First lambs of 2017

But first some pretty yarn that I've been working on. . .

This is a before shot.  I bought 2 batts of this at the 2016 All Missouri Spin In.  I can't really remember the vendor and they didn't give a content list.  i'm not sure what the wool is in it, but I think the shiny white may be mohair or silk?  It was my first time spinning from a batt and I have to say I did enjoy it. 

  I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to make of this.  I'm calling it Lavender Glory and it ended up about 330 yards. 

  I also put some eggs in the incubator, we are now a week into the 21 day period. In a few more days, I'll check for development in the eggs.  About a dozen Buff Orpington eggs went in with some eggs leftover from my parent's incubator filling; a few silver laced Wyandotte and some bantum somethings. LOL.

ONTO WHAT YOU'RE WAITING FOR
!!!  BABIES!!!

Saturday, March 11 in the late morning Dusk delivered of twins.  The little black is a ewe and to reveal my 2017 naming theme is Daytona.  Yep, Nascar racetracks and it only seemed fitting for the first ewe to be named after the season's first race. 

The white is a little ram.  We're holding off on naming ram lambs this year until we have the ewes all delivered.  We will be keeping 1 ram lamb to be show stock for this year and next.  Extras will either be for sale or be butchered.  I already doubt this little guy will be butchered though, as I've already had some interest in purchasing him if he comes for sale.

It's hard work being born!

With 5 more ewes that all look bred, stay tuned for more lambs!

Remembering Maggie . . .

This post remembers Maggie.  She was one of our 1st ewes and lived to the ripe old age of 12, which is pretty good for a sheep.  She died in her sleep, curled up in her favorite spot.  I noticed her acting a bit slower than normal the past couple of weeks and I guess it finally caught up with her. 

The above picture is how I'll always remember Maggie, coming to the fence for chin scratches or grain, whichever was handy.  She will live on in her daughters and granddaughters.  Some pictures below.

 Loretta - 2015 daughter

 Lynn - 2015 daughter

 Dolly - 2015 Granddaughter

 Dawn - 2014 daughter, also showing at birth George and Tammy 2016 granddaughter and grandson being kept.  Dawn is also the mother of Dolly above.

Just in time

Looks like I baby proofed the chicken pen just in time!

3 pochins & 1 cochin so far.  Momma is still sitting on a few eggs & the other aunt should be due in about 2 more weeks.

Baby proofing

Baby chickens that is.  As you know, in the spring I let a hen hatch out 3 pochin chicks. Unfortunately they managed to find a hole that had been torn in the netting previously surrounding my chicken pen to prevent younger chicks from getting out.  My barn cats quickly decided that since these where not in the pen they were fair game for dinner during hunting lessons. 

In the last 2 weeks i had both my black pochin & black polish decide to sit. So it was time to re-baby proof the pen. 

This time with some good chicken wire zip tied along the fence & stapled into the house.  Hopefully this will keep the future hatch safe. I'm pretty hopeful about this hatch of mostly pochins as i plan on  keeping them for replacement layers. 

County Fair Results

So our county fair was last week.  Randolph County fair, you may have seen us! This was our first year showing our animals & we had a great time! 

 Our silkie rooster placed 3rd in a class of 8 in roosters 1 year & older. 

Our hen placed 3rd in a class of 9 in hens 1 year & older.  The judge was very detailed & helpful.  He gave us some good tips on what to improve in our stock. 

 Fluffy Girl made 3 projects for achievement night.  A poster of colors & markings for her Horseless Horse, which received blue.  A nice travel chicken cage for Chickens, also a blue. Then pictured is the recycled jeans hay bag for Sheep, which not only received blue but also best of show & was chosen to be displayed at the Missouri State Fair!

In 4h, they use a slightly different ribbon system.  A blue ribbon means that the member has done a job & learned to the best of their ability.  It rewards the honest effort of doing their best! They also award the animal shows this way.    A red ribbon is when a judge feels the member has not put their best efforts into their animal or project.  A white is the lowest & pretty well explains itself at this point. 

  Here's our Kenny, the Randolph County in-county reserve champion ram! He earned a nice blanket for this honor.  

Here's a picture of the shetland ewe championship class. The left is Minnie Pearl, our jr ewe lamb as reserve champion shetland ewe.  The right is Loretta, our yearling & champion shetland ewe. 

 This is a nice picture of Loretta & Fluffy Girl during their lead line class.  I made her skirt from sheep to shawl from Loretta's fleece this spring.  She will be added to the breeding group this fall. 

