Back when we were running a sheep dairy, shearing day was something to be endured, for the health of the sheep. But now that we have a fiber-based business, shearing day is the most important day of the year. Last Thursday was one of two of our annual shearing days; we sheared our 46 bred …
We lost our beloved ram, Mitt the Romney, today and everyone on the ranch took it pretty hard…
Visitors to our ranch often hear the story behind those concrete objects in our pastures. Yes, they are definitely favorite play-structures for our lambs, but their history goes back to the early days of the last century, in the early days of radio, when our ranch was owned by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, and …
Looks like we are headed for a lamb bonanza this year! We bred 46 ewes and expected about 35 to be pregnant, as our pregnancy rate has been about 75% every year since we started with the fiber sheep, whose fertility is not as high as the East Friesian dairy sheep. But the fertility gods …
As the rainy season begins and the ranch comes alive with new growth, it is the time of year to sow seeds, apply compost and plant trees, all practices that sequester carbon and improve the health of our soil. Last year we applied compost and seed to about 35 acres of cattle pasture, and planted …
Our fleeces did really well at the California National Wool Show at the Mendocino County Fair last weekend. I entered 12 fleeces from our Romney, Corriedale and Cormo/Corriedale sheep and every fleece won a first, second or third. Brownie’s fleece got Supreme Grand Champion handspinner fleece, and Judge’s choice handspinner fleece. Judging from how Brownie …
Our fleeces did really well yesterday at the wool judging at the Monterey County Fair! Dale, our awesome Corriedale ram, took first place in the Corriedale class, and won Reserve Champion in the Breed division, competing against the first-place of all the breeds. In the Romney class, Sky King’s and Blossom’s lovely charcoal-grey fleeces took …
