Tag: lambs

Surprise

Sheeps & Peeps9 Comments
You may remember the big October snow.  All the interior fencing was down for weeks, as we waited for enough snow-melt to dig out.  It was inevitable that the rams would find the only two ewes that were not to be bred this year.  Really, who could resist the romance in this snowy October sunrise.
And so… while lambing will not begin in earnest for another couple of weeks, Hannah surprised us with beautiful twin rams yesterday afternoon.  When we went to feed yesterday morning, she was the only ewe at the top of the hill, so we suspected that it might be the big day.  Last evening she had her boys tucked snugly in the barn when we checked on her.  Hannah’s twins were large – 1301 weighed 11 lbs 7 ozs and 1302 weighed 10 lbs 6 ozs.  Mama and twins are doing well and snugly tucked into the first lambing jug… an early nudge into lambing season.

2013 Calendar Give-A-Way!

Sheeps & Peeps13 Comments

Are you still looking for a gift for that wanna-be-shepherd?  sheep enthusiast?  peep partisan?  lamb lover? feline fancier?  dog devotee?  May we suggest our 2013 Sheeps and Peeps Farm Calendar!  A 12 month, spiral bound, 8 1/2 X 11 inch wall calendar, printed on high-quality paper, it features scenes from a year at our fifth-generation family farm in wild and wonderful West Virginia. Each month has a photo or collage showing something that usually occurs on the farm during that time.

You can order it through our Etsy Shop or our Big Cartel Shop.

To celebrate the holiday season we are giving one away to a lucky blog reader. To enter the give-away simply comment on today’s post.. Comments will be closed on Sunday at 8 p.m. and the winner chosen by Random Number Generator. Good luck everyone!
Comments will be closed on Sunday at 8 p.m.
And the WINNER is – Isaiah Jenkins from Deer Path News!
Many thanks to all who commented!

Shearing Day

Sheeps & Peeps6 Comments

National Hug A Sheep Day was celebrated in grand style here at the farm.  Yesterday was shearing day and there was a whole lot of sheep hugging going on.  Forty-nine bags of beautiful lambs wool now just waiting for she who seeks wool and works willingly with her hands (to paraphrase Proverbs). 

As usual our shearers, Joe and Melvin, did an amazing job.  We are so grateful for their help and friendship… as we are, also, to our catchers, throwers, baggers and sweepers!

A cold, thick fog moved in last evening and hasn’t moved an inch. As you can see it really hasn’t fazed those naked lambs a bit. They were lying right out in it, chewing their cud as if it was a sunny, sixty-degree day.
Like everyone else in the Mid-Atlantic, we are preparing for the big storm headed our way.  Snow predictions range from 4 – 24 inches, wind gust predictions up to 60 mph – we’re battening down the hatches hoping for the best.

A Gold Star for Rosey Posey

Sheeps & Peeps1 Comment

Back on April 26th, our six-year-old ewe, Rosey Posey, gave birth to twins – a ram weighing 12 lbs 6 ozs and a ewe weighing 13 lbs 7 ozs.  Just think about it, that’s almost 26 lbs of lamb she was carrying.
Eighty-one days later, at weaning, her ram lamb weighed 78 lbs and her ewe lamb weighed 68 lbs.  Our girl, Rosey, raised 146 lbs of lambs with a very respectable .8 and .68 rate of gain per day.  This is pretty good for a longwool breed ewe, especially with twins.     

1219 and 1220 have grown into beautiful, very healthy, 5 1/2 month old lambs.  We haven’t weighed them since weaning because we haven’t needed to.  They have scored either a one or two on the FAMACHA scale everytime, so neither lamb has needed to be wormed all summer. 

So, Rosey Posey a gold star for you!  Thank you, girl, for a job very well done!

Remnants of Isaac

Sheeps & Peeps7 Comments

As if in answer to prayer, the remnants of Isaac arrived late Saturday afternoon and settled in with a steady rainfall that began to re-fill the cistern at the barn which had run dry.
Then just as the rain began to clear late Sunday afternoon, we were treated to the sight of two flocks in the graveyard field… our lamb flock and a large flock of wild turkeys.  The turkeys have spent a lot of time in the pastures this year.  It’s nice to see so many of the little ones have escaped the fox.   It is a joy to watch them, and we’re thinking that they might help with parasite load. 
We’re heading to the barn early today.  We’re scoring the lambs and then separating the ram lambs from the ewe lambs.  The ‘kids’ are growing up.

Turkey Trot

Sheeps & Peeps3 Comments

It appears to be quite impossible to get a great photo, but the wild turkey hens and poults are seemingly everywhere.  They spent several days in the pasture with the yearlings and Samson.  They hung out by the chicken coop with Belladonna.  They spend a lot of time in the old barn hayfield, crossing the barn lane to disappear into the woods. They recently amused the lambs by spending a great deal of time in their pasture, and the lambs amused themselves by following the line of wild turkeys.  Not a big surprise, really… we all know that our sheep love a parade!