Category Archives: Jacob sheep

Today on the Farm

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I caught the sunrise this morning.

I put this ewe, Sweetgrass Tranquility, in the lambing area the last two nights thinking that she was ready to lamb. Notice the sunken sides. She looked like that yesterday too. This was her official due date based on breeding date. There was still no action.

I did chores and moved ewes and lambs around. This is Meridian Janna with triplets. They moved from the stall where they’d been a few days to the big outdoors. I went to the house to do some computer work. When I came back out Tranquility was straining some, but there was still none of the other obvious signs I expect (mucous, drainage). I gloved up and found a lamb close to being born, but stuck. This could be a long story but I’ll just explain that the lamb was dead and was blocking the exit for the other lambs. When a lamb is dead it is floppy and the legs and head don’t stay in the position necessary for easy lambing.

I pushed that lamb back to where I was able to grab its legs and head and pulled it out. Then I was able to find and pull two live lambs. The meconium staining indicates that the lambs were stressed during the process, but all is well. These lambs were normal size (7+ pounds). I think the first one died at least a few days ago. I have a photo but didn’t think this was the place to share it. 

Here are those two lambs up and looking for something to eat.

Lambing isn’t always a pretty sight.

I spent a couple of hours still in the barn working on fleeces. I have a lot of fleeces to skirt and photograph for sale. I will get some on the website tomorrow.

I took this photo earlier in the morning, before Tranquility lambed. This is the BFL X Jacob ewe, Addy. Those BFLs put on much more weight than the Jacobs with the same feeding regimen–she is a tad heavy and has looked round for days. Later in the day I went out and thought that the lamb(s) had dropped. Her sides were more sunken and I figured that I would put her in the lambing area tonight.

When I went back to the barn about 5:00 I found her with a lamb that was 12.4 pounds! Maybe the vet that reviewed the ultrasound and gave a 1+ result was right and there was only one. (1+ means they confirmed one but didn’t rule out a second.)

When I went back to the barn two hours later here is what I found. This is a 9.6 pound lamb and had already nursed. I wonder if I’ll be surprised when I go back out as soon as I finish this post.

Here is the lambing list so far. We’re off to a much slower start than previous years, but it’s been easier that way. There are a lot more due before the end of the month.

I don’t think it’s spring yet, but it felt like it today when the sun was out!

If you want to see lambing videos check out my YouTube channel. This is Bessie lambing with twins and here is Cashew with twins. These are about 6 minute videos.

Bright Colors and Lambs

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I taught a rigid heddle weaving class this morning and the one participant chose these brilliant colors for her scarf. I think it turned out great!

Dan and I went to the barn to put up a new barn camera and saw this out back. I had put these ewe in last night because she didn’t follow the others in to eat. But I put her back out this morning because nothing had happened and she wasn’t due for another five days. This is Rose, Kirby’s ewe. She is in the photo below just before shearing.

When they are in full fleece, looks are deceiving.

The ultrasound results showed triplets, but there are only twins here. These are dark lilac lambs. Horatio is the sire.

This is Bessie, the ewe that lambed January 29, too early for the “real” breeding season. These lambs are sired by a random ram lamb. They are sure nice looking ewes. One is black and white and one is lilac.

Meridian Bessie

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Two ewes have lambed early this year. The dates finally made sense when I realized (thanks to a Farm Club member who keeps track of these things) that some of the ram lambs got in with the ewes September 2. Those lambs would have been 4-1/2 to 6 months old at that time. As another friend said, “where there’s a ram, there’s a way!”

I saw one of the rams breed a ewe, but it wasn’t one of these two who have now lambed. Bessie lambed on Monday and in looking up some info, I thought I would feature her in a blog post.

Bessie was born 3/10/2019. She was a week old when this photo was taken. You can see that she is a lilac–the facial markings are definitely gray, not black and the fleece color follows. I love to see a lamb fleece like this. It’s all tight little curls and, in my experience, a fleece like this will be very nice. Also notice the level of the britch wool. That is the coarser wool on the back leg. It doesn’t spread very far up the leg.

Here she is 10 days later.

