Lambing 2012 Continues Sloooowly

These F2 Mossvale Masterplan (Scotty)ram lambs are racing around with about 12 others as we wait for the bulk of the BFL ewes to lamb. It's the waiting game and the midnight walks to the barn that make lambing an interesting time of year. This year I'm hopping to the barn on crutches since I managed to fall off the ladder to the hay loft. Luckily it was a soft landing on hay and straw and a sleeping piles of cats so only my knee was damaged. The ewes do not like the sound of my crutches as I clump,clump through the barn. They don't realize it's Mom. Feeding hungry pregnant ewes is dangerous enough without worrying about them knocking my crutches out from under me. Knee should be better by the time lambing ends. Good timing!!??

Roving

I've gotten lots of emails and calls about roving. I'm glad to hear that everyone is getting motivated to enter yarn in Spring Shows. The BFL Ntional Show in Wooster Ohio on Memorial Day Weekend is a great place to enter BFL skeins and garments. I have plain white roving for sale as well as a blend of BFL and tencel, and a blend of BFL,alpaca and silk. Dark BFL blended with carbonized bamboo is also for sale. It is dreamy spinning.

Finally 2012 Lambs Are Arriving.

A set of Bluefaced Leicester twins arrived yesterday starting the 2012 lambing season. Due to lots of issues beyond my control, lambing did not begin in January as usual. 2010 and 2011 were cold and snowy but the lambs thrived in cold temperatures. 2012 is unusual. Really warm (tank heaters on for a total of 2 days), no snow and many fewer sheep to lamb. These first BFL lambs are sired by my AI Mossvale Masterplan ram lamb from last year. These newborns are big boned and heavy. I like the way they look so far. Group two of the BFL lambs are sired by my Heddon Valley ram lamb. Now he's classy! These lambs will begin to arrive in another week.

Valentine's Day Brought No Lambs This Year

Usually mid February means cold weather and frequent trips to the barn looking for new lambs. 2012 brings warmer temps and pregnant ewes but no lambs yet. Hopefully I'll be posting pictures of new additions by the end of the month. Sure do miss January babies. Since my ewes lamb in the barn that is monitored 24/7 winter lambs here are lively and healthy. It's like Christmas finding newborn surprises every time I go out to the barn. I can't wait for the surprises to come.

Escape Needed

Although I'm not a beach person, those travel vacations that I'm getting on line are beginning to look pretty good. Last week it was the 750 pound bale on the truck adventure. I had a bright idea of getting one big bale to feed the Shetlands eliminating the awful job of hauling small square bales down 2 hills to get to their pen. Got the bale home only to have the Bobcat refuse to start. The new baby tractor was too big for the small space so in desperation, I tried to jump start the Bobcat. Nope. Called a neighbor who couldn't start the bugger either. Of course by this time it had begun to rain so I parked the pickup with the bale in the carport and called another mechanic neighbor after hauling small bales down the hills to the Shetland barn. One week later with new battery cables on hand and my wonderful neighbor, the Bobcat was going again. Being two places at the same time has never been my strength so unloading the large bale by myself did not go well. Every time I got one piece of equipment I had to run over and move the other. By this time my cell phone was ringing..... Bill was frantic that he was going to be late to the doctor.. so I left everything and took him to the doctor in my greasy, smelly farm wear. No time to change. Returning to the task, it was again raining. BUT there's a happy ending. The bale finally was placed where it needed to be and the truck was unstuck without a scratch or dent. The Shetlands are enjoying their nice green hay and I have nightmares about buying another big bale. It has to go better the second time around. This week's fiasco was the wood boiler. I fired it up and had steam and hot water hissing all over the basement. After frantically throwing switches the thing didn't explode and began to cool. Relief! Another friend came yesterday to fix the problem. Going to bed I felt so good as I added the logs for the night. In the morning, there was a new problem and 3 inches of water in another location. Wet vacuum, boots and pipe wrenches before coffee. Not good. My resume of things I can now do is getting longer by the day. Plumbing is far from being my strong suit but I am blessed with handy friends who take pity on me. Will this madness end?

Table Full of Memories

When I saw this in Martha Stewart Living I thought it was a great way to use all those doilies I had in drawers. I never realized how many memories would come to me as I pulled them out. Mom had made some and sent them to me,fussing over how they didn't turn out just right. My friend Peggy's mother had brought many to me in bags with a history of who made them and how old they were. Even the notes Mrs. williams had placed inside the bags were still there for me to reread and smile. And the glass pieces were Bill's mother's. Finally retrieved from the attic to sparkle again.That's what I love about Christmas....the memories that make you smile. My table sure makes me smile as I remember 3 beutiful ladies in my life that I really wish could be here for another Christmas. .

Fewer But Better

As I watched my sheep leave in trucks and trailers over the summer I was heartbroken.
It was all about reduced numbers to make less work though. Well, the state vet came last week to do his annual scrapie inspection and my flock went from 82 in 2010 to under 40 in 2011. It took us no time to inspect each animal and record tags. As I looked at the remaining ewes,it was apparent that fewer numbers had been a good thing. They are heavier with plenty of grass to eat. And it's still growing in these warm December temperatures. My hay supply has hardly been touched unlike last year when I began to worry about hay supplies in December. The smaller flock has made the BFL sheep more friendly too. Now the Shetlands...that's another story, but that's what makes having the two breeds so much fun. I got an amazing new BFL ram in October from Heather Landin and I am excited about starting to rebuild my genetics with him (Heddon Valley genetics) and my Scotty AI ram. He was born here and as yet is not impressive but I'm hoping he'll become the swan from the ugly duckling. I am excited about new lambs in 2012 and a lot less work while they are being born. Lambing is always exciting but exhausting. I'm looking forward to having fewer lambs to get to know and fewer bales to throw. AND I can't wait to see those lambs.They will be awesome.