Southern by choice
Herd Master
Spidey sense! 
Bridgemoof--Sheep & Wool festival
- Thread starter Bridgemoof
- Start date
bonbean01
Herd Master
I wish I had spidey sense...would save me lots of freezing rainy trips out there to check on my ladies in waiting.
Hope your lambing season goes super well Bridge!!! We've had only single lambs up until last January when we got our first set of twins...hoping for more twins this year...all girls
Hope your lambing season goes super well Bridge!!! We've had only single lambs up until last January when we got our first set of twins...hoping for more twins this year...all girls
- Thread starter
- #533
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
Well it's time for an update! I can finally sit down and take a breather and update my blog. Happy New Year everyone!
GOATS
Well, the baby goats and their mommas are doing okay, except for the one baby goat who has the eye thing going on. We are bringing it over to the vet this afternoon so he can assess the situation. Don't know if it's the turned eyelid thing or not, but I have complete confidence that our vet will be able to take care of it. We let them all out of their stalls yesterday and the babies were so cute jumping around. #26 and #29 have not kidded yet, and to be honest I'm not even sure if #29 is pregnant at this point. She doesn't look like she is bagging up. #26 is the wide girth one and when she blows, well, whew!
Remember the goats that were in the trailer? Well yesterday we brought the three of them down to the field with Kiko Joe and the others. There are 2 pygmy alpine type does and a boer whether who is so cute and chunky! Well, Kiko Joe has really been watching out for those little ones. I'm sooo proud of Joe! When the rest of the goats ran off and left the newbs to go far off to the hay bale, Kiko Joe came back and made sure the little ones went with, too. How cool is that? They seem like they are getting along fine and I'm so glad Joe is watching out for them.
SHEEP
Yesterday a lady came over that had a single ewe she was looking to rehome. It is an 8-year old Jacob/Merino cross and it lived with a guard llama. But the llama passed away unexpectedly so the sheep was alone and at risk from a coyote attack. The lady was worried sick about her sheep. She got my name from the sheep producer's association as to someone who could possibly take her sheep. So she came over with her husband to see if this would make a suitable "forever" home for her ewe. I just told her that she could look over my sheep and farm and if it suited her fine, I would take the sheep, if it didn't, well, I would understand. So when they were here I was pointing out the shaggy wool thing and told her I was investigating the problem. She suggested it could be lice or keds, and told me how to look for them. We took Shoshi, the brown Finn sheep who was the worst looking sheep, and we parted her wool and discovered she had some kind of infestation. So Tim brought home some pesticide thing that you apply on their skin. I did all the Finns and Lala and Patches, my cormo. I didn't see any keds on Lala or Patches, but I applied it to all the sheep just in case. Cormo's have very fine fleeces, and if they rub up against wire fences and stuff, they tend to snag their wool. Well, I just hope we can lick the problem, and I suspect Soshi was the one who brought it to our farm. She's looked bad since we got her.
In the meantime, out in the back pasture, Harriet the harlequin looks a little "off." According to my observations, she's due to lamb the end of January. She doesn't look very big, or even like she's pregnant at this point. But she didn't come to the feed trough this morning, then she was laying behind a tree away from the others. Ruh roh. I am worried to death that she might abort her lamb like Po did back in September. In that case, I believe I will have a real epidemic on my hands and could lose all the lambs. I think there is some kind of vaccine I could give the ewes in case of such an epidemic, but not sure. So I will be checking on her constantly throughout the day.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Tim finally made a fenceline feeding trough for my big sheep that I got to try out this morning for the first time! His brother had started one but didn't finish the job. I also realized it was too high for most of the sheep. So last night Tim built me a really long fenceline feeder that worked great! I'm very happy about that. Especially since I want to feed more grain to the ewes who are pregnant now.
The next thing on the infrastructure agenda is building a shelter down by the pond for the Jacob sheep. I need to get them out of the barnyard before lambing starts. But the poor sheep we sheared are still cold! I want them to have some kind of shelter.
CREATIVE
I am still overwhelmed by the loom. It is very hard to understand the whole concept, never having seen it done. So my New year's resolution for this year will be to weave a table runner. ONE thing, that's all! If I can get that accomplished, I will be doing alright! Also been working on a felted cupid prototype. It's taking me too long so I don't suspect I will be making many of them. Just trying to think of things I can make for the next holiday to sell on my etsy store.
Well, that's the report for now! I'm going to go check on Harriet and see what she's up to.
GOATS
Well, the baby goats and their mommas are doing okay, except for the one baby goat who has the eye thing going on. We are bringing it over to the vet this afternoon so he can assess the situation. Don't know if it's the turned eyelid thing or not, but I have complete confidence that our vet will be able to take care of it. We let them all out of their stalls yesterday and the babies were so cute jumping around. #26 and #29 have not kidded yet, and to be honest I'm not even sure if #29 is pregnant at this point. She doesn't look like she is bagging up. #26 is the wide girth one and when she blows, well, whew!
Remember the goats that were in the trailer? Well yesterday we brought the three of them down to the field with Kiko Joe and the others. There are 2 pygmy alpine type does and a boer whether who is so cute and chunky! Well, Kiko Joe has really been watching out for those little ones. I'm sooo proud of Joe! When the rest of the goats ran off and left the newbs to go far off to the hay bale, Kiko Joe came back and made sure the little ones went with, too. How cool is that? They seem like they are getting along fine and I'm so glad Joe is watching out for them.
