Author Archives: Robin

Unknown's avatar

About Robin

Owner of Meridian Jacobs, farm and fiber shop. I raise Jacob sheep, teach fiber arts classes, weave handwovens for sale, and manage the store.

How Many Lambs in 2026?

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday was ultrasound day.

The day began and ended very differently as far as weather. This is how I was dressed for morning chores, just has I have been for the last few weeks with the drizzly fog. The vets arrived at 9 and we got to work.

It’s worth it for me to be have confirmation of pregnancy, confirmation of due dates, and idea of how many lambs to expect. It’s not an exact science. I remember a couple of years ago when the prediction was two sets of triplets and there were eight! Some of it is about the timing of the ultrasound. Breeding season this year was from September 27 to November 11. We scheduled ultrasound day so that the timing would be right to confirm pregnancy for the sheep bred the latest. For those bred at the beginning of breeding season, the vets can certainly confirm pregnant or not, but may not be able to get an accurate count of the number of lambs because of the size of them at that point.

I gathered all the sheep in the barn and we put three or four in each lambing pen. When they are lined up four across it’s easier to keep them in one place, with the added advantage of a place to put the ultrasound unit.

One of the vets is a resident, having earned his DVM, but getting additional experience and training. So the visit probably took longer because he was getting help from Dr. Smith and then she also double checked some of the sheep.

I took a few photos, but I sure can’t make out what is what. Whatever is important in this one is up in that top right part of the image.

It’s what is in the upper part of this image that is significant but I can’t tell you about this either…

…or this one…

…or this one.

Brown border collie on dirt road with green grass and blue sky in the background.

The sun came out–this was significant since it had been 23 days or so since we’d seen it! After the vets had left and I cleaned the barn I had to get out for a walk. The sheep that were Across the Road were moved a couple of days ago, but that is another story when I can get to it.

The vet tech wrote notes while they were working but this is how my spreadsheet looked when we were finished. Those people in Farm Club would recognize this as my breeding chart. Breeding groups are color coded on the left and dates are recorded as we go. (In case you’re getting a close-up look the dates on the left are hoof trimming, not breeding.) But all those circles and other notes are how I transcribed what the vets were saying. Fortunately I was able to take the vet tech’s notes and redo this spreadsheet, putting the rows into order of due date. That’s what we’ll refer to when breeding season starts.

One important item–when the rams got in with the ewes on September 1 at least one sheep was bred. The first due date is at the end of January while all the rest are due towards the end of February.

More Grazing in the Fog

Posted on by
2

Dan saw a report that we have reached a record of 22 days of tule fog. Cold and drippy. I think I can handle cold (sort of) when it is balanced by a bit of sun. At least the green pasture and fluffy sheep look cheerful.

This is looking northwest to the hills. What hills? Fog instead.

This is the second day grazing Paddock 17. There is still more feed out there, but I want to move them across the other paddocks.

It seems that two days is about right for each of these 30-foot strips. Notice in this photo and the previous one how well the sheep eat right to the edges. The fences are on the checks, the raised strips that channel the irrigation water down the pasture. I think they eat those closer because they aren’t trampled like the middle of the paddock.

This is another view of that paddock.

I moved the net fencing this morning and this is Paddock 16. .

Some of the chicory has red in the leaves and some does not.

Clover in the fog.

Sparky.

She is always anxious for a selfie.

Hedgerow, Grazing, and Citrus

Posted on by
Reply

We’re still in the gray gloom of drizzly fog, but we accomplished some outdoor tasks that make me feel as through I accomplished something.

Green pasture with net fence separating two paddocks.

These photos were taken on Wednesday, and on Monday I had moved the sheep from the northwest paddocks to the southeast along the road. This is Paddock 20-21 (numbers assigned to indicate the irrigation valves and checks). I had just fenced off the hedgerow we planted two weeks ago (blog post).

Green pasture with white net fence separating it in half. Sheep are grazing on the left.

