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.

Catching up

Once again, I have been a bad blogger!  Time sure can get away from you when you're having fun and being busy!

Breeding season started a bit earlier this year.  Niles went in with the girls in October & will stay there through December at least, maybe January.  This means that we could, hopefully have babies as early as March.  It was a tough decision for us.  I like the April babies that we've had before because the weather is so much nicer & reliable.  March here in Missouri can be very up & down & we've had late March snowstorms.  BUT, I chose Shetlands because they are very hearty & good mothers.  I also felt this would be better for the showing lambs, letting them have a little extra time to grow & such before going to the fairs in the summer.  Last year, being a learning experience, we weaned our lambs at 10 weeks, right about.  They only had 3 weeks before they went to their first fair & it would have been less if we had hit the first fairs in our area.  Now, they were well weaned, etc.  But I wondered if it would be better for them to have a bit more time to grow & get worked with away from mommas.  So, we're trying March lambs.  IF somebody didn't take the first time, well that's why we're leaving Niles in there longer.  If for whatever reason one of the ewes didn't stick until later, that's ok. Better to have a late baby than no baby.

The other exciting thing was our end of the year
county wide 4H recognition banquet.  We are so proud to say that Fluffy Girl was the county top 8 year old girl, as well as winning the quality of life award!  She had to write a short essay on her 4H projects & how they incorporated into our lives & making them better.  Naturally, our sheep helped. LOL.  The top 8 year old was chosen based on 4H involvement throughout the first year.  She received the beautiful doll with her award, name & year embroidered on it for the top 8 year girl and a lovely 4H cookbook with a clover cookie cutter for quality of living award.

Our 4H club was chosen the outstanding club and Randolph county received special recognition as being the top county in Missouri during the state fair in sheep.  The county received a nice plaque & all the sheep kids were given a nice feed bag sack.  We had several other winners & mentions from our club.  Very proud of our kids & the families supporting them!



I had my black pochin decide to be broody last month so I let her sit thinking she would break with the cold weather approaching.  But to be on the safe side I put my last 5 silkie eggs under her from my black pen.  I lost my lovely splash silkie hen just before this. :(  I also bought 3 NICE young chicks from a good breeder just a few weeks ago.  They were still a bit young to be outside so up the brooder went again.  Good thing because just as the weather finally decided to get cold last weekend I had chicks start hatching!  I hated to do it, but with cold weather here I took them away from my hens & brought them in.  3 little silkies & 1 cochin & I think we're done.  We'll now have chicks in the house for the winter. LOL.
  Big happening on the nature front!  Fluffy Girl's first deer!!!  A nice button-buck taken with 1 shot at 100 yards!  Our family motto growing up was, "You kill it, you clean it."  However Camo Dad and I don't quite trust her with a knife yet.  So he did the cutting & she did the gutting!  I'm happy to report it didn't bother her a bit.  She was a little concerned about that before the hunt, as a boy at school got a deer & reported the gutting as "disgusting"  LOL.

Missouri State Fair results

We had a GREAT time at the fair!  We only did the 4H breeding sheep show, but are already planning on staying for the open show next year!  We hope we represented our breed well.  There were many people interested in our little guys.  My only regret was forgetting business cards for people!  Pictures & results below!  Our Shetlands were shown in All Other Wool Breeds against some very nice ramboullets!!!  The girls showing the ramboullets were amazing young ladies that were very helpful!  In fact we met so many helpful people there! 

 

 

Little Conway earned 2nd place in the Jr Ram Lamb class.

 

Wonderful Kenny!!!!  He took 2nd in his Yearling Ram class & earned Reserve Champion ram from there!!!!  We were floored as we really thought that the Jr Ramboullet that beat Conway was going to get the Reserve! 

Loretta was able to place 3rd in her Yearling Ewe class. 

Minnie Pearl placed 4th at the bottom of her class.  I will admit to a little disappointment at this, because I really thought she was a nicer lamb.  That Said!!!!!  It was an all other wool breeds class. This means they are looking for a finer wool.  My guys at this point are a medium handle.  Minnie Pearl may do better next year because of how fleeces can change over that first year or so.

 

The judge was great! I spoke with him after the show to see how we could improve the flock from a show standpoint.  He pointed out that the AOWB looks for a finer fleece, had it been a Shetland class in this instance it would have been judged a bit differently.  He was very helpful for us 1st timers to understand how it all works.  By the way, this same judge went onto a big Shetland show the next day!!!  So, I feel good that he said ours were competitive with 80% of the Shetlands out there and could hold their own in the AOWB. 

 

Overall a great showing and a great time was had!  We already can't wait until next year.  We know that Conway & Minnie Pearl will be showing and we may be adding Tammy next year.  We left her at home this year.  It'll be spring before we know what lambing will bring us for the youngstock.

 

Also, anybody reading that is looking for a nice ram, Kenny is for sale.  $300.  Please send me an email if you would like to talk about him!

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. 

So it's been a busy week & not busy at the same time, believe it or not. It rained pretty well everyday so when it wasn't raining it was to wet to get anything done outside.  

 I decided before the rains started to give up the roo'ing on Loretta.  I did some more research & decided she wasn't loose enough.  So i started scissor shearing her.  Here's a mostly done picture. She feels much better now! Unfortunately, due to the rain I haven't been able to do anymore shearing of any kind.  Before you shear you want your sheep absolutely dry so you don't end up with a musty fleece. 

Here's a couple shots of Kenny.  He's just so nice & nice looking. 

I spent Saturday with a friend at the Missouri Spin-In, held in Chilicothe.  I took a picture of my loot! I bought some bamboo & firestar to mix into some batts. We also took a class on continuous strand weaving where we made a cotton washcloth, also pictured.  I enjoyed it & i think I'm going to ask for a small loom for my birthday or Christmas. It was a struggle but i managed NOT to buy any more fiber! 

However I did get a start on spinning the fiber above that I purchased last year at the spin-in.  LOL. Yes, even raising my own sometimes you see a new breed & color that you just have to get!  This is a neat green & pink that I thought would make a pretty something for Fluffy Girl eventually.  It's wool from a Polworth sheep that I bought from T&H fiber works. 

  Before I could start that I finished up this skein of shetland that I had started. It's from a ewe that I lost last year & she was my favorite at the time. Her name was Beauty & I decided to use at least some of her fleece for a special project.  I'll tell you more another time.