SA Farm's journal

[B&B Happy goats]

He sure is a adorable looking baby, just makes me smell baby powder and want to hug him, so cuddly looking and happy

 

[SA Farm]

Haha, as he grows, just add another row!

That’s exactly my plan! I ended the hat with a very loose knot so I should be able to undo it and keep going easily.

@B&B Happy goats DH says baby is squishy like one of those stress balls and keeps (jokingly, of course) threatening to pick him up by his belly chub

Is it bad that I’ve caught spin fever and now, when I look at my sheep, all I see is yarn? This is not a pic of four sheep. It’s a pic of future yarn lol

DH says he likes the white ones best because I’ll be able to dye the fleeces for more colour options. I told him I like brown so I won’t have to dye it. I don’t want white fleeces just to dye them.
I’ll probably end up dyeing them
I really like the brown for sure and I want to ply some white and brown together, too. I think that’ll look really nice.

This was yesterday. It snowed like that all day long, but today is sunny and lovely. Supposed to do a pretty deep freeze this weekend though.

I really wish we’d gotten more stuff done before the snow and cold really kicked in, but DH’s been having some sleep issues (insomnia mostly) and hasn’t been up or energetic enough during daylight to go out and help me build/repair things lately. Baby and I go out and do chores every morning while DH sleeps, then I go out and do evening chores while DH has baby.
It works, but I should never have found out about the kidney stones so DH would be forced to keep doing the heavy lifting for me. Now I’m back to doing it ALL
That’ll teach me to feel better

DH has agreed to let me get a marking harness and a couple crayons for this fall so I won’t have to play “guess the due date” with my sheep anymore. I told him it was bad enough last year with just one ewe bred. I don’t want to have to play guessing games with three of them next spring!
I know three ewes is nothing for those of you with dozens of sheep, but this is the most I’ve ever had. Even with the goats the most I ever had was seven - including kids.
I hope I end up with eight sheep for this summer. I really hope Dingo did his job and Foxy and Woolfie have a set of twins each I don’t care about genders, but I think I’d actually prefer boys for the freezer. Don’t need to expand my herd...yet... but we all know if there are girls the temptation may be too much for me not to keep one - especially if there’s a pretty (not pure white) one
Bad enough DH ordered about 35 chicks/ducklings for March/April I got out of ducks for a reason, dude! Messy, loud, lovable little fluff balls that they are He just wants a few for eggs (supposedly). He really liked the duck eggs we had previously, so we (he) ordered a few female Khaki Campbell ducklings. And a few Cayuga...just because “we haven’t had them before”
Somehow, I’m the reason we always have too many animals though lol
I plan to cut that number down significantly by fall. I am not keeping 6 ducks. That’s waaay too many eggs a day for us. I also don’t need that many more chickens. I actually really like our numbers right now. Four Cochins, Five for the Am group, and currently Five turkeys - two pairs and one extra boy to sell or send to freezer camp this spring.
I do intend to expand our turkey numbers, but not significantly. I just want a few more girls around. The turkeys and sheep (shockingly lol) are my favourite. As long as DH does all the building and fencing he’s promised me, it’ll be fine. I could see keeping 3 of the ducks and a few more hens for the Am group, but that’s it...Maybe

 

[Baymule]

What breed of sheep do you have?

haha you have a bunch of chicks coming. I wanted chicks and turkey poults for spring, but decided against it. I'll keep my 9 red sex links hens for now. I really, really want some Jubilee Orpingtons, but not now.

 

[SA Farm]

What breed of sheep do you have?

haha you have a bunch of chicks coming. I wanted chicks and turkey poults for spring, but decided against it. I'll keep my 9 red sex links hens for now. I really, really want some Jubilee Orpingtons, but not now.

Dingo (White ram) is 3/4 East Friesian 1/4 Charollais
Woolfie (white w/ dark face/legs) is a big ? With maybe Texel in her
Foxy (brown/grey/black w/ white poll) is Romanov cross percentage and what she’s crossed with unknown
Kit (brown w/ white poll) is 1/2 Jacob 1/2 Foxy lol

 

[Baymule]

That is an interesting mix. LOL With the ram being high percentage East Friesian, do you plan on keeping ewe lambs with possibility of milking them?

 

[SA Farm]

That is an interesting mix. LOL With the ram being high percentage East Friesian, do you plan on keeping ewe lambs with possibility of milking them?

