More Lambs

Posted on March 3, 2026 by Robin

As the title indicates, I have already written one blog post about lambing. That described that lambing began on February 22. That’s nine days ago now, and a lot has happened. I started this post yesterday and it’s already outdated. However, I’m going to go with it because these photos are already loaded. Just play along and pretend it’s Monday. I was sharing photos in reverse order. Now I just need to add the text.

This is how I keep track of all the details. The numbers are the lamb ID, each with a 26 in front. Red ones are ewe lambs and blue are ram lambs. The next column is birth weight. The X _ indicates the sire: Hornblower, Clancy (BFL), Elvis, and Hunter.

The last one on the board is Rose with twins. I usually try to have them in the lambing pen area when they are in labor but I missed this one.

Pecan was just before Rose with twins.

Newborn Jacob sheep triplets and the four horn ewe is licking one.

Tranquility lambed the night before with triplets.

Four horn Jacob ewe standing by the wall

This is how Tranquility looked earlier in the day. When a ewe gets that sunken look in front of the hips that is a sign that the lambing is imminent. Maybe imminent isn’t the right word because I put her in the lambing area earlier in the day and she didn’t deliver until about 10:30 p.m.

Woman carrying lamb in the pasture with the ewe following.

Julia is a yearling who lambed in the pasture. One of the Farm Club members who was here brought her lamb to the barn, carrying it low so the ewe would follow.

Sandy had lambed earlier in the morning with triplets. I set up panels to separate Sandy from Eilwen (next photo). This is like having hospital beds in the hall. The lambing pens were full and I already had overflow pens in the alley of the barn.

Eilwen with triplets around 2 a.m.

At night the chickens roost on the wall behind the lambing pens.

This is Carlotta from the previous day. She is a Romney/Lincoln/Corriedale cross. The lamb’s sire is Clancy, the BFL.

It’s Lambing Season

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Robin

Lambing began Sunday night. The first ewe to lamb had twins, up and nursing when I got to the barn. That is how it is supposed to be. The second was a different story, but maybe that will be a post later. After that it has seemed slow, until yesterday.

This is the first ewe who lambed yesterday, Bideawee Billie Jo.

Jacob ewe in straw with two newborn lambs.

Twins.

Nothing in the middle of the day but in late afternoon, Beauty started. She ended up with twins, but it took awhile for the second and there was another ewe lambing in between.

Large black ewe in green pasture, showing huge belly and udder.

Addy is a Jacob-BFL (Bleufaced Leicester) cross. This photo was taken four days ago.

This is not a post-lambing photo. It was taken about three hours before she had the first lamb. Those sunken sides are a sign that the lambs have “dropped” and we’re getting ready for lambing.

Just after Beauty had her first lamb I looked over the fence and saw that Addy had one lamb. It’s not visible in this photo because it’s behind her. It’s black. Jacob sheep are colored sheep with a spotting pattern. When you breed them to most other breeds you get black lambs because the sire doesn’t have that spotting pattern. Addy is a crossbred, bred to another BFL. So genetics are interesting.

Black lamb with a white feather on its head.

Here’s the first lamb adorned with a white feather that looks like a spot.

Big black ewe lying down with newborn lambs, two black and one white.

But there is more! Ultrasound showed twins. I thought that maybe there was another and, sure enough, there was. This one was born hind feet first.

Black ewe lying in straw with four newborn lambs.

But wait! There’s more! Another hind-feet first delivery. These lambs total 32 pounds!

After I’d made sure that all those lambs had nursed I checked in back before I went to the house for dinner with guests. These two I thought required checking again later. This is part of the pen where I used to keep another ram. I have opened this area to the ewes because I have too many sheep for the barn space. Now it’s another space I need to check.

I did not take photos of these ewes and lambs other than this one that shows why sometimes those ram lambs aren’t delivered quite as easily as the ewe lambs. They end up OK but the ewe may have to do a little more work to deliver one with horn buds like this. Those two ewes had a set of twins each and now I have the lambing pens full and one in overflow pens in the barn alley.

A Farm Club member took a screenshot of her view of my barn camera. I knew I had to spend some time at the computer and figured I’d do it in the barn while waiting for lambs. These are all twins except for Addy at the top corner. It was not a cold day but the bugs were bugging me; therefore, the hood.

Stay tuned for more…if I have time.

Sheep Across the Road – Shearing – Part 2

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Robin

Part 1 is here. I had too many photos to use for one post. I didn’t mention in that post that they sheared 900 sheep on this day. I don’t know the average time for all of the shearers, but the one I watched sheared his sheep in two minutes.

