Queen Mum
N.E.R.D.
question: Why do you want to hold them? Pigs aren't the most "cuddly" animals. They do love scritches and scratchies. They are pigs for treats. But lap sitters? I've never known a pig who was a lap pig.
Bridgemoof--Sheep & Wool festival
- Thread starter Bridgemoof
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #232
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
Queen Mum, well I never held a piggy before, and I must admit it wasn't the most cuddly thing! I wouldn't mind them sitting on my lap to get their ears scratched. But you're right, they're not soft and cuddly, like shEEP! 
Queen Mum
N.E.R.D.
I love piggies. I used to raise them. But they are odd animals. Very endearing. However, I never found them to be cuddly. They kind of look like they should be cuddly. They are too, hyper and rubbery. The do love a good scratch and scritch and they are full of silliness and life and mischeif. Sort of like a dog without the fluffy thrown in.
CTChick
Exploring the pasture
The pigs are adorable! Funny though, with all the pets and animals I've kept pigs have never tempted me ... we are also battened down up here in Connecticut, spent the day working and preparing for storm Sandy (aka "Frankenstorm"). I am more worried about the Louisiana sinkhole - now THAT has all the makings of a nightmare!
Everyone stay safe! And I'll send lots of positive energy that you get to buy the farm!
Laura
Everyone stay safe! And I'll send lots of positive energy that you get to buy the farm!
Laura
- Thread starter
- #235
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
Well I have decided there are just not enough hours in a day! I've been working on so many projects that I haven't taken the time to write in my journal. Plus my space bar on my keyboard is just not working very well, due to the fact that the bengal tiger cat knocked my whole laptop off the kitchen table, so typing is a pain. And I have to get caught up on everybody else's blogs!
HURRICANE
We weathered the hurricane with moderate damage. We lost power for only a little more than a day. But the creek rose so much it wiped out two of our horse paddocks, and half the fencing along the stream. Everybody is crowded uphill until we repair fencing, and it is a muddy mess around here. There is still water just streaming down the hillside from underground springs. There is a new "beach" down at the stream from all the sand that washed up. That's kind of cool, but the goat's browsing area is gone for now. So things are more out of whack than usual, and everybody is getting cranky about the mud. This morning I am going to divide the grassy hillside into two areas with my electroweb fencing so I can put my Jacobs over there to share the grass with the Finn sheep. I decided to let my Jacobs go ahead and demolish what's left of my garden, too. I just have to take out a few plants that may be noxious, then let them have at it.
In case you missed this picture in the Sandy's Coming... thread, here's our creek and lower paddock. The creek usually runs behind this horse shed, which is to the right in the picture. See that little piece of fencing left behind the shed? The creek is usually BEHIND that! Oy.
DRUM CARDER
I went ahead and got my Strauch drum carder this week. All I can say is WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is fantastic and I am eating, sleeping and dreaming fluffy wool batts. I've been so busy just washing, dyeing, carding, I should have a lot of cool batts to put up for sale on my Etsy shop. It works really great, I am so impressed with it. And it's really, really FUN!!!!
FERRET SHOW
Tomorrow is Bon's ferret show and I need to spend some time today getting some things together for that. I'll be taking the felting supplies with so we can have a "Felted ferret" workshop. I hope we c an sell some of the guys I already made.
PIGGIES
The piggies are so funny. They are just oinking scurrying little imps. They have been coming into the kitchen though and pooping under the kitchen table, so that's not so good. They were just using the litter box, but now they've expanded their facilities, so they are on lock down in the mud room. The cat is not too keen either on sharing the litter box with them, so I will have to get another litter box for him. Tim is expecting ME to train them somehow so he can sell them for big bucks, but let me tell you I know NOTHING about training pet pigs, do YOU? lol So inthemeantime I am just juggling more animals to take care of, and to clean up after
So that's it for now, hope everyone has a great Friday and a great weekend!
HURRICANE
We weathered the hurricane with moderate damage. We lost power for only a little more than a day. But the creek rose so much it wiped out two of our horse paddocks, and half the fencing along the stream. Everybody is crowded uphill until we repair fencing, and it is a muddy mess around here. There is still water just streaming down the hillside from underground springs. There is a new "beach" down at the stream from all the sand that washed up. That's kind of cool, but the goat's browsing area is gone for now. So things are more out of whack than usual, and everybody is getting cranky about the mud. This morning I am going to divide the grassy hillside into two areas with my electroweb fencing so I can put my Jacobs over there to share the grass with the Finn sheep. I decided to let my Jacobs go ahead and demolish what's left of my garden, too. I just have to take out a few plants that may be noxious, then let them have at it.
