The Flock

Friday was the day that I went to select my new flock of fiber girls. I got up early and drove to Under the Son Farm where Theresa helped me pick out a nice little group of girls. I've been buying wonderful shetland fleeces from her for several years so when I decided it was time for sheep I knew right where to go. She was extremely helpful, pointing out the positive and negatives of every girl. Finally I decided on a flock of 6 ewes who loaded into the trailer and came home with me. First and the oldest is Clara, a 5 year old fawn/mioget ewe. Then there is Yunan who is a yearