep Shares Members Lamb Visit Open House, although the outlook was bleak from the start. After waking at 6 a.m., sipping coffee to the sound of a torrential downpour and comparing the local news to the weather channel, I gathered we were in for a rocky day, weather-wise. By 8 there were rumbles of thunder. The hour by hour forecast on the Weather Channel showed scattered storms throughout the day. After the severity of the storm just over a week ago, I decided against chancing it. Which was a sure-fire way to guarantee that we'd a have a fairly decent day here after all – though we are still on thunderstorm and tornado watch this evening. Looking outside my window now, the sky is murky grey with scattered ghosts of pink clouds.
Sometimes living in New England drives me nuts. In winter, everything hinges on whether or not we'll get clobbered by the next big storm. The outdoor plans we attempt to make during our all too brief summer are at the mercy of random thunderstorms. My brother tells me southern California is nice, but I'm not sure how well my sheep would like it there : )
The lambs and I missed seeing everyone. And Holly sure did work hard to clean up the barn for company. So we've rescheduled our Sheep Shares members Lamb Visit for Sunday, June 27th, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. I'm hoping that everyone who had planned to join us today can make it and that maybe the new date will be better for those of you who had wanted to attend today but couldn't. We'll look forward to seeing as many of you who can attend - so please let me know if you can join us!
And in case you haven't heard, I've picked up our Summer Yarn and Fiber Shares from the mill – and will have dyed swatches for your perusal soon!
Just remembered – you haven't seen Caitlyn's new haircut!
I found her in a quiet, meditative moment in the upper pasture the other morning, enjoying the warmth of the sun. I love her regal posture, like a monarch surveying her domain. Did you know she was a show llama before she came to us? She came from Heritage Llama Farm in East Longmeadow, MA. Her former owner, Jan, gave me a photo of her sporting a blue ribbon at a show many years ago. Caitlyn's glory days.
If you compare her midriff to her brisket, neck and hind quarters, you'll have some idea of the amount of fiber subtracted by the shears. The barrel cut will keep her much cooler in the summer weather. From the looks of the rest of her fleece, she should have it all come off when we shear her next spring.
Andy and Holly said she was very well behaved during her shearing, unlike Crackerjack. I suspect that's because she was use to being groomed and handled for show, whereas Cracker was lowly, humble gelding, kept as a companion animal. Jan told me he was picked on by everyone at her farm. No wonder he likes his life with my sheep. They adore him. He's their idol.
Tomorrow's the Sheep Shares Members Lamb Visit day here at the farm, weather permitting. I'll post pics for next week. Happy Friday to all.
copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not take content or images from this website without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
It's been a challenging two weeks at the end of one of the most hectic of springs here. After a short hiatus from the farm to help with a family situation. I arrived home to nearly four days without power after last week's severe electrical storm. It's a great excuse for not doing the laundry, but it certainly creates an email back log. It also wreaks havoc on show preparation. I've never missed a Mass. Sheep & Wool Festival and was especially sad to miss this year. Thanks everyone for your concern and for checking in. We're fine – and the sheep are doing just fine too.
In the lee of Memorial Day weekend, we're well into our second grazing rotation on several pastures. Since the early grass gets leggy in a hurry, Holly's been moving the flock along to keep up with the spring growth. Nearly everything is ahead of schedule, in fact I saw a neighbor making first cutting the other day.
The highlight of last week was seeing Mistral bearing weight on her leg, at last. Her joint infection was a tough one to fight – the vet had warned me about that. Although her recovery was slow, she's managed to get about fine, keeping up with her pals Georgia and Garamond. The bottle lambs are not happy campers lately as we're started the weaning process, in hopes that they'll soon be able to head to their new home.
I don't have to tell anyone who lives in New England about the severity of last week's electrical storm. Violent winds tore apart trees and power lines. Because we live in an sparsely populated area, we're often last to get back online. I'm use to this after winter storms, but I can't think of another time when we had to wait 4 days after a thunderstorm for electricity to be restored. With more storms in this week's forecast, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this isn't the start of a pattern for this season. It could make for an exciting summer.
Georgia & Mistral
Shearing llamas is different from shearing sheep. The llamas are haltered and tied in a pen where there's not much room to dance around (but they dance anyway). They stand the entire time. Sheep are seated on their fannies for the whole thing.
Andy can shear anything that grows fiber. For the llamas he usually does a "barrel cut" – which means just shearing the midriff from behind the shoulders to the waistband. It kind of looks like a poodle cut. Caitlyn got a barrel cut. I forgot to take my camera to pasture today but will try to remember to take a pic tomorrow so you can see how it looks.
Every few years, a llama's fleece has accumulated so much dust, debris and farmyard ech that everything comes off, head to toe. This year was Crackerjack's turn to get the "full monty". He screamed, kicked and spit prodigious amounts of vile smelling green slime all over the place (but not on us!) the entire time. I felt so sorry for him. I'm sure he'd be really upset if he knew I posted this photo. But I think it makes him look so young and adorable. And so much smaller.
Their fleeces are usable for handspinning – but really nothing special. Aside from the dirt and bits of straw and chaff (llamas take dust baths and when there's no dust, they like to roll in the straw), the fleeces have a fair amount of coarse guard hairs mixed in among the finer fiber. I suppose I could have the fleeces dehaired which would make them nicer, but I'm not sure they're clean enough to make it worth the work. Both Cracker and Caitlyn are far more comfortable now that the days are warming again.
copyright 2009. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not take content or images from this website without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
Mistral
Mistral, Georgia and Garamond moved back to the big barn this week and are now free to romp and roam with the others. Lots of crazy leaping about when we moved them back into the main pen, then they raced the length of the barn with the rest of the rowdy bunch. Mistral has become quite agile romping on three legs, though still favoring her left front. She's finishing a course of antibiotics and then we'll see how she does. It's hard to take a good picture of her – her features get lost in all that black wool. But she is very pretty, fine boned and long-legged, whereas Georgia is stocky and lower to the ground.