A very interesting mix indeed , but a good beginner/starter flock, I think.
I am definitely interested in milking and any ewe lambs kept from Dingo will be trained to the stand. From what I understand, Romanovs and Jacobs can be good producers, but I figured adding some East Friesian could be beneficial anyway.
I totally would’ve tried milking Foxy last year if I hadn’t been so pregnant! Might’ve tried it anyway if DH had built me a stand . I had no problem training and milking my Nigerian Dwarf back in the day, so I should be able to swing it without too much trouble. I don’t expect to have a lot of milk or have it year-round or anything, but it would be nice to have some a few months a year...maybe try my hand at making cheese or something

 

[Bruce]

I may add to it later, but it does fit him well enough now.

Is it bad that I’ve caught spin fever and now, when I look at my sheep, all I see is yarn? This is not a pic of four sheep. It’s a pic of future yarn lol

Not at all! The animals are one or all of:

• breeders to make more
• wool
• meat

I have the same issue snowshoeing through the woods the last few days - That would be some good firewood, so would that one, and that one. No "smelling the roses". The biggest problem is I have no way to get to the trees to pull them out.

 

[Baymule]

A very interesting mix indeed , but a good beginner/starter flock, I think.
I am definitely interested in milking and any ewe lambs kept from Dingo will be trained to the stand. From what I understand, Romanovs and Jacobs can be good producers, but I figured adding some East Friesian could be beneficial anyway.
I totally would’ve tried milking Foxy last year if I hadn’t been so pregnant! Might’ve tried it anyway if DH had built me a stand . I had no problem training and milking my Nigerian Dwarf back in the day, so I should be able to swing it without too much trouble. I don’t expect to have a lot of milk or have it year-round or anything, but it would be nice to have some a few months a year...maybe try my hand at making cheese or something

I bought a goat type milking stand, with the idea of having my sheep at a comfortable level for me to trim feet, etc. Somebody forgot to tell them NOT to step off the edge! I've tried different things, but so far, nothing is fool proof. I've come to the conclusion that I need solid sides, taking off the side that I am working on. I would much rather have a tilt table, but those cost $$$ and I got my milk stand with ramp off craigslist for $200. It came with the sheep stanchion head, and I ordered the goat head that has the feeding trough on it. I have to block the front too, the wilder ones run off the end. The greedier ones eat while I trim feet. LOL

Here is a link to my sheep working equipment and the goat stand. On page 4, I scissor cut the matts off a few of my hair sheep that don't shed well. Look at Moon Pie's matt. I tossed it over a horse panel, where it still is 1 1/2 years later. LOL LOL It looks like a raccoon pelt, a dirty raccoon pelt, I leave it up for a conversation piece. Hahaha

SCORE! Sheep Handling Equipment

WHOO-HOO!!!! :weee:weee:weee:weee I'm just a little excited. I found a Craigs List ad for sheep handling equipment. Two guillotine gates, a stop gate and a 2-way sorting gate for $650 from Premier1. I immediately looked up the pieces, new they totaled $955. This couple had used hog panels to...

www.backyardherds.com

 

[SA Farm]

I scanned through just for the pictures to start with, I’ll have to read it more in depth later That really was quite the rug! Lol
All my sheep have dreadlocks hanging off them already. I have kind of wondered if Foxy has some hair breed in her with how she sheds out...because she sheds out a bit on her own.
(Ignore the crap pile behind her - it’s an old garden fence that we need to rip out)

I’ve built a stand before out of scraps that we had lying around, but when we moved to Alberta I gave it to my sister to use for her goats and she got rid of it (and the goats) before we got back. It did need a little fine tuning, but would’ve worked. Oh well.
I was thinking I’d put sides with hinges that can drop down, an adjustable stanchion (because size and wool differences lol), and a good sized feed container for hay and grain while I’m messing with them. I did quite a bit of shearing with scissors on Foxy last spring with just her free-standing in the barn and she was great - seemed to really enjoy it like a massage lol. But the other three may be a challenge and it was hard on my back and knees to be at odd angles and bending/squatting all the time. I could probably do it, but it would take forever and I certainly wouldn’t be able to milk or trim hooves that way. DH holding them while I work on them does the job, but I’d like to be able to do things on my timetable rather than his.
Besides, now that we have a baby, it’s harder for us both to be that busy at the same time

I think I’ll have enough scrap material lying around once we’re finished insulating and putting a new floor in my brooder shed that I won’t need to buy much. Probably just the hardware. I am a terrible and time-consuming builder and nothing I make ever looks good, but it’s usually functional

 

[thistlebloom]

Functional is the most important part anyway.