Tag: 4-H

Much Ado about Something

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There has been much picture taking, discussion and general excitement on the farm today; excitement that actually started 2 years ago with a 4-H market lamb.  Bella placed very well at the Buckwheat Festival that year and was bought and given back to Lena to return to the farm flock. Lena decided to try breeding her (a Suffolk/Hampshire cross) to our Border Leicester ram to see what type of lambs would result, and if they would be anyways close to being a festival worthy market lamb, putting her with Liam earlier than our regular breeding season to get an appropriate aged lamb. As they say…the best laid plans often go awry. Bella ended up getting marked 3 breeding cycles…possible because of an oversite by us not realizing that Sampson, being the protective guard dog that he is, may not have been allowing proper breeding activity.

Well. today they arrived, the long awaited:

Two of the cutest little ‘mule’ ewes we have had ! Weighing in at 7 lb 10 oz and 6 lb 10 oz.

 
There has been a lot of excited talk and picture exchanging about the new ones….name discussions, buying offers, …
Freckles and Speckles?  Alice and Renesmee?
 
Whatever their resulting names…those adorable spotted faces are sure to bring smiles to many.
 
We will be keeping a close eye on their progress over the next few months. Another ‘donated back to exhibitor’ market lamb, Katniss, awaits to be bred this fall. 
 
 

Katniss

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Through the generosity of her buyer (who gave her back to Lena) Katniss came home from the Buckwheat Festival.  During the weeks of her quarantine we have discovered that
  • she is quite the escape artist (this involved an injured leg and trip to the vet),
  • she can wear a path along a fence line in no time flat
  • she has a very great need to be a member of a flock (well, don’t we all?)
On Saturday, we mucked out and cleaned out the barn preparing for winter and for fall shearing.  Early that morning, Katniss finally got to join the ewe lambs in the pasture.  She was so excited at first she wasn’t sure whether to eat or get to know all her new sisters.  By Sunday afternoon, she had fit right in.

It’s Buckwheat Time!

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Last week the carnival rolled in to Kingwood, and began to set up for our county fair, The Buckwheat Festival.  By now the rides are all set up, and the food trucks are warming up.  Things kick off this morning with the Market Goat Show.

The livestock barns are all spiffed up and ready for action.  Lena’s 4-H market lambs, Katniss and Primrose, made their way to the fair last night.  They’re all settled in and ready for the Market Lamb Show this afternoon.  Please be sure to with them luck! 
(We’re going to try to post updates on Sheeps and Peeps Twitter if you would like to follow along!)

It’s Buckwheat Time!

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Fall has arrived and that means that it’s time for our county fair, the Buckwheat Festival!  All over the county young and old are making preparations to enter their best – best hay, best pumpkin, best canned beans, best handiwork- competing for blue ribbons and Best of Show.  4-H and FFA club members are getting their animals ready for show and will take them to the fairground barns today.  Lena will take Bella and Edward, her 4-H market lambs, this evening.  She broke her wrist last week so this is sure to be an adventure; please wish her lots of luck.
The fairgrounds are being readied, and soon we will all delight in the colors, the sights, the sounds, the parades, the pageantry… delight in all that is our county fair… the Preston County Buckwheat Festival!

Creep Feeding

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For the first time we have installed a ‘creep feeder’ for the lambs.  It has an adjustable gate that allows only the lambs and the smallest of ewes into an area with oats and corn trough feeders.  They are free to…

go in…



and go out…

free to eat a bit of oats and corn without having to muscle their
way in between the mamas

In other news… Lena’s 4-H market lambs have arrived.  She is off at Camp Luther this week so we will try to get her to tell you about them when she gets back.