BFL ewe lambs

Isn't it interesting to see two very related ewe lambs with two very different looks? Callaway is the finer boned, lighter build, shorter fleeced girl, Kershope is the huge beast with the longer fleece. They are related quite heavily and haven't figured out the inbreeding coefficient, but they are quite line bred similiarly. And yet they are quite different in appearance.

Callaway

They are by far my most friendly ewe lambs from last year (also included is the white shetland girl, Rahu) and they all come and stand at my side and look up at me longingly. They don't want to be pet, but are waiting to see when the oat and alfalfa pellet pail will magically appear.

Kershope

These two girls are so laid back, mellow and carefree....well except when its supper time, then they push and shove to the feed! There will be room this fall for a few more BFLs. I have two natural colored ewes from Brenda on hold until after lambs are weaned and i'm hoping to get a white ram that carries natural color, as well as another white ewe lamb or two. That should make a good start to the BFL group, and I'm hoping to take several of the shetland ewes that might micron too high to 'fix' and put them in with the BFL to get some mules next year. Time will tell.

Gentlemen

After our first significant snowfall (4" wohoo!) last night, and a long morning of cleaning up the wet heavy stuff. I got home to a gorgeous blue sky and lots of warmth coming from the sunshine. Although it only reads 19 degrees currently on the thermometer, I was out in a t shirt and pants, and a hat sitting on a log in the mature ewes pen. Lots of scratches later, I wanted to get some photos of the girls and I had to wait patiently for them to lose interest in me.

Those photos will come in the next blog or two.

This one is for the boys!


Remember Jazz? Well we fondly refer to him here as Mr Jazz Hands. Don't ask me why, but it stuck. He sure is looking like Mr. Universe huh? His lamb fleece tests were AFD 19.8, SD 4.4, CV 22.2, and %>thirty on .9! Yes POINT NINE!! I'm really excited to see what his yearling fleece will be tested at. The entire group (all 37 animals) will be having a fleece sample sent to Texas A & M. I've normally gone through Yocum but don't have THAT much extra money to have them tested. The down side is I'll have to wait at least a month through Texas to get the results back. I wish they'd be like Yocum and send them via email...

I digress.

The second photo is of most of the other boys. Clockwise from the top left is Hansel, Heath, PayDay and Rolo. Barish was standing under foot when I was taking all the photos. He's not pushy or rude but stands and waits to be paid attention to. The camera can't get far enough away from his nose!


Again these boys lamb fleeces tested as follows:
Rolo: AFD 21.9, SD 6.7 , CV 30.6 %> thirty 12.1
Heath: AFD 22.4, SD 5.9 , CV 26.3, %>thirty 8.5
PadDay: AFD 23.3, SD 8.8 , CV 37.8, %>thirty 17.5
Barish: AFD 24.5, SD 6.4, CV 26.1, %> thirty 15.6
Hansel: AFD 27.8 , SD 10.3, CV 37.1, %> thrity 34.0

Jazz will more than likely stay here indefinetly, unless by chance there is a ram lamb that comes along with a better test and look to him :) Barish will probably go as I am AI'ing several more ewes to Timothy this fall, and he is a 1/2 poll. PayDay's fleece is exquisite (there i finally used the word) and if he isn't sold as a ram, I'll probably keep him as a whether as his fleece is amazing, even though the micron is a tad high. Heath is not NASSA registered so he will hopefully go to a fiber flock, and Rolo I'm undecided about. I may keep him around because I love his length of fleece, his presence (like Jazz's) and his color keeps getting lighter at the skin. Hansel will more than likely be going to the butcher when he gets big enough. Not only is he the meaniest and biggest boy of the group, but his fleece isn't what I am looking for in my Shetlands. he also still doesn't like me, no matter how many treats I try to persuade him with!

Of course all of this could change depending on what I raise for lambs this year. These boys are not the largest but then again I have to remember they are only 9 or 10 months old and still have a long ways to go to grow up and be big boys :)

Growing up

Just a few days over 5 months old. Her first show will be the national towards the end of April. I don't know if we are ready for that, but it will be an experience nonetheless! Isn't she looking STUNNING!? *sigh* my little girl is growing up! :)

Midwestern Bio-Ag

This is a great company for those who wish to "go organic" or all natural.

