Let it Shine...

We had a nice set of twins this morning out of one of the new ewes from North Carolina...  I took this picture with my cell phone and sent it to my sister.  We both agree that it looks like we were a little late taking down the Christmas Nativity scene...

I don't know if it is the "heavenly" light streaming down from the window or maybe they just look like little angels...

Momma did great and delivered these twins around 11 AM today.  Brother and sister both weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces when we weighed them this evening.

Late Afternoon Nap...

There is nothing like a nice nap in a puddle of sun after a hard day of playing...

If the puddle of sun is already occupied, it can be just as nice to snuggle into some warm bedding for a snooze...

Running around, jumping, and playing is hard work!

This little guy's eyes are closed up tight - his tummy is full and he is content...

Even Magic took a break from her day of mischief to relax...

Afterall - last night all of these little buggers were busy checking out the new arrival...

It was a good day to be a lamb...

Even the chickens lucked out and found a patch of grass where the snow had melted...

Natural Colored Merinos - The Future...

Hey there folks!  Exciting news from Ugly Dog's Farm!

We have had some wonderful success with our Natural Colored Merino flock, but this year we had gone as far as we could with the genetics we had available here at the farm...  We just didn't want to end up with lambs named Bubba who were their own cousin, uncle, and grandpa so it was time to look for an outside ram.

The challenge is finding a quality, black Merino ram with a pedigree showing that he is truly a Merino...  There are a lot of percentage Merinos out there with nice color, but we really wanted to stick with what we already had going for us.  Not to mention that as soon as you cross another breed in there to get the black color (usually they use a Corriedale), your color heritability changes completely and you can no longer predict with much accuracy what color lambs you might expect out of your flock.

After much searching, poking, prodding and all of the usual "stressing out" that I put in to any decision, we have made arrangements to purchase a beautiful, smooth bodied, polled, Merino ram from Terry and Steve Mendenhall of Mendenhall Wool Ranch in Loma Rica, California. 

Terry put up with all of my questions, and sent us a fleece sample (which is WONDERFUL) and she has agreed to bring the ram to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May.  Wayne will be there helping our friends from Pitchfork Ranch show their sheep and they have generously offered to trailer the ram home after the show.

Introducing "Mendenhall 9146"...

We have at least one ewe who will "meet" this boy as soon as he arrives...  maybe we'll be lucky enough to get fall lambs!?!??!

Finished Towels...

Thought I would share a few pictures of the towels we finished yesterday...

It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago they were just cotton yarn...  I am amazed at what we have been able to produce with a little patience and a lot of time.

Each towel is different...

Here is the first one we wove -

we used a cream/gray color yarn for the weft...

We used light green for the weft on the 2nd towel...

A thicker light blue yarn on the third towel gave a totally different look and feel...

2 inch stripes of a few different colors gave a great "checker-board" effect to the 4th towel...

On the final towel, we used the same green/bronze that we used for the stripes in the warp and it turned out beautiful...  I can't believe how nice our edges turned out considering there were two of us weaving whenever we had a few spare minutes...

I'd say we're addicted...

Lambs, Lambs, Lambs...

You may have noticed that I have been a little remiss in my blogging responsibilities lately.  Between lambs, lambs, and more lambs, I have been a little sleep deprived.  Not to mention a marathon week of Zumba - 2 hour celebration on Sunday, and my regular Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday classes.  Plus we finished the cotton towels on the loom, and purchased a 2nd smaller folding loom which I have begun to warp.  So much going on...

I promise pictures of the towels which turned out AWESOME...  I think one of them will definately say "Happy Birthday Mom" as my mother's birthday is quickly approaching.  I am not always the best at calling (shame on me) because I get so busy, but I think she would really love one of the towels...

I did take some pictures of the lambs and hope you enjoy them... 
4 ewes down and 19 left to go...

You have already met Annie and Panda's lamb...

Ugly Dog's Farm Black Magic is full of spunk!

2nd to lamb was one of the new Border Cheviot ewes we got from North Carolina - She had a gorgeous ewe lamb

Ripped Ear was the next to go and gave birth to twin ram lambs

And last night TB, a natural colored Merino ewe, gave birth to twin boys...  The first one weighed 12#10oz and the second was 11#10oz

Thats nearly 25 pounds of lamb!!!



