New life and (still) expectant mothers

 Katie (Horned Dorset) gave us a pair of rams this morning.

 Shirley's (Horned Dorset) surviving ram lamb.

The other had the cord wrapped around his

neck and was dead before Jerry could get it out..

 Jonna (HD) with one of her twin ewes.

 Betty (HD) closest to me.

She had a single ram lamb.

That is fine for a first timer.

And, what do YOU do with Closet Maid 

shelves? I tied them up to the wall and each

other to keep the ewes from knocking the 

heat lamp. The lamp is secured to the wall,

but they kept pushing it up. It defeats the 

purpose of having it to keep lambs warm

if it is not facing downward.

It is time to pickup some more plywood

and build more triangle boxes for the lights.

 Harriet. Dorset/Romney

 Keira, one of two of the oldest Dorset/Romney.

She may be 10 this year, or even 11.

 Kelly, Katie's twin.

She and all but 1 (2?) of my Horned Dorset

ewes were born in 2011. Time for new blood.

If all goes well, there will 2 ewe lambs and 

another ram lamb from another farm coming 

here later this spring, plus to 2 born to Jonna.

That will give us 2 different Horned Dorset

breeding groups. I know I did not want a 

4th ram on the farm, but Stormy in 11 next month

and I don't believe he is  going to be breeding again.

 Socks, Dorset/Romney

 Lola, HD

 Miss Mary is a camera hog.

 Gizmo (front) and Miss Mary,

both Dorset/Romney.

 Jillian, a twin Dorset/Romney.

Her twin was tiny and still born.

 Jillian. She will be 2 next month.

She is a big girl!

 Tess is watching Jerry dig one of our gates

out of the snow. The ankle really threw a wrench

into my being organized before lambing. 

Tess has been right there watching everything we

do with the ewes and their lambs. She is very curious

about everything. She has fit in well here.

She is just hard to photograph.

Even though her chest is so white,

so blends into the background very well.

Horned Dorset

https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/dorset-horn

http://afs.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/dorset/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_Horn
 Wikipedia is wrong in that Dorset sheep have pink noses!

Some words from others about Dorset fiber.

https://solitudewool.com/blogs/news/110291590-breed-of-the-week-dorset-and-our-dorset-sock-yarn

http://www.rampishamhillfarm.co.uk/wool-and-raw-fleeces


I hope to be posting some of our Horned Dorset fleeces, roving and yarn on our fleece page and on our Wool n' Ewe page on Face Book this coming week. Who know?! I might even dust out the Etsy shop...
https://eweifarmfleece.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/WoolnEwe/

We are an official fiber provider for the Shave 'Em to Save 'Em Livestock Conservancy Initiative

In spite of all the nastiness PETA is spreading about shearing sheep, there are a lot more good news being spread about the sheep industry.

I am excited to be a part of the Shave 'Em to Save 'Em Livestock Conservancy Initiative (as seen in our header).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SE2SE/

We raised Polled Dorset for a number of years, until we met the Conley sisters from Fruitcake Farm in Grafton, NH. We discovered that they raised Horned Dorset and that they were on the Livestock Conservancy's endangered list. To this day, they are still on the threatened list. https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/conservation-priority-list#Sheep

We LOVE our Horned Dorset sheep! Great mothers, great wool and friendly. Easy to move from location to location and they come equipped with handles. ;)

As part of this initiative, and as an Official Fiber Provider, we will be offering our Horned Dorset raw fleece, roving and yarn for sale here. And, I just might dust out my Etsy shop....

We will also have raw Baby Doll Southdown by the pound and Shetland roving by the ounce, and yarn by the skein. They are both on the Recovering List.

We have Oxford in king sized quilt pads, and possibly raw fleeces later in the spring, as well as raw Tunis later this spring. They are both on the Watch List.

If you are interested in Navajo Churro, also on the Threatened List, I can put you in touch with one of our shearing customers. She has raw fleece and yarn. We will start shearing her crew March 10th.

I also have Jacob roving and yarn available. They are also on the threatened list.

New life, barn help, and more porcupine

 Betty, one of our Horned Dorset ewes, in labor 

 with her first lamb. Proud papa, Chip, looking on.

 The lamb ending up being a little big for her.

So, Jerry took pity and pulled a leg to help.

 For a first timer, she is an excellent mother.

Big ram lamb headed to a 4-H family.

 My barn helper. Callie Calico was so upset

that I was taking too long in the barn, At least

that is what she acted like. She will normally

only come to the door and yell at me. This is the

first time she has come in the barn and hung out.

 Here she has just noticed that Tess, the llama,

has her head over the wall watching her intently.

 

 The porcupine is busy eating hemlock.

 

 REACH for that branch.

 And, another.

No chitting at me today.

I think it knows I am not a threat.

52 weeks of sheep

I joined a group on Face Book last year called 52 weeks of sheep.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/52weeksofsheep/

All I did last year is read posts as I could not spin the first 1/2 of the year due to healing from the 2nd shoulder surgery. Then I did not feel up to spinning one footed as my broken ankle... I did get a lot of knitting done though.

Last week was spinner's choice. This spinner chose to wash fleece.

This week's fleece is Teeswater. My pound came from one of our shearing customers. Cheri Parker at Never Enough Time Fiber Farm. https://www.facebook.com/Neverenoughtimefiberfarm/

Before washing. 1# 6.7 oz.

3 washes and 1 rinse.

I will post updates here as the week progresses.