I am not certified organic, I'm not certified natural, because we have in the past used conventional fertilizers on our fields. But I can tell you that all of my animals are fed feeds that are as natural as can be, are not fed hormones or injected with such things. I can tell you where they came from and what they've eaten.

I digress.

So when I got my first sheep from Cynthia Allen in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, I decided that if what works for her, would work for me, and why change what the sheep are used to?

Last thursday as I was at the closest MidWest Bio-Ag dealer, we were discussing how to fertilize my fields and pastures the clean and organic way, and how it will overall affect my feed and animals in a positive way. I'm hooked! Last fall we had taken feed and soil samples. While some of the numbers were well within what I thought was in our soil and feed, other numbers scared me. We were quite deficient in certain minerals!

So this is why I feed ALL of the things free choice:

1. Sea Kelp. Not only is it good for them, its good for all livestock and the manufacturers are taking wind of it by increasing the prices by nearly 25% in the past year. They are now $42 a 50# bag and I know that with my 45 animals eating it, they've gone through about 12 bags in the past year, give or take a little that was spilled and swept up.

2. Redmond Sea Salt. Another free choice, single ingredient. They go through this mostly in the fall for some reason. It tends to collect moisture from time to time, so just check it and replace as necessary. I'm so impressed with this product and how well they eat it. I'll write the story on it from the back of the bag;

" Many years ago when the mountains were being formed, near what is now known as Redmond, Utah, there existed a body of seawater. Over time it dried up and captured within the crystallization of the salt the wholesome minerals, which were in that pristine, unpolluted ocean. This ancient sea salt deposit was then buried under layers of sediment protecting it from modern man-made pollutions.

Redmond minerals simply takes this natural mineral sea salt, crushes and screens it to size, and makes it available as the best livestock salt on the market today. It is available in seven screen sizes as well as in a pressed block mineral salt lick.

Many producers report that when livestock are given this natural mineral, they refuse to eat other salts. They also report other benefits to their animals from feeding this natural mineral salt."

3. Sheep Mineral (from Midwest Bio Ag) The minerals in this mix are quite nice, and again fed free choice and as a single ingredient (are you counting tubs? we are up to three so far)
Calcium around 12%, Phosphorus at 6%, Magnesium 1%, Potassium 1%, Iron, Iodine, Manganese, Selenium, Sulfur, Zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E are all in this great bag of mineral. The sheep and goats are all feed this free choice and again it depends on the time of year that they eat it. They all seem to know when they need something.

4. Diatomaceous Earth (DE) blended with Di-Cal, Vitamin A and D, and Dynamin. This concoction is a 2:1:1:1/2 blend of DE, Di-Cal, Dynamin and Vit A & D respectively. Each component does something in its own way to help the sheep. Most notably the DE is a parasite controller, either dusted on or fed. Its not the greatest tasting, so its blended with better tasting ingredients. The Dynamin can be googled to all of the great reasons to feed it. All natural again.

5. My newest tub is a midwest bioAg "SK Blend" for animals on pasture. Its a blended mixture of 50% salt, 45% sea kelp and is a great replacement for the Redmond Salt if unavailable. I figured I'd try a different salt approach that added in the Kelp (they eat the whole bin of kelp somedays...thought the salt would slow them down). Rather than replace the salt, I figured I'd just add another bin and they seem fairly keen to the idea. This blend has selenium, magnesium, sulfur, sodium.

When the animals are accustomed to being fed a certain way, I do not have to worry about the soil or feed being 'lacking' in any way, as for the most part the free choice minerals will help to balance the need. Of course there is no better way than amending the soil.

