The Shetlands of WhiteOak Farm

Last lamb of the season

2006-07-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

We had (what I believe to be) the last lamb of the season for this year. A lovely moorit ram lamb, out of Java (Windswept Ursa Minor x Bitterroot Joshua) and Kat Burglar. His name will be Jamaica. Lovely curly fleece, pretty uniform - one of the most uniform lambs of the bunch as far as fleece goes. Should be an improvement on fleece over his mother - seems all my black ewes have somewhat harsher fleeces. Kat, though, microned at 19 (as a 10 month old, I believe) - not sure where he is at now, but he is easily one of the finest fleeced animals in my flock. I can't wait to see how some of these babies turn out.

Have several kat babies that I will be keeping an eye on - Villa Hermosa, Margarita, Amalie, and Cinnamon Bay. Have already made a preliminary list of lambs I want to keep - most of the rest will be for sale. A few will be sold unregistered, including (unfortunately) my two emsket girls out of Wildthing - They both not only have fuzzy tails, but both appear to be cowhocked as well. I am definitely not happy with Morell - ended up 0 for 4 for his lambs as far as keepers go.
I am glad he didn't breed anyone else when he broke into the ewe group.

Have to work on my spots database, and see if I can add anything or prove/disprove any part of my theories. Need a lot more data before I can really do that.. Have a lot of data to add that came from Stephen this morning (thanks Stephen!). Having other breeders send me their spot information is the only way to prove/disprove any of these before I have to retire! LOL.

Waiting to hear back from NASSA re: membership. Have several sheep that need to be registered, and I don't know which name I will get to use yet! It will be either Wild Oak or Wistful.

Still feeding lambs... hoping to start them on creep feed in a week or so. That will make it easier. And I found a place to order a lamb bar from - can't wait for that to arrive!

2006-07-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week it has been.

I keep trying to get someone to take a picture of feeding time.. Feeding five bottle babies is quite interesting... have to sit in a chair (because it I sit on the floor, they all jump in my lap!). Put one bottle between my knees - ok, don't let it slip.. usually Mona takes that bottle. Ok, get the second bottle - left hand - get somebody attached.. then add the third - also the left hand. Let's hope the lambs are the same size, and not one tall and one short one. Ok. Fix the bottle between the knees that is slipping a little. Then pick up the last two bottles in the right hand, carefully twist them upside down with out dropping them, and beseech the last two lambs, who are trying their darndest to take a nipple away from somewhere else, to come and take a new bottle. Oh, don't butt that bottle that hard! I can't hang on..! Oops, there it goes on the floor. Usually by the time I get the last one started, the first one is finishing up. And I rather think it is a good thing Holly (the dog) likes to lick the lambs clean.. though we don't take doggie kisses from her anymore, because she likes to clean both ends.

This evening after work when I fed them, I tried to only feed them two at a time - made the mistake of sitting on the ground though, so Marco and Marta jumped in my lap. Mona and Eustatius had the bottles. Poor little Trinidad - she wanted the bottle so bad, and couldn't get the bigger lambs off - so she went to one that was lying on its side on the ground... and nursed off of that! It was rather funny to see her on her knees. Would have been better if the bottle was sitting DOWN hill though - I couldn't let her nurse that way for very long before she would have been getting too much air.

Have to say, I am glad the babies are all good eaters, and took easily to the bottle. Marco had help from a Pritchard's teat at first, but once he was stronger, took to a regular bottle easily. Now I need to find a lamb bar though LOL this is getting ridiculous! Although I still want someone to get a picture!

Bottle lambs

2006-07-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

We are up to three bottle lambs now - The third one is the ewe lamb from the triplets. I noticed yesterday that she just didn't seem as filled out as her brothers. And when I was in the pen filling the stocktank - she was sucking down the water like there was no tomorrow. So I brought her up to the house and gave her a bottle - and she took to it like it was the most natural thing in the world. I am debating about taking her away from mom completely - easier for me - but I rather like keeping them with their mom's. Friday I took Mona to work with me... Saturday I took Marco. Tomorrow, I think I will take all three - the kids are not really interested in feeding them, and I will have plenty of help at home.

We have had several more lambs since my last post... Libby had a set of twins - ram and ewe. The ram will fade, the ewe thus far looks moorit, but we'll see. The ram looks rather interesting at the moment - white flecks in his wool, on his ears, around his head... Too bad he won't stay that way.

SheltrgPines Siobhan had a lovely crimpy fawn katmoget ewe lamb. That makes three super crimpy katmoget lambs. Granita had a musket ewe lamb. Bay Oak Milady had an Ag- Grey katmoget. Minwawe Bobbin had a dark ram lamb - possibly dark brown - with a krunet. And then there is Crema. Crema is a white yearling ewe out of April (the ewe that had triplets). Her lamb is a ewe, and is mostly white, but has dark spots on the mouth and around the eyes and ears, as well as markings on the front and back legs. Looks like a very faded katmoget (minus the belly wool) but her sire is Echo. Both carry spots - Crema could actually be spotted beneath the white. I dont know if this lamb will have horns or not.

And I know why Misto wouldn't take Marco - because he isn't hers. I believe his mother to be Cappuccino (one of Libby's daughters from last year) because she doesn't look big anymore, and the little udder she had, has dried up. I feel bad, and I know it is probably my fault - I didn't find her with the baby and get her into the barn. He still stays with Mary - and I have seen him try to nurse, but I am not sure how successful he is. So we bottle feed him anyway.

One of my next tasks concerning the sheep is to go through all the lovely fleeces I have - and put some up for sale. I don't want to. But I can't keep them all.

