Fireworks and Hay

We went to see the fireworks in Braham, MN on the 4th of July.
I tried to take some photos, but as usual, didn't read any directions beforehand, I just tried to wing it. I should have changed the settings to a higher resolution.The one below reminds me of a flower...
Toward the end of the display, they started coming two or three at a time...

And here's another familiar July scene:
Last week we unloaded the wagon and loaded our truck and trailer, then unloaded the truck and trailer stacked about 340 bales of hay. It left us both quite stiff and sore, but as usual we were hoping to get it all under cover before any rain came. We hired the neighbor boy to help us out since our own two grown boys were in the cities.
Stan pulled one of the big wagons home from the land (14 miles), but even with it only half full, the it was swaying all over the road. It was pretty scary, so we had to do things the hard way. We got two full wagon loads for our share of the crop. It's been so dry here I'm already feeding it.

The past two years we've had big squares made. They are so much easier, requiring very little of us. We still have 6 big squares left from last year, which I think will still be good. So now I just need to get about 100 bales of good quality hay for lambing next spring and get my flock down to around 20 sheep. Then we should be all set!

Hay is cut! Lamb updates

Our hay is cut and drying. We've had hot humid weather, but now when our hay is supposed to be drying out, the weather has turned unseasonably cool and the clouds won't leave. Oh well, at least the sheep are more comfortable.

Don't these two look sweet? It's Dot and Derra, they are two-year-old Shetland Mules. I didn't get much interest in my Shetland mule sale package, so I've decided to keep the adult mules and Peppy the Ile de France ram. I'll go with the market lamb plan for 2010. I'll just have to cut back the flock somewhere else...
Speaking of Peppy, there he is in the photo above. He's such a cutie with that big fuzzie head, and he's very good natured. But he's raring to go for breeding season already.
The other day while I was at work, my wether and my new BFL ram lamb (Ward Harwell in the photo above), broke out of their pen and got in with the rams. The ram collection includes 2 year old BFL (Granite), yearling horned Shetland ram (Bo), and Peppy the yearling Ile de France. Fortunately, when I found them there wasn't much blood (the little there was came from Peppy's head) and they all seem to be getting along fine. That's a relief because it's one less pen to feed and water - at least until I wean the lambs.

Our two Shetland ram lambs are showing some growth of their "chocolate chip" horns. I'm see it more in Leonie and Bo's black lamb. He's only 3.5 weeks old and his chips are starting to fatten and get a little taller, he may be modified...I'll keep watching to see how he develops.

This is a photo of Cordelia and her Ag grey ram lamb. He's nine weeks old now and his chips are smaller than Leonie's ram lamb. I love his great little tail and nice straight back end. I know those horns could take off at any time, so I'm watching and keeping my fingers crossed on this guy. Here's another shot of his head - not sure when I took it though.I really wanted some grey in my flock again and this guy could be used on my F2 & F3 Holly ewes.

That said, I love Cordelia's Ag gulmoget girl too, She's definitely staying. Her name is Camille and she's so friendly. I love her intermediate fleece. Her tail is looking very nice now, it's smaller than in this photo taken a while back. It's developed that distinctive Shetland kink where the wool ends and the hair begins.
And Hanah's gulmoget ewe lamb Cleo is also staying...She's super friendly. Don't know why she's got her back feet so close together in this photo, but at least you can see her coloring. Below is a shot of her fleece under the light area on her side - she doesn't have the characteristic side dusting, hers is more like shaela underneath.
And probably both of Hattie's twins, Freya and Frieda will be staying. Above is a photo of Freya, taken with a flash the other night. I'm feeding Timothy hay from last year, so she's wearing some. She's a solid sided black gulmoget at this time. And Frieda is solid black.

Oh heck, I think all the the Shetland ewe lambs are staying this year! Above is a shot of Cleo and Freya's tails. It was taken a couple weeks ago, Freya (right) is smaller than Cleo (left).

And here is a shot of the Shetland goslings from the other evening. They are growing in their feathers now. Oh yes and they get the run of our fenced in backyard. I've fenced off my garden and we keep the garage door closed so they don't hang out too much in there.

Okay, now I have to buckle down and get a newsletter and grant proposal written for the art group and get my booth inventory made. I need to mulch the garden too and of course the hay crop will need to be brought home and stacked n the barn...Arghhh, there's just not enough time in the day!