In case you missed this picture in the Sandy's Coming... thread, here's our creek and lower paddock. The creek usually runs behind this horse shed, which is to the right in the picture. See that little piece of fencing left behind the shed? The creek is usually BEHIND that! Oy.
DRUM CARDER
I went ahead and got my Strauch drum carder this week. All I can say is WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is fantastic and I am eating, sleeping and dreaming fluffy wool batts. I've been so busy just washing, dyeing, carding, I should have a lot of cool batts to put up for sale on my Etsy shop. It works really great, I am so impressed with it. And it's really, really FUN!!!!FERRET SHOW
Tomorrow is Bon's ferret show and I need to spend some time today getting some things together for that. I'll be taking the felting supplies with so we can have a "Felted ferret" workshop. I hope we c an sell some of the guys I already made.
PIGGIES
The piggies are so funny. They are just oinking scurrying little imps. They have been coming into the kitchen though and pooping under the kitchen table, so that's not so good. They were just using the litter box, but now they've expanded their facilities, so they are on lock down in the mud room. The cat is not too keen either on sharing the litter box with them, so I will have to get another litter box for him. Tim is expecting ME to train them somehow so he can sell them for big bucks, but let me tell you I know NOTHING about training pet pigs, do YOU? lol So inthemeantime I am just juggling more animals to take care of, and to clean up after
So that's it for now, hope everyone has a great Friday and a great weekend!
Straw Hat Kikos
The Kiko Cowboy
Thanks for the update Bridge!! You sure sound busy and have fun at the show!!
Pigs in the house? haha I like pigs but I'd be dead before they came in the house. Even the little 'pet' ones. lol
Hope you have a great Fri too. So happy it's finally Fri. :bun
Pigs in the house? haha I like pigs but I'd be dead before they came in the house. Even the little 'pet' ones. lol
Hope you have a great Fri too. So happy it's finally Fri. :bun
Alice Acres
Ridin' The Range
Looks like you got just enough storm damage to make a lot more work 
But the drum and your ferret event sound like lots of fun! Good luck with those potty training in process piggies
But the drum and your ferret event sound like lots of fun! Good luck with those potty training in process piggies
- Thread starter
- #238
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
FERRET SHOW
Well back from the ferret show and it was a success! We sold 3 out of the 5 ferrets I made, plus I made a custom one for somebody there, so we made $100 just on the wooly ferrets! Yay! That's good news and the one I made today is the best one yet, so I will crank out a few new ones to replace the ones I sold on my etsy store. I also sold a wool batt that I had with me that I made with my drum carder.
I've got to get a few wool batts on my etsy store too.
Annie (right) and I at the ferret show with my wooly ferrets and felted pumpkins.
SHEEP
Other than that, I got the Jacobs moved yesterday but two of the girls already jumped the electro fence.
Not sure how that happened, but I believe they are already bred so if they are with Finneas 360 that's okay. He has show no interest in them nor any of the other Finns he is with. I guess he's just a sneaky breeder and hopefully they're all bred, but if so, I've missed all the action. Uriah, in the meantime, has been headbutting Lottie, and she's head butting him right back! I don't know if she's coming into heat for the first time or what is going on. But they don't seem to be hurting each other. But he's got those huge horns! Sheep Behavior 101.
Harriet, our Harlequin ewe, had a really bad eye problem yesterday so we brought her up to the barn. We have her on Doxycycline and some eye cream. Her eye was all weepy and closed up and her eyeball looked cloudy, yuckers. But today it's already looking a lot better!
PIGS
Well, the little piggies have been making quite the mess in the house. I guess they've decided the cat litter box is no good anymore, so they've been peeing and pooping under the kitchen table I put down another litter box under there and put their pine pellet things in it, but now they're peeing next to it. What a PIG STY I live in! But the good news is somebody came to look at the pigs today and hopefully we will sell them I don't really want to put them inthe barn because any hope for training them to be nice pets will go out the window. They are supposed to be PETS, not livestock, and I'm afraid if we put them out there they'll just get less house broken and we'll ahve less chance of getting rid of them. So I'll give it a few more days. 