This is another photo inside the shearing shed. The shearers work through a group of sheep and then the next comes in.

My goal was to get 250 to 300 pounds of wool, but I didn’t get that much for a variety of reasons. One is that there were only three of us working, one of whom had never worked with fleece. Another was our set-up. Notice that the skirting table that was available didn’t have legs. We rested one end on the flatbed truck and the other on a panel we tied to the trailer so it wouldn’t tip over. That made it awkward. The main problem was that we weren’t able to take an individual fleece from the shearing floor and toss it on the skirting table so it would land in sheep-shape. Instead most were picked up three or four at a time and pushed through a space at the end of the shed. They dropped onto a tarp and were picked up and pressed into a bale.

Cole, the sheep owner, was glad we were there and is excited for us to do something with his wool. He wanted to work with us to see our process, but he was moving sheep and dealing with other parts of the process the whole time. There would need to be some adaptations to make it realistic for a group like us to efficiently sort the wool. When I send wool to a small to moderate size mill it is up to me to send only the cleanest (regarding vegetable matter or VM) parts. I need to spread a fleece out so that we can properly skirt it, check for wool break or tenderness, and take only the best. The mills I use do not carbonize the wool. The following is from Woolmark.com and explains how most of the wool yarn that is sold on a large scale is handled

Carbonising is a continuous process which combines scouring to remove the wool grease and a chemical process which removes vegetable matter such as seeds, burs and grass. Carbonising occurs if the greasy wool contains a high percentage of vegetable matter (%VM), typically in excess of 2% to 3%.

Most of the VM contained in wool is cellulosic in nature, which is broken down into carbon, by firstly immersing in a strong solution (6% to 7% weight for volume) of Sulphuric acid (H2SO4) then followed by baking in a dryer set at 95^oC to 120^oC. After the VM has been turned into carbon the wool is passed through a series of heavy metal fluted rollers which crush the carbonised burs into dust.

I talked to the Cole’s partner, who also had sheep there. He sometimes send a few bales to the mill in Wyoming that I plan to use, although most of his also goes to a wool warehouse for sale. He said that when he bales the wool to be spun into locally sold yarn he has 4 skirting tables set up and a dozen people working to do exactly what we were trying to do. So I didn’t feel so bad about not being able to accomplish what I planned.

About 2 p.m. after the first 450 sheep were shorn, the shearers took a lunch break while the next group was being brought down from another hillside. I took photos of their gear.

The shearers came in a variety of vehicles and put up the tarp where they had set up a kitchen of sorts. The sheep are below the vineyard and along the road, coming between the vehicles.

Another view as the sheep are moved into the corrals. The previous group is heading up the opposite hill with a 4-wheeler behind them.

Sheep in the shearing shed.

Another view inside.

Shearing ended just before 5. Some of the shearers are heading back to their vehicles while others started to dismantle the shearing area.

We waited until all the other wool was baled for our little amount to be pressed into a bale.

Bales are usually packed into a solid 400-500 pounds, but this one is only about 125 pounds and squishy. I wanted it baled, because I thought it would be the best way to ship it to Wyoming instead of trying to pack it into lots of boxes. At this point I will wait until after the Timm Ranch shearing day on March 22 and hope I can fit two bales on one pallet.

Sheep Across the Road – Shearing

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Robin

I wrote three blog posts (the latest) about the sheep grazing the alfalfa field across the road. They moved out in December. I had talked to the owner about the possibility of buying his wool so I would have another locally grown yarn here. When I contacted him a couple of weeks ago he said the timing was just right because they were going to shear that week. Unfortunately the sheep he thought would be best for my purpose were grazing a vineyard in Santa Barbara County. Fortunately I have a good friend in Santa Barbara AND I had three days with no commitments. I drove to Santa Barbara on a Thursday, getting there after dark.

Friday morning we drove about 40 minutes to the vineyard where the sheep were grazing. The corrals and shearing shed (to the left, out of this photo) had been set up the day before. This is a lot of infrastructure to move from place to place, but how they make it work.

The first group of sheep was brought down from the vineyard. That’s their LGD (livestock guardian dog) leading the way.

This group includes Merino and Corriedale sheep. The owner, Cole, has separate flocks that he delivers to different jobs. I think that part of the planning is how to make the most of the trucking and deliver a full load. When he grazed the alfalfa in Solano County he had groups of 180 to 200 ewes with lambs and that filled a truck. This group is 400 ewes with single lambs.

