Tag Archives: Jacob sheep

Decisions, decisions

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I decided to donate a lamb to the raffle held by JSBA (Jacob Sheep Breeders Assoc) to support AGM (Annual General Meeting)–  http://www.patchworkfibers.com/raffle.html –but I needed to figure out which lamb.  So it was also time to  figure out which lambs I want to keep (and choose the raffle lamb from this batch).  This is not an easy thing for me, especially since I just counted sheep after an auction trip and I still have 114 and I really should have only about 50 by the time breeding season comes around! The first step was to sort out the ewe lambs and then sort them into 2 and 4 horn groups. I didn’t get them all in here, but I sorted out most of the older ones.

This is most of the 2-horn lambs.

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And this is most of the 4-horn ewe lambs.

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I don’t think that there were any lambs that I wouldn’t be happy with in the flock, so it was a tough decision. Here are the 2-horn lambs I chose.

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Here are the 4-horn girls.

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The girl on the left is the lamb for the raffle–guess I should come up with a name.  Here she is:

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She has a very pretty fleece and her sister is in the 2-horn group that I’m keeping.It was a tough decision. I think that my thought process on this might be a good topic for my Farm Club News–maybe that will be the next one.

http://www.meridianjacobs.com/exec/eFarmClub.asp

The rest of my lambs are on my website:

http://www.meridianjacobs.com/exec/eSheep.asp?categoryID=Ewe%20Lambs

Loose ends

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I’m trying to finish up all kinds of things that have been put off or just didn’t get started. Part of this is in anticipation of Meet the Sheep, our Open House that is this weekend. So there is clean up to do, class prep, etc. Also, I think I can start getting back to weaving soon and I’d better get caught up on some other stuff too. So here’s some of what I did yesterday:

1. I spent a lot of time on Jacob Sheep registrations. I am behind there because of my one-handed typing. I just started typing 2-handed again–I consider it therapy because the left hand doesn’t really bend the way I need it to.

2. Dealt with the ram that was butchered last week. Good thing it isn’t summer or I couldn’t have waited this long.

ram-head1

3. Lolita finally lambed. Two weeks ago I treated her for hypocalcemia and other metabolic problems. She recovered and I’ve been waiting for these lambs–2 girls and a boy.

lolita

By the way this ewe lambed at State Fair last year (August). That’s 6 lambs in a year. No wonder she had some problems. She seems fine now. I’m keeping plenty of food in front of her.

4. Taking photos of new lambs and here is who is in the way.

goats

5. Speaking of goats we are feeding 9 kids. It seems never ending although its better now that they’re on 3 x’s/day instead of 4. I do a lot of the kid feeding but Chris has been milking. He’ll be gone this weekend though and I told him that he has to get the milking machine cleaned up.

milking

6. I picked up butchered lambs and had no room left in the freezers. I had to take a turkey out to make room for the lamb, so I cooked a turkey last night. Can’t cook a turkey without the stuffing and mashed potatoes! At least we’ll have leftovers for quite awhile.

They’re still coming

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It has finally stopped raining for awhile.  So I was after some action shots.

Wheee!

Wheee!

Triplets and three sets of twins today. That makes 48 lambs since last Tuesday!
Meridian Suzanne and her twins

Meridian Suzanne and her twins

Meridian Doris and triplets--up and nursing when I went back to the barn.

Meridian Doris and triplets--up and nursing when I went back to the barn.

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Broken arm update–The cast is replaced with a removeable brace, but the doctor says it will take 3 months for the bone to heal. Right now its held together by the screws. He gave me permission to pick up something the weight of a kleenex. Good thing my flock is easy to handle one-handed.

 

38 lambs

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These are twins born last night to Meridian Paulette,

These are twins born last night to Meridian Paulette.

This is how my barn looks from above. I've been moving ewes and lambs out of the jugs quickly.

This is how my barn looks from above. I've been moving ewes and lambs out of the jugs quickly.

Here is the other side of the barn with the ewes still waiting to lamb.

Here is the other side of the barn with the ewes still waiting to lamb.

Just as I was going to take this photo of 4 lambs the chicken walked in front.

Just as I was going to take this photo of 4 lambs the chicken walked in front.

Here is the photo I was trying for.

Here is the photo I was trying for.

17 lambs !

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Yes, 17! That’s since Tuesday.  Started with Dot’s triplets and a single. Yesterday there were 2 sets of twins. Today there have been 3 sets of twins and triplets. Everything was going smoothly until the triplets came along. All lambs born with no problem and nursing OK. Paula and Jan were both starting to lamb so I put them in pens and hung around–beautiful warm afternoon–pleasant in the barn. Paula had the tiniest lamb I’ve ever seen, so I got out the scale. This little ewe is only 2.5 lbs!

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I weighed the 4 lambs born earlier today–6.7-10.2–they look like my normal lambs. So I waited around for quite awhile to see how many lambs there would be. I finally decided it had been too long and I pulled 2 ram lambs–8.4 and 8.9 lbs! These aren’t great photos but you can see the size of the lambs.

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The boys were up and trying to nurse while the little one was still barely standing. She tries to nurse but I haven’t see her stay on the teat  so I’ve given her a few ounces in a bottle. Will go back out with more later.

One of the first triplets born-- climbing on mom

One of the first triplets born-- climbing on mom

Baby pictures

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I had the opportunity to have my flock ultrasounded last week. The senior students had a chance to practice sheep ultrasound and I found out who was pregnant. A win-win situation. As I expected all the sheep were pregnant (except for 3 I held back to breed for State Fair lambs next year). Most sheep except for the 2008 lambs, have twins. That was also expected.

utrasound-3

ultrasound1

Can you see the lamb?

Can you see the lamb?

By the time we were finished I could even pick out the lambs, although I can’t tell on this photo. It is fascinating to see the little rib cages and see the little feet moving around. 

Rams and lambs

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I had my camera with me this morning in the barn. I meant to take pictures of the fog. You know those postcards that are black and say “Hawaii at night”? So I can have something that is gray–“Sheep in the fog”, “Sheep herding in the fog”. This time of year fog is common in the Central Valley. Thick fog. Wet fog. Cold fog. People that live in the foothills look down on the top of the fog in the valley. There are days when the high and low temperatures only very by 2 or 3 degrees because of the fog. Fortunately we are at the edge of the valley and somedays don’t have fog at all when there is a thick blanket of it less than 1/2 mile away.
These photos are some I took–but not of the fog. This is Meridian Moonshine. He is one of two ram lambs that I kept from this spring’s lambs.
Moonshine, ram lamb

Moonshine, ram lamb

Here is Meridian Ranger, who will be 2 in February. He still has a great personality and has never shown any aggression (although I still don’t turn my back).
Ranger

Ranger

 Chicory Lane Houdini, below, is another story. He has nice fleece, horns, etc, but his personality leaves something to be desired. He can’t be trusted at all. 

Houdini

Houdini

 All three of these rams will have lambs here in March. That seems a long way off. Usually I am getting ready for lambs in late January.

Shearing Day

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Shearing Day was a week ago now. What a great day! The sun was out and a lot of people came to watch and buy fleeces. I sold 28 of the 60 fleeces we sheared! I started to worry that I wouldn’t have enough left for me!

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Here is a photo of Judd shearing Houdini.

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Judd doesn’t mind a crowd of people watching.

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A couple of friends (Joan in purple and Toni in black) helped all day at the skirting table.

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Freshly shorn ewes.

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Donkey, Amaryllis, is now out with the sheep full-time.