The exciting news is that someone wants to adopt the three of them! Georgia, Garamond and Mistral will soon be part of a small flock program for teaching children about farm animals. I can't think of three lambs who would enjoy being the center of attention more. And they get to stay together, another big plus. Since I don't want Mistral to leave my farm until her leg has completely mended, you'll still be able to visit them here for a while longer. It was really tough making up my mind to part with them. Hard not to get attached to three lambs who have been sharing my house part time. Since they've become pets and they adore attention, they will love their new home. I'm confident that they will be spoiled.
Georgia
Garamond
Mishka is looking much brighter this week. She's found her appetite and had decided the low-protein, renal diet is A-ok. Just found out they make low protein dog treats, too, so we'll be stocking up on those. Golden Retrievers are incredibly food-focused and in this house we're pretty liberal with snacks between meals. So now she won't feel deprived. I really appreciated your supportive comments and good wishes while she was in the hospital last weekend. We're all so glad to have her home.
Today the big boys had pedicures and coat changes. Mike and Andy knocked off that messy project this afternoon. The boys have huge feet with extra-gnarly, heavy-duty hooves. My little hands are almost not strong enough to power the hoof shears through the thick outer wall of their hooves. I can manage one or two, but then my hands cramp up since hoof shears are designed for larger hands.
I have a pair of little pruning shears that fit my hands well and they're great for doing the yearlings, lambs and smaller ewes. But not the big guys. There's no way I can do feet on a dozen 250 lb sheep in one session. Amazing how much "foot" they've grown since shearing day last March, the last time we did pedi's. I'd show you picture, but it's nasty, smelly work. Take my word for it.
Come back tomorrow to see some funny shots of shorn llamas.
copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not content or images without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
Friday was a monster work day. And since I was preoccupied with Mishka's progress at the animal hospital and getting the last of Sheep Shares finally out the door, Holly and Andy tackled everything on their own: shearing (border leicesters, llamas, goats), deworming everyone, hoof trimming. All the spring flock maintenance tasks that could possibly get rolled into one day. I'm so grateful for their help, since I'm both physically and emotionally drained after the events of the last four weeks.
Ben Barnhart was on hand to snap some photos for future projects. The border leicester fleeces are spectacular. I love they way they peel off like glossy robes of ringlets. I'll be entering four of them in the fleece show at the Mass. Sheep & Wool Festival on May 29 & 30th, along with some Cormo and Moorit fleeces.
(I should mention here that my Border Leicester flock is for sale – a downsizing measure so I can focus on producing fine wool. If you know anyone within a two hour drive of western Mass. who may be interested in a fiber flock that's won numerous fleece awards, I'd appreciate it if you'd direct them to my blog.)
And now a word about my girl:
Mishka is home and resting comfortably. While the crew was busy in the carriage barn on Friday, I was on and off the phone with the head of the veterinary hospital. The short and sweet version of the story – Mishka is in the early stages of kidney disease. To the credit of the staff at the Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital of South Deerfield, she's doing worlds better than she was a few days ago. It means a number of lifestyle changes: diet, meds and routine to keep her feeling good for as long as we can. She wasn't discharged until very late Friday, but man, was she ever so happy to get in the car when I went to pick her up.
Today she's behaving more like her normal self, rolling in a smelly pile of sheep droppings after breakfast this morning. A good sign.
Will post some Mistral shots and an update on the rest of the lambs this week.
Mistral is getting antsy in the milk room where she, Georgia and Garamond have shared a pen since Sunday. That's a good sign. Although her leg is still tender (see how she's holding it off the ground?), she's found her appetite for hay and her temp is down. When she was really sick, all she wanted was the bottle. But at five weeks old, she really should be making the shift to hay and grain. I'm glad to see she's finally heading in the right direction. It's now a question of how well her leg can mend. In the meantime, she's incredibly agile on three legs. I have really appreciated your encouraging words during this rocky week. Thanks for rooting for her!
Just as we seem to be pulling out of the woods, another set back: one of my two golden retrievers landed in the veterinary hospital yesterday.Several days ago, "Mishka" my eleven year old baby went off food, followed by vomiting and lethargy. Mike and I could see that she really wasn't herself, so I took her for an examination. Because her symptoms are so vague, They're running a barrage of tests, ultrasounds, e.k.g.'s, you name it. I hope to learn more later today. Early signs point to issues with kidney function – and I'm afraid to know the extent of what that means.
After the week I've just had with Mistral, can't believe I'm dealing with another animal crisis. Mishka just doesn't look or act like an old dog, so this is a huge wake up call. Spent an hour visiting her at the hospital yesterday. She hates it there. When I took her for a walk outside, she made a bee-line to the parking lot, going from car to car until she found hers. She looked at me and the message was clear: "Home. NOW!" . Poor girl.
Tomorrow is a big day. We're shearing border leicesters, goats and llamas and doing general flock maintenance on everyone else. I'm really fortunate that Holly and Andy can carry on with or without me, since I may need to be with someone else who needs me. Please hold a good thought.
Mishka
