tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86743167903454591932024-03-13T22:26:37.859-04:00Contented Butterfly FarmMusings of Vermont Shetland shepherd with occasional postings by her sheep.Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-69600384324099955372014-05-07T11:07:00.001-04:002014-05-07T11:07:43.192-04:00Alendil's surpriseThis morning, Tim and I awoke to a surprise from Alendil. She was due to birth anytime after tomorrow, but decided that this chilly 30 degree morning was perfect for lambing. Tim hadn't realized that she had lambed until he was almost finished with the morning chores in the sheep pen. He then spied Alendil in the llama pen with a lamb.<br />
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The surprising thing was that the baby is black. Since she was bred to a brown based sheep, this helps us to identify the gene that she is hiding under her white and also lets us know what gene her mom is hiding. I'd since discovered that her mom had a brown gene, and now we know that she's got a black gene as well.<br />
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Luckily, another girl, which means we're now at 10 lambs with an even split of boys to girls.<br />
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Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-47166389470349792662014-04-30T18:07:00.000-04:002014-05-07T10:50:44.546-04:00Wordless Wednesday on the Farm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-76398955390514838402014-04-28T16:14:00.001-04:002014-05-07T10:50:17.259-04:00Viveka's lambing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Friday, April 25th was the date that Viveka decided to start lambing. It was early afternoon when she finally got down to active labor. First thing that happened was the bag broke with lots of fluid. I'd never saw that much fluid come out prior to a lamb being born. After about a half hour of active pushing, nothing was proceeding, so I applied some super lube to my hand and reached in to see what was happening. I could feel the head and from the feel of it, the baby was completely upside down as the throat was up and I could feel the ears below. I searched around for a leg and found one, pulling it forward. I then searched for the second front leg and couldn't find it, so I went back to the first front leg. Unfortunately, it had reverted back to where it was when I found it. I attempted to turn the baby's head around so that the presentation was a bit more normal and searched for that leg again. At this point the head was in the pubic region, so I did what I could to get the head to pass beyond her hips. Finally, the head was presenting and I kept reaching in to find the front legs. Still no luck keeping the front leg forward, so I began putting steady pressure on her head. During this time, I had called to speak to one of our vets and was waiting for a call back, since this would be my first solo assisting of a birth. I was able to get the head out and kept pressure on the head until a good portion of the lambs neck was out. I tried again to get that front leg out and was able to get it out, but it hooked around her vaginal opening weirdly. With steady pressure on the head and one front leg, I was finally able to get the shoulder area to pass and finally the rest of the baby passed as well. I brought the baby to Viv to get it cleaned up and remarked to myself that the baby had some good horn buds ... typical. Last time she bred she ended up giving us boys and the first was full on butt breach! The lamb's front legs looked a bit weird and I tried straightening them with no luck. Here's a shot of what they looked like, hopefully you can see that they're tucked in a C shape.<br />
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Soon after the lamb was fully birthed, I got the call back from my vet. I told her about how the baby presented weirdly, but I was able to get it out, but that the front legs looked kind of weird. She said that it could be that they were just a bit stiff from being in one position for a while (similar to my ram lamb from the first birthing that had a loose hip joint). She also suggested that it could be a disease known as arthrogryposis, but that she wasn't willing to say that was what it was without seeing the lamb first. She suggested I continue to try to straighten the legs and get the twin out and if the legs wouldn't straighten, then I'd need to bring the lamb into the clinic for a looking over. If it was the disease, then the lamb would need to be put down as there is no fix for this disease and the lamb wouldn't be able to walk. I went back to mom and baby and found that the baby had passed away while I was on the phone with the vet. </div>
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Next thing to worry about was the second lamb. I waited for her to get back down to brass tacks and luckily for me the second presented well and came out fine with virtually no assistance from me (front legs not full on superman, so I gave them a tug and they popped into full superman mode). </div>
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Once the second lamb was out, I contacted the vet and told her that the first lamb had passed and I wanted them to look at his front legs, so I drove over to their clinic. Unfortuantely for us, the diagnosis was that the lamb had arthrogryposis. </div>
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"Arthrogryposis, congenital fixation of multiple joints, has been reported to result from infectious, toxic and genetic causes. Affected animals have severely flexed forelimbs and overextended hind limbs. A spiral deviation of the spine also is evident" <span style="text-align: left;">According to the book "Sheep & Goat Medicine" by D.G. Pugh and N. Baird. My vet also mentioned that sometimes the jaw is affected (in this case the fore and hind limbs were affected, but not the spine or jaw). </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The vet suggested that I could have the lamb sent off and be tested, but I wanted Tim to see what the lamb looked like so she suggested we place the lamb in a garbage bag and place it in our freezer. This will help us in two points: 1) By keeping the body we're less likely for it to happen again (you know Murphy's Law and all) and 2) if it does happen again this year, we still have the body for sampling purposes. When Tim got home, I showed him the lamb who passed and his first thought was that it was a black based katmoget. I hadn't really looked at the coloration of the lamb as I was so focused on not losing the mother and getting the lamb out that it hadn't occurred to me that he was a katmoget. This loss is sad for a few reasons. We do not plan on breeding Viveka again as she has turned 10 years old and since we've not kept a katmoget from any of her or her sisters breedings, we have not retained the pattern. If we want another kat, we'll have to purchase one. Secondly, of all the breedings, this is the first time we've got a black based katmoget only for it to not survive due to problems.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">It's at these times that I have to look at the big picture. Viveka is alive due to my intervention and she still has a lamb to take care of since the second is perfectly healthy and gaining weight. Add to that the knowledge that I've gained with assisting a birth and this new to me disease and I feel better armed to handle another birthing issue (even if I'm hoping I never have another problem again!)</span></div>
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</a>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-91642892347142281802014-04-15T17:35:00.002-04:002014-05-07T10:50:00.166-04:00End of Finn Babies for this year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sunday, April 13th at oh my gosh it's early (read 30 minutes after midnight) was when Rachel started her lambing. Luckily for us, Tim was out feeding Ebby her bottle when he heard a baby crying and the sound wasn't coming from the lambing jugs or the "baby and me" pen. He stopped feeding to glance over and see Rachel mostly inside the sliding door of the llama annex with a newly birthed baby. He gently nudged her all the way inside and closed the door behind him. No Shetlands are going to steal these last Finns if he has anything to do with it! He then came back in the house to give me a holler and went back out to finish bottle feeding Ebby. <br />
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The first baby was a mostly white little guy with brown markings. He was pretty big looking and when we weighed him, we found out that he was 7 lbs (that's about the weight of Ebby now at one week old!)<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9uMQyDM7tR8/U02il8ELP7I/AAAAAAAAAnk/R3DXM6Fr8qU/s1600/2014-04-14+16.39.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9uMQyDM7tR8/U02il8ELP7I/AAAAAAAAAnk/R3DXM6Fr8qU/s1600/2014-04-14+16.39.27.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>The next baby presented normally for all intents and purposes, but for her front legs weren't fully stretched out in the "full Superman" position that I'm most comfortable with. I could reach in and feel the right leg bent back just a bit and wiggled it forward. Then momma gave another great push and out came this beauty. A girl, with amazingly beautiful markings. Mostly black with a white head, panda bear eyes, black around her lips (like she was painted by a clown and black tips on her ears. She also has a black spot on the top of her head, a white spot on her side (which you can see in the picture) as well as stripes of white on the bottom of her legs. This picture just doesn't do her justice. She weighed in at 6 lbs. <br />