2006-06-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

Well the last couple of days have been exhausting.

We have our first bottle baby. Mom is a yearling ewe - naturally, one of my favorite yearlings. When I found the baby, it was following another ewe - it was pretty well dry, and up and moving around. Thor, our LGD was in the pasture eating the placenta. Mocha was standing nearby - the only ewe that looked to have lambed very recently. So I took Mocha and the lamb to a pen. She wanted nothing to do with it. Got her to the point she would nurse the lamb as long as someone held her head and scratched her behind the ears. But she won't let it nurse when it is alone with her, and I have seen her nudging it away completely. I didn't have any other ewes have brand new babies, so I left her in with mom, and went down to the barn to hold Mocha 4 times a day. (Btw, this lamb may be modified - her momma is).

Last night when I did my late night check, I found a grey spotted yearling with a grey katmoget lamb - picked up the lamb, mom wouldn't follow. Set the lamb on the ground, but still held it so mom came close enough that I could catch her. Now comes the amusing part. The only part of mom I could grab was the front leg. So I have the ewe by the leg, the lamb in one hand and the flashlight under one arm. hmn. Hollered for help. Of course, none came. Let's try something else. Lamb in one hand, flashlight in the other, which is also holding the ewe's head close to my leg so I can try to drag her down to the barn. hmn. Hollered for help again. Yep, you guessed it - none came. Let's try something else again! Straddled the ewe so her head was between my knees, lamb in one hand, flashlight in the other. All I could think was "Wow, I'm glad she's not acting like an idiot tonight." (LOL meaning the ewe, not sure WHAT I was thinking.. LOL) Hollered for help - none came. stuck the flashlight in the other hand, which also had the lamb, and used my now-free hand to hold onto the ewe's head (still straddling her, btw) and walking, rather knock-kneed down to the barn. hmn. No pens put together. (several choice words). Ok. Didn't want to let go of either the ewe or the lamb, and needed the flashlight to see, so I grabbed a panel, leaned it up against one leg, scooted the ewe forward a little bit. Rinse, lather, repeat. Until I was able to make a pen for the ewe and the lamb. Man, my back hurt SO bad by the time I was done. But momma seemed happy with the lamb.

Well today, my son finds a tiny little lamb wedged in between the propane tank and a broken wooden feeder. HUH? How the heck did a lamb get there? WHO IS YOUR MOMMA??? I have to think the momma was Misto (the ewe in the above paragraph). I know he can't belong to some of the ewes (BbBb x BbBb breedings) or some of the other ewes (already weaned lambs, which were left at the seller's farm). Nobody else had any strings or other signs of having had a baby (wet hocks or back of udder, swollen vulva). Plus the umbilicus was dried to about the same as Misto's lamb. But this lamb is almost 2 lbs smaller than the other one, so I don't know. I told my mom to warm up some milk replacer (which we do the old fashioned way - no icky microwaves for us!), and I took the lamb down to the barn to see if his momma would want him. So.. what do you think? LOL OF COURSE NOT! She wanted nothing to do with him. Tried to hold her so he could get a little milk. Nope. Nothing doing. NOT MINE, she said.

Looked up and saw Mary hanging around in the barn. She had fresh blood on her udder! The other ewes moved, and lo and behold, there was a very freshly birthed, just out of the womb lamb, that was still a little stunned, and covered with tissue and mucus and fluids. Score! Without a second thought, I grabbed that poor little ram lamb, and rubbed him with the new lamb until they were both covered about the same. Offered the little black lamb to Mary first - and she licked him! WOOHOO! Made sure her teats were unplugged, and helped that weak little lamb to some yummy thick colostrum. Once he had a taste of it, he started to nurse on his own! I could have danced!Left them in there together, and she continued to clean him and let him nurse. Her own lamb gradually also got strong enough to get up and get some milk.

I think the only problem he will have - is that he is so little that it seems difficult for him to actually get milk out of Mary's udder. So we have offered him a bottle as well, and he has drank from it very well. Otherwise his is in the pen with his adopted mommy and sister. And I was so pleased to hear - that when I took him out of the pen tonight, Mary wanted to know who the heck did I think I was, taking her baby away from her like that. And she settled down immediately when I put him back, licking him all over and talking to him.

It will be interesting to see what color Mary's katmoget lamb turns out to be - Mary is the ewe I think is an Ag mioget.

Also looked at Wild's girls today - they are definitely emaket! woohoo! Took some pictures. Vaccinated a few of the girls we are releasing from the barn. I want to have everyone that hasn't lambed yet inside the barn, and we are letting the girls with lambs out in stages. It is always so much fun to see them run and crowhop and jump and play. There is one ram (Martinique) who has already earned himself the nickname Turbo, because all he does is run from one end of the paddock to the other. We'll do a few more each day, until every one is done.

Welcome!

2006-06-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

Picked up three new ewes from Malinda. Yeah, I know, I was going to get two. It's a sickness, I tell you. Stephen calls it Shetlanditis. There are rumors of a 12 step program... LOL

The kids and I drove to St. Louis to meet Malinda and pick up the new girls. They weren't too happy about being in the crates, and were glad when the travelling was over. Phoebe has already gotten to the point that I can almost scritch her under the chin - I still can't get near Snowcap and Alura.

Snowcap appears to be smirslet/kraiget/sokket. I feel sorry for her - her udder is so large and full of milk she can't run very well.

We have also had several more lambs in the last few days.

