norseofcourse's journal - spring and show update

[bonbean01]

Brosa should be not too long off before she lambs...and Norse...no such thing as making any of our critters too much of pets!!!

 

[norseofcourse]

Well, it's kinda boring, just posting (yet again) that Brosa still hasn't lambed, so, let's see what else is going on...

I've picked a little more asparagus, but I didn't pick rhubarb yet. With all the recent rain, the grass is growing fast, so I've been busy trying to keep up with mowing. I've made some headway clearing for the next fenceline, but there's still a fair bit more to do.

I'm hoping to start sending tomato seedlings to their new homes this week. I get a bunch of heirloom seeds, and I sell enough to pay for the seeds and supplies, so it works out nicely. Maybe someday I'll have the time to do it on a larger scale. This year I took pre-orders, so I won't have as many plants left over as I did last year.

The lambs have been 'escaping' into the pony's pasture (to the consternation of their moms), and Prince seemed to be doing ok with them (he has tended to chase the sheep...), so I let all the sheep into the pony's pasture this evening. I kept a close eye, and there weren't any major problems, so this may work out well. The sheep tend to eat a lot of stuff the ponies don't, and they also love it when I bend down saplings so they can eat the leaves (apple/crabapple is a particular favorite). And - I saw Elding eat some garlic mustard!! That would be great if he has a taste for it, it's so invasive and so far I haven't had any critter that eats it.

The Great Lakes Fiber Festival is coming up this weekend in Wooster, Ohio. It's not nearly as large as the Maryland show, but it's a decent size and a very nice show. And - crossing fingers - the weather looks good for it!

 

[jodief100]

You should come down to Pendleton County for the Wool Fest. I hope Elding clears out the nasty mustard. We have the same trouble with mint, nothing will eat it and it is so invasive.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I keep checking by looking for some baby pics.....

I have some mint that my youngster chickens seem to think is just the next best thing...DH is worried that it might not survive even though we have always thought it to be a "forever" sort of plant..... Got chickens??? I don't have mustard types of plants so I can't help you there, but our muscovy ducklings also seem to like all sorts of green things ....and so do geese....

 

[norseofcourse]

I keep waiting, hoping I can update this journal with news that Brosa has lambed, and new lamb pictures - but noooooooooooo, Brosa seems determined to make me wait as long as possible for her first lamb! I know she will have it when she is ready. At least (I tell myself) I am getting lots of practice in looking for signs that a sheep may be getting closer to lambing.

I've been letting the sheep into the horse's pastures most days, at least in the evenings during the week, and on the weekends in the mornings as well. They are loving it! They are much more browsers than grazers, and there is so much underbrush for them to clear out. The 'pastures' used to be hayfields, I was told, but that was many moons ago, and it's been turning back into woods ever since. I had it brushhogged when I moved here, but there were sections he couldn't get into because it was too thick. And that was 4 years ago, and while I've been able to keep some clear, a lot has grown back. The sheep are part of my plan to clear it out, and they are taking their job seriously!

I hear all kinds of hype about 'grass-fed' animals. Mine will eat grass, but they are much happier eating weeds, shrubs, vines, bushes - and TREES! They just go nuts eating tree leaves. So I don't have grass-fed lamb - I have tree-fed lamb! LOL

That is Little Boy, and the photo makes him look huge Often I will bend down small saplings, and the sheep crowd around and gobble all the leaves as fast as they can. Little Boy went straight to the source. Sometimes Little Boy will put his front feet up on another sheep's back, in order to reach some higher leaves. That worked - till he tried it on Elding (the ram). Elding, taking major offense, immediately rammed Little Boy so hard that they both backed off shaking their heads... and Little Boy had blood where Elding had knocked off one of his scurs (left from a difficult disbudding). He is ok now.

I went to the Great Lakes Fiber Festival in Wooster this weekend, had a lot of fun. Someone had a used drum carder for only $100, but it was sold by the time I saw it (probably sold fast...). It was fun to look at and feel the fibers from all different breeds of sheep and other animals, but I had to keep reminding myself that I already have plenty of fiber to spin, including the roving from my own shearing last fall. Someday when I have more time (does that ever happen?), I'd like to try a few other fiber types. I did get a t-shirt that has sheep on it.
And so, we begin yet another week of Waiting For Brosa To Lamb.....

 

[norseofcourse]

(Note: I started this yesterday, but we had some storms and my power went out so I shut the computer down - *thank you* so much BYH for the automatic save on partially written posts!!)

Tuesday, May 27:
WOOHOO!!!!!

I left work early today because the vet was coming to do shots and check teeth on the ponies. He'd just started on the little mare, when I heard a sheep making a hollering sound I'd never heard one make before. I couldn't see Brosa from where I was, so I asked the vet if he minded if I checked, and went to see what was going on. Sure enough, Brosa was in labor! Bless his heart, the vet understood that I wanted to stay with her, and he and his assistant finished up what they needed to do without me. He came and watched Brosa for awhile, and agreed with me that it was a normal presentation (I saw two hooves and a nose), and things were progressing slowly, but well enough that she should be fine. He had to leave, and Brosa delivered her lamb not long afterwards.

It's a ram lamb, and it'll be moorit (brown) and white, even though the moorit looks black right now (I could actually see the brownish tint when he was in direct sunlight). She just had a single, so she'll be my best prospect to milk! He was up fairly fast, but it seemed like it took him forever to figure out how (and where) to nurse, but he finally latched on and I heard those wonderful slurping noises

I had let all the other sheep into the horses pasture when I saw Brosa was in labor, so they had the sheep pasture all to themselves for awhile. Then the skies darkened early, as a storm approached. I set up a pen in the run-in shed for Brosa and her lamb, and let all the others in for pellets and corn. I put the lamb in the pen so Brosa would go in, and then the storm hit! So I was stuck in the barn for awhile, with lots of thunder and lightning and rain.

So here he is, number six (I am NOT naming them this time!):

 

[norseofcourse]

Brosa is being a very good mother. I kept her in a separate pen all last night and today, and this evening I let the others out in the horse's pasture to graze, and let Brosa and her lamb into the sheep's pasture, so they had it to themselves for a couple of hours. Then I let everyone back in the sheep's pasture. The ones most curious about the new lamb were the other lambs, and Brosa didn't like them getting too close to her baby. She butted them away, and held them to about a fifteen foot distance for awhile I stayed for awhile, and she seemed to settle a little, as long as they weren't trying to play with (butt) her little one.

Brosa is still fine with me - I can still handle her all over, and handle her udder. I'll wait a week or two and then begin milking her - I'm so excited about making cheese with sheep's milk!

Brosa's mom is polled, but her sire had horns. I bred her to a polled ram. It looks like Brosa's ram lamb will have some horns - I thought I felt little horn buds yesterday, and I'm sure of it today. I won't be keeping him, so I'm not going to get him disbudded - after how hard it was for Little Boy, I don't want to put another one through that. Hornedness in Icelandics appears to be somewhat sex linked, so if she ever has a ewe lamb, it may be more likely to be polled.

 

[luvmypets]

Finally tht little cutie is worth wait!

 

[promiseacres]

very nice little ram lamb!

 

[Parsnip]

CONGRATS ON THE LAMB