SHEEP
Yesterday a lady came over that had a single ewe she was looking to rehome. It is an 8-year old Jacob/Merino cross and it lived with a guard llama. But the llama passed away unexpectedly so the sheep was alone and at risk from a coyote attack. The lady was worried sick about her sheep. She got my name from the sheep producer's association as to someone who could possibly take her sheep. So she came over with her husband to see if this would make a suitable "forever" home for her ewe. I just told her that she could look over my sheep and farm and if it suited her fine, I would take the sheep, if it didn't, well, I would understand. So when they were here I was pointing out the shaggy wool thing and told her I was investigating the problem. She suggested it could be lice or keds, and told me how to look for them. We took Shoshi, the brown Finn sheep who was the worst looking sheep, and we parted her wool and discovered she had some kind of infestation. So Tim brought home some pesticide thing that you apply on their skin. I did all the Finns and Lala and Patches, my cormo. I didn't see any keds on Lala or Patches, but I applied it to all the sheep just in case. Cormo's have very fine fleeces, and if they rub up against wire fences and stuff, they tend to snag their wool. Well, I just hope we can lick the problem, and I suspect Soshi was the one who brought it to our farm. She's looked bad since we got her.
In the meantime, out in the back pasture, Harriet the harlequin looks a little "off." According to my observations, she's due to lamb the end of January. She doesn't look very big, or even like she's pregnant at this point. But she didn't come to the feed trough this morning, then she was laying behind a tree away from the others. Ruh roh. I am worried to death that she might abort her lamb like Po did back in September. In that case, I believe I will have a real epidemic on my hands and could lose all the lambs. I think there is some kind of vaccine I could give the ewes in case of such an epidemic, but not sure. So I will be checking on her constantly throughout the day.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Tim finally made a fenceline feeding trough for my big sheep that I got to try out this morning for the first time! His brother had started one but didn't finish the job. I also realized it was too high for most of the sheep. So last night Tim built me a really long fenceline feeder that worked great! I'm very happy about that. Especially since I want to feed more grain to the ewes who are pregnant now.
The next thing on the infrastructure agenda is building a shelter down by the pond for the Jacob sheep. I need to get them out of the barnyard before lambing starts. But the poor sheep we sheared are still cold! I want them to have some kind of shelter.
CREATIVE
I am still overwhelmed by the loom. It is very hard to understand the whole concept, never having seen it done. So my New year's resolution for this year will be to weave a table runner. ONE thing, that's all! If I can get that accomplished, I will be doing alright! Also been working on a felted cupid prototype. It's taking me too long so I don't suspect I will be making many of them. Just trying to think of things I can make for the next holiday to sell on my etsy store.
Well, that's the report for now! I'm going to go check on Harriet and see what she's up to.
Four Winds Ranch
Loving the herd life
Good luck with baby with the eye problem!!!!
Lol, all your talk about does kidding, and pregnant ewes, mades me wish for lambing time at my house, which dosen't start untill the end of March! I love all the babies, but am not looking forward to the sleepless nights!
So, did the lady with the Jacob/Merino ewe decide you had a good enough forever home for the ewe?!!!!
Lol, all your talk about does kidding, and pregnant ewes, mades me wish for lambing time at my house, which dosen't start untill the end of March! I love all the babies, but am not looking forward to the sleepless nights!
So, did the lady with the Jacob/Merino ewe decide you had a good enough forever home for the ewe?!!!!
- Thread starter
- #535
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
No I think the lice thing was a deal breaker. She said other than that, she probably would send her here. 
She liked the farm, although she agreed it was way too small for all our animals! But she said her gal would have lots of friends here. That's an understatement.
She liked the farm, although she agreed it was way too small for all our animals! But she said her gal would have lots of friends here. That's an understatement. - Thread starter
- #536
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
I AM WEAVING!!!!! It took me 2 whole days to figure out how to get the blasted yarn onto the loom. But I just wove 1 inch of my table runner!
Talk to you in a month, it will take me that long!
Talk to you in a month, it will take me that long!
Pearce Pastures
Barn Babe
That is really cool! Let's see it!!
bonbean01
Herd Master
Way to go Bridge...won't be long and you'll be an expert in that too And yes...we need progress photos!!!
And yes...we need progress photos!!!- Thread starter
- #540
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
So this is the loom. I knew nothing about weaving a few days ago. Now I am doing it! It's not perfect, but I will get there. So first you have to load a bunch of yarn through the holes in the center thing, that's called the heddle. That was a very difficult process that I have nowhere perfected yet! The long yarns are called the "warp." Then when you weave across those long yarns it's called the "weft."
I used the Christmas wrapping paper to roll the tied ends of the yarn around the beam to keep them tight and neat.
As you can see my tension is pretty screwed up. But I'll get better!
Today is my spinner's guild meeting and they will be talking about drum carders and hand carding. That will be so fun to see what kind of things they will be putting through the drum carder! I can't wait to weave some of my hand spun yarn with my loom! Oh so much fun!
I'm having my own little fiber fest!
I used the Christmas wrapping paper to roll the tied ends of the yarn around the beam to keep them tight and neat.
As you can see my tension is pretty screwed up. But I'll get better!
Today is my spinner's guild meeting and they will be talking about drum carders and hand carding. That will be so fun to see what kind of things they will be putting through the drum carder! I can't wait to weave some of my hand spun yarn with my loom! Oh so much fun!
I'm having my own little fiber fest!
