Newest Member of....

With all that this family farm provides and grows, this was a no brainer. YIPPEE!!

Its a great networking and promoting tool that I can't believe I just found out about! Better yet I can put this marketing logo on all of my products! How cool?!

Thank you Shetland Breeders

I've been going through and updating my spread sheets for my sheep. Every year I track things like UK lines, % UK, micron variation in lines and within animals. I also remember things that I have forgotten over the past year.

Like RiverOaks Lucy is a Justalit'l Black Lambo great grand daughter. I have both of them :) They are the foundation of my polled stock here. Two vary different ewes, but yet have a lot of the same qualities I found appreciative of in the first place.

Looking at the CURRENT flock genetic makeup, I wish to thank the following people for allowing me to purchase sheep from them. Becky Utecht (2), Karen Valley (1), Meghan Namaste (1), Lori Stephanson (2), Wally Rutledge (1), Gail Former (1). Jim Chastain (3), Tami Mulder (2), Susan Kimball (3), Stephen Rouse (4), and my mentor Cynthia Allen (11). The balance are all ewes that I've retained from my breedings. I have purchased from others but their sheep are no longer in my flock for a host of reasons that are not the fault of the breeder (mastitis, fence jumpers, etc), and there are other flocks that I'm hoping to still add something from in the future (Theresa, Sabrina, Michelle, Rich/Jen, Franna, Juliann).

With the constant mission of the 1927 Standard in front of me and in my mind (and not something made from one person's opinion like the 2004 handbook), I will continue to strive for sheep that represent the breed that the Shetlander's have grown to love and depend on for food, clothing and humor :)

The concerns with my father have been fixed, for ten years, at which point my dad hopes that I can purchase the farm from him. WOW. That's a huge responsibility! Am I ready for it? Maybe in 10 years I will be :)

Shell Shocked

My dad informed me this weekend he was 90% certain he wanted to sell all the cows (mine included) and rent all the cropland to the neighbor. I get that he has already spent over half his life farming and just wants to come home and mow the lawn.

This doesn't sit well with me. Even if I just have the pasture for my sheep, I would need approximately 2,000 small square bales to feed them through the winter. I can get that on two hay fields, but if they are rented out, I dont' have the money to buy that hay.

Moving to a mostly commercial flock of Mules bred to a Texel would in the end pay just for the hay and mineral and such. Is it even worth it?

I'm not sure what to think at this point. My dad has threatened that before, but never really thought about it. This time he seemed very certain and had spent a large part of his past few months thinking on it.

I can respect that decision, but I cannot live with it. Especially if I want to continue with my sheep and cattle. I'm not in a position to purchase a smaller farm either.

Prayers and thoughts are accepted :)

Home

Being away (yes again) for a few days always gives me a refreshed and sometimes new outlook on my flock or herd.

I was gone to Jackson, Wyoming, where my cousin got married. Her new hubby lived out there before he met her and it is JUST AMAZING. I would move my entire operation out there if I had somewhere to work. Unfortunately most 'towns' are really just a post office and a general store (no really!)

I came home and found a package from a UK friend full of SSS Magazines, fleece samples, photos of their sheep and other neat articles. I explained most of it on the Finewool Shetland list.

When I went to the pasture, I was able to look at ram lambs and see horn growth with a new eye (instead of the same one that looks at them 5 times a day). I was able to see ewes' condition better after being away, and some sheep that were hidden in the flock before presented themselves tonight with a 'wow' factor.

It was all very exciting.

This week I have several people coming to pick up sheep. I'm pretty excited for them to see my flock and new lambs, as well as get them their 'new' sheep. I hope they are very happy with them and that they go on to produce well for them. I love that I have animals in my flock that others are interested in and for that, I am honored.

I am off to bed. I am too tired to function much more and need to snuggle my dogs before I crash on the bed!

We Made It!

What a joke! This was NOT a blizzard for us! Granted we go a lot of snow but it came over three days. I still will go back out tomorrow to get the driveways cleaned off 100% and salt them down as its melting off the roofs and causing ice on the driveways....

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holiday for those who choose to celebrate other traditions.

While this snow fell I left the barn doors open so the girls could come in and out (rather than have to wait for me to do it as I didn't know the time of day I'd ever be home). Turns out everyone, including the BFLs had snow 'piles' on their backs...A sign of good insulation..... and none of them had even left evidence behind in the barns that they were inside at all! The Shetlands now are happily making 'fox and goose' trails all over their winter paddock. Truly a beautiful sight to behold.

My family held off with Christmas supper for me to join them...even if it was the tail end of the meal as I had to go home first, do chores, shower and change and then pack up my gifts for them and head over the 1 mile to my sister's new house. I got everything I asked for/needed/wanted and now I just need use them! I finally got an external harddrive so I can store all my photos and music on it, and I got a bagless vacuum for all the dog hair! WOHOO!! Other wonderful gifts included new dress clothes (for dog shows they told me.....see...they ARE learning), candy, winter gloves and hat for work, and Season Six of Will and Grace! Guess what I'm watching this week!