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Tim was pooped, so he went to bed and I stayed out for another hour waiting to see if she'd give us triplets. No more babies came along, and truthfully, I was only expecting twins, but keep in mind I wasn't expecting quads from Love either! <br />
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They were moved to a lambing jug and are doing exceptionally well.<br />
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And so passes the end of the birthing of Finn babies for the year. May the Shetlands be ever so fruitful and ever so kind in doling them out so evenly spaced as the Finns did, where there was only once when we needed two lambing jugs erected (only because Helle stole one of Love's lambs).<br />
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My best guess is that Viveka will pop next. What do you think??<br />
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Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-36142811744324019852014-04-13T13:41:00.000-04:002014-05-07T10:49:43.157-04:00Lumi's Lambs and Chicks = Busy Day<br />
On Thursday, April 10th Lumi shared with us the question of how many lambs she was carrying in her 54 inch circumference body. Here's the shot of what she looked like prior to lambing.<br />
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Second lamb came an hour later with a proper presentation and turned out to be a cute little ewe.</div>
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Third lamb came about 10 minutes later ... another girl. I waited a few hours later before I realized that she didn't have any more lambs in her. Three babies for that large a body. What a crazy thing.</div>
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That same morning, I found out that our chicks we ordered from the feed store were ready to be picked up. I let Tim know and on his way home from work he brought these cuties along. My friend, Susie, was here to see the lambs and saw Tim bringing home chicks. Her comment was priceless saying that some husbands bring home flowers or chocolates but she liked that Tim brought home baby chicks. We got 18 Black Australorps. Here they are in their new brooding area, yes it's a kiddie pool with window screening binder clipped to the pool.<br />
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Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-57706405408808189662014-04-11T11:18:00.002-04:002014-05-07T10:51:05.225-04:00First Lambs of 2014Sunday, April 6th was quite the busy day. Love Potion #9, one of our Finns, decided it was time to give birth. This is what she looked like before she gave birth. <br />
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She didn't look overly large, so didn't bother measuring her like we did with Lumi and Viveka.<br />
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She lambed her babies all on her own and so at 7:25ish in the morning, when Tim went out to do morning chores, he was alerted to that fact by Jack, our Border Collie, who sniffed in the air and immediately ran to the sheep pen. Sure enough, there she was a few feet in where Tim couldn't see what Jack sniffed from the front steps. She had two ram lambs with her and a stillborn ewe. <br />
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He immediately called for me and I went in to see if anyone else had lambed. As soon as I walked into the barn I saw Helle with a black ewe lamb (she wasn't pregnant), so I did a double-take and went to see if anyone else had given birth earlier in the morning. <br />
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Nobody else had lambed so it was obvious that this additional lamb belonged to Love as well. That made a total of 4 lambs in a not so overly large body. Unfortunately, since Helle stole the black ewe lamb, Love wouldn't accept her back. Since Helle isn't pregnant or even lactating, I've got my first bottle baby. I've nicknamed her Ebony and call her "Ebby" for short. She readily accepts the bottle and is a voracious eater.<br />
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We are now very nervously awaiting how many reside in this 54 inch diameter body! Update: Since I was having trouble posting this until now, please note that there will be another blog post as Lumi has lambed her babies on Thursday, April 10th.<br />
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Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-75189379540914718922012-11-08T10:12:00.004-05:002014-05-07T10:53:49.950-04:00"Peanut"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
These are shots of "Peanut" my moorit gulmoget blettet lamb born this year.</div>
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Here you can see some shots of her with her mother, Astrid, another moorit gulmoget.<br />
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<br />Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-204057586105789382012-09-13T13:45:00.002-04:002014-05-07T10:55:35.057-04:00Available Ram LambsWe have 5 ram lambs that are available for sale. The links lead to the parents pedigrees.<br />
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"Whitey" (CB0056) - White Ram<br />
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Born April 14th from Contented Alendil (<a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S17843">Maybelle Sabrina</a> by <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S27759">Underhill Bach</a>) by <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S32263">Contented Asbjorn</a><br />
Color Genetics: Awt/Aa Bb/B? S?/S? M?/M?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9HdnS-_C3-c/UFIBKmBtvKI/AAAAAAAAAgA/y0HQbNLh_HA/s1600/whitey+side.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9HdnS-_C3-c/UFIBKmBtvKI/AAAAAAAAAgA/y0HQbNLh_HA/s320/whitey+side.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Loki (CB0058) - Moorit Ram<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RABPEMAeWr4/UFIa7rLdD6I/AAAAAAAAAiI/60sWz2Jz68g/s1600/loki+face+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RABPEMAeWr4/UFIa7rLdD6I/AAAAAAAAAiI/60sWz2Jz68g/s320/loki+face+a.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Born April 17th from <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S18277">Islandfleece Viveka</a> by <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S32263">Contented Asbjorn</a><br />
Color Genetics: Aa/Aa Bb/Bb S?/S? M?/M?<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_bx9L3oUKw4/UFIbRF5IaDI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/03ITfFJ-igA/s1600/loki+side+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_bx9L3oUKw4/UFIbRF5IaDI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/03ITfFJ-igA/s320/loki+side+a.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lY8KYQI-Ccg/UFIbS8yukJI/AAAAAAAAAiY/IqkP_PgL8os/s1600/loki+rear+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lY8KYQI-Ccg/UFIbS8yukJI/AAAAAAAAAiY/IqkP_PgL8os/s320/loki+rear+a.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Thor (CB0059) - Moorit Ram<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Hd4bFESBd8/UFIalUolNnI/AAAAAAAAAiA/7TFweWyckzc/s1600/thor+face+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Hd4bFESBd8/UFIalUolNnI/AAAAAAAAAiA/7TFweWyckzc/s320/thor+face+a.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Born April 17th from <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S18277">Islandfleece Viveka</a> by <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S32263">Contented Asbjorn</a><br />
Color Genetics: Aa/Aa Bb/Bb S?/S? M?/M?<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiL0ARpQeYk/UFICJpgV2kI/AAAAAAAAAgk/mlsTYvGH7fM/s1600/Thor+side.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiL0ARpQeYk/UFICJpgV2kI/AAAAAAAAAgk/mlsTYvGH7fM/s320/Thor+side.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="maintext">CB0062 - Moorit Ram</span><br />
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Born April 26th from <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S18275">Islandfleece Freya</a> by <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S32445">Windswept Goshawk</a><br />
Color Genetics: Aa/Aa Bb/Bb S?/S? M?/M?<br />
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CB0063 - Black Ram<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ug3ewkn5bfg/UFIaPazcu-I/AAAAAAAAAhw/o-ZpigaTNWc/s1600/CB0063+face+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ug3ewkn5bfg/UFIaPazcu-I/AAAAAAAAAhw/o-ZpigaTNWc/s320/CB0063+face+a.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Born April 26th from <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S18275">Islandfleece Freya</a> by <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S32445">Windswept Goshawk</a><br />
Color Genetics: Aa/Aa BB/Bb S?/S? M?/M?<br />
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Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-80081485779726077932012-07-25T09:51:00.003-04:002014-05-07T10:56:49.436-04:00Going quackers!We had a hen who kept wanting to set on eggs and was giving me quite the hissy fit every time I took the eggs out from under her. We had been discussing getting some Indian Runner ducks for Jack to learn how to herd with, so with that we started to look for fertilized eggs. Much to my surprise, a friend in the next town over has a pair of Indian Runner ducks. I contacted her and she was willing to help me with my little "experiment". How well will a hen take to duck eggs and will she have the desire to rear the ducklings? I did some reading up online and found a site that said that I need to sprinkle water on the eggs the hen is sitting on ... no, I don't think so!