This photo was taken at about 7 months old.

Here she is three years later.

In 2023 Bessie lambed with twin rams. I kept this one, now named Blizzard.

This is Bessie, not quite a month ago. She is in full fleece and full of lambs.

These two ewe lambs were born on Monday, 1/29. The one on the right is lilac like her mom. They have the same curly fleece and low britch wool that Bessie had in her lamb photo.

Surprise Lamb!

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I was expecting the first lambs in about two weeks so it was a surprise when I saw a ewe who looked as though she was in labor tonight. I put her in a lambing pen and the more I watched the more I knew that she would lamb. I was a bit worried though because lambs can be considered premature and at risk if they are born even ten days before their due date. I put most ewes with rams on September 16 which makes first lambs due February 11. There were two ewes with a ram 6 days earlier which gives us a lambing date of February 5.

All is OK. I went to the house for dinner and pulled up the barn camera feed on my phone.The ewe was definitely in labor. By the time I went back to the barn the lamb was mostly out. The ewe was standing. One more push and the lamb was out.

This is a single ewe lamb out of a 7-year-old ewe, Meridian Dilly.

She was on her feet in about 20 minutes…

…and nursing within a half hour.

So how did we get such a vigorous healthy lamb that much sooner than expected? I sent an email to Farm Club to announce the lamb. One of the members reminded me of an email I had sent in early September in which I said three ram lambs had gone through the fence to where the ewes were. That timing makes sense. One of those is the sire.

Shearing Day 2024 – More Photos

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I shared the first batch of photos from Shearing Day last night. Here are more.

John has been shearing for us for years. He is an excellent shearer and a nice person.

I recorded some of the sheep being shorn which I’ll share when I have time. When I record I can pay attention to time. Some of them are right at 2 minutes or maybe even a little faster.

There is no blood. The sheep are in good shape and the fleeces look great! What more can you ask for?

Farm Club members kept up with getting the sheep to John. I got outside and started to take photos of the sheep after shearing. This ewe is Sandie.

They sure look clean now! That won’t last.

Kathleen weighed all the fleeces.

We had two skirting tables available so that fleeces could be skirted before purchase.

This is just a portion of the fleeces that I need to skirt and put out for sale. Give me a little time to get to that. The sooner the better though.

Distraction…there was a lamb born tonight! Surprise! I guess the next post will be about lambing.

Shearing Day 2024

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Shearing Day was Sunday, January 21. Rain was predicted all weekend. We need to shear dry sheep. For several years I have used the wool from my friend’s Jacob sheep. It’s easier to shear them here and we can be sure they’ll be dry. So I pay for that shearing and we bring her sheep here the day before.

This year we brought them two days ahead of time due to the weather and because of my Saturday activities. I had two extra stalls there was plenty of room when we split the group.

There were 16 ewes and one ram lamb.

We sheared those sheep first. This is the ram, first sheep of the day to be shorn.

John’s dog, Oakley, found a comfy place to settle down.

As soon as the neighbor’s sheep were shorn we loaded them in the trailer and Dan drove them home. They fit in the trailer much better after shearing than before.

First up for me was Peyton, the BFL ram. The BFL’s seem to gain weight very easily. He and the two crossbred ewes I have are probably a bit too heavy.

The Jacob rams were next. This is the ram lamb (almost yearling) Typhoon.

Here is the lilac ram, Horatio. Look at all that luscious fiber!

Ewes followed. I took recorded lots of video but haven’t had time to do anything with it yet.

Shaggy looking sheep.

This is the view of the main sheep area looking into the lambing area where there are pens, and beyond to shearing.

Shearing Day wouldn’t go as smoothly without all the Farm Club help. We crowd the sheep into the main barn with panels and move them through to the shearing area.

I’m grateful that so many Farm Club members have been here enough that they can just jump in and take over. There were several new members as well who are well on their way to learning about sheep handling.

Sheep in the lambing area moving to the pen on the top left near the shearer. That’s a goat on the right. The goat has to go in a pen or she gets in the way.

She got plenty of attention there.