Bay Oak April Eve and SheltrgPines Sigune delivered their lambs on the same day. They had both gone into the same pen (which I had left open for them) to have their lambs. Then, bossy April apparently decided to be mommy to ALL the lambs, because she was cleaning every one. Patrick thought April had had Quads. Mom sorted them into two sets of two.... but April carried on so much that we gave the little black ewe to April as well... and then the were happy.. and quieter.. I didn't have enough A names, so their names are Trinidad (the black ewe). Tobago (White ram lamb) and Tortuga (fawn(?) Katmoget - right now his face looks brown and his legs look black.)

Sigune had a little ram lamb - His name is San Juan. He is a fawn katmoget with a lovely crimpy fleece - except in the exclamation point on his side. Those "spots" appear to be more along the primitive line. I say "spots" because they are not white , more of a dark chocolate color.

Fletcher Aileen (who is Alura's half sister) chased the new girls around all last night - and I found her with a lovely ewe lamb this morning. They do say walking will help speed up delivery!

SheltrgPines Nixie had a little ram lamb - I think he is moorit, but won't know for sure until morning - it was dusk when I saw him. I am proud to say that my son (who is nine) found her, put together a pen, put Nixie and the lamb in the pen, and dipped the lamb's navel before coming up to tell my mom there was a new lamb. He didn't want to tag it by himself, but I let him tag the ear after I got home. The only thing I wish he had done was give her a bucket of water. (She was only penned for about an hour before I got home).

More lambs

2006-06-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

I should have pictures of the rest of the lambs tomorrow. I have to go into town to pick up 50 chickens. Somebody picked them up at Farm and Home ("because they were cute").. then found out that since they live in town, they can't have them. DUH. Our fortune though. They are Rhode Island Reds, fairly young (I think the farm store sold the last of them in the middle of April). And I plan on going in and having the rest of the lamb pictures put on a disk.

The next lamb born was Granada - she is most likely a musket - she has rather faint sugar lips at this point in time. Her mother is SheltrgPines Gracie, out of Lugthart Ruby. (I have three ewes out of Ruby's lines, and they have the most fantastic fleeces). Her sire is Kat Burglar.

Anguilla was next, and she is the new tiny lamb on the place. Her mother is Amaretto, a moorit yearling ewe. Anguilla is a black ewe with a teeny krunet. Her sire is Echo.

Windswept Madeline was next - another disappointment - I expected she would have twins also. But she has a lovely dark dark brown ram lamb. He was almost black at birth, but is definitely brown. It will be interesting to see how he turns out - the last lamb I had born this dark was Ristretto, who is a dark fawn color. His sire is Kat Burglar.

St. Croix was next - her mother is SheltrgPines Sedef (who I also expected twins from). She has a really interesting krunet - more of a crescent on her head than a spot. She is an off shade of brown and may be modified - which would prove that Kat carries the modified gene.

Frappuccino was next - she had a lovely little ewe lamb that I named Belize (since I couldn't find and F names!) She is black with a krunet marking.

The most recent lambs were born today - twins to SheltrgPines Zehra. A black ram lamb with a small krunet marking, and a solid black ewe lamb. They both will have longer, more primitive fleeces, I believe, but they are still very soft. They will be named Domingo and Dominica (again, no Z names!)

No other babies at the moment - things have definitely slowing down here.. We still have 14 ewes left to lamb - including April who just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And Stormy, who looks like she is about to pop! And Libby, who probably also has twins - and loves her belly massages. Too wet to sit outside and give her one tonight - and I think she missed it.

More lamb photos

2006-06-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

The next set of twins were born to Windswept Ursa Minor, a 6 year old black iset ewe. Ursa has been a puzzle to me - she is solid colored, but both parents were spotted. She is one of the reasons I have been working on my spots project (but that's another blog entry LOL) Ursa delivered a katmoget ram lamb (Maartin), with some interesting spots on his side, and a lovely little katmoget ewe lamb (Merida).

The next ewe to lamb was Windswept ChoChang. Cho is the ewe that was attacked by my own dog last year. Her wool still looks a little off-color in the spot that was bared. She produced two ram lambs, a black krunet (Caracas) and a katmoget (Cartegena). My mom found them in the morning, and she and Holly put them in the barn. Poor Holly - Cho took one look at her and slammed her into the wall, then rushed my mom for bringing the evil dog down to the barn. I can't blame her.

Lucia was born next - she is a lovely little white lamb - with one tiny black spot on her left shoulder. She also has some freckling on her ears, like her mother. I suspect the black spot is a breakthrough spot. Lucia is my mom's favorite lamb.. mainly, I think, because she is white, and reminds her of the lambs she used to have years ago.

(I haven't gotten pictures of the rest of the lambs yet.)
While I was moving pens around, and putting all the older single lambs together, and the older twins together (along with their mom's of course!) I noticed Viola was acting strange. Vista Vale Viola is the wildest ewe on the place - she seldom stays around where there are people. She is a lovely light moorit/mioget color. Anyway, she was hanging around in the barn, and wouldn't leave, even though we were down there working. So I caught her in a pen anyway. And sure enough, she was the next to lamb. A beautiful katmoget ewe lamb.

The last lamb born on the 17th was Royale, a 4 lb dark moorit ram lamb. His sire is Sheepy Hollow Echo. His mother is Ristretto, Cho's ewe lamb from last year. I am hoping this ram lamb will have good horns, so that I might keep him as a replacement. He carries spots (his mother has markings on her face), and may be modified. I hope so.

The next ewe to deliver was Windswept Millicent - another ewe that disappointed me because I really expected her to have twins. She had a katmoget ram lamb. His nickname is Elvis, because when he stands, he has shaky legs. He was born on the 18th.

