Tag Archives: sheep farm

Random Farm Photos

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Wild turkeys on the top rail of a gate and on he ground in front, with sun setting behind.

This is a resident flock of turkeys–two adults and five babies (not so baby anymore). They come and go farther up the road and across the road. They are most annoying when they are around the peach tree or scratching up the garden.

Two views of the paddock I moved the sheep to yesterday. This is looking south. The grass in the foreground is an undesirable one and we are thinking about how to deal with it.

The same paddock from the other end. The grass here is orchard grass which was part of the seed mix we used in fall 2024. Notice how inconsistent the pasture is. There is lots of chicory in the top half and not much except the grass in the south with lots of bare ground between clumps. More issues to think about.

Yesterday moving rams lambs to the barn to sort for harvest day.

Notice ground squirrel holes. They have underground cities everywhere including under the barn.

After harvest. I have eleven sheepskins salted.

I’ve been sorting JSBA files. Jacob Sheep Breeders began in 1988 with the plan to keep a registry for Jacob sheep in North America. From the website: “JSBA’s mission is to foster the conservation of Jacob sheep through education, advocacy, registration and research.” I was Registrar for many years. When I began I picked up five four-drawer filing cabinets, holding registration applications, from the previous Registrar, also in California. By the time JSBA went digital and I was finished, those filing cabinets were full and overflowed into boxes. Several years ago I started scanning the files so that there would be a record of JSBA’s history. Actually, I didn’t do the scanning initially, but prepared the files so that we could have someone else do it. Each file has two sets of photos stapled to it and wool samples for rams. I removed photos and tried to find two views of the sheep to staple back on but to cover up comments and signatures. Needless to say, this gets time consuming. Farm Club helped for awhile, including scanning now that we can do that with a phone. So…now, many years later, there is the goal to finish the job. I know which boxes have not been prepped, but I’m trying to figure out which prepped files were scanned and then if those scans are now in JSBA’s database.

I would rather be weaving. I SHOULD be weaving. This is another example for the upcoming Lambtown class about Clasped Warp and Clasped Weft.

I don’t know how long I’ve had these boots, but they are very comfortable and got me to the top of Mount Lassen last month. I think they have seen their last days. The sole on the left one has completely separated all the way back to the instep.

Leaving the Farm for a Week – Prequel to a Road Trip

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It’s not easy to leave when you have animals to care for. I am fortunate that there are long-time Farm Club members who have become good friends, and they are willing and able to spend a few days at the farm. Three friends organized the dates to suit their schedules so I know the animals are in good hands.

Anytime Dan and I will both be gone I spend at least a day getting organized. I needed to get the pasture set up to make it easier to graze. This has been “on the list” whether I was leaving or not. So Farm Club members came Saturday to help with that project and I shared that here.

Metal panel secured to red shed wall to cover big holes.

This is on the list of things to fix, but there was no time to do it right before we left. This is the ram pen shelter and they have been enlarging the holes in the plywood. There is a 2×6 board on the inside so I haven’t been worried about the rams getting out, but do I want to take a chance when I’m gone? So I tied a metal panel to the outside.

Metal water trough that has been drained for cleaning.

The water trough needs cleaning at least weekly in the summer because it gets full of algae.

Bright orange cosmos flowers with green foliage.

I needed to finish a proposal for an article for one of next year’s Handwoven magazines. That was due August 1. This is a photo to accompany that proposal.

Orange cosmos flowers and pink dahlia flowers on trays in the sun.

After photographing the cosmos flowers I harvested this batch to dry. I pick them every few days so they will continue to bloom and to save them for dyeing later. The pink flowers are dahlias.

White pick up truck with alfalfa in the bed and Dan unloading it.

We were down to only six bales of alfalfa in the barn. Although the ewes would be on the pasture while we were gone, all the rams need to be fed hay. Since Dan’s knee replacement we have bought hay by the stack so it would be delivered. This is the first batch of ten bales that Dan has loaded himself since the surgery.

View of back of the house with a pile of trimmings from the rosebushes.

This job was not a priority but I continue to be distracted by gardening chores. I know this is not the time of year to prune roses, but I was tired of being attacked by rose branches every time I walked on that path or the deck at the Weaving House.

Jacob ewe lamb with two horns.

The lamb page of the website has not been updated for quite awhile and I needed current photos. The last photos are from mid-May and those lambs have changed a lot since then. I took these photos a couple of days before our trip but have not yet updated the site. Maybe by the time you read this post I will have added some of these. I will need to take more photos when I’m home.

The Artery gallery emptied for a two week renovation.