The lambs were born in October which is why they look almost as big as the ewes.

It took an hour or so to sort the lambs away from the ewes so that didn’t have to happen as the ewes were going into the shearing shed. The shearing shed is temporary panels with the green tarp. The red panel is the chute where lambs were sorted. This view is of the lambs after being separated. The ewes are in the corrals.

This view is the opposite of the last one. That bumper of the white truck near the tree is seen in the photo above this one. The ewes are now being sent group by group into the shearing shed.

Sheep being shorn with ten shearers working.

There are ten shearers working here. The floor is sheets of plywood. The green panels behind the shearers are tarps hung on metal frames. The tarps can be moved easily after the sheep is shorn and exits to the back. This was quite a noisy operation with all ten shearers working. They brought music with them. I heard Spanish music at one end of the shed and Classic Rock at the other.

Men waiting for sheep in the shearing shed.

The shearers have a short break as another group of sheep enters the shed. This story will be continued in another post. One more photo below.

Screenshot of the phone showing the map and location of the next gas station.

I didn’t want to start with this photo because it’s not what the post is about. However, I snapped this screenshot while I was on the road to Santa Barbara. I was getting worried about gas and I asked Siri for the next gas station. Notice the answer: 6833 miles. Fortunately I found one closer than that.

To be continued…

Sheep Across the Road – Moving Day

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Robin

I have talked about the Sheep Across the Road in two previous posts. December 14, another foggy day, was move-out day.

There were three groups of sheep, each with 180 to 200 ewes plus lambs.

Portable corrals had been set up on the dirt road along the canal.

The truck has four decks for sheep.

This photo shows the group of sheep grazing just south of the canal in the background.

After the truck was loaded with two groups, the third group was brought up the road and into the corrals.

That last group was picked up the next day.

Later that day Ginny and I walked our regular route along the road.

Here is what is left to remind me of the sheep who were there.

Sheep Across the Road-Part 2

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Robin

I first shared photos and a sheep story in the November 9 blog post. The sheep were brought in to graze the alfalfa Across the Road November 4 and were there until December 14. Now I have another story to tell about this flock and the grazing operation, but I should at least finish the part of the story that was right across the road two months ago.

I often walk Across the Road with Ginny, but during this month I didn’t walk there very much. That was mainly because I didn’t want to cause any trouble with the guardian dogs that were on duty, but maybe also because that was the month it was so miserably foggy and dreary. It’s not foggy in this photo but it is a good example of how thoroughly the sheep grazed each paddock before they were moved to the next.

One morning I was checking the fence in our pasture when I saw the sheep being moved away from the main road back to where they had been farther back in the alfalfa. I assumed they had gotten out during the night and wandered out on the road and now they were being herded back. The next day I realized that I interpreted that scene wrong.

That morning, about two weeks after the sheep had first arrived I saw this scene from the southeast corner of our property. This wasn’t the same flock, but another being trailed up the road.

They had been grazing another property and were being moved to the one near us, as had the sheep the day before.

They turned the corner onto the road along the canal and were herded to a paddock further to the east.

This is the fencing that the herder moved to set up new paddocks when it was time for the sheep to move.

The three flocks were kept separate. I counted from about 180 to 220 ewes in the groups. That’s not counting the lambs.

That was from a distance with binoculars, but I later confirmed with the owner that was about right.

Eventually they moved to the alfalfa right across the road from us.

If I went to the mailbox the guardian dog came alert.

One of the flocks moved to south of the canal.

The other two were north.

My flock grazed just across the road. It’s a very different scale of management.

Back to Weaving – Color

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Robin

I wove these recently but they are from a warp I dyed several months ago. Can you tell that the warp was folded in half while I applied dye? Each half became a scarf.

These are the two pieces just off the loom before wet finishing.

These cotton shawls are also woven on the same warp. I used a lighter weight cotton weft for one.

This is a tencel scarf. There is another but I haven’t finished the fringe yet. The photo below gives a somewhat better idea of the iridescence to the pieces.

These are weavers at the end of the V-Shawl class I taught last weekend.

The exciting part of this shawl is the back so we always have to have that view. Fringes were left to finish at home. The shawl that is still on the loom in the photos is finished now! These are beautiful pieces.

Farm Club Retreat #13 – Day 3

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Robin

This was another morning when I got up before the others and went for a walk. I headed south and saw flashing lights and road closures. There was a half- marathon scheduled to begin in about a half hour.