Antigua was next, on the 19th. His information is in the previous entry :)

This morning, we found two yearlings with single lambs - SheltrgPines Gracie had a musket ewe lamb, and Amaretto (out of SheltrgPines Sigune) had a tiny black ewe with a very small krunet. She weighed only 3.5 lbs, and seems less sturdy than the rest of the lambs. So we will see how she does. Her sire is Echo.

The last lamb (so far!) is a ram lamb - I think he is dark brown, but it is hard to tell at this point. His mother is Windswept 59 (Madeline). He looks to have improved fleece over his mother - as he should - his sire is Kat Burglar. He also carries spots - Madeline has a few white markings on her forehead.

Abigail's LAMB!

2006-06-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

I think I am the happiest shepherdess on the planet tonight.

Abigail is one of my favorite ewes. When I bought her as a two year old, I knew she had not yet had a baby. Last year, she conceived, but did not carry the lamb to term. So this year, I figured she wouldn't have a baby either.

When I noticed she had an udder, I really tried not to get my hopes up. I knew there was a chance she would not carry this lamb to term either. but I kept my fingers crossed. Well, for the last week, she has looked swollen in the vulva area, and sunken in the flanks.. but really no other signs of imminant lambing. For the past few days, she has been hanging out in the barn, so I became a little more hopeful. But yesterday had me worried.

I have been sitting out in the pasture with the girls and giving belly massages. Libby loves them, and will stand there forever. So does her daughter, Cappuccino. Abigail came over too, and would have stood there for an hour if I had let her. Whenever I touch Libby's belly, I can feel the baby kick me back. I never felt Abigail's lamb move yesterday. I was dismayed, and so worried that the lamb would be stillborn. I thought I might take her into work tomorrow, for an ultrasound, and if needed take her to my friend Jenny Lindquist (who is an awesome large animal vet) for a C-section.

Nothing this morning, and when I got home from work, she was in the barn, but nothing going on. We watered all the girls, then I went to get hay. When I took the hay down to the barn, my heart about stopped when I saw the little white blotch in the middle of the floor. Abigail was back against the back wall, with strings of tissue hanging from her. The blotch, of course, was her lamb, and it was still mostly in the sac. So I ran over to it to see if there was anything I could do... and darned if that little boy didn't shake his head! Joy! I cleaned him off and got him and his mom into a pen - and she started cleaning him right up!

Antigua is a spotted katmoget - the bridge of his nose is white with dark spots, and he also has that yuglet appearance to his face. He has the largest horn buds I have ever seen. I am hoping he will have good horns.

I will post pictures in a few days.

BABIES!!

2006-06-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

WOW, it has been a busy couple of days!! We now have 20 lambs on the ground. Half of them are Katmogets, some of which also have white markings. I did not expect any spotted lambs this year at all, and was pleased and surprised when Calista had her lambs - an interesting little katmoget ewe lamb - and a black ram lamb with white markings! I did not realize that Kat carried spots. He does not have very much spotting listed in his pedigree, so it was quite a surprise. Kat is the sire for most of the lambs. I am very pleased that there will be a few Echo lambs as well.

Our theme for lamb names this year is Caribbean place names. I was going to just use the islands, but there weren't enough names for all the lambs we are expecting! LOL. I chose Caribbean names last year - Several places in the Caribbean produce coffee and I kept coming across the names last year. I am also trying to use names that start with the same letter as the mother - something I started partway through last year's lambs.

The first lamb in this second group belongs to my mother - he is 12.5% Lincoln. He has katmoget markings. His mother, Lavender Brown, looks like a very faded or partially marked katmoget. She has a lovely long fleece that is soft and wavy. Lavender's sire was HHW Peabody, who I lost last year after a ram fight. This lamb will be wethered.

Calista's lambs were my first lambs born in this second group. Curacao was quite the surprise! I truly was not expecting ANY spots this year. I cannot tell if Caicos has spots or not - she looks like a Calico cat at this point! But I expect all of the brown color is pheo, and will eventually fade. She is a dainty little girl. I do not think either lamb has inherited Calista's Ag gene - neither lamb has sugar lips. Caicos will be retained. Curacao will most likely be for sale, if his horns are good.

The next ewe to lamb was a yearling, Verona. She is an Echo daughter, out of Vista Vale Viola. Her lamb is a dark brown ewe. It will be interesting to see what color she turns out to be. I have not been able to get a good picture of this lamb. Her name is Vera Cruz.

Smoke Ham Sashii was the next ewe to lamb. When Rhi and I found Sashii in the barn, she had already had one lamb on her own - a lovely little black ewe lamb with some white markings on her head. We got her into the pen, dipped the lambs navel, and weighed and tagged her. Rhi started to leave, but I hung around in the barn to see if she would have another lamb. And she did. When she started pushing, I called Rhi back, and she and I watched as Sashii delivered a beautiful katmoget ram lamb that we named Santiago. We helped her clean the lamb, and Sashii licked my hand, as if to say thank you. Quite a change in attitude for her - she is usually rather stand-off-ish - even so, she is one of my favorite ewes. At this point I cannot tell if Saba (the ewe lamb) will be modified - I rather doubt it, though Kat could carry the modified gene as well (gee, could I get THAT lucky??)