Just What I DON'T Need!

Summer has finally arrived here in east central Minnesota. The temperature was 94 yesterday with high humidity. This weather is hard on the sheep, the Shetlands pant, but the BFL's really seem to suffer. I put up a fan in the pole building and later found Rhyn and Devlyn laying directly in front of it.

Anyway, it was hot and humid. The sheep were not happy. I opened the paddock nearest the pond for them to graze. A couple times in the afternoon I noticed the whole flock making a mad dash for the pole barn. It seemed odd that they would run like that in this hot weather. But I didn't think too much about it.

Around 7:30 I went out to make sure they had water and give them a little supplemental hay. As I brought hay out to the hoop house I saw not one, not two, but THREE fox (foxes?) IN and around my fence. No wonder the sheep were getting spooked all day! The mother fox was outside the fenceline heading into the woods when I saw her. The two kits were inside the fencing. One was only about 75 feet from me as I yelled and swung my arms at him to get him out of there. He was small enough to slip right through three fences to get back to the pond.

I had suspected there was a mother fox on the edge of the pond. She has been rather bold around the chicken pen, but I've only lost one hen so far. I'll need to keep my Shetland goslings under lock and key from now on.

Ozzie does a good job of chasing them off. But the mother will lead him one way while the kits go another way. We watched as she did that last night. We could hear the kits calling out in the woods but they didn't come out in the open again.

So I decided to put up electronet around the sacrifice paddock near the pole barn. I just can't have my sheep being chased by fox kits in this kind of weather and I worry about the Shetland lambs, they aren't that big, especially the three-week-old ewe lamb. It was so hot and sticky and the mosquitoes were out as I tried to set electronet up under all the trees, etc. - what a pain that was! I'm afraid it's going to be a long HOT summer if we don't get the fox family under control... I may need a llama.

Shetland Goslings and Lamb Update

The Shetland goslings are excellent foragers already. I took a video of them, but I have to edit it down before I can upload it. So for now, here's the latest photo of them...When I let them out of their pen they follow me all around. Last night they hissed at our dog Ozzie when he came too close. They are growing up so fast. The little guy I had to hobble is on the right in the photo above. He's still pretty small compared to the others, but perfectly healthy. They are starting to get feathers in their tails.

And here's Mabeline with her mule lambs. They aren't our largest crossbred lambs, but they are a nice pair. Mabeline is going to have next year off from lambing.All our crossbred lambs are for sale. We have four ewes and four ram lambs. We have plenty of lamb customers for the ram lambs. I plan to wean them and get them on good quality hay so they will be plenty big by October or November. I'd say the two oldest, Derra's ram lambs, are around 50 pounds already.

Here's Lanora and her ram lamb, Doulan. He has a strange top line and will not be registered. He's such a sweet ram lamb though. And his fleece is so soft.

And we finally defrosted the freezer last week. This prompted us to make 25 pounds of bratwurst from our frozen lamb trimmings.
I know they look gross here, but I just twisted them into links and cut them apart. We've been grilling them. I forgot that the casings give me indigestion.

Happy Father's Day everyone. Oh, that's right, this is our 34th wedding anniversary too. Wow, that really makes me feel old. We had a little wedding in our own living room with a justice of the peace, (located from the phone book) on this day back in 1975...

Honest Scrap

Well, Sabrina bestowed the Honest Scrap award to this blog, so I guess I can play along with 10 honest statements since some people actually enjoy reading that kind of stuff.

I will skip the part that requires naming seven other award recipient blogs.

Okay, here goes:

#1 - I was born the fifth of eight children. Being in the middle like that, I always have been able to fly under the radar and pretty much make my way quietly through life without being too noticeable.

#2 - I have never really cared for the warm colors like yellow, orange, and red. I'm more of a blue, green, purple fan.

#3 - I have been eating lots of spinach lately. And I found a volunteer spinach plant in the garden! :-)

#4 - I got the test results back from my recent surgery and they are NORMAL. Yeah!

#5 - I've made friends with two of my three gulmoget ewe lambs so far. Camille (the Ag gullie) has the nicest fleece! It's going to be the longer and wavy type like her mom's, and it's oh so soft! I am definitely keeping her. Her 10 year old mother, Bramble Cordelia, will be retired or culled this summer.