Since there is just one hen duck, I ended up going to her house two days in a row to pick up the egg she laid that morning. I moved the hen into the corridor in our hen house and gave her a small dog kennel for her nest. She was non plussed about the move until the day that I popped the first egg under her. She gladly accepted the egg and snuggled it under her breast. The second day, no worries as she could now balance the eggs on each side of her. According to a number of duck sites, the average time for a duckling to hatch is 28 days. The first egg was placed under the hen on June 21st. Then the waiting started.<br />
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On July 17th, after getting back from the Farr's property, where I moved the non-mammas to another section of the field that they rotationally graze, I went to release the chickens. Lately, Tim has been leaving the door to the corridor open so that the broody hen could stretch her legs and get a dust bath quickly before hopping back on the nest. So, first thing I do before allowing the chickens to free range is to close that door so that "mom" is not annoyed by the other chickens jumping into the corridor. First thing I noticed was a smashed looking egg pushed near the opening of the dog kennel. Oh crap, what happened, I started to think to myself, until I heard the tiny peeping under "mom". <br />
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One little duckling has hatched a few days early! Woo hoo!
So far mom has taken to her little charge just fine. What an adorable little guy (why do I automatically assume its a boy is beyond me). Now to see if his little sibling hatches out as well.
After snapping a quick picture of the little fellow, I noticed that the purple coneflower that I was given is in bloom. What a good day, indeed!<br />
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The very next day I worked on cleaning out the ram pen building for placing the mom and her babies, if the next one hatched out, and lo and behold, by later in the afternoon, the next chick hatched out. This one doesn't exactly look the same, but mom and babies have bonded well together. See for yourself!<br />
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Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-25112574244129511032012-05-07T11:00:00.000-04:002014-05-07T11:01:28.330-04:00Lambing trials and tribulationsLambing started with Ingrid, a first timer, giving birth to twins on Thursday, April 12, one day earlier than the beginning of lambing was due to start. Usually that is not anything to be concerned about, but this was not good. She looked as if she was only going to lamb a singleton, but she lambed twins, a ram and a ewe! They were both very small (ram was 3 lbs and the ewe was 2.6 lbs). the ram lamb was acting strange as he was walking in circles and didn't have the desire to suckle. The ewe lamb was able to suckle with assistance and although it looked as if she was blind, we figured we could handle that. By morning, the ram lamb had passed away and later that afternoon, closer to early evening, I found the ewe lamb flopping around like a fish out of water. We called the vet and found out that she was having seizures. We took her to the vet to euthanize her. It was one of the saddest trips I ever took to the vets office as she was having seizures every few minutes. According to the vet, the neurological problems were due to the fact that they were premature.
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The next one to lamb was Alendil, another first timer, who on Saturday, April 14, gave birth to a singleton ram lamb. A beautiful white ram lamb with some splashy fawn-like spots on his one ear and a few splashes on his derrière.
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Sunday, April 15, found us with another first timer lambing. Astrid also did great with her birthing and gave us a beautiful singleton ewe lamb. This girl is just adorable with the splashy face and gulmoget markings. I have thus far nicknamed her peanut.
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6K658fSUdC4/T6kS_KtBWQI/AAAAAAAAAfA/YjudoKwmyeg/s1600/IMG_0068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6K658fSUdC4/T6kS_KtBWQI/AAAAAAAAAfA/YjudoKwmyeg/s320/IMG_0068.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Z5AeDcWfOU/T6kS52DC1BI/AAAAAAAAAe4/e56k0zdD7OU/s1600/IMG_0056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Z5AeDcWfOU/T6kS52DC1BI/AAAAAAAAAe4/e56k0zdD7OU/s320/IMG_0056.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>Tuesday, April 17, came the day we were waiting for. Viveka, AKA the Goodyear blimp, started to "till" the ground. Hooray, she was in the first stage of labor. We were waiting with anticipation to see if she would give what we guessed was triplets all alive (last time she gave birth to triplets, one was stillborn). By 2:00pm, she moved into the second stage of labor, lying down and trying to push. By 3:30pm, nothing had progressed at all. She continued to push with nothing presenting itself. After talking to Tim, who thought I was overreacting, I called the vet. The call was either to put my mind at ease or to confirm my concerns. The vet said that something was wrong and that we needed to have a farm visit vet of the day come out to assess the situation. Long story short, we ended up having to take her to the vets office in the back of our horse trailer. Susan at <a href="http://www.riverbendvets.com/">Riverbend Vet Clinic</a> examined her and found she had a condition known as <a href="http://www.danekeclublambs.com/Ringwomb.html">ringwomb</a>. She mentioned some of the options for fixing the problem and started to work on the most non-invasive option, manually manipulating the cervix. After a time of slowly stretching, she was able to feel the lamb and discovered that he was breech (butt coming first). She pulled him out and showed me an interesting method for getting fluid out of a lamb by letting gravity work for us. That lamb was a ram, who quickly got the name of Loki (Norse God of mischief). The second lamb started to show as soon as Loki started to nurse. This lamb was a normal presentation, but was also helped out of the birth canal. After he was born, Susan checked for another to find out that she had no more lambs left. They were a little bit bigger than normal twins at birth, and since she had triplets once before, she had plenty of room for those boys to grow! Each boy was moorit with white splashes. The second one to be born, Thor, has some white lightening bolt marks on each side.<br />
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We did try grafting a lamb from Viveka, but by that time, Ingrid had no interest in mothering any lambs and just wanted to spend her time butting heads with the other younger maiden ewes. We will try breeding her again this fall to make sure that the premature lambing was just a fluke, like Viveka's ringwomb (this was her fourth time lambing and each previous time there was no issue).