As we were sitting there watching Sashii with her lambs, another ewe (SheltrgPines Helaine) ran by, baa-ing loudly. Rhi said "She's going to have a lamb too." I looked, and sure enough, she had lost the mucus plug, went over and lay down. She complained with each push, so Rhi and I got out of Sashii's pen to watch and encourage Helaine. I could see two little feet, and a nose. Rhi and I kept encouraging her ("Come on, Helaine, you can do it! Push!"), but she seemed to be getting no where. Since the nose was uncovered (meaning the sac was broken), I didn't want to wait too long, so I helped a little to get the head out. Once that was done, the lamb slid right out. A rather large ewe lamb - 7 lbs. A lovely moorit color. Once she was dried, I could see some lighter areas on her ears - not true spots (they are not white) - they look more of a coffee-with-too-much-cream color. Her name will be Havana. After seeing Santiago and Havana be born, Rhi started talking to the rest of the ewes in the barn. She would press on their backs and say "Ok! Lay down, and have those babies! Come on, you can do it! Push!" I SO wish I had had a video camera at the time!

The last two lambs to be born on the 15th were both singles, and are two of my favorite lambs so far. Principe was only 4.5 lbs when she was born. Her mother is Panna, a black smirslet yearling out of Calista and UnderHill T.S. Eliot. Principe is a gorgeous katmoget ewe lamb with a lot of color. I suppose, unfortunately, it will fade - she is so beautiful right now. Easily the darkest brown katmoget born so far. She also has a small splash of white on her forehead, but I don't know if it is a true marking, or part of being a katmoget. She is dainty, and will stay in the flock.

Maracaibo is also a katmoget, but she also has white facial markings. I suppose she is really a bleset, though she looks like a yuglet. Her mother is a grey and white smirslet ewe out of Kelly Northstar and Nonesuch Lucrecia. I was a little disappointed that Marble had only one lamb this year - I was hoping for twins. But I am glad that all the lambs have been healthy so far.

I will post more lamb pictures in the next few days - I need to run out and do my last check on the girls for the night and then get to bed.

Fletcher Dante

2006-06-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

I found this picture in my files - Fletcher Dante is sire to my ram Nico. Dante has some of the most amazing horns I have ever seen. He is a lovely shaela color, with some white markings on his muzzle. His sire is Fletcher Choctaw, also shaela. Here is his pedigree

Hiding behind him is Fletcher Osage - a lovely musket ram. At the time this picture was taken, both rams were owned by Malinda Stickel.

Checked udders again this morning.. more and more of them are feeling full! Which means lambing will start up again soon. Kat's first lambing date is the 16th, so next week ought to be really exciting.

Kat is such a great ram - he is very sweet - love to be scritched, and wags his tail when I scritch under his chin. Lovely fleece - I have a sample to send to have it microned again.

We have udders!

2006-06-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

Woohoo, finally! we are starting to see some full udders.. I think Sashii or Cho will go next - their udders are the fullest. But we'll see.

Haven't had much going on the last few weeks. Have found a few girls that we will be adding to the flock later this summer. We are also looking for moorit or mioget spotted (flashy) ram lamb, though I have also been looking at a black/white flashy ram that carries moorit. This particular ram, though, is out of a musket ram and a grey ewe - If he is Ag also, we will not add him to our program, since we already have Woden (grey krunet).

Two ewes will be coming from Malinda at Locksley Fields. They are Petite Pet Snowcap Alabaster and SheltrngPines Phoebe.

Alabaster is a 10 year old smirslet ewe with some unique bloodlines. Alabaster's mother was "chocolate" so it will be interesting to see if she carries any modified genetics. This year she delivered a lovely set of twins with head markings. She has also had flashier lambs in the past. I am hoping she will add a few flashy lambs to my flock.

Phoebe is a rather flashy ewe - black and white bielset/yuglet/sokket ewe - she is actually the dam to my ram Phineas. She has a small percentage of Flett blood, and is the granddaughter of a ewe that has a wonderful fleece (Winter Sky Moonstruck) that I can't convince Stephen to sell me (LOL).

One ewe will be coming from Stephen at Sheltering Pines. SheltrgPines Jubilee looks like a black ewe. Genetically she is spotted, as her mother was a lovely non-iset ewe that is registered as bleset/bielset/sokket/smirslet, and her sire a moorit krunet. This year she produced a black smirslet lamb. It will be interesting to see what she can produce when bred to a flashy ram. Jubilee's mother (Wind River Jubilee) passed away last year. She was still very black at the age of 12. Dayspring Jacobson was her sire. I am very excited to be adding this ewe to my flock.

I have been hoping to also purchase a gulmoget lamb, but that may not happen this year. But someday :)

April

2006-05-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest photo of April... she just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Have not had any more lambs yet. The farther out from the 22nd we go, the more concerned I get about Echo's fertility. Still don't have any full udders. Echo's lambs should come between May 22nd and June 2nd for the first group, and any time after June 2nd for the second group. KatBurglar was cleanup for group 1 - His lambs should come between June 16th and June 22nd. I can't believe that April would go that long with that belly of hers. Unless she has at least triplets in there... I feel sorry for her.

Galiene's boy has become something of an escape artist. (I have had them penned in the barn until we could get the paddock lamb-safe). He has figured out how to wriggle through the front panel, which has slightly larger holes than the rest of them. Gary thinks I should change his name to Houdini or David Copperfield.

Well, short post tonight, have to get the kids to bed and get some scrapping done, plus finish putting my flock book in order.

Musket

2006-05-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Musket is the Ag (fading) version of moorit. The Ag pattern is equal in dominance to Ab (Katmoget) and At (gulmoget). White (Awt) is dominant overall, and solid (Aa) is most recessive.

These pictures are of Minwawe Bobbin, a musket yuglet sokket ewe. (She would also be considered to have HST markings.) In the lamb picture, she appears moorit, because she hasn't started to fade yet. With her white markings, it is difficult to tell if the white in the ears is from the markings, or an indication for fading.