As a nutrionist, you realize that ruminants can only digest around 30% of what they need through free choice minerals, versus 80% from the hay/grass/pasture. its always better to have the minerals and vitamins in the feeds you are feeding, but if you can't, the free choice is better than hoping and guessing. And if they don't eat it, they either don't need it, or don't know what to do with it. Try adding some of these things to your loafing area and see how your sheep enjoy them :)

My garden

Eat your heart out Michelle! LOL

I saw a post of Michelle at Boulderneigh's newly weeded and planted veggie garden. WOW is all I could muster. In the photo here you will see my tomato stakes in the background, with my apple tree to the left. In front is the obvious 8 ft tall snow pile. Talk about your insulation :)

Spoiled Sheep

We finally were able to secure 30 more round bales of mostly grass hay. The yearling girls have been seperated from the mature ewes to give them a little extra boost with some oats and beet bulp and such, while they don't have to fend off the big girls. That leaves 16 in one pen, 15 in another and the 6 boys that I have left.

Feeding the 'new' hay to the goats proved futile. They still haven't touched it and its day three. I have been feeding each twosome (I seperated all my goats into pairs) some goat chow to help with the crappier feed, but they refuse to eat the grass. I think they are spoiled.

The adult ewes were brought into the barn to feed and although they didn't appear to LIKE the new hay, they all had mouths full, even while they were baaaaing and complaining. They know better than to pass up any kind of food right?

The yearlings were all quite upset by this and as of 6am this morning they still hadn't eaten any of the hay. When I let them outside for the day I brought their hay from last night outside and they ate it, probably because they were so hungy, but the goats still won't touch it.

I think I"ve created monsters..........

No Puppies :(

Maggie is milking it for belly scratches from my sister and my mom.

Maggie was ultrasounded this past friday for the second time. Last week, they thought they saw 2-4 sacs but couldn't see any movements or heartbeats. This week they saw nothing and heard nothing. I'm not completely surprised. Maggie had a prolonged heat cycle and didn't come up in Progesterone until after two weeks (typically 5-7 days after initial discharges start). There is no shipping via UPS for Perham on a saturday or sunday, and the vet clinic is closed wednesdays, saturdays and sundays. As the stud dog breeder said, she isn't surprised either with all the walls we had to climb over to get the semen to me, get her inseminated and then get her inseminated on the right days. I'm bummed, but not sad. Its one less thing to have to worry about.

I haven't emailed the potential puppy buyers yet. I'm quite bummed. I had a really GREAT group of people lined up for the puppies and they would have made amazing homes for these puppies. They did their research and they really like the breeding, better than any others that were on the ground or in the planning stages. That makes me feel good that people agreed with my breeding choices and especially that they made it so hard to pick just 6-8 great homes.

On the downside I was hoping to keep a boy and a girl from this litter. Its not everyday that someone offers you a bitch to use for a breeding. Maggie will be going home on Monday where she will be Steve's lap dog again and they will try for a litter of red pups on her next heat cycle which will be sometime in June or July.

I cannot complain though. With two amazing girls to show now (Zoe and Ell) I am sitting pretty good for the future and I don't think anyone can stand in my way with two great girls like this :) I'm still really lucky!

Yearly Inspection

Well Kelly V. just drove down the driveway. Another inspection under my belt :) I always enjoy visiting with her about all types of animals, experiences with them etc. Too bad the inspection only takes 10 minutes and the rest of the time is shootin' the breeze :) ha ha

No fancy photos like Nancy does with Kelly. I feel Kelly might 'get a big head' if we all were taking photos of her hard at work!

Having the girls locked up in small pens gave me a chance to really look at the girls' fleeces and MMMMMMMM.....YUMMY is all I have to say! The mature ewes all have a nice length to their fleeces as well as density, and most have some nice crimp to them and wow are they soft! It may be hard to get good photos indoors and with a flash but hopefully they will suffice for now. The sun doesn't look to be coming out today.

Most of the goats and sheep were friendly enough that we didn't have to catch them and stress them out. Some were down right curious of the clipboard and those loud plastic booties! Others, like Rachildas, my mature white ewe, was quiet defiant that she had to be locked in a small pen, with other ewes, inside. The audacity of it all!

Will be back in a bit with some good photos hopefully!

Possible Poll Carriers

I know Sabrina, Becky, Kim and Michelle (and especially Juliann) will be pleased to see I did some research of my lines for poll genetics. I'm sure i missed some, but here are the ones I have:

Rachildas - mature white ewe. She goes back to Dailley Alabaster who is a known producer of polled rams.

