Lambtown 2017--Showing Sheep

I wrote a post about teaching and vendoring (a new word?) at Lambtown. Dona send me several photos of our sheep and Farm Club members that I can also share.

Buster had his own pen. The ewes are Cindy and Vanna.

Mary having a conversation with Buster.

Mary and Lisa in the barn.

Sumi, also in the barn. A lot of the Farm Club members were also on the Spinzilla team and were working to increase their yardage spun.

Lisa rode the train back and forth from the barn to the vendor hall.

The sheep show was Sunday afternoon. Yearling rams were up first.

Buster was the only one in his class.

He didn't want to cooperate.

Do I really want to be dancing with a ram.

I think not.

He was better behaved on a halter...

...and especially when tied to the fence after his turn.

This is the rest of the sheep waiting their turns.

Vicki helped with the ram lambs.

We showed against Shetlands in the Primitive Breeds Division.

Doris helped with the yearling ewes.

Everyone was a winner. Thanks!

Breeding Season Starts

October 1 - breeding season starts. Count 148 days more or less and there will be lambs. I know where I'll be February 26. Farm Club came to help sort sheep.

There were four breeding groups to sort--ewes that would go to three Jacob rams and Peyton, the BFL. There is also a non-breeding group. I juggled which ewe lambs to not breed--I want to have some to show next spring (maybe take to MSWF to sell?) and to show at State Fair. I debated which ewes to put with Peyton. Obviously those won't produce purebred Jacob lambs, but the crossbred lambs grow fast and are valuable for market lambs. 

We got the rams out and trimmed their feet.

We got the marking harnesses ready. I use the same color in all of the harnesses. The breeding groups are all in separate places so I'm not trying to sort which ram bred which ewes. If they were all together I'd have fighting rams and still wouldn't know the sires because there would be multiple breedings. I will change the color in about two weeks. Then I'll know that all the blue marks are from the first two weeks of breeding and if the ewes are marked with the next color they were bred in the next two weeks.

This is ewe lamb, Hollyhock. The dirty face and dirty wool is a result of the tall dallisgrass that is now sticky. As a result the sheep are covered with dirt and with dallisgrass seeds.

I this opportunity to take close-up photos of the ewe lambs that I need to register.

Here is the main event. Rams working working overtime with their mouths open and tongues out. Uh, Peyton, that's a wether.

The ewes that are in heat will hang around the ram. Sheena and Shelby were the two who were interested in Catalyst. If Catalyst showed interest in one the other started beating him up.

This gives new meaning to Fall Colors.

Keeping Busy on the Farm

I'm keeping busy.

Most of the photos are from yesterday but this was a few days ago. I like this view.

Morning chores. Do you see the grass on this ewe's back? The dallisgrass is tall right now and it's sticky. (From the web: Once dallisgrass seed heads ripen they can be infected with an ergot fungus. Infected seed heads are black and sticky.") It is so strong that it trips me up when I walk and get my feet stuck under it. The sheep are coming in with it draped around their necks. They are dirty because all the dust sticks to the dirt. We'll need rain to get them clean again.

The sheep were going into this paddock on the right. I pulled the net fence out of the dallisgrass and put it back in so that it tipped the other way so hopefully they don't get their horns in the fence.

There is a 3-wire electric fence here that you can barely see. I stomped down the dallisgrass on the side of the paddock they'll be in so that the fenceline is more visible. The only way this fence works when the grass is so tall is that the flock is used to the configuration of the paddocks.

The ewes don't even want to venture in when it's that tall. They walked in and then came back to this part in the lane where they could graze normally.

The rams spend most of their time right now at this fence looking for the ewes. At night there are always a few ewes hanging around here. Tomorrow is the day, boys.

A good contrast of lilac and black and white coloring. Also typical 2-horn and 4-horn contrast. That's Catalyst on the left and Buster on the right.

This photo is from a few days ago. These are yarns I used as the warp for two shawls that I just finished weaving. There will be photos of them after they are washed. These are dyed with weeping willow and hollyhock. 

More recent dyed yarn.  Weeping willow on the left and coreopsis on the right. The three shades are successive runs through the same dyebath. All that color from 8 ounces of flowers!

I set up this pot outside. Eucalyptus getting ready to add yarn.

I am moving onto plans for a sunflower series of chenille scarves for my upcoming show. I finally got to the warp dyeing part.

There will be more photos as I progress with these.

Warp chains--two scarves each.

While I was dyeing yesterday we got a hay delivery. Eighty more bales to go in the barn.

Color inspiration next to my dye table. Redbud leaf. It is incredible what you can see when you look closely.

Ginny in her usual behavior. He's not going to throw it, Ginny.