The second picture was taken last week. You can see that her fleece is much lighter - more of an oatmeal color. I have noticed that some of my muskets are solid oatmeal, while some seem to be speckled. Cappuccino is the most noticeable of those. She is a spotted sheep, by the markings on her face, but for now, she appears to have a darker saddle on her back. I would expect that to fade also - she had no body markings as a baby. But Cappe is just now a yearling, so she should become lighter as she gets older. Cappe is a friendly little ewe, and her mother (Libby) is one of my favorite ewes. Both of these ewes are AgAa, meaning that while they fade, they could produce solid colored lambs. Both should also, if bred to the right rams, produce spotted lambs.

Cappe's father is NorthWind Holiday, a ram with the most interesting Shetland fleece I have ever seen. Single coated, very short, VERY crimpy, exceptionally soft. I am pleased that Frappe has inherited some of those characteristics. Cappe's fleece is more primitive, but still exceptionally soft. She is one of the smallest ewes, and she had the smallest fleece weight this year.

It will be interesting to see what kinds of markings these two girls will add to the flock.

A new farm name, and some big bellies

2006-05-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

We have been debating for a while now about changing the farm name - for a couple of reasons -

1) We need to join NASSA and have a flock name to register the sheep - White Oak is already taken, so we need something different.

2) There is another White Oak Farm, about 5 miles from here, and it is too confusing for the postal service.

3) All the White Oaks we have planted here have died - how's that for a sign that WhiteOak isn't right?

So I have been thinking and debating and trying out names and have found two that I like. Before I tell you what they are, I need to tell the story about finding the farm.

I have always wanted to buy a farm, and after getting married and transfering away from Hannibal for my job, Gary and I decided to start looking. This was the summer of 2001. Well, after September 11th, Gary went back into the Army (he had been out for only a year), and was sent first to Germany, and then to Iraq (he was in the third truck to get into baghdad... fighting at the airport.. things I'm glad I didn't know at the time...) so finding a place was left up to me.

In February of 2002, I saw an ad in the paper for a farm - 40 acres, 3 bedroom house, 2 aging barns - somewhat affordable at the time (meaning it was LESS than $100,000). They had an additional 40 acres for sale as well, which would have been awesome, but that put the money up to high for us. Anyway, came and had a tour of the house.. it was ok, had some lovely framing around the doors, but obviously needed a lot of work. The barns - pretty much useless except for a loafing shed. Small worn down garage. Then we went on a tour of the acreage. Three ponds. Tons of cedars. Lots of trees. A creek that I was told would run year round and came from a spring (er.. untrue..) And then there was the tree. I don't know if I can explain it. The tree CALLED to me. A large, old oak tree. And right then and there, I knew this would be our farm. The Tree is hidden in the back portion of the farm. I had an impression of long dangling black things, I thought snakes, hanging from the tree, and it needed me here. I suppose that will sound stupid to some people, but it is a big part of the reason we bought this farm.

So the names I have come up with are: (in no particular order)

Whispering Oak Farm

Hidden Oak Farm

I can't decide between the two.. if you have any suggestions.. please leave a comment and let me know what you think..

Thanks!

And now for the big belly...

This is Stone Ridge Calista - she is a grey flecket (almost yuglet). Last year she produced an Hst lamb (only a tiny bit of white on her tail and two feet) and a lovely yuglet flecket ram that I lost to a dog attack (even worse - it was one of my own dogs). This year, I am hoping for something brown spotted, but we will see. Calista is the reason I emailed Stephen Rouse (Sheltering Pines) about buying sheep. I loved her face, her grey spots. She is still one of my favorites, even though she isn't the friendliest ewe in the pasture.

Speaking of which - I went out tonight, and sat down in the pasture - and was swarmed by Libby, Katie, Granita, Abigail, Cappuccino, and Mocha. A few others came to see what was going on, but left rather quickly - Libby, Katie, and Abigail kept vying for my attention. Sorry girls, I only have two hands to scritch with! Wish someone else had been around to take a picture!

More rams

2006-05-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Here is Nico as a yearling - I was so glad to see he kept his side spots. He looks dark in this photo (because it was taken in the barn), but he is not black - he is Shaela. Darker than his mother, but he sunbleaches just like she does. I had thought his horns would be too close, but they appear to be good so far (so I am glad I didn't have him castrated when I took the other boys in!) Nico will be bred to several spotted and modified girls in the fall.

Next is SheltrgPines Woden, a twin grey krunet ram. His fleece has faded to light grey, with a few darker areas, including a dorsal stripe on his neck. He has beautiful crimpy soft wool. His only fault is a kink in his tail - if he passes that on, he will be wethered and kept for his fleece. I had hoped he would stay a darker grey, but he didn't.

The last ram photo is of SheltrgPines Fenris - I was so happy when I brought him home - he is a gorgeous ram - heavy horns, gorgeous crimpy fleece, built (as Stephen says) like a brick house - but those lovely horns didn't turn out the way they should. I am debating about using him for breeding for one year, to ewes that come from wide-horned rams to see if I can get his fleece passed on - if the rams are bad, then Fenris will be wethered as well. As you can see from this photo - he is a bit of a pest.

One more photo tonight - this is Frappuccino's post-shearing picture. She is not only solid moorit - she is easily the darkest moorit in my flock. I hope she doesn't turn iset - she is simply gorgeous.