The best part however was on Christmas Eve my mom and dad and I went to the candle light church service at our church in town. It always gives me goosebumps. And even though I didn't play my trumpet this year, I still felt very blessed and loved while I sat in the church. Happy Birthday Jesus!

edited snow forecast

they are now saying a definite 14-18 inches for us. We'll see if it pans out......

Right now its lightly snowing and I have all the snow equipment ready, the vehicles in the garage, the wood pile covered with a tarp, the agility jumps and weaves in the house thawing (I know its a bit late to be bringing them in) the cows and sheep have a new deep bedding of straw and hay bales are down and stacked and ready to feed when there is little time to do more than throw them into the feeders in the next few days.

If I don't get a chance to say it....

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of my BLOGGER FAMILY!

Just a few weeks...

...until my sister and her family move into their new home just 1/2 a mile through the fields from my sheep pasture. With them will be their dogs.

I encourage everyone to check my archives on this horrendous act of killing my goats.

http://ramsayfarms.blogspot.com/2007/06/rip-rufus.html

http://ramsayfarms.blogspot.com/2008/09/theyre-baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.html

And for a better story yet, please read this in its entirety.

http://www.klaskanine.com/mysite3/SHEEPKILL.htm

Freedom of Speech

Family issues continue to be troublesome. I've had several relatives email me with disappointment and frustration in regards to me blogging about it.

I truly believe that blogging about my good days and bad is only normal and also therapeutic. No one needs to read my blog if they don't want to! And I'm also very thankful for my blogger friends who have given me advice and support through all of this.

It may not be as bad as I originally believed but it still is emotionally damaging to me and my trust with my family has all but been broken due to the nature of how they have handled this.

I guess for any further correspondence about it for the time being you will have to email me privately to know what new and recent events have happened.

gramsay@arvig.net

Possibly good news

I talked to my Mother briefly tonight before supper and after I mowed my lawn (and I think before chores?? My days and hours are all running together) and she assured me that my sister would NOT be purchasing a major portion of the farm and that she thought it was a 'non issue'. My Mother stated to my sister that she has had no prior interest in farming and so why would she want any of the land?

Even if my sister would purchase 10 or 20 acres there would still be rights by my dad to farm that land until he quit farming or i bought the farm at which time I could possibly rent or use the land they weren't using for their homestead. This makes my life a lot easier to handle right now.

Long term and short term goals can still be kept in place and everyone can be happy :)

Thank you again to all the private and public prayers and thoughts for me during this very emotional and uncertain time. I appreciate all you guys!

Wordless Wednesday

The last time the entire Clan Ramsay was together........

Where do I go from here?

My family has been working behind my back at selling land to my sister and her husband to build a house. When I was told kind of 'through the grapevine' I was furious and confronted my dad about it. He denied it and said nothing was going on and if anything like that would ever happen I would be in the know. My sister then let it slip on the way to dog agility class that they were building a house on the farm the moment their house near Minneapolis sold. Well it sold and the other night the contractor my dad works for was over here talking to them about building a house.

I was irate. Why?

It has been my 'long term plan' to purchase the farm, in its entirety, from my dad when I was between 40 and 50. Even if I moved to Colorado, it would have only been short term (5-10 years) and I have always said I wanted to live on the farm, try to farm with cattle and sheep as my source of income (hundreds of commercial animals) and that the landscaping and lawn care business that I am currently doing would be a secondary income and could either do it 'for fun' when farming was allowing it, or hire someone to run it for me and work full time on the farm. (more so than I do now).

I've talked about this plan since before I graduated college to some extent (the living here and having it continue as a working farm part) and its been known to most of my friends and family I thought for at least the 7 years that I've lived here post college. When in discussion with my parents and/or sister they were all stunned and baffled that I wanted to remain here and farm. their exact words were " I had no idea you wanted to live here and farm".

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WHAT?!!!!

My parents have told me that they are going to 'gift' my sister 10 acres and me 10 acres. What am I going to do with 10 acres? Granted that seems like a lot but our farmstead is on atleast 5 acres and then 5 acres of pasture? For 200 head of sheep and 100 head of cattle? I don't think that would work. 320 acres is the minimum I would be able to use wtih pastures, and field work, that I could sustain or even come close to providing for 50 cattle and 200 sheep, or 100 sheep and 75 cattle. I would have to plan on renting land to have 100 cattle and 200 sheep (just figures I'm throwing out, not defininte numbers, but numbers that I would need to keep alive in the industry and make some sort of income)

It is true that if my parents died in a car accident the farm is willed to both of us kids, each getting half. While i have no problem with that, I do have a problem with them BUYING the land prior to my parents death and thereby having me end up with only 160 acres, possibly as low as 120. Again a lot of land by most standards but to farm efficiently here I would need all the tillable acres and pasturable acres for both species of livestock.

