Hermione

Saturday found Hermione seeking a spot to rest and stretch out a little in between eating massive amounts of hay.  Sunday morning she spent a lot of time coming in and out of the barn, checking on Hannah and her twin rams.  Her lambs had dropped so we checked on her several times during the day, hoping that she would have them in the barn so that it wouldn’t be too difficult to get them in a lambing jug. 
In the end, she chose to have them out in the field, where it was warm but cloudy and a little windy.  Only a second-time mama, we managed to get Hermione and her twins into the barn with only a little crazy running and not so gentle head butting of the shepherdess.  We had the lambing jug all set up with a big feeder full of second-cutting hay and a bucket of molasses water. 
The first born, a ram, weighed 10 lbs 5 ozs, and the second, a little ewe, weighed 6 lbs 14 ozs.  We were a little worried about the ewe at first and made sure that her brother didn’t hog all the colostrum.  She was up and going strong last night when we went back to the barn to check on them.
Hermione was the other ewe that was caught during the October Snowicane.  We now have about 10 – 14 days until lambing begins in earnest.

Spring Shearing

Saturday brought beautiful spring weather for shearing.  Everyone waited patiently for their turn with the shearer.

We are so grateful to all of our helpers.  Joe and Melvin were fabulous as always. 

And, of course, as usually happens in March, one beautiful day was followed by a blustery snowstorm moving in Sunday afternoon.  It didn’t have much affect on the crowd at the feeders.

Poseidon’s Millspun

Here’s our big guy, Poseidon, waiting to be sheared last spring.  Look at those beautiful, long, curly locks of wool – seven inches long, folks!

Once we got it on the skirting table… all 12 lbs 3 ozs of it… we realized that we have always sold this beautiful wool as a raw fleece.  After skirting 10 lbs 11 ozs remained, and we decided to send it off to Stonehedge Fiber Mill to be processed. 

And here it is!  A beautiful silvery grey with wonderful depth of natural color.  We’re still in the process of washing the 21 skeins, but we are so excited that we did get one listed in our Etsy shop.

We have one other skein ready to go.  And we’ve decided to give it to one of our lucky blog readers!  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!  Comments are closed, the winner will be announced shortly.
Comment #14 was chosen by the Random Number Generator.  Congratulations to Mountain Girl!

Aragorn’s Companions

And finally, today brings us back to the barnyard and to Aragorn, our four-year-old Border Leicester ram.  He has great bloodlines and throws a wonderful lamb with a long top and beautiful wool.  Almost 75% of his offspring were twins last spring.
Four breeding groups this fall… excitement is in the air… and only about 147 days to go before the first lamb hits the ground this spring.   

Aragorn’s companions:
604    Sweet Pea   Lincoln-Coopworth-Wensleydale
612    Princess   Border Leicester-Coopworth-Wensleydale
616    Rosey   Border Leicester-Coopworth-Wensleydale
716    Harmonia   Coopworth-Border Leicester-Wensleydale
720    Cassidy   Coopworth-Border Leicester-Cotswald-Wensleydale
801    Patience   Border Leicester-Coopworth-Wensleydale
817    Dierdre   Coopworth-Border Leicester-Blue-faced Leicester-Wensleydale
906    Lucy   Romney-Coopworth-Wensleydale
914    Bertha   Coopworth-Border Leicester-Cotswald-Wensleydale
919    Serenity   Border Leicester
1002  Maibh   Border Leicester-Coopworth-Wensleydale
1134  Branna   Coopworth-Blue-faced Leicester-Border Leicester-Cotswald

Introducing Strider

We are very pleased to introduce you to Strider, the ram lamb formerly known as Mister 1225.  He is out of Serenity and Aragorn; a pure Border Leicester.  He has been wormed only once, at weaning, and has an exceptional health record.  He is a twin, and both he and his sister have an excellent growth rate. We have him in with four ewes, and we may sell him next summer as a proven ram. 

The lovely ladies in Strider’s group are
41    Hera    Coopworth-Border Leicester
821  Siar     Border Leicester-Cotswald-Coopworth-Wensleydale
910  Julie    Coopworth-Border Leicester-Blue-faced Leicester
930  Havva  Coopworth-Border Leicester-Blue-faced Leicester-Wensleydale

It’s a Give-Away!




Calico Hogget 2-Ply Millspun

Spring Maple Longwool 2-Ply Millspun

If you could not attend our Open House on Sunday, here’s your chance to get your hands on some of our millspun yarn.  We decided to give away a skein of our hand-dyed!  They are all 100% wool from our wonderful flock, sent away to a woolen mill to be spun.  You can read more about the yarn by following the link below each photo.  To enter the give-away simply comment on today’s post, and let us know which one is your favorite.  Comments will be closed on Sunday at 8 a.m. and the winner chosen by Random Number Generator.  Good Luck!

Comments are closed.  Thanks to all who commented.  A winner will be chosen shortly.

And the winner is…. #9 wee whimsicals!  Many thanks to those who commented.

Check back we will have another give-away soon.