Should start having more lambs soon - checked udders again tonight, though, and it doesn't look like any will come this weekend. April is getting HUGEMONGOUS - I can't believe how big she is getting (ok - *1* more photo!)
I saw April when she was lying outside today - and I wished I had my camera - I could not believe how wide she was. Makes me wonder if she is carrying triplets this year!

I think Sashii may go next, but we'll see. :)

Wednesday

2006-05-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

Didn't have to work today - since Jeanie is on vacation I am working Tuesday and Thursday this week.

Today we worked a little outside. I mowed the orchard/goose pen. One of these days I will learn to actually WEAR the garden gloves I bought. For now.. my blisters have blisters.... But the orchard looks a heck of a lot better! Left a little grass around the goose nest - I can't believe she is still sitting on those eggs! This is the first nesting goose we have had. Mom says there are 7 eggs left... one exploded today (as my daughter would say "Eww, double EWW!"

Picked up some more plants for the garden while Patrick was at TKD today - raspberries, another blackberry, a grape (now we have red, white, and blue grapes). Also tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and some herbs. We have had so much trouble with the tiller, the garden is going to be nothing like what we had originally planned. But then, that seems to be the way of things... We are thinking about changing the farm name from WhiteOak - the only white oak that we have planted that hasn't died is the swamp white oak.

Banded the ram lambs today. Poor little things - though they tolerated it quite well. Defintely musket colored - they both are starting to fade in color. Wild's lambs - still not sure what color they will be - they seem to be slightly lighter in the fleece - we shall see as it gets longer.

Took more pictures of the girls today - I can't believe how big some of them are getting! April is huge, so is Calista. And I suspect poor Risretto is carrying twins - I think I would prefer small twins to one large ram lamb though! She has, by far, the largest belly of all the small ewes. Her udder is still teeny though, so I think she isn't ready quite yet. I will watch her more closely starting this weekend (her earliest due date is Saturday).

Was looking at Frappe - I think it is interesting that she is by far the darkest moorit in the pasture. Would love to find a nice moorit and white ram for next year - Patrick wants to have Shetlands of his own now, so we will start looking for an unrelated ram for him.

Took some good pictures of Nico today too - wish I knew how to get them directly from the camera to the computer! - I am hoping to use him for breeding this fall on some spotty girls. I was pleased to see his white markings on his side were still there when he was shorn. This photo shows him with his mom, Smoke Ham Sashii. (His sire is Fletcher Dante, currently owned by Malinda).

Rams

2006-05-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

No new lambs yet - should not have any until this weekend.. then there should be several! Have not seen any more big bags yet though. I think some of the girls are getting a little annoyed that I keep trying to look at their butts!

Thought I would post photos of some of my rams tonight - This first one is Bono Creek Carter. He is not as friendly as most of my rams, but he is not a basher either. He is moorit. His sire is Wintersky Braeburn, and his dam is SheltrgPines Dorieann. He has some UK breeding, as well as a tiny bit of Flett blood. He has a beautiful fleece, and I plan on using him next year with some of my moorit girls.

This next photo is one of my favorites - it is SheepyHollow Echo and Locksfield Phineas. It was taken late spring 2005, after taking Phin away from the ewe flock (he was used as a clean up ram last year). Echo is the first ram I ever bought, and is an interesting color - registered as dark brown, but I believe he is actually shaela. He carries the spotting gene also. Phineas is a black ram with awesome wide horns that came from Malinda Stickel. He has white markings on his head, and he helped to prove some of my solid girls carry spots (including April).

The last ram for today is Glenmore KatBurglar. He is one of my favorites. He is a bit of a pest, as he was a show ram when he was young, but he is a wonderful boy. He is a fawn katmoget, and has awesome fleece, which will be sent for microning again sometime this year. Kat was used as the cleanup ram this year - I know he bred at least one ewe, and his lambs should arrive mid-June.

I'll post the rest of the breeding rams in a day or two.

Lamb photos

2006-05-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are the lamb photos. I suspect we are done for a week or so - the rest of the ewes have very small, if any, udders apparent, and Morell was only in for the one day. His babies will be given mushroom names. The next grouping of lambs will be from Echo - the last group from KatBurglar.

The first two lambs are Wild's. They still both appear black in color, but one is a dull black, and the other is shiny. The shiny one will probably stay black. I think the other may be modified. (This first photo was taken by my 5 year old daughter.)

One has very little white on her face, the other slightly more.. I suspect markings will disappear from both of them as they grow older, but both carry the potential for spots, as well as moorit color.

Chanterelle has small markings, and she is the shiny black one. She was 4.75 lbs at birth. She is a friendly little lamb (much to momma's dismay) and will usually come up to me when I feed the girls.

Portabella is the dull black one. Depending on the lighting, she sometimes seems to have a brown cast to her color - the last lamb I had that looked like that (Ristretto) turned into a lovely fawn color. She has the tiniest flashes of whie near her eyes, which are already starting to disappear.

Galiene's boys are next - The both appear to be Ag, which sugar lips and white wool at the top of the scrotum. They were distinctly different colors at birth, so it will be interesting to see what they look like when they grown up - will one fade more than the other? Is one modified? Galiene does carry potential for modified genetics from her sire - he is moorit, but his two sisters were mioget.

Boletus (in the back) is far darker in color than his brother. His wool also is straighter, and very dense. Shiitake is more of a chocolate color, with curlier wool, especially over the shoulders. Both boys weight 5.25 lbs at birth, and will be wethered. The last lamb photo shows the white in the ears and sugar lips. Both boys are also very friendly, as is their momma (who loves for me to sit in the barn next to her pen and scritch under her chin).