This that same fence but from the south. You might notice that it looks as though the fence is leaning the same direction but this is the opposite view. I have developed the habit of leaning my net fence away from the field the sheep will be in. It is rare that a sheep gets tangled in the net fence, but if that happens there is often a bad outcome. I think it is less likely for those upright horns to snag the fence and cause the sheep to panic if the fence is tipped slightly away when the sheep may be grazing close to the fence, as in a field with this much growth. (The previous photo shows how closely the sheep were grazing to the fence on the other side.) It’s also more likely when the charge on the fence is on the low end, and we need to do some troubleshooting on the connections in this field. So I always tip the fence.

Harmony, one of the ewes whose coat was changed recently (last post).

You all know Jade, the oldest sheep here, and a big pet. The plants you’re seeing are chicory and clover.

Orange tree growing through a wooden fence.

After morning chores I was looking for the wheelbarrow to use in the later project of working on the hedgerow. It was near the shop where I had been raking leaves, and I thought that, since it was here. I should rake up fallen lemons before I took the wheelbarrow away.

This tree has been here since we moved to this property in1999. I don’t know anything about growing citrus, but I think the tree may have been a combination of a few different citrus on a common rootstock. Maybe it’s always been just one variety, but I got confused with the different looks that seem to show up at other seasons. In any case, I was paying attention this month when we had loads of fruit on the ground. They sure looked like lemons, but were nothing I wanted to use. Lemons are not supposed to be sweet but I would describe these lemons as nasty. You can see a lot of fruit on the tree now, but it is not nearly ripe, and I know those are oranges. I just looked up lemon rootstock for orange trees and found this video about pruning out those rootstock suckers, which in this case had grown taller than the tree. I was right. The branches that had started as suckers but we hadn’t trimmed were taller than the tree. Do you see that empty spot on top and the one on the right? That is where branches had reached through the rest of the tree and were producing fruit. It was quite a job to cut those away as the branches had grown through other branches and they are very thorny. It took me a couple of hours to finish that job and by then it was about time for Raquel to come.

Raquel is a Farm Club member who went out of her way to help figure out how to order what was needed to install a drip system to irrigate our newly planted hedgerow. I had also picked up more cardboard from a friend so we could continue the mulching that we started. We rolled out 250′ of 3/4″ tubing and secured it with u-shaped wires.

This is the tool that is used to poke holes at the appropriate places in the tube and then insert the emitters.

We had cardboard and straw mulch around the plants, but with the new cardboard we were able to cover space between the plants.

We finished the job…sort of. We used all the 250′ I had ordered. Someone (that would be me) had not measured correctly–a fact which I realized when I installed the new electric net fence for this strip. I thought we had a 250′ hedgerow, but it turns out I was 40′ short of fence. So we knew when we started on this yesterday we would run out of the main tube. We wanted to get as much done as we could though. I have ordered more tubing and all we have to do is connect it to this one and install more emitters and we’ll be good to go. It’s so damp and drizzly now that I don’t have to worry about more water on these plants right away.

Why Coated Fleeces Cost More …

Posted on by
1

…and should probably be priced even higher.

Every year I choose some sheep to coat–it’s usually those that are entered at a show. This year we took a trailer-full to Black Sheep Gathering (photos of the show). I coated most of those sheep because those who aren’t coated end up with straw buried in the fleeces. I kept coats on most of those afterwards so now there are nine sheep with coats.

Why coat?
1. The fleeces are free of VM (vegetable matter) which could be stickers, seed heads, etc from the pasture, but our pasture doesn’t have any of those. Alfalfa is our most likely VM, and is great to spin a fleece that is completely free of that.
2. The colored wool isn’t sunbleached.
Why don’t I like coats?
1. I would rather see the sheep in the field without coats.
2. Coats need changing as the wool grows, at least four times each year, and maybe more.
3. Coats need repair, especially when worn by horned sheep.
4. Coats can cause felting or other damage to fleece if they aren’t changed at the right time.
5. At this time of year with 6-1/2 weeks to go before shearing I’m running out of the larger sizes.
I changed coats last week and took photos of some.

This is Lily wearing a coat that looks snug. I changed this one but didn’t get a photo.

This is how Breeze looks with the coat removed. There is a bit of sun-bleaching because she didn’t wear the coat all year, but you can tell a difference from the neck wool that isn’t coated at all.