I promise that I will follow up with more pictures of the lambs, pictures of the towels, a request for a blog post on my sweet pet parrot (who will be going to live with my brother and his family this summer), and a few other happenings around the farm that I want to share.

Lambing Supply Tote...

We have a tote full of lambing supplies that has been sitting on the kitchen table for the last month waiting to be carried to the barn when lambs are born.  This tote just holds some of the standard things we need to process newborns...  emergency supplies stay packed away in the house "just in case".

It felt good to carry the tote to the barn early on Sunday morning when Annie had her lamb...  We really didn't need to use much from it that morning, but it always makes me feel comforted to be prepared for most things.

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• The kit contains a bottle of Chlorhexidine Solution as well as a plastic cup both of which we use to dip newborn lamb navels and feet to disinfect them. 
• There is also a tupperware container full of Nutri-drench which is an energy supplement for lambs as well as syringes - great for cold nights and or "slow starting" lambs. 
• There are copper lamb ear tags and a tagger for permanently identifying lambs...  sometimes it is hard to tell the little ones apart and it is important to keep everybody straight if you want to register them. 
• There are rubber gloves which come in handy for various "dirty jobs".
• There is a drench syringe which is handy for drenching ewes and or lambs with various medications or supplements.
• There is a set of foot trimmers which are great for keeping those hoofs in good shape.
• There is a container of small rubber bands and a "bander" which are used to band tails.

The wait is over...

Lambing has begun!

I woke up at around 2:30 AM this morning and walked down to the kitchen to listen to the baby monitor for a minute and heard the tell-tale "mommy-talk" that always means someone has lambed or is going to lamb very soon.

I quickly threw on some warm clothes and trudged out to the barn to find Annie talking to her brand new baby - here is where it gets good.  We didn't know if Annie carried the recessive black gene...  If she did carry it, there was only a 50% chance that she could have a black lamb when crossed with Panda (who is black)...  so we weren't expecting what we found.

Not only did Annie have a BEAUTIFUL black lamb, but she had a BEAUTIFUL black EWE lamb! 

It certainly doesn't get much better than that...  Panda and Annie did GOOD!

Wayne is a VERY proud grandparent...

Wayne was so happy he gave Annie a hug...

Checking in...

Man, am I ever tired...  The last few nights I have been excited and have not slept well. 

Ripped Ear is HUGE!  I don't think we have ever had a border cheviot ewe get as big as she is - she is not fat - it is lambs...  the question is, HOW MANY?!?!?!  I tried to get some photos that show how big she is and for whatever reason, the pictures just don't show her massive belly...   What's up with that?!?!  I can walk past a chocolate cake and suddenly any picture of me looks like I should win the "rate of gain" contest in the livestock tent at the county fair?!?!?!  Just not right.

Last night, I could tell that Ripped Ear's udder had filled up quite a bit.  After eating her dinner, she was extremely uncomfortable and spent most of the night standing and alternately lifting her back legs while making some pitiful noises. We checked on her a number of times through the night and I think the lambs are moving into position -  her body is preparing to push those little guys out.

By this morning, her bag is even more full of colostrum and I think she is on track to be the first to lamb.  If she gets any bigger, I am afraid we may have to scrape her off the barn walls when she explodes...

In other news, Wayne finished the first towel on the loom yesterday and started the 2nd one...  He picked a different color for the weft - we are planning to make each one a little different.  I talked to my sister yesterday and she said she studied the picture I had posted of the towel progress VERY CLOSELY...  She is convinced that she could make out the words "BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR MICHELLE" in the pattern.  I had not noticed it before, but she is very observant.   I thought it had said something like "BUY IT NOW FOR THREE EASY PAYMENTS...." but it can be so hard to make these things out.

The last piece of news is that I have signed up for ZUMBA INSTRUCTOR TRAINING on April 9th in Novi, Michigan!  That's right folks, if you aren't sick of hearing about ZUMBA now, JUST WAIT!!!!  I am very excited! 

So many "relatively" new found passions in my life that I could never have expected, but now can't imagine being without...  In the words of a very wise friend who repeats this as his mantra, I must admit that "LIFE IS GOOD"...

The Fabric of our Lives...

This weekend, as we have been waiting for the first lambs of the year to be born, we started another weaving project...  It was time to try something new and to "step it up a notch" so to speak.