 All loaded & ready to go home! We had a great time at the fair!  They were very supportive of our different little sheep!  We brought home some nice prizes.  We tried to be good breed ambassadors & educate all the people interested in our guys!

Next up Missouri State Fair on August 13 for 4 of our sheep!  If you're there please find us & say hi! 

Busy time

Whew! We've been busy getting ready for our county fair. It seems like we've done so much, but I don't have many pictures to show for it.  LOL.  Achievement night is tomorrow night and we're all ready with our projects.  Fluffy Girl made a travel chicken pen, a hay bag from old jeans, and a poster showing horse colors & some markings.  I'll post pictures with our results in a few days. The important thing is she had very little help & did her best.

We washed our 2 white silkies yesterday so they would be clean & fluffy for the show Tuesday morning.

On a note about chickens, my lovely little cochin hatched 3 blue silkie chicks! 

We worked on more halter training with the lambs. 

We also did a bit of blackberry picking.  We got a nice gallon with easy picking, but haven't had a chance to go again yet.  

That's it for now.  I'll have a post of Fluffy Girl's leadline outfit.  I spun & crocheted her skirt from Loretta's fleece. But I'm going to wait until I can get a picture of her & Loretta together at the show. 

Weaning Day

Here's the nice before picture.  Everybody is happy & enjoying their hay. While they were eating, I made sure the yearling ewe pen was little-proofed. We didn't want any small holes for them to get out of. Then with some gate help from Fluffy Girl, I caught them & Camo Dad transferred them to their new home. 

It's hard to tell but they are NOT happy! The open mouths are crying babies. It's hard to imagine it from the video but within an hour they had settled down.  I moved them into the yearling ewe pen so they would have older company & it seems to have worked well. 

Here's a video so you can hear how mad they were! 

Then Fluffy Girl worked with Kenny practicing for the show ring.  He's been great to work with.  He's friendly yet respectful of your space. He will be for sale this year after the Missouri State Fair in August. Fluffy Girl wanted me to share a video of them working. 

Weekly update

So no good pictures from the last week.  The whole family has been running around with softball, 4h, and the other things life throws at you.  LOL. We've had a few games going on.  I'm glad I've only got 1 kid playing instead of 2 or 3. I have friends who live at the ballpark.  We had a 4h meeting & are busy getting ready for show season.

Saturday found Fluffy Girl & I at MU vet school for state poultry day.  A good seminar on eggs including safety & nutrition and other information was presented. We learned about USDA grading on chicken carcasses. The rest of the morning was spent with junior & senior judging of eggs, live chickens, & carcasses. Fluffy Girl being a first year, spent that time learning about judging those things.  They provided a nice lunch followed by a quiz bowl. Fluffy Girl did compete on a junior team with 2 friends.  They lost,  but we were proud that they even tried.  I think they were the youngest team.  She also lost a tooth right before their turn.  LOL.

We spent Sunday at a family reunion for Camo Dad's grandfather's family.  Fluffy Girl enjoyed playing with her cousins until we had to go home to rest a bit before softball practice.

We've spent a lot of time trying to keep cool in this Missouri heat & humidity. It's so true when they say "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." I spent some time in Oklahoma when I was younger.  The temperatures were similar, but Missouri is sooo much more humid!  I, personally love heat but sweating through your shirt when you haven't done anything is hard.

My big concern has been the rabbits.  Angora rabbits are cold weather animals & can heat stroke  easily. They're in open cages & are in the shade all day and have plenty of water available.  The sheep are actually pretty ok as long as they have shade & plenty of water.

The heat wave continues this week.  We have 3 whole evenings at home this week before our next game on Friday. Hopefully I can get some ongoing projects finished.  LOL.

I almost forgot my other big news!  Stay Fluffed Farm is on Instagram as of yesterday! Don't forget to follow us for instant updates! Here's the few pictures I do have.

 Mama cat, Ruby continues to hold hunting lessons.  This is the 2nd bird & 2 frogs that have been brought to my porch. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to get rid of the leftovers.  LOL. 

 I cut the last of our heirloom lettuce.  It's so hot now that until fall lettuce tastes bitter.  

 Here's a good picture of the kids learning how to judge a class of post production hens. 

Another New And A New Harecut

 Meet Cocoa. She was found in town running loose. So we took her in.  My hopes are that she's a young rabbit & will get full size to use in a meat rabbit program. Our best guess is that she was an Easter present. 

 Here's Miss Elizabeth with a mostly done haircut. Feeling better already! 

 Woo Hoo! My stock racks are done! Camo Dad had these made for me in trade for an old stock trailer that needed repairs.  We decided that racks would suit our needs better than a trailer.