Breeze’s fleece.

Breeze with a larger coat.

I didn’t get a photo of Zoe, but here is one of her fleece. Gorgeous!

Harmony with a coat that looks too snug.

This is what’s under the coat.

Harmony’e fleece.

Harmony’s new coat.

Today’s Random Farm Photos

Posted on by
Reply
Green pasture grazed by Jacob sheep.

Checking the pasture this morning. The fog was so dense it seemed dark for longer this morning and I didn’t go out right away. The sheep had already been out eating.

Jacob sheep grazing green pasture in the fog.

This is Day 3 of grazing this paddock but it looks as though there is still plenty of forage.

Mailbox in foreground with sheep grazing alfalfa in the background.

When I walked outside this morning I heard a lamb and I wondered if one of my ewes had an “oops” lamb from when the rams got out (or in with the ewes) but it still wasn’t the right timing. The sheep grazing Across the Road have now been moved to right across from our house.

Black lamb with other white sheep n alfalfa.

There is one black lamb in this flock.

White guardian dog in front of sheep that are grazing alfalfa.

There are two guardian dogs and this one noticed me standing at the mailbox. He barked until I retreated.

Two plastic containers with sheepskin pieces soaking in tannin, making the solution look red.

Tanning is ongoing. Last night was the second session of the “hair-on” class. These will stay in the barrels for a week. They are tanning in mimosa.

A dozen people working on various fiber projects in a small room.

About a dozen people came for Spinners’ Day Out today. I think that today two people were spinning, one inkle weaving, one floor loom weaving, four knitting, one using a blending board, and everyone enjoying the conversation and great snacks.

Weaver holding her finished Vararfeldur weaving she just took of the loom.

Carla finished the weaving she started two days ago at the Weave Like a Viking class!

Christmas wreath with hand spun black and white ribbon.

Sue brought me a gorgeous wreath. She wove the ribbon using hand spun yarn from one of my sheep! Beautiful!!

Grazing in December

Posted on by
Reply

The title is significant. I don’t know that we have ever grazed into December. There wasn’t enough feed and the ground was too soggy. Now we have lots of green feed and need to keep the sheep eating it. The downside is that the rain seems to have stopped and we will need more.

Three Jacob sheep standing in grazed field with net fence as the border.

This is Paddock #1 (west property line) after two days of grazing.

Thick tall chicory and grass covering the bottom wire of a 3-wire fence.

This is Paddock #1 North, just across that fence. Notice that my boot is under the bottom wire, but it’s pretty well buried in foliage. I walked along this stretch of fence to clear that bottom wire.

Jacob sheep eating leaves of chicory in green pasture.

Happy sheep.

More happy sheep. The last time we grazed this paddock was three months ago on September 1.

Sheep eating chicory leaves in thick pasture.

The big leafy plant is chicory and so is the one with blue flowers. It took me a long time to accept that they are the same plant.

After looking it up online I found:
“Forage Chicory: Perennial broadleaf. Up to 18” (flower stalks up to 6′). Tap-rooted broadleaf perennial with bright blue flowers suited to well-drained moderately acidic soils. As annual or perennial forage: well-managed stands may persist 5 years or longer, but also valuable in annual stands for pasture or green chop. Very high digestibility and protein levels up to 50% higher than alfalfa. Digestibility is reduced if plants are allowed to bolt, but the flowers are very attractive! Research shows reduced parasite loads in animals fed or pastured on chicory. “

Green pasture plants after a day of grazing and trampling.

This photo is after grazing Paddock 1N for three days. A lot is trampled, but they were still eating out here this morning.

View down the fence line of a grazed field on the left and not grazed field on the right. Sheep were just turned into the right field.

I opened the fence to let them into the next paddock. I have video and I just spent time on iMovie after not using it for a long time. Let’s see if I can share this on YouTube. Here is the link.

Two four-horned Jaco sheep in tall grass and clover with blue sky behind.

Back to regular blogging. More happy sheep.

Jacob sheep grazing field full of green grass.