We had taken a trip last weekend to Phaneuf Pharm, home to our friend and "weaving coach" Cathy Phaneuf and picked up some cotton yarn in a few different colors we liked.  Our plan was to weave some cotton kitchen towels and Cathy helped us plan how much warp we needed to put on the loom, we picked a pattern, and she also gave us a few more tips on working with cotton and smaller diameter yarn.

On Friday we prepared the strands for our warp and threaded them through the reed...  we decided on using two colors alternated in 2 inch stripes.  To give you some idea of how much planning and time was involved, the warp for these towels is comprised of 378 strands of cotton yarn - each at a length of 5 yards.

After I returned from a great morning Zumba class, we spent the rest of Saturday threading those 378 strands of warp through the heddles which are the little wires that raise and lower the strand so you can weave through the opening created.  We finished tying the warp late on Saturday.  We did have a few mishaps along the way, but we got them straightened out and I think things turned out great in the end.

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This morning we finally started weaving our first cotton towel...  I am still very surpised how much I am enjoying weaving.

My View from Here...

It got really cold last night...  the sky was clear and temperatures dropped down to the single digits again.  I know that patience is a virtue and although I don't always show that I have much of it, I find myself hopeful that this will be the last single-digit night of winter.  I am ready for spring and all of the signs of life that it brings with it.  There is one part of spring that I am not looking forward to...
 
We are in a pretty rural area but are still relatively close to the hustle and bustle of urban life.  I always find myself suprised at how some people who live in an urban area see our rural roads as a dumping ground.  Folks drive out from the cities and dump their yard waste along our roads...  other times it is a used appliance or couch...  bags of garbage often are seen obstucting an otherwise picturesque view.  I am left to wonder what these people are missing?

It is obvious that they don't see the same thing that I do when I drive down my road...  they must not see the beautiful woods, fields, hills...  They couldn't possibly see the beautiful old barns and the old oak trees.

I am especially bothered when they "dispose" of their unwanted pets along our roads.  It happens a lot and there is no excuse for it...  our county has an Animal Control facility which will take unwanted pets for a very reasonable fee...  Truth be told, they usually have cages out front where people can leave pets after hours for free.

Even if the unwanted animal is euthanized by the shelter, it is a much less traumatic and painful death than they would be afforded out in the "wilds" of our rural roads.  Death by coyote attack, being hit by a car, or starvation is the likely fate of "dump-offs".

A few years ago, we took a walk down our road to the dead-end turn-around, which is a popular dumping ground.  In the bushes we found an open cat carrier and heard a very small voice calling from nearby.  After some coaxing, out came a little orange kitten that could not have been more than 6 weeks old.  He was very skinny, covered in fleas, and suprisingly very friendly...  so friendly that there was no doubt that he had been handled by humans since birth.

I was angry - this particular spot was over 1/8 of a mile from the nearest house.  This little guy did not have a chance and would certainly have died from starvation, flea infestation, or possibly would have been a very light meal for a coyote or hawk.  Of course, we rescued the little guy, gave him a flea bath and fed him, but there are countless others who have been dumped and have perished.

These are not wild animals...  You can't dump them off and expect that they will go back to nature.  These are animals that humans have domesticated - we have taken away most of their ability to fend for themselves.  Euthanasia can be a hard choice to make, but there are worse fates for these animals than a quick and humane death.

It's true that nature can be cruel, but that does not mean that man should not make every effort not to be...

I realize that most of my readers are "animal people" and that I am preaching to the choir, so to speak...  but I hope that maybe one of the "urban dumpers" will happen upon this blog, read this post, and start to see some of the view that I see when I look down my road - it is a beautiful sight.

Wait and See...

Well, we made it...  we are finally at the "wait and see" stage of lambing time...  based on when we put the ram in, we could have lambs at any time now.  Each year, I get so focused on that magical 147th day that I almost expect some kind of mass birthing session to happen as soon as the day arrives.  One day we will break down and put marking harnesses on our breeding rams so we will know EXACTLY when our ewes get bred, but in the mean time we "wait and see" who lambs first.

Last year, Jammers was the first to lamb and Panda got the honor of being first lamb...  this year a few ewes are in the running...

 

Annie...

Ripped Ear always bags up within a few hours of lambing...

TB also is making a nice bag...

Some of the North Carolina ewes are bagging up as well (although they are a little camera shy)