#6. River Oaks Hattie will be culled this summer too. She has given me some of the best lambs ever born here. But she has a bum foot that isn't going to get better. I plan to keep at least one of her daughters, Leonie (a modified moorit from 2008), Freya (black gulmoget from 2009) or Freida (black from 2009).

#7. The Shetland goslings are the greatest little troopers! They quickly caught on how to go up and down the two steps to the garage to get outside. They stay VERY close to me whenever I let them out of their pen. I hear the pitter-patter of their webbed feet and watch them tumble over each other to stay close to me. They have such tiny little wings! They are good foragers and have pretty strong beaks already. I'll try to post a video in a later entry.

#8. I remembered why I shouldn't hold the goslings on my lap and let them snuggle into the folds of my shirt. It was something warm and wet and very gross that reminded me.

#9. I have to limit my time on the computer so I can get more things done around here.

#10. I am having a great time at this stage of my life!

I made lotion today!

I noticed how often I use hand lotion since I've been working at the deli and washing my hands all the time. Rather than buy the stuff, I decided I wanted try making some for myself. Sure it would be simpler to buy a base lotion and just add scent to it. But making the lotion was a lot of fun! It was so cool to watch the clear yellow oils turn milky white when I added the distilled water. The best part is, no need to wear protective clothing, lotion's not caustic like raw soap. I scented it with Yuzu fragrance oil. So now I have lots of lotion to match my Yuzu soap!

Since this was my very first batch, I reused empty containers - it made about 24 ounces of lotion, so I was scrounging for a while! If I decide to sell lotions, I'll need to order bottles. Anyway, I can't wait to bring these in to the art group on Monday and see how people like them.

The past few weeks I've been making soap like a crazy woman.

I need to get a good supply on hand for the booths I'll be doing this summer and fall. I ordered shea butter, coconut, olive and palm oils in bulk back in April.

It was great fun to make several double batches of soap each night. The kitchen smells so good with the soap in the oven overnight and the loaves are ready to unmold and cut in the morning.

I love seeing the slabs of soap after they come out of the molds. I try to cut them all so they will weigh about 3.5 ozs.
Once they are cut, I put set them aside to cure for several weeks and then I will weigh and label them for sale. It's important to note the date they were made and the exact ingredients in each.

Well, I had to inlcude this shot of Lanora's face, you can sure see where the Bluefaced Leicester name comes from on her! I used to wonder if people shaved the necks on their BFLs before they go in the show ring, but here you can see that wool sheds away during the summer, same thing is true of the wool on their bellies. Nature's way of keeping them cool. :-)

This afternoon I had the sheep out in the yard next to the house using electronet. That stuff is SO handy! As I was taking photos of the sheep, I noticed the sky was getting darker.

I quickly gathered up the Shetland goslings and got them inside. Then the winds started up and the rain rolled in! We got a good 1/4 inch. I'm hoping another round or two comes through tonight.

On another note, my surgery went well last week. I was so happy to find that anesthesia practices have changed quite a bit since I was last put under. Thanks to everyone for sending the good wishes. :-)

Lamb & Wool Starter Flock for Sale

Okay, I've made up my mind, I'm selling the Mule Flock! Much as a I love the Mules and their fleece, I just don't have the space to deal with two breeds of registered sheep and a market lamb operation. I've started a sales blog and will be adding a link and more sheep to it as time permits.

Six Bluefaced Leicester-cross ewes, ages 1-2 years, and a yearling Ile de France/Dorset ram. All are white, but the ewes carry color recessively.
This is a great opportunity for anyone wishing to produce market lambs on grass and at the same time harvest some great handspinning wool.
Three ewes are two-year-olds with good lambing histories, three are yearlings; two yearlings were not bred and one has a ewe lamb at side (will negotiate separately on the ewe lamb).

If sold separately, the ewes are priced at $150 each and the ram is $200. If sold as a package of all seven, they are priced at $950.

Can negotiate a smaller package deal if desired.

Also available:
* Two-year-old registered natural colored Bluefaced Leicester ram, twin, proven sire. Excellence quality fleece on this ram. Good natured, gentle ram. $250

* Yearling registered Shetland ram, moorit with head spotting, single, proven sire, nice wide horns and short fluked tail. Good natured, easy to handle. Nice fleece too. $200

Our flock is a Scrapie Certified flock since 2008. All our sheep are up to date on worming, vaccinations, and hoof trimming. We are located in East Central Minnesota and can help with transportation if needed.