 I didn't get pictures of the whole process, but mama cat, Ruby brought up a frog today.  She waited until the kittens were interested then let him go.  After he got away from the littles, she caught him & brought him back to them.  This occured a couple times until he stayed caught. Pictured is the girl that's a copy of Ruby. This may sound mean, but this is how kittens learn to hunt.  Ruby is a great hunter & I will be keeping the other girl for an additional farm cat.  I have/had another cat but I'm pretty sure she has another family on the side.  LOL! She comes & goes & we really need another hunter on the farm. 

My New Horse ?

About a month ago my mother sold a gelding she had & then bought a grade paint mare. This mare was a bit sick & needed some tlc, so mom brought her home thinking that even if she couldn't be rode again she may be able to produce some nice foals. She had something like bronchitis for horses. She is feeling much better now & beenhad a test ride a couple weeks ago & did well. So yesterday we were back out to ride & grabbed her up.  From the first ride i felt she needed a bit change.  We used a straight snaffle that's a little heavier than the normal.  Her previous owners said they used a snaffle.  She acted very uncomfortable with the bit, which may have been the slightly extra weight; but was also fairly unresponsive to it.  So this time out i tried a lightweight Tom thumb bit.  I didn't get a picture of it,  but it's a little stronger bit than a snaffle but this was a different material than the other bit so was a little lighter in weight.  WHAT A DIFFERENCE! She was comfortable with it & completely responsive to my signals. I rode a bit in the saddle & then took her bareback.

I love to ride bareback! Just to ride around or trail ride, this is my choice! I grew up riding bareback for a couple of reasons. First, my mother always felt safer this way for if I fell off I wouldn't get caught in stirrups. True fact, i fell off . . . A lot.  LOL. Second, this made me a better rider, developing better balance & a feel for what my horse was telling me. Third, i didn't need help putting a saddle on.  Once I learned to properly bridle the horse,  i climbed on & went.

So here are a few pictures that i bribed my family to take for me.  Meet Star!

 I have no idea why she was named Star.  As you can see, she has no "star" markings. LOL. So I've decided it's SuperStar! Also not sure why she's parked out when she's standing in these pictures.  Maybe she thinks she's a Saddlebred? LOL.

 And once again, Fluffy Girl had to try the horse I was riding. LOL this has happened a few times.  I'm glad she's getting confident, but may have to hold tight to this horse.  LOL. 

Productive Weekend

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday. There were the usual plentiful household chores that needed done so I decided to work outside.  LOL. I did actually get some laundry done.  Including the comforters & hung them on the line to fresh dry! My favorite! I also finished up some yarn that was spun & let it dry outside as well.  The left is the polwarth that i bought as a dyed roving. The right is some very special shetland for a personal project. The fleece is the only shearing I was able to get from a ewe named Beauty. I bought her as a bred ewe & she didn't stick.  Before i could breed her back last summer she fell sick from a bad infection. I nursed her for 3 days before she passed. She was my friendliest ewe with a great personality.  So with no lambs & only 1 fleece.  There's a part of it.

Then i did a little scissor shearing on Lynn who decided to act like a terror who had never been touched.  LOL. 

 Before, well barely started anyway. 

 after with a Dolly photo bomb. 

All three of these girls also needed a hoof trim.

 these are my trimmers. Thanks Mom for the great present!

 Here's Dolly sitting for her pedicure.

 Here's a good picture of Dolly's foot with 1 side trimmed & the other not. Sheep & goats need their feet trimmed on s regular basis similar to horses & people. Done properly this doesn't hurt them at all.  Generally speaking trimmings are done around 4 months. However many people keep a rock pile for their sheep or goats to walk on keeping their hooves worn down naturally.  As I don't have the fencing finished, I trim. 

 This is my thanks from Loretta for keeping her feet healthy.  She kicked just as I went to cut. I stabbed my own thumb. It bled way more than I thought it should & I ended up having to pause my trimming to clean & bandage it. 

Sunday brought another beautiful day.  I helped a friend with dog trimming they needed done. I came home and worked on Dolly's fleece shearing. 

 Here's a partial done picture. 

 I also worked on as cotswold cross fleece that was sheared in 2014. I've done a bit with this fleece & it gives a nice spin with some of the signature shine that cotswold has.  I've got it all skirted & seperated into locks. Now I will work on getting it all washed. I plan on offering some dyed & spun for sale. But I'm going to do 1 skein for myself to take to the Blue Party at Hillcreek Fiber Studeo in June & dye with a natural Saxon blue.