One last photo for today - This is Bay Oak April Eve (April). She was purchased from Jolene Bass when she sold off most of her Shetlands. April is a horned ewe that carries spots (as proven by last years lambs). She has a lovely crimpy fleece, and has moget-type pheomelanin markings on her face. She is already humongous, accentuated so much more since she was shorn, but still has just a tiny udder at this point.. I don't wonder if she will produce triplets this year.. I don't recall her being quite so big at lambing last year. Last year she had twins - a white ewe lamb with horns and a gorgeous crimpy fleece and a black ram lamb with white markings on his head. I had suspected she carried spots by the striping on her horns, but wasn't sure.

Speaking of fleeces - Final total weight for fleeces was 142 lbs (this is after skirting). Largest fleece was from Stormy (of course), the Shetland Lincoln cross, at 4.5 lbs. The largest pure Shetland fleece was SheltrgPines Helaine, at 4.0 lbs - followed closely by Morell at 3.9 and Wild at 3.8. Smallest fleeces (1.3 lbs) came from Cappuccino and Latte (lambs). Average weight from lambs - 1.97 lbs. Average adult fleece was 2.9 lbs. I think this year - since we have had SO many recommendations of good wool processors - that we will send a few fleeces to each place and see who we like best. Though we will probably sell some raw fleeces as well. My favorite fleeces are from Frappuccino and Siobhan - lovely crimpy dark brown very soft wool. I am hoping to persuade my mother to make me a hat and scarf set from them.

More lambs!

2006-05-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well, we have doubled our lamb count today!

SheltrgPines Galiene, one of my favorite ewes, delivered two ram lambs today. Both have faint sugar lips and light scrotums, so I believe they both will fade, like their momma. They are different shades of brown at the moment - one is chocolate... one is darker. The lighter lamb has somewhat curlier wool over the shoulders - the darker lamb has a thick fleece. Will be interesting to see what colors they turn out to be!

This other picture is one of my favorites - it was taken at Sheltering Pines when I picked up the girls. Calista is in the center... but I love all the spots.. especially the one next to Calista with the black lips.

2006-05-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Lambing season has officially started!

When I went to feed the girls this evening, I was a little surprised to see Thor (our Anatolian/Maremma LGD) actually IN the field with the girls. We had tried last year, when we first got him, to have him in the pen, and he wanted nothing to do with it. He was always outside the fence. I didn't really worry about it - he has always been good around the girls.

Went through the field to the barn to feed Hera (our pyr), and thought I heard a high pitched little bleat. What? Who's that? Stopped midstep and listened, and didn't hear anything, at first. There it was again!

Stepped around the corner, and there was Wild (EIEIO WildThing) with two babies! Dark in color, minimal white on their heads (which will most likely disappear). I caught the lambs and quickly put together a pen to put them in, then ran up to the house. Got my lambing kit - weighed them, tagged them, disinfected their navels.. Checked Wild's udder - still plugged, so fixed that. Babies appear healthy. Both are ewe lambs. Both apparently black, but one appears to have a brownish tint to her wool, so we'll see what color she really is! No pictures of the lambs tonight, but here are the parents.

EIEIO WildThing is registered as a black smirslet, but has somewhat speckly wool. She has modified genetics in her line. She has had both modified and flashy babies.

Destiny View Morell is a moorit ram with no markings. He also has modified genetics in his line (Wind River Night Sky), so there is a chance of modified babies from him. I do not know how many ewes he bred (as he broke into the ewe pasture to help himself!), but I would expect they would all lamb within the next few days. (Morell was only allowed 1 day with the girls, since I got so mad at him for breaking through the fence!).

If both are black (and the one is not dark brown!) they both carry the moorit gene, as well as spotting. I will try to post pictures in a day or two.

1 down - 44 ewes to go!

Welcome!

2006-05-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

Shearing day was Tuesday - we started at 7 in the morning and finished around 3:30 - 61 sheep and 2 llamas, and still taking time for lunch. The shearer was Danny Smith, from near Kansas City - he was recommended to me by Malinda Stickel, another Shetland breeder. Wonderful man. He brought his wife, Marilyn, too, and she taught me how to skirt and roll the fleeces. I have been worried that they had too much hay in them, but Danny said they were some of the best fleeces he had seen all year!

This lamb in the first photo is Crema, my sole white lamb from last year. She does have pheo markings on her face, in a moget pattern, and has horns, just like her mother, and hides black and spots (from her father). She has a lovely crimpy fleece.

The next photo is SheltrngPines Zehra - She is a black/iset yuglet that I bought from Julianne Budde in Illinois. I thought this was a cute photo - her little pretty butterfly, almost like a barrette. Zehra is sometimes shy, and sometimes curious enough to come up and sniff at my fingers.

The last two photos for today are of another ewe lamb, Frappuccino. When I bought Frappe's mom (Cedarose Libretto), I was told that she was most likely Ag/Ag (a double fader), since she had only previously had lambs that faded. The second photo shows her rolled fleece - it is light on the tips (from sunfading) but dark brown underneath! Which means Libby has to be Ag/Aa, carrying the solid pattern gene. (The light spot in the center is the faded outer fleece showing through).

Started weighing some of the wool today - would have been easier on Tuesday, but I didn't have enough people to weigh fleeces, pull samples, skirt fleeces, label everything, and keep up with Danny. The weights ranged from 2.5# to 4.0#. I'll continue weighing them over the next week.. it will be interesting to see who has the heaviest fleece (It will be either Abigail or WildThing, I'm sure!)

Lambing should start in the next week... Can't wait to see what we get... I think there will be few, if any, spotted babies this year, but that will change next year.