This view is interesting to me because this is the area where ryegrass completely overwhelmed the clover last spring. This post is one of several I wrote about that situation. If you pursue the Grazing posts you’ll see the whole story. This is good feed here, but it is patchy, more so than in the rest of the paddocks.

Four horned Jacob ewe in green pasture with blue sky behind.

This ewe, Meridian Pecan, isn’t bothered by any of those details. She’s happy to have fresh green feed.

Grazing and Random Farm Photos

Posted on by
Reply

Paddock 1 after the first day of grazing. These are yesterday’s photos and this morning the sheep were moved to Paddock 1-N. That is the one just north of this one.

This is 1-N before I moved the fence.

Did you notice the owl box in the first photo? I can’t look in but I can just reach the latch, open the door, and snap a photo with my phone. It’s obvious that it has been used, but I don’t know if the owls have raised babies or not.

Leaves at the edge of the pasture.

The tenacity of trees to grow however they can.

A view of some of the sheep Across the Road. They are grazing the alfalfa and being moved strip by strip.

More Fog – Add Yellow

Posted on by
2

A screenshot from Instagram show yesterday shows our weather.

Screenshot of a satellite photo showing mass of fog over a map of California.

Our farm is at the edge of the Central Valley, sort of where that arrow points. To put this in perspective, realize that the white band on the right is the Sierra’s (not much snow yet). The left side is the Pacific Ocean and where the fog narrows and goes to the left–that’s going between the hills and ends up over the SF Bay.

Screenshot with text about fog in the Central Valley.

Read the details above. To those of you who live where it is really cold it probably sounds like I am whining. Is cold different when you can see sun part of the day? Or sit in a sunny window? There was not even a glimpse of sun the last couple of days.

So let’s add some color!

Bright orange cosmos flower.

Cosmos from the summer dye garden.

Close-up of two sunflowers.

Sunflowers growing Across the Road a few years ago.

Shawl woven in orange and yellow yarn.

My interpretation of the garden woven in a cotton shawl.

Grazing – Gray Fog but Green Pasture

Posted on by
Reply

We’re almost to the last check in the south pasture. Well, we are at it but that is today and this blog post is about yesterday.

This is looking south and Paddock 2 on the right. That is the one the sheep were just grazing for two days, after grazing Paddock 3 (left) for two days. You can see how this looked two days ago here.

Anther view of that same fence line.

Moving west, this is the fenceline between #3 and #2. I had to move that net fence from the division between #3 and 4 to the division between #2 and 1.

The fence line between #’s 2 and 1, neither yet grazed

The sheep grazing #2 on the first day (yesterday)

Jasmine.

Rose.

Jade.

Random Farm Photos – Yesterday

Posted on by
Reply

This morning I shared photos of our grazing set-up now that it’s one year after the big project began. I just looked back through my blog and found this post when we seeded. That was November 19, just hours before we had a lot of rain. A lot has happened in a year. This winter it feels like a whole new experience because prior to this project I would not have been grazing in late November and would be waiting for spring.

Yesterday about noon I walked out to check the fence. Some of the sheep were on their way in.

This is the corner of the new paddock I’d just set up. I think I mentioned something in previous posts about acquiring five new sheep. This is one of the three Corriedales, so far named Corri 1, Corri 2, and Corri 3. Yeah, not very creative. This is Corri 3…

…and she is one of my best friends.

Sparky is another.

I have been taking photos of individual sheep to update the pages on the website. I have updated this page with the current ewes, but haven’t included all the new photos yet. The ewe in this photo is Ophelia, a yearling.

I also took photos of new lambskins yesterday. I stopped in the middle of writing this to list them here.

The hedgerow project wasn’t completely finished yesterday. I found more cardboard and cut it up for the remaining 19 plants and added more straw. We hadn’t got them all watered yesterday so I brought out a wagon to haul more water at one time.

I finished just as the sun went down.

In the evening I jumped on Zoom for my final Basics of Bark Tan class presented by Traditional Tanners where I have had the latest sheepskins tanned. This is leather I made from deerskin! I highly recommend this class. It is very well presented and a lot of fun!