Two or three people bring a few sheep at a time into this pen where they are moved through the gate to John.

Kathleen took her regular job of weighing fleeces.

Thanks to everyone! There will be another post.

Shearing Day…for One Sheep

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Sunrise with gray clouds above green grass.

Shearing Day was scheduled for January 21, but this was the day before. I was up before sunrise again (necessary if you want to get enough done in the day in the winter) and it’s nice when there is color to go with it.

Five women sitting in a circle, each spinning on a different type of spinning wheel.

I had a spinning class scheduled for the morning. Five people from five different cities came to learn about spinning. Most had a little bit of experience or at least an introduction to spinning so we started right in after I explained the different wheels and some basic terminology. They all had a chance to ply their yarns by the time we finished a little after noon.

Just as we were finishing Siobhan and Ivar got here. Siobhan is a Farm Club member who has been here often, either teaching a class or to farm sit, besides our regular Farm Days. She and her husband spent a few weeks in England on a belated honeymoon last year. While there they took a lesson on blade shearing and bought hand shears. Siobhan asked if she could shear a sheep for her Farm Club fleece for this year. I said “sure”.

She chose Harry, the offspring of one of our pet sheep, Hazel, who died last year). I had wethered Harry because he had become such a pet to Siobhan and my granddaughter, Kirby. Ivar did the actual shearing while Siobhan helped with sheep control.

I can’t believe that I didn’t get photos between the start and the finish. I was doing some other barn clean up but also helping with a bit of sheep management. In fact I took this photo while Ivar was finishing his last strokes from the front of the sheep where I had one hand (or maybe my knee at this point) on Harry’s head. Siobhan however has a great time-lapse video of the whole process.

I’ll bet it felt like longer to Ivar, but when I looked at the time on my photos I saw that between the first and last photo there was about 55 minutes. I’d say that’s pretty good for your first sheep and doing it with handshears…and the sheep has horns, which only adds to the difficulty.

The fleece looks good too and I can’t wait to see what Siobhan does with it. Great job, Ivar and Siobhan!

The next day we sheared 77 sheep, but John uses electric shears! Stay tuned for another post.

Farm Day – One Week Until Shearing

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I scheduled a Farm Day today to take care of some chores prior to shearing next week. The ewes were ready to be vaccinated to provide the highest level of antibodies in the colostrum. I wanted to clip fleece samples from the yearlings (their second fleeces) to send in for micron testing. We also made sure that the ear tags were clean enough to read and that the tags would match the cards that go with each fleece.

Some long-time Farm Club members were there as well as some people who are new to Farm Club. It all went very smoothly and it took only a couple of hours to work through all the sheep and take time to take a closer look at some of those fleeces.

Farm Club members get a chance to reserve a fleece at this Fleece Preview Farm Day.

Deborah took the photos from above and this is me remembering to take at least a few photos. Often we get so busy that I overlook that.

While most of us were in with the sheep Susan, Chris, and Nikki volunteered to clean behind the barn. That’s always a big chore. When they finished here they moved to the ram pen and cleaned the ram barn.

Mary checked off the list on the clip board and made sure the cards matched the ear tags. Susan drew up vaccine into syringes.

Marina and Katy caught sheep, marked faces, and cleaned ear tags.

Rachel and Siobhan also helped catch and mark sheep.

The photos below are what it is all about. I had been thinking that the sheep are looking a bit bedraggled, but when I got hands-on those fleeces I changed my mind. They are looking good.

April is a yearling ewe, almost 2 year old.

Queen Q is the same age. The photos below are an on-the-hoof look at the fleeces of the four rams I have here.

Meridian Blizzard (Meridian Silverado x Meridian Bessie), 10 month old ram.

Meridian Typhoon (Meridian Turbo x Meridian Rocha)

Fair Adventure Horatio, 3 year old ram, from Colorado.

Hillside Gabby’s Barrett, 3 year old ram, from Michigan.

Shearing Day is Sunday, January 21.* We’ll be shearing about 70 sheep. Fleeces are available on shearing day and for a month or two afterwards as I skirt them and post them on-line. If you live in the area you can come here to choose a fleece. Contact me.

