Archives for fiber farm

Sheep Afield

June 8, 2010 | 6 Comments

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
Read More

Lovely Llama

June 4, 2010 | 10 Comments

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,
Read More

Llama Minus Pajamas

May 20, 2010 | 23 Comments

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
Read More

Bottle Lamb Update

May 18, 2010 | 15 Comments

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
Read More

Shearing Day and Some Good News

May 16, 2010 | 16 Comments

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
Read More

Mistral

May 8, 2010 | 31 Comments

It seems it's a good thing I didn't go to New Hampshire this weekend, as Mistral has given me reason to be concerned. What started as a mild limp a few days ago has progressed to swelling in her left front leg. She can't bear any wait on it. After watching her barely able to keep up with the others in the rain in the pasture this morning, I've brought her into the studio for the day. Although I made a little corner in the kitchen with hay and some grain, she's mostly interested in resting where she can keep
Read More

Sunday’s Lambs

May 2, 2010 | 9 Comments

Time for Sunday visitors. The lambs enjoyed their first outing into the yard surrounding my studio this morning. The bottle lambs followed me in the front door and stormed right into the kitchen demanding lunch. Fun! Hope you're enjoying this lovely weekend. 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.
Read More

Lambi-dextrous!

May 1, 2010 | 5 Comments

Bottle lambs, from left to right: Mistral, Garamond, Georgia There's no asking three ravenous bottle lambs to take turns, so I approach each feeding equipped with three bottles. Which makes this little trio very happy. A little tricky getting started, though, as they're all lunging at once for the nipples. I end up dropping a bottle or squirting milk all over their faces. It's time to cut back on the amount of each feeding to encourage them to explore other dining options. I just today purchased another 50 lb. bag of powdered lamb milk replacement and that stuff is
Read More

Morning Chores!

April 27, 2010 | 7 Comments

Some of the lambs are getting a little tubby. Time to adjust the spacing on the creep panel. Holly had some help from Verbena's triplets: Georgia, Garamond and Gigi. 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.
Read More

Lunch with Mistral – Video

April 26, 2010 | 13 Comments

Here's an update on Mistral. As you can see from today's video, she's getting leggy and also filling out quite a bit. In the barn, she's fitting in well with the other lambs, racing and exploring the pasture. I saw her sampling hay at dinnertime yesterday, a very good sign that she's on the right path. It's not unusual for bottle lambs to be very keyed in to people but it's been years since I've had a lamb this imprinted on me. I think spending her first night in my bed may have had something to do with it. She
Read More