Well back from the ferret show and it was a success! We sold 3 out of the 5 ferrets I made, plus I made a custom one for somebody there, so we made $100 just on the wooly ferrets! Yay! That's good news and the one I made today is the best one yet, so I will crank out a few new ones to replace the ones I sold on my etsy store. I also sold a wool batt that I had with me that I made with my drum carder.
I've got to get a few wool batts on my etsy store too.
Annie (right) and I at the ferret show with my wooly ferrets and felted pumpkins.
SHEEP
Other than that, I got the Jacobs moved yesterday but two of the girls already jumped the electro fence.
Not sure how that happened, but I believe they are already bred so if they are with Finneas 360 that's okay. He has show no interest in them nor any of the other Finns he is with. I guess he's just a sneaky breeder and hopefully they're all bred, but if so, I've missed all the action. Uriah, in the meantime, has been headbutting Lottie, and she's head butting him right back! I don't know if she's coming into heat for the first time or what is going on. But they don't seem to be hurting each other. But he's got those huge horns! Sheep Behavior 101. Harriet, our Harlequin ewe, had a really bad eye problem yesterday so we brought her up to the barn. We have her on Doxycycline and some eye cream. Her eye was all weepy and closed up and her eyeball looked cloudy, yuckers. But today it's already looking a lot better!
PIGS
Well, the little piggies have been making quite the mess in the house. I guess they've decided the cat litter box is no good anymore, so they've been peeing and pooping under the kitchen table
I put down another litter box under there and put their pine pellet things in it, but now they're peeing next to it. What a PIG STY I live in! But the good news is somebody came to look at the pigs today and hopefully we will sell them I don't really want to put them inthe barn because any hope for training them to be nice pets will go out the window. They are supposed to be PETS, not livestock, and I'm afraid if we put them out there they'll just get less house broken and we'll ahve less chance of getting rid of them. So I'll give it a few more days. 
Southern by choice
Herd Master
Your wooly ferrets are great.
So, I'm not ashamed to admit I don't know what a drum carder is, please educate me. Picture too please.
Glad you had a good day!
So, I'm not ashamed to admit I don't know what a drum carder is, please educate me. Picture too please.
Glad you had a good day!
- Thread starter
- #240
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
Oh kay Southern, let me eduficate you! This is something you will need to know when you get your sheep 
A drum carder takes raw, clean wool and turns it into fluffy wool "batts" that are about an inch thick and 7" wide x 16" long. You can use these batts to make felt or to start spinning yarn. It basically prepares the wool so you can use it for these things. Natural wool is kind of clumpy and sheep have "locks" that need to be pulled apart to be able to spin. You can use hand carders, which look just like dog slicker brushes but are bigger, or you can use a drum carder. You are basically "brushing" the wool so it is nice and neat and smooth.
So you feed it into the drum which has little pins and needles on it, and it smooths out the fibers.
Here is a picture of the drum carder I got:
http://www.strauchfiber.com/index.php
And here is an example of a batt of wool that had different colors blended together.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/104048636/wool-batt-orange-shetland-merino-baby?ref=&sref=
Ohhhh so pretty! So now I can take all of my different kinds of wool and different colors and put them through the drum carder and make these pretty batts for spinners.
Cool, isn't it?
A drum carder takes raw, clean wool and turns it into fluffy wool "batts" that are about an inch thick and 7" wide x 16" long. You can use these batts to make felt or to start spinning yarn. It basically prepares the wool so you can use it for these things. Natural wool is kind of clumpy and sheep have "locks" that need to be pulled apart to be able to spin. You can use hand carders, which look just like dog slicker brushes but are bigger, or you can use a drum carder. You are basically "brushing" the wool so it is nice and neat and smooth.
So you feed it into the drum which has little pins and needles on it, and it smooths out the fibers.
Here is a picture of the drum carder I got:
http://www.strauchfiber.com/index.php
And here is an example of a batt of wool that had different colors blended together.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/104048636/wool-batt-orange-shetland-merino-baby?ref=&sref=
Ohhhh so pretty! So now I can take all of my different kinds of wool and different colors and put them through the drum carder and make these pretty batts for spinners.
Cool, isn't it?