*I just fixed this. A friend pointed out that I wrote June 21. Yikes!

Big, Round Sheep. Is it Wool or Lambs?

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After all the thoughts I had about keeping up with blog posts I see that the last post was the day after Christmas. I sure write a lot of blog posts in my head and even take the photos. Best laid plans and all…

We are shearing on January 21 and I like to take photos of the sheep in full fleece so I can update the website. I just updated the Ram page and the Ewe page. I moved the lambs that I kept in 2023 to these pages so that is a record of the whole flock now.

Shearing is only 11 days away. If you are a fiber fanatic and want to attend shearing day contact me. Or maybe if you’re part of a fiber guild you have already seen an announcement. First lambs are due two weeks later.

Zora is the first one due and is pregnant with twins. Due date is February 5. All the others will start a week later.

Bessie sure looks big enough to have multiples, but the ultrasound showed one. Is it all wool?

Sweetgrass Eilwen is due at the end of February and has twins.

This will be Rose’s first lambs. She is carrying triplets and is due February 11. Eight ewes are due that first weekend. That is why I will not be demonstrating at the Sacramento Weavers Open House that weekend.

Janna is also due on the February 11 with triplets.

Patchwork Amara is the third ewe that according to ultrasound is carrying triplets. Her due date is the 21st.

Bide a wee Trista is due the 17th. Ultrasound notes say 1+. That means that one lamb is confirmed, but they couldn’t say for sure that there isn’t a second.

Columbine has twins and is one of the 8 ewes due on February 11 or 12. Of course the due date is only a guideline. Lambs could be a few days before or after that date. I have to be paying attention. Looking at this photo, I remember that she had a wool break early in the year while nursing 2023 lambs. You can tell that some of her fleece is shorter than the rest. So this will not be a prime fleece. It’s possible that it can be salvaged. If not it will become part of next year’s Gardener’s Gold, a soil amendment for houseplants or the garden and made just down the road! It is available on line or here at the shop.

We have 45 ewes that will all lamb in February. The barn will be full!

Today on the Farm – Ultrasounds

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I’ve been having the vets come for ultrasounds the last few years. I tell them the first and last day the rams were with the ewes and they tell me the best date to confirm pregnancy and be able to count fetuses.

I gathered all the ewes into the barn and while I was waiting thought I could get a photo of a sheep and me both in wool. The wool I’m wearing is all handspun and knitted. You know that I am not a knitter, but I did knit the hat. One friend spun and knit the sweater and another spun and knit the dickie (which I just pulled out of the drawer today since we are now getting into the 30s at night). COZY, COZY!

That’s Jade on the left, Patchwork Bettylou in the middle, and Betty on the right. Betty is the second oldest sheep here–she’ll be 10 when she lambs in the spring.

Four veterinarians were here. One held the sheep. She was also at the end to do a quick FAMACHA score and check teeth on the old ones. No problems to report. The person who is crouching has the probe and they are all looking at the monitor (about the size of an ipad). The fourth vet recorded results.

They used to bring a small TV-sized monitor that had to be on a table. That meant we had to bring the sheep to the monitor. Now they are using this portable one. We can load all the lambing pens with four or five sheep and the vets move from pen to pen. They looked at about 50 sheep in two hours.

I wonder how long it takes before you are good at interpreting this. All I know is that the black part is fluid. I don’t make out the lambs very well.

They confirmed the breeding dates I had written down and where I had a question mark or two dates they gave an estimate of the correct date.

Results: All ewes I expected to be pregnant are pregnant. Ewes were all bred between September 10 and October 6. Lambs are due from February 5 to March 5. There are 45 pregnant ewes predicted to have 82 lambs. There are six marked 1+. That means they confirmed one but didn’t rule out a second, so there could be more than 82. Last year we had 96 lambs and my goal was to have fewer this time. I guess I met the goal but not by much.

I kept one ewe back when we were finished because I hadn’t changed her coat when I changed the others last week. This is what her fleece looks like. It may be on the coarser side compared to some but it is sure long.

Moonrise this evening.