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The very next morning, Wednesday, April 18, Tim found Sage (the oldest carrying lambs - 10 years old) had given birth to twin ewe lambs. Both girls were black with a few white splashes on them.
At this point, four out of five ewes had given birth in the span of a week. This is a bit unusual for our farm, as they are usually fairly well spaced out.
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The last holdout, Freya, gave birth on April 26. She gave me twin ram lambs. One moorit with no marks and one black with some splashes on his head.
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All in all, lambing was quite the roller coaster for me and I have never been so happy to see a lambing season end like I was happy to see this one end. Ending tally, 5 rams and 3 ewes alive. Oh well, there is always next year!Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-72375846995229758252011-03-25T11:13:00.007-04:002014-05-07T11:06:26.993-04:00Catching up ... againOnce again I suffered from blogunattentionitis. A truly serious disease where one forgets to do blog posts on a regular basis. This tends to happen to me over the winter. Anyone else have this horrible affliction which not only has the unintentional disadvantage of making others kept in the dark about farm happenings?<br />
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<br />
Many things have happened and so once again, into the breech to fill in the happenings on the farm.<br />
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<strong>NOVEMBER</strong><br />
November started breeding season for us. A tad later than normal, but what's one week among friends? I kept my breeding groups notoriously small to try to keep an eye on our flock numbers. Here's the rundown of the breeding groups:<br />
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_kyKj7W-Ctk/TYy1rp5c6VI/AAAAAAAAAdg/S7Y8mMRZFlA/s320/DSCI0083.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588040999245769042" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
SheltrgPines Uber (shown above enjoying a lovely pumpkin thanks to <a href="http://www.riverviewnh.com/">Riverview Farm</a>) was given three lovely ladies: LaughingRiver Rosemary, Contented Darby, and Contented Helle<br />
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nO1Xi-QG9O0/TYy24dHa_qI/AAAAAAAAAeI/T11veN5ykpI/s320/DSCI0086.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588042318664629922" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
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Contented Fimtan (being ever so gentlemanly and sharing his pumpkin with Mildri) was given four lovely ladies: Contented Brisingamen, Contented Rotinn, Contented Mildri and Contented Thyme.<br />
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<strong>DECEMBER</strong><br />
December came and Brisingamen was still in the breeding group but acting very funky and looking bloated. So, out she was pulled and put in with last years lambs. I consulted the vet via the phone and we gave her some therabloat, because we were thinking it was a frothy bloat. She responded well and so we kept her with the lambs; her breeding group having come to a premature end.<br />
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<strong>JANUARY</strong><br />
Since the sheep were starting to get fuzzy looking, we called the shearer, Gwen Hinman, to schedule a time to shear. We picked an early January day that surprisingly was nice and not freezing! We, and when I say that I mean she, sheared a total of 33 sheep (four from Missing Mountain Farm aka the Rice family). First on deck was Sabrina shown below.<br />
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UbuqUudDa7w/TYy1r_QHk1I/AAAAAAAAAdo/F0mBanEvre8/s320/Sabrina%2Bsheared%2B2011.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588041004977984338" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /> Then we continue down the color continuum from light to dark until we're done.<br />
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f-3UtseTqG0/TYy1sMn3_mI/AAAAAAAAAdw/aX2an9WkKW8/s320/Grey%2Bsheep%2Bbeing%2Bsheared%2B2011.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588041008567287394" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /> The lower picture you can see Gwen getting ready to shear one of our smallest sheep, Contented Ingrid (from Underhill Mulan and Underhill Bach). Got to love those tiny Underhill sheep! Although, I'm sure she was cursing them under her breath!<br />
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8qhiQEGOQ1E/TYy1sR8pGXI/AAAAAAAAAd4/7n3i5hKmOsg/s320/Ingrid%2Bready%2Bto%2Bshear%2B2011.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588041009996568946" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px;" /> Here's a better shot of more of the gang working away. It was funny because we had a 4 year old who when he saw that a sheep had been nicked kept saying that she sheep had and owwie. Gwen, jokingly said "That kid has got to go!" After that, they left because he was getting bored, she didn't see them go and got concerned that they took her seriously!<br />
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3sYd5RgWH4A/TYy1shzDBeI/AAAAAAAAAeA/gWYpbmhpz3U/s320/Celebrian%2527s%2Bon%2Bdeck%2B2011.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588041014251292130" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /> All shearing pictures are courtesy of Missing Mountain Farm, specifically Pam Rice. Thanks a bunch for sharing them with me.<br />
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Once all the sheep were sheared, I noticed that Brisingamen (the one pulled early from the breeding group) looked fairly skinny. I made a mental note to start supplementing her with extra feed. Unfortunately, within five days she was looking extremely bloated again and was down, not wanting to get up. Once again we sequestered her and tried to get her back on track again with another therabloat dose. The next day, she was still down, so we called our vet. They came out to look at her and said that something more was wrong since she was trying to bring up a cud and when she couldn't she would grind her teeth. I opted for euthanasia since she was "on the chopping block" since lambing last year. Her lamb last year lasted for a few days and then with no warning died. We were re-breeding her to see if this was a chronic issue with her. We necropsied her and found that her rumen was 3 times the normal size. All other organs looked normal. Once everything else was examined, the rumen was opened and we found it was full of dry foodstuffs. There was no liquid in there, nor the fiber mat that separates the liquid from the dry. It seems as if she lost her bacteria a while ago and I never noticed. Some of the contents included pumpkin seeds that we had stopped feeding about a month prior. She had approximately 20 pounds of food in her stomach and was essentially starving to death. On top of it all, when necropsied, the vet noticed that she had become pregnant (with how many I didn't want to know). More than likely, had I decided to try to fix her, the fetus would have been reabsorbed to concentrate her energy on living. That day I felt like a failure.<br />
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<strong>FEBRUARY</strong><br />
Nothing new with the sheep, but the chickens were slowly starting to lay more eggs. We also received our seed order from FEDCO seeds, so thoughts of spring were abound!<br />
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<strong>MARCH</strong><br />
