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…
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 …
We’ve had a very unusual May. Usually May is our little bit of summer–the spring winds have died down, the pastures are still green and full of wildflowers, and we have sunny days and lovely long evenings that make me nostalgic for the summers of my childhood, in New York and visiting my cousins in …
Lambing is almost over, and I’ve hardly had a minute to write a blog post this year! We began on February 13, and have had no lambs born for the past two weeks, but we have 5 ewes holding out. We expect them to lamb in the next week or two. My friend Annie is …
Yesterday was one of our miserably windy March days, with gusts so strong anything not nailed down was flying away. It was also a sad day because it was time for my cousin Linda to return to Idaho. After we said goodbye to Linda our minds were taken off it all by a little lamb-storm. …
Yesterday morning Melinda and I found ourselves in a puzzling situation. Our older Romney ewe, Swiss Miss, was in labor for quite a while and not progressing. Finally we decided we needed to investigate. I held Swiss Miss and Melinda examined her and found her cervix fully dilated, but no lamb in the birth canal …
When the new year rolls around it is time to shear the pregnant ewes, so they will be clean of fleece and ready to lamb. Yesterday was the big day for our 41 pregnant ewes, and it was a LONG day for Lolo, Lisa, Melinda and me, and for the ewes also. The day began …