I thought I’d catch the start and headed south and east.

I like seeing these well maintained older houses. What I’d really like is to peek inside.

I took this photo from that small park that shows on the map. I realized that the traffic control people had disappeared and there was no sign of a race. I checked my phone and found that it started in Golden Gate Park.

I walked back in that direction. This is the NDGW Home where we were staying–not the one on the corner, but just to the left of the palm tree.

I started to see spectators. I was amused by this sign and asked to take a photo.

These runners came through before we saw the lead motorcycle and bicycle accompanying the first in the race. I learned something after looking up the logo on the yellow shirts.

There were more of the yellow shirts along the way. They are part of Achilles International, an organization made up of people with disabilities who want to be active and people who volunteer as guides. There were two guides with each athlete.The athletes I saw had signs that said blind or deaf or both. After watching awhile I went back to the Home to join everyone for breakfast.

Group photo on Sunday.

Farm Club Retreat #13 – Day 2

Posted on February 8, 2026 by Robin

Our Retreat was only a week ago now but it seems in the distant past because I’ve been so busy. Catching up with my photos since, as I’ve said before, this blog is in place of a scrapbook. Blog post of Day 1.

I decided to get out for a walk before everyone else was up. I didn’t have a plan except to explore some of the streets and head towards a park. This is a view looking north from Buena Vista Park.

A screenshot from my phone showing my route. I like this app because I can figure out where I’m going as well as track the details later.

When I got back to the Home most people were in the dining room and ready for our customary breakfast–PIES! With apple, pumpkin, peach/berry, lemon custard, quiche, and a couple of breads, I think all the food groups are represented!

We gathered in the parlor for more spinning and knitting time with plenty of good conversation. As our group expanded we gathered all the furniture in this room for our circle.

By late morning we had a plan. Most of the group decided to check out some yarn stores. Two of us decided to walk into Golden Gate Park and go to the deYoung Museum.

This was one piece of art along the Golden Mile in the park. Another is visible through the center.

I took lots of photos in the Museum, but include only a few here. It is so easy to take dozens (or hundreds) of photos, but in reviewing them I wonder why I did. Most can be deleted.

There are a few pieces that I like to remember. The photo doesn’t capture what I saw. I was taken by the perspective–the back part looked so three dimensional but it is only the lower part that really is.

This one makes me wonder WHY? This is part of an exhibit of glass art, but I don’t understand the dog attached upside down to the table.

A contemporary Diné (Navajo) rug called “Sailing the Cosmos”.

This one is created, according to the sign, of “yarn affixed to a wax covered board”. You can’t tell from this photo but when you see it close up you see the individual strands of yarn, not sewn, not woven, just in place to cover the board.

The description of this one says something about exploring where the boundaries of tradition and innovation begin and end… Cotton warp and weft; plain weave with symmetrical knots, wool pile, and cotton fringe. I couldn’t tell if the lower part is coils of yarn (reminding me of the piece in the photo above) or if they are attached in some way.

I was impressed by the detail in these pipes carved of walrus tusk.

We ordered dinner in on this night and had a few intense games of Battle Sheep, another Retreat ritual.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in the parlor.

Farm Club Retreat #13

Posted on February 4, 2026 by Robin

We plan our Farm Club San Francisco Retreat for a weekend that is after shearing and before lambing. We were introduced to Native Daughters of the Golden West by one of the original Farm Club members who was also a member of NDGW. Members and their guests can stay in “The Home” designed by Julia Morgan and built in the 1920’s. This time thirteen of us gathered for the weekend and three others met up with us on Saturday.

Since Farm Club members are scattered around several counties we couldn’t all meet here to carpool. Four of us left from the farm and decided to check out SCRAP on the way. SCRAP is “a non-profit organization working at the intersection of arts, eduction, and the environment”.

This building holds an amazing amount of STUFF that has been donated–all things that someone could imagine using for an art or craft project, however wacky it is. There is a complete list on the website of what they will and won’t accept. I have included just a few photos here, although it is very difficult to portray what it is really like inside.

We spent a couple of hours here and then drove to our destination.

A feeling of serenity after the chaos of SCRAP. This is the room that I had for the weekend. We usually don’t spend much time in our rooms because we are gathered in the parlor, the dining room, or on an adventure of some kind in the city.

We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant within walking distance of the Home…

…and spent the rest of the evening in the parlor spinning and knitting and visiting. To be continued…

Meridian Jacobs' Blog

Life on the farm and at the loom.