Now we're more or less up to date. The ewes that took are looking nice and pregnant. There's at least one that has twins in her as she's looking very saddlebaggy. The black pussy willow is out and crocus are trying to peek their heads out of the snow. The promise of spring is coming!Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-35917436586237306992010-10-22T09:53:00.006-04:002010-10-22T10:09:11.505-04:00The Great DeliveryOkay all, sorry for the delay, but my camera has crapped out on me and since I haven't had a chance to get a new one, I'll have to rely on pictures that were sent to me when I was searching for that right ... thing.<br /><br />With regard to my hints, you could have assumed a number of different things ... no?<br /><br />The item in question could have been a guard llama.<br /><br />They come in brown and white.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530870554627487170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TMGZdzM9NcI/AAAAAAAAAdE/R_Dx9h8O_6k/s320/llama.jpg" border="0" /><br />The item in question could have been a herding dog.<br /><br />They also come in brown and white.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530870550586042658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TMGZdkJZqSI/AAAAAAAAAc8/Zs1zxVdCtGk/s320/Border_Collie_Brown.jpg" border="0" /><br />How about if it was a cow?<br /><br />They also come in brown and white.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530870545556009634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TMGZdRaJcqI/AAAAAAAAAc0/EzypiImcMns/s320/cows.jpg" border="0" /> Maybe another sheep? <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530870533071365810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 305px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TMGZci5k5rI/AAAAAAAAAck/ccVJ4s_MusY/s320/Goshawk+close+up+face.jpg" border="0" /><br />Yes! Drum roll, please.<br /><br />Now introducing Windswept Goshawk. The newest addition to our breeding stock.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530870543030893138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 257px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TMGZdIAHOlI/AAAAAAAAAcs/NWOaPwEnIfY/s320/Goshawk+face+and+body.jpg" border="0" /><br />Okay, so you were right. Lets not try to be too smug about it!<br /><br />Stay tuned. Breeding groups are up next. Can't November 11th come fast enough? No,, I can wait, still haven't decided who's going with whom.Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-17919296631297281702010-10-14T15:59:00.003-04:002014-05-07T11:02:23.788-04:00Exciting news aka The Great DeliveryIn case you've been reading my posts on Facebook (not on it? Don't fret, there's a side bar here with all the farm's posts so you don't miss out!), there's some news on the horizon. Saturday Tim and I will be heading to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival, not to look around, but we'll be having something delivered to us to take back home.<br />
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Here's some hints:<br />
1) The item is brown and white.<br />
2) It's coming from Michigan.<br />
3) It's for the farm.<br />
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Any guesses out there? Can't think of what it could be? Don't despair, by the end of the weekend I'll post on the Great Delivery.Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-68403998425062816442010-08-23T09:49:00.008-04:002010-08-23T10:34:18.157-04:009th Annual Jefferson County Fiber Festival<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508603535708736466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/THJ9utphS9I/AAAAAAAAAb4/8cFtbdZ_1Vg/s320/P0004143.JPG" border="0" /><br />This year I decided to try out the 9th Annual Jefferson County Fiber Festival in New York. It's located at the Stone Mills Museum, in LaFargeville. LaFargeville is just north of Watertown, NY. Since Tim's folks still live in Potsdam (about 1 1/2 hours away), we stayed with them and drove down to the festival. The festival is pretty small, so it's the same weekend as the Old Farm and Home Days and everything seems to fit in pretty well.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508603536631203986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/THJ9uxFdCJI/AAAAAAAAAcA/rerYuftOQ7I/s320/P0004144.JPG" border="0" /><br />We were able to set up in the pavilion, which was nicely located so that vehicles driving by could see what was going on. We had our usual items for sale, wool rovings, wine socks, spinning tools, etc. In the two upper pictures I was still working on setting up. After I moved some things around, Tim took a few more pictures of the "finalized" booth.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/THJ9vjYIPEI/AAAAAAAAAcQ/spqi7ozbeTI/s1600/P0004146.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508603550131305538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/THJ9vjYIPEI/AAAAAAAAAcQ/spqi7ozbeTI/s320/P0004146.JPG" border="0" /></a> Close up of the cedar sachets and wine socks.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/THJ9vMfLwxI/AAAAAAAAAcI/b-YcAtVNiNc/s1600/P0004145.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508603543986881298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/THJ9vMfLwxI/AAAAAAAAAcI/b-YcAtVNiNc/s320/P0004145.JPG" border="0" /></a> Here's a shot of the overall booth. I need to work on getting some material to make a nice skirt for the tables. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. It's a two day event, but we opted to only vend on Saturday becuase Sunday was pouring rain and there was some talk about possible flooding. No need to get stuck in a flood with items that will absorb water!</div><div><br />There were some nice fiber folk also vending there and we enjoyed chatting with them. One lady had two angora goats for sale and they were adorable and friendly! The only few things that saved Tim from me purchasing one was the fact that we didn't have any room in the truck with all the fibery stuff as well as the fact I'm not sure how goats are involved with the Voluntary Scrapie Program. Perhaps in time, I will add an angora goat to the mix ... but not today.</div>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-66054831605429562902010-08-04T09:59:00.006-04:002010-08-04T10:48:38.469-04:00Summer Lambs<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl861YbpoI/AAAAAAAAAbo/5UhCuzAER7U/s1600/gullison.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501565770013582978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl861YbpoI/AAAAAAAAAbo/5UhCuzAER7U/s320/gullison.JPG" border="0" /></a>Gullison, our musket gulmoget ram lamb. We'll be keeping him.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501560692351352658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl4TRnav1I/AAAAAAAAAaY/SIsYHvbhU2o/s320/Earendil.JPG" border="0" />Alendil, our white ewe lamb. We'll be keeping her.<br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501566192765447154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl9TcQVK_I/AAAAAAAAAbw/1niCVLyOXPI/s320/Grey+ewe.JPG" border="0" />Mulan's grey ewe lamb by Bach. For Sale.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501560703245374834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl4T6MwVXI/AAAAAAAAAao/EBDVb6uWCjo/s320/black+scur+ewe.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501561746507887330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl5Qop68uI/AAAAAAAAAbY/hknZTsyeymA/s320/P0004106.JPG" border="0" />Mulan's black scurred ewe lamb by Bach. Mulan's black scurred ewe lamb's back end. For Sale<br /><br /><div><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501563716794269810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl7DUizQHI/AAAAAAAAAbg/YH92kc6OUFQ/s320/Dips.JPG" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501561725640260050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl5Pa6sOdI/AAAAAAAAAa4/UzkSoFwa2DM/s320/Dips+eating.JPG" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501561727540535634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl5Ph_wIVI/AAAAAAAAAbA/QQiAdDlpn2g/s320/dips+tail.JPG" border="0" />Viveka's moorit katmoget ram lamb by Bach. Nice horns so far, as well as a not bad tail. For Sale.