Needless to say my goals of bovine and ovine producing will be more than likely numbered and I will have to decide between the two and more importantly decide if I should remain here or move away.

Its much easier to find a better paying job and have 20 sheep on a few acres anywhere else than here. It would be easier to meet people and meet the potential love of my life somewhere else. Really the only reason for staying to was to try and continue to farm this 5th generation Ramsay family farm. And with half the acreage possibly leaving my control, I wouldn't be able to do that.

I think what most hurts me is that they lied to my face about it. No one will give me a straight answer and everything in my future is now affected by this decision on THEIR part and leaving me out of the equation to just sit and wait.

On another note the dogs that my sister has that two years ago killed my goats by breaking out of their chain link kennel with a solid floor and roof (they chewed through the chain link) and then proceeded to climb over a 6 ft tall electrified fence to get into the goat pen and then make hamburger of goats was a breakign point with my family. I had made the decision to ask them to put their dogs down or never bring them back.

For anyone following this story most will know that they did not put them down, and have continuously brought them back to the farm breaking our agreement and putting all of my livestock at risk, time and time again. I know how most of you feel and appreciate the support but this is family and makes it terribly hard. If they would build on the pristine parcel of land that is coveted by all family members to build on (which is where they want to build naturally) they would be only 1/2 mile across a field to the sheep pasture fence....and their dogs are known to get out and leave for weeks at a time....something that makes me extremely nervous.

And yes it would be considered 'their land' and technically not be on the farm land but their dogs would nontheless be there again and be in sight of the sheep....its only a matter of time before they get out and if they come to the farm I have ever right to do what is necessary to protect my livestock.

So the terror of the saftey of the animals here (guineas, sheep, calves, my dogs, etc) and the lying to my face is most upsetting, hurtful and emotionally draining. So draining in fact that this weekend Steve Peterson (Barb's husband) actually got under my skin and I had to firmly and strernly offer him my opinion on what he was saying and made the entire day very stressful and awkward at the show since we were grooming together. In the end it was reconciled but it is so unlike me!

There is a lot more to it and after rereading this it seems as if I am making a huge deal out of nothing but it is in fact a huge deal. Its changing my future and goals and while that might be OK, had I kinown this 8 years ago I would have never came home and would have found somewhere else to live and work and play.

The best part is my sister grew up on the farm but never left the house except to get to her car. She never weeded the garden, mowed the lawn, planted trees, milked cows, did chores, fed the dog etc. Why would she want/need/desire to live on the farm or own any of the land? My dad has three sisters and none showed interest in coming back to the farm. Ever. Not even to build a house to live.

And while my sister is one of my best friends, as are my parents, it bothers me greatly about this situation and it makes me uncomfortable and of course the only one who seems to be on 'my side' of the equation. I don't like it and i feel quite hopeless.

I'm all about compromises but i can't be guaranteed that I can still rent or work the land that my sister is getting or buying. That makes it hard for down the road. And what happens if someday they cannot keep the land and it goes outside the family?? Not something I care to think about. My parents told me that they are doing it to make sure we are both taken care of. I know that my sister and her husband make 4x as much money as I do and are quite well off already, with them being around my age (29). If I ever made that much money in 5 years I would be happy! So I don't think they need any land to be 'taken care of'. But again, its just my side of the story and no matter how diplomatic and neutral I'm trying to make this story, I'm sure its not completely coming off that way.

I just am emotionally drained and am not really talking to my family, which is very difficult considering they all currently live 100 yards away in another house.

Where do I go from here?

Red River Valley Flooding

http://valleyfloodwatch.com/

A great source of information...its quite interactive and up to date information on the flooding of the Red River and all its tributaries.

So far all my friends and family that live along the river are safe and dry....for now....

I'm famous!

well sort of...

The Fergus Falls Daily Journal just left. They are doing a "profile" on 'interesting' people in the county and my website came up in a google search of my town Perham. Interesting is the least! LOL An amazingly tall, slender, beautiful, intelligent and of course NICE girl came as the reporter. It was hard to keep my eyes off of her :) She was around my age, probably younger. I digress..........

She came to do a report on me and the different animals I had on the farm. What I did with them. The places I've traveled because of them, the states and countries I've sold them to. It was quite fun. She was amazed. Not by me, unfortunately, but by the animals and how much WORK it was! :)

The article should come out in March and she said she'd be happy to send me the link and some hard copies as souvenirs. I"ll be glad to post the link so you can see what they say about me! fingers crossed its good!

Chase Aaron Tibbetts

Well this is also late in coming! Last week was a whirlwind week and I'm finally taking the time to sit down and tell the world about my very first nephew!

He was born to my younger sister, Lindsay, and her husband Aaron last tuesday around 7:30pm. He weighed in a 7 pounds and 20 inches long. He is the most adorable thing I've ever seen and I'm not be partial at all! Honest!

My babies (the dogs) are excited to have him grow up so they can play with him!

here is a photo of Chase at one day old and me holding him