Lavender - mature fawn ewe. She goes back to Walnut Rise Cameron, also a known producer of polled rams.

Shasta - mature horned ewe. Despite her horns, she goes back to Dailley Alabaster twice (one on each side of her pedigree) as well as Holly, who is a known producer of polled rams also.

Meleng - mature shaela ewe - She goes back to Holly, and also back to Timothy twice. Also Underhill Brando. We have found recently that Timothy had a polled ram in his background. That would explain Barish's scurs.

Rooibos - mature fawn ewe - She goes back to Timothy, Holly AND Underhill Brando, another known producer of polled rams.

Peep - mature musket ewe - goes back to BK6 which was one of the early domestics that was a poll producer

Tailka - black gulmoget yearling - Roban dillon and BK6 are both in her background

Rahu - white yearling ewe - Roban Dillon and BK6 are also both in her background as well as Dailley Allabaster.

Gracie - moorit smirslet sokket ewe - Underhill Brando

Skippy - fawn smirslet - goes back to Wind River Blossom a ewe that was known to throw polled rams

Slipper - moorit smirslet - also goes back to Wind River Blossom.

Skor - emsket yearling ewe - daughter to Meleng, will also go back to those that Meleng do.


Eat your heart out girls :) The greatest thing is Barish who we are now realizing is a half poll, (long scurs) was bred to Gracie, Skippy, Skor, and Rahu. We may just have a few polled rams. Don't forget Forrest a poll carrier was bred back to his daughter, Tailka, as well as Peep.

:)

Stay tuned

lovebirds, parakeet and cockatiel

My Creamino colored Lovebird

Buddy the vain Cockatiel

Wasa the toddler in feathers Umbrella Cockatoo

Kipper, my one and only parakeet

For the past six years I have enjoyed having house birds while going through college and living alone. I've had many pair of diamond doves (still my favorites!), parakeets, cockatiels, cockatoos, lovebirds and ringneck doves all in the house.



Ever since Sadie my time to spend with them all individually kept diminishing and now with 4 of my own dogs, plus two i'm long term dog sitting, it makes for a full and noisy house. I love watching the birds bathe in their pans I give them every sunday morning. I love listening to them sing their hearts out to me, to each other and to just about anything they can think will listen.



But with all this time now being spent elsewhere I feel its time to move them on to homes that would appreciate them more. ....

if you know of anyone who might want a pet parakeet or cockatiel let me know! Kipper and Baby are the sweetest gentleman who pour their hearts out to you every chance you give them!

sick, lambs, goals

being sick sucks!

Especially being SINGLE and sick. No one to do my chores. No one to feed me soup or cater to my pathetic pouting :)

Being sick after a big trip driving to and from Colorado, it wore me out, stressed me out....I shouldn't be surprised that I'm sick. *Enter freaking cold weather* Not only does this make my chores a living nightmare, it takes twice as long as the water lines have to be thawed, and its just plain harder to get around when its so cold. Not enjoying one iota!

I keep thinking March is just around the corner and I can't believe only 5 weeks until lambs start. FIVE WEEKS! Only three until calves, and one until kids. Busy busy times ahead. of course I'm not ready! Between lack of snow to move, bills pilling up, the new jugs in the new pen for just the sheep haven't been built yet..with what money?

On the good side of things, I'm ready for spring, all the mud, cold soaking rains, damp pens that harbor bacteria, chilled babes in the mud, etc etc. Oh wait, that's my hate list!

I love the little new signs of life, the green grass, the first dandelion (just the first one!) and all the potential babes that I've worked hard at to get to.

I've had quite a bit of interest in the sheep and that's a good thing! I'm hoping to sell 1/2 of the lambs and pay for the fencing in of three more additional acres for them to graze on. NO plans on buying more shetlands this year, as i'm hoping to do AI this fall with some friends. I may purchase a few more BFLs as I've really taken to the two I have. I hoping to add 4-6 more depending on what happens in the mean time :)

so many goals, so little time right? so much to say and its all so mumbled.....maybe i'm sick, maybe i just talk this way :) LOL