</p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl5QGlSi-I/AAAAAAAAAbI/a8avzPppLUQ/s1600/chips.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501561737361656802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl5QGlSi-I/AAAAAAAAAbI/a8avzPppLUQ/s320/chips.JPG" border="0" /></a> Viveka's other moorit katmoget ram lamb with scurs. Unfortunately, his scurs are not looking like they're going to clear. This is, in my opinion, a fault and he will more than likely turn into little white packages.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501561742183151458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/TFl5QYi0t2I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/vRStCc4-q5A/s320/gul+ewe.JPG" border="0" /> Last, but not least is a beautiful moorit gulmoget from Arwen (right next to her). She's absolutely gorgeous and will be a keeper at the farm. Any ideas on a name?</div></div>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-65202051472828685802010-05-03T08:53:00.004-04:002010-05-03T09:09:21.034-04:00BittersweetOn Wednesday, April 28th, I woke to the strains of Tim calling, "Jen, can you come help me?" Brisingamen, our black ewe had just given birth to a brown gulmoget ewe lamb. She had been bred to Gulliver. This is our third gulmoget of the year. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the newest birth, and the last one for this year. Lambing season officially ended with that birth.<br /><br />On Friday, I picked up my friend, Ruth, and we traveled to Maryland to attend the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The largest and I believe longest running festival in the US. Ruth had been to it many times before, this was my first time. It was lots of fun, although a bit hot. Crazy me had packed a nice heavy sweater just in case it was chilly. Glad I had also packed tee shirts, as that was all that was needed. Was amazed that there were announcements to folks who decided to leave their dog in the car. What are they, whackos? Anywho, I bought a few things and Ruth bought a few things, including a BFL ewe lamb! Since we drove down in my Prius, we had to find a pet store to buy a crate. Luckily in Columbia, we located a PetSmart and they were fairly understanding about the fact that we needed to make sure that the carrier would fit in the hatchback. Needless to say, I've done this before (remember we brought Mulan home that way). Great time there and came back Sunday.<br /><br />First stop was Ruth's where we offloaded all her purchases, including the ewe lamb. Then I got home. First thing Tim tells me is that we had a loss. Seems as if Brisingamen's lamb, the one just born on Wednesday, was found lying on her side dead at 2pm. She was doing great as far as feeding, but I kept thinking she was lying down an awful lot. Tim remarked that she was looking/acting funny on Saturday. She was also still lying down quite a bit and evidently leaning against the barn. He's wondering if she may have also been blind in one eye. Needless to say, something was wrong and she decided to cross that rainbow bridge. <br /><br />I'm so sad about it. Think I might go out and spend some time with the bouncy lambs.Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-87019432838620773112010-04-29T09:37:00.005-04:002010-04-29T09:45:49.813-04:00The singleton<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9mNBeitelI/AAAAAAAAAYE/w5R4fgeMCl8/s1600/EX000006.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465554679308843602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9mNBeitelI/AAAAAAAAAYE/w5R4fgeMCl8/s320/EX000006.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div>On Tuesday, April 27th, at around 6pm Arwen started to go into full labor. I was on my way to knitting group, when I got the call from Tim. I immediately turned around and came back to watch/help out (or as Tim would say, worry incessantly). Arwen did a good job and delivered a healthy brown gulmoget ewe lamb.</div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465554465532967442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9mM1CKkehI/AAAAAAAAAX8/BeKgxagz1vc/s320/P0004091.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div>Arwen was bred to Gulliver, our black gulmoget ram that we lost due to hypothermia. Such a sweet looking little baby. Makes the loss of Gulliver a bit easier.<br /></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9mL5lChzYI/AAAAAAAAAX0/x88AVCpJCK4/s1600/P0004094.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465553444102327682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9mL5lChzYI/AAAAAAAAAX0/x88AVCpJCK4/s320/P0004094.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-80202280507330829852010-04-27T12:10:00.004-04:002010-04-27T12:30:21.189-04:00The triplets cometh ...What started out looking like this: <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464852610863407042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9cOftxhH8I/AAAAAAAAAXE/AGuhGAsrwa4/s320/P3093301.JPG" border="0" /> <div><div><div></div><div>Ended up giving me triplets. Viveka was bred to Bach, and she's never given triplets before. Since I was at work and Tim was out at the time of the birthing, we're not sure what order they came in, but we ended up with this little guy. A nice brownish katmoget.</div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464851990627659138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9cN7nNyrYI/AAAAAAAAAW0/Kdc7ZsOOgsM/s320/GEDC0114.JPG" border="0" /></div><br /><div>This little guy with the white stripe on his back also appeared. Yes, another katmoget.</div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464851999326622978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9cN8HnyVQI/AAAAAAAAAW8/f_natiGsLPE/s320/GEDC0113.JPG" border="0" /></div><br /><div>The third lamb born was a light looking brown based ewe lamb (normally when we get moorit babies they're so darn dark it's almost as if they're black) that most likely would have been fawn colored. Unfortunately she was stillborn. Looks like, from her development, that she died in utero at the later stage of Viveka's pregnancy. The lamb was fully formed (as far as I could tell) but her eyelids were closed and they appeared sunken in where her eyes should have been. Also, where she should have had a nice rounded looking belly, she appeared as flat as a pancake. Is it possible she ran out of space to grow? Something happened, and I'm sure it was a blessing in disguise, although a bit of a let down. </div><div><br /> </div><div></div><div></div><div>These are the only ram lambs that came from Bach's randy insistence that he breed everything on the farm that was wooly and female. Unfortunately, it looks as if Bach's insistence to breed others left Rakel (Viveka's twin sister) without being tupped this year. But, fortunately for us, it also looks as if he didn't get any other ewe we didn't want him to have!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div>Two more to go. Will I get any more gulmogets from Gulliver ... time will tell.</div></div></div>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-77501663901781846232010-04-23T19:28:00.003-04:002010-04-23T19:34:30.091-04:00Third and Fourth Babies of the season!<div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9IuEqUFJrI/AAAAAAAAAWc/gaSKx8a6-gg/s1600/GEDC0110.