A couple of days before leaving I was at the Artery to remove all of my pieces there. The Artery will be closed for two weeks while the floors are completely refinished. The old carpet and tile will be removed and the floor will be refinished. We found that there would have to be the added job of asbestos removal. The Artery will reopen August 11 so I’ll be returning my pieces the day before.

Skeins and a cone of yarn and a beanie on a brown surface.

I got my Timm Ranch wool back from the mill right before we left. I had time only to open the boxes. I will list it on the website when I’m back.

Stay tuned for photos of our trip. We camped the first couple of nights but I’m in a hotel room right now and finally got my computer out. Now to try and make some updates to the sheep pages. Or maybe I should review 5 days of emails…

It Is Someone’s Birthday!

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I brought Ginny home ten years ago when she was two months old.

She is a red and white Border Collie named after the red-headed girl in the Harry Potter books.

She came from Mendenhall Wool Ranch, where I also got Rusty. They were related in some way, but I forget how now.

We still have this moose in the toy basket.

I don’t remember who brought this drone here, but Ginny didn’t think it belonged.

Ginny’s one-year birthday. Fiona, Rusty, and Maggie were in attendance.

Ginny was born with good herding ability. The most training that is needed is that of the partner (me). I learned most of what I know from Debbie at Herding 4 Ewe, just up the road from here. I had worked with Rusty there when he was younger and took Ginny for awhile.

We don’t have that much work for a dog here and I try to create situations where she can work. Most of it is after I have weaned lambs and we can work with them. It’s difficult for a dog to move sheep with young lambs when the ewes aren’t “dog-broke”, meaning that they are going to defend their lambs and threaten the dog.

And young lambs certainly don’t know that they are supposed to move away from a dog.

One of the important jobs I have for a dog is to either move the rams into a place where I can catch them or to keep them away from me while I’m working in the pen. Ginny and Rusty keeping rams away in this photo.

Rusty never wanted to play with a ball. I taught Ginny about balls thinking that would be a good distraction when we didn’t have real sheep work to do. Sometimes I wonder if that was a mistake. On walks Across the Road her favorite thing is to drop the ball into the canal just beyond the dams where the water is swirling.

She also puts the ball through a fence where I am working and she can’t get it. Therefore I am expected to pick up the ball and throw it.

Here is a different canal photo with a pink ball. Ginny gets in the canal in the other portions but I don’t want her jumping into the cement canal at these areas where the water is fast and swirling.I have been known to create a net using a forked stick and the leash so I can get the ball out of this situation.

This photo is from about a year ago. That’s the same moose and an oil bottle she took out of the recycle bin.

Also taken a year ago.

This photo is from last week. I didn’t let her have the ball while we were near those dams but she dropped it in the canal repeatedly as we walked along here. She drops it in and jumps in for it after I tell her she’ll have to get it.

How will we celebrate? We’ll go for a walk Across the Road and she can help move rams as we set up breeding groups.

The New Girls

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These are the ewe lambs that are still here after selling everyone (almost) that I intend to. (And there were 81 lambs this year.) I’m very pleased with this group and proud that my breeding program has led to this selection.18001-JanieMeridian Janie (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Jane)18021-Maybelle-headMeridian Maybelle (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Mae) This ewe was going to be on my sale list but she had an unexpected tryst with Cayenne and may be pregnant.18041-RuthieMeridian Ruthie (Meridian Cayenne x Meridian Ruth), who just broke her horn and is somewhat bloody on one side. This is another ewe who may be pregnant after the aforementioned incident.18054-Zora-headMeridian Zora (Meridian Cayenne x Meridian Betty)18054-ZoraZora is a pretty little lilac ewe who was chosen from Day 1 for her cute markings, although “cuteness” isn’t listed under the JSBA Breed Standard selection criteria.18056-QuartzMeridian Quartz (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Jade). Quartz was chosen because, besides being a nice looking ewe, her mom is everyone’s favorite pet sheep and…18056-Quartz-hd …I want to see how her 6 horns grow out.18080-2Meridian ??? I haven’t named this lamb yet but she certainly deserved a good one. (Meridian Serrano x Unzicker Shenandoah)18454-Marion-headbide a wee Marion (Ruby Peak Cinnamon x Meridian Maven), who didn’t go home to Oregon after the AGM we hosted in August.18078 JannaMeridian Janna (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Janis). Janna is a big tall ewe lamb and is out with the breeding group, possibly to be bred by Meridian Axle.18002 SopranoMeridian Soprano (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Sonata) has definitely been bred by Axle.

It looks as though I am missing photos of one ewe and that is Meridian Haldana, who is one of the lambs that went to the state fair. Everyone else is accounted for here.