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463479955566700210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9IuEqUFJrI/AAAAAAAAAWc/gaSKx8a6-gg/s320/GEDC0110.JPG" border="0" /></a>Late last night Mulan gave us twins. She was a bit sneaky. So much for them not eating prior to lambing. She tucked into the minimal grain that we give them each evening and also went out for some hay at about 8pm. When we went out around 10pm, she had already delivered her twins. She gave us two girls. These girls are Bach's lambs. I was hoping for at least one ram lamb, but alas, no go.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463479962114605682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9IuFCtOQnI/AAAAAAAAAWk/sM5o33FTz4I/s320/GEDC0106.JPG" border="0" /> <div></div><div>I like them much and they both have a bit of white color to them. I'm thinking the one could be grey, but since Bach was modified, perhaps an emsket? Thoughts?</div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463479966396028850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S9IuFSp_l7I/AAAAAAAAAWs/aMXlgwmDS4Q/s320/GEDC0107.JPG" border="0" /></div><div>They're adorable, so we'll do a wait and see as to their true colors.</div></div></div>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-49047128648296056202010-04-20T14:57:00.004-04:002010-04-20T15:15:54.816-04:00Second baby of the season!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S838xzb0p_I/AAAAAAAAAWU/sxUiCgTGdj8/s1600/GEDC0096.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462299855620974578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S838xzb0p_I/AAAAAAAAAWU/sxUiCgTGdj8/s320/GEDC0096.JPG" border="0" /></a>Today Maybelle Sabrina, my white ewe, who was bred to Underhill Bach gave me a lovely looking white ewe lamb at about 2pm. She weighs 7 pounds. <div><div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462299838588213954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S838wz-5WsI/AAAAAAAAAWE/YNmTyD3xf74/s320/GEDC0098.JPG" border="0" /> <div></div><br /><div>She's just adorable. She has a little patch of phaeo on the back of her neck (at least I believe that's what it is). It's hard to see in this photo as mom hadn't finished cleaning all of the gack off her neck, but it's slightly above mom's nose.</div><br /><div></div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462299850511647074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S838xgZqgWI/AAAAAAAAAWM/_uVPeGv5ugg/s320/GEDC0101.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div>Dare I say I want to keep her? This lambing season isn't bodeing well if I don't have any new lambs on a sales list!</div></div></div>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-36924346164739860542010-04-18T11:10:00.006-04:002010-04-18T11:28:01.814-04:00First Baby of the Season!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S8si7XbsPtI/AAAAAAAAAVs/BtMDOWk9RVs/s1600/GEDC0084.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461497376414645970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S8si7XbsPtI/AAAAAAAAAVs/BtMDOWk9RVs/s320/GEDC0084.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Yesterday morning, Sabbath Farm Sylph gave me a beautiful brown based gulmoget ram lamb. </div><div></div><div>He looks like he may even carry spotting, which isn't surprising as Sylph does carry spotting and his daddy, SheltrgPines Gulliver was a spotted gulmoget ram. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461497380351853794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S8si7mGZROI/AAAAAAAAAV0/zZF3CIhNLL4/s320/GEDC0085.JPG" border="0" /></div><div></div><div>This little guy will most likely be kept here on the farm to replace Gulliver.</div><div></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461497391255192626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/S8si8Ot9BDI/AAAAAAAAAV8/23a6Tp-1On4/s320/GEDC0086.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /></div><div></div>Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-19728183016233558962009-12-03T11:51:00.005-05:002010-04-29T09:53:58.986-04:00Underhill BachHere's a picture of Bach after we brought him home from attending MFF last year.<br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SxftzeFA1VI/AAAAAAAAAVU/JQ1omGqe1Pw/s1600-h/HPIM1131.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411054945812141394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SxftzeFA1VI/AAAAAAAAAVU/JQ1omGqe1Pw/s320/HPIM1131.JPG" border="0" /></a> My Bach is no more. He crossed over the rainbow bridge yesterday evening. It's a long story, so let's start at the beginning.</div><div></div><div>This year for breeding, we put him where he was next to the non-breeding ewes (we've done that before with other rams without problems) and he kept trying to break into the non-breeders even though he hadn't settled (that I'm aware of) all his girls. After a few attempts and us having to fix and reinforce the fence twice, we decided to put him in a hog panel pen on the lawn exactly where he was last year. Nice and far away from the non-breeders. Well, this year, there was no getting his hormones in line and Monday night around 10pm we heard some bashing and found he had escaped his ewe pen and was smacking the hog panel pen where Gulliver was with a few girls. Bach's girls were luckily still in the pen as he got out from a side area that was baling twined together (multiple times) and was able to squeeze his tiny frame under the fence. I know this as there was some of his wool left behind. Naughty bugger. I'm not aware that he has still settled all the four ewes he was given (only saw him breed Mulan the first day and this past weekend he was breeding Viveka). He was still looking interested in Sabrina and Rakel, but they were having nothing to do with him.<br /><br />After running around trying to catch him and putting up electronet to grab him, we were able to get him back in our control after one hour. Can you say greased lightning? Once we caught him, we placed him back in with the bachelors and had them all "squeezed". They started clonking heads like usual and I thought it will be no problem. I worked on reinforcing their pen Tuesday to make sure "houdini" didn't get out again and they were starting to become more civilized, I thought. There wasn't a whole lot of bonking going on that day.</div><div></div><div>Wednesday came with still no terrible problems in the morning, but as evening fell, Tim called me at work to say that when he peeked into the ram pen, Bach was down and he wasn't sure he was still breathing. A half-hour more of work to go and then I came home to him still down and breathing raspily. The vet was coming out to put him down if nothing else could be done. When she got here, she examined him to find his pupils not reacting, a broken jaw, and figures he also had massive brain trauma. While Tim was waiting for her (before I got home) Bach went into a seizure. Needless to say, the right choice was euthanasia.</div><div></div><div>I will miss my standoffish ram with the beautiful fleece. I now have to hope that he settled enough girls to give me a nice ram lamb to keep.</div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411054949614286594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SxftzsPg9wI/AAAAAAAAAVc/fcgYi48hgnE/s320/Bach.JPG" border="0" /></div><br />May you be bounding around verdant fields with no fencing and lots of fertile ewes to breed!Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-69278964024925572082009-11-12T17:25:00.011-05:002010-04-29T09:55:15.239-04:00Breeding Groups TogetherEvery Veterans' Day Tim and I put the breeding groups together. It always seems like a good date for us. Firstly, because we have the day off and secondly, it gives us lambs in April when the grass is starting to appear and the dreaded snow is disappearing.<br /><br /><br />This year we opted to use two rams with 7 ewes total. Last lambing was a blast with 11 ewes pregnant, but we really didn't need the extra work and there are a few lambs left over that didn't get purchased.<br /><br /><br />First group is SheltrgPines Gulliver's girls. <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S28073">Gulliver</a> is a black smirslet gulmoget (At/Aa BB/Bb Ss/SS M?/M?).<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403348368793441330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SvyMtpeelDI/AAAAAAAAAUg/zWwkb2LFSEA/s320/GEDC0025.JPG" border="0" />Gulliver's ladies are <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S13803">Sabbath Farm Sylph</a>, a light grey ewe (Ag/A? BB/B? Ss/S? M?/M?). Sylph is our oldest ewe, but is still going strong! In this picture you can see her chowing on a pumpkin. We've bred her twice and each time she singled. This year we're hoping for twins.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403348372285025954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SvyMt2e77qI/AAAAAAAAAUo/oATcFWgLKM4/s320/GEDC0026.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S29889">Contented Brisingamen</a> is the black ewe chowing down on some hay. Her genetics are Aa/Aa BB/Bb S?/S? M?/M?. Brisingamen is a first timer with a ram and it will be nice to see what she throws. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403348363156293730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SvyMtUeeiGI/AAAAAAAAAUY/REvivdiMW8A/s320/GEDC0023.JPG" border="0" /></p><br /><p><a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S29887">Contented Arwen</a> is a gentle moorit (Aa/Aa Bb/Bb S?/S? M?/M?). This will be her first time lambing as well.</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403348358810162578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SvyMtESR1ZI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/gOqYbvLXzf8/s320/GEDC0022.JPG" border="0" /></p><p>Our second breeding group is with <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S27759">Underhill Bach</a>. Bach is a mioget (Aa/Aa Bb/Bb S?/S? Mm/Mm). This photo shows Bach with his four girls. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403352101173191474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SvyQG5rJ4zI/AAAAAAAAAVI/c5_mvUnbUA8/s320/GEDC0032.JPG" border="0" /></p>Bach's first ewe is the one in the middle with the black face. It is none other than <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S16485">Underhill Mulan</a>, our grey ewe (Ag/Aa BB/Bb Ss/S? M?/M?). This breeding will be very interesting. Bach threw a horned ewe lamb and a scurred ram lamb this past lambing and Mulan has thrown a scurred ram lamb in the past. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing their get. They'll hopefully make it so that I don't have to wait too long. There was a bit of "activity" yesterday after they were put together.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403352087641600066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SvyQGHQ-MEI/AAAAAAAAAU4/7iSNJ7YSz1c/s320/GEDC0031.JPG" border="0" />The next two are <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S18277">Islandfleece Viveka</a> (Ab/Aa Bb/Bb SS/S? M?/M?)and <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S18276">Islandfleece Rakel</a> (Ab/Aa Bb/Bb S?/S? M?/M?), our two moorit katmoget twins. We weren't going to breed Rakel, but the twins have never been separated, so we said "what the heck" and kept them together.<br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403352091455195586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SvyQGVeNCcI/AAAAAAAAAVA/mDT2Is0NBhE/s320/GEDC0030.JPG" border="0" /></p><br /><br /><br /><br />The last ewe Bach is getting is <a href="http://www.mtn-niche.net/NASSA/nassa_pedigree.php?pregno=S17843">Maybelle Sabrina</a>, our white ewe (Awt/Aa Bb/B? S?/S? M?/M?).Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-42609434948394598712009-10-22T15:19:00.004-04:002010-04-29T10:00:25.487-04:00Almost breeding seasonI haven't blogged in a while. Life is crazy and hectic and I know it's no excuse, but it's only one I have! :-) Spent the first two weeks of October in Germany. Lots of fun and had a good time overall. Our great friends Ruth and Ed took care of all the critters while we were gone. No major problems, but Ruth has resolved that she will get chickens, just no roosters! Ed the last couple of days decided to read our instructions on how to take care of the critters and read the grain amount we give the girls a little wrong, so needless to say they were not happy to see us come back with the "puny amount" we gave them. Thanks so much Ruth and Ed for all your work keeping our critters healthy. Now it's back to reality and needing to keep plugging along. We're going into the winter with more sheep that we had originally planned. You know what they say about the best laid plans. So, knowing that we have a wee bit too many, we're working on only breeding a few of the ewes. Here's the plan so far.<br /><br />SheltrgPines Gulliver (our black gulmoget) will be getting Contented Arwen (moorit), Contented Brisingamen (black), and SabbathFarm Sylph (grey).<br /><br />Underhill Bach (mioget) will be getting Maybelle Sabrina (white), Underhill Mulan (grey), and Islandfleece Viveka (moorit katmoget).<br /><br />With Bach and Mulan's breeding, I'll be interested to see what the get is like as Mulan is a half poll and I'm not sure what to call Bach (threw a scurred ram lamb this year from Sage and a horned ewe lamb this year from Celebrian). Needless to say, that breeding has the potential for all sorts of things!<br /><br />Will have pictures posted when the groups get put together.Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674316790345459193.post-65446243067803184752009-07-09T16:32:00.006-04:002014-05-07T10:52:36.328-04:00Horns or Scurs? You be the judge<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SlZU8NMQa4I/AAAAAAAAATo/p6h8m7TqBqU/s1600-h/P6282609.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SlZU8NMQa4I/AAAAAAAAATo/p6h8m7TqBqU/s320/P6282609.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356562200113736578" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a> Around the time we were getting ready to do CD/T shots on the lambos, I noticed that Celebrian's really crimpy daughter (CB0035) has what appears to be horns or scurs popping out. The following pictures show the size of the "whatevers". This was around June 20th. I haven't noticed any significant growth of them since then. They're still there, but I'm not familiar with ewes and their horns. I'm assuming that they take a while to pop, unlike rams, that pop pretty soon in their lives.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SlZU8sBopPI/AAAAAAAAATw/dAvBAXDDPqQ/s320/P6282610.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356562208390685938" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
Can you see them, they're kind of small and look chocolate chip like.<br />
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SlZU9rBVGnI/AAAAAAAAAUI/ady2LQYh6rw/s320/P6282612.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356562225300839026" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c9etXesrMco/SlZU9d4aapI/AAAAAAAAAUA/d2wtrkJ5hVY/s320/P6282611.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356562221773777554" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
After posting about them on the Shetland polled yahoo group, it appears we forgot that Underhill Bach, this little girl's sire, came from a horned ewe. <br />
Another breeding of Bach gave us a ram lamb with scurs. He's so super friendly that he's destined to be a wether and a local family had their hearts melted by him. The little rascal layed down right at their feet and any time a family member moved, he followed looking for scritches.<br />
So, are they horns or scurs?? Jen Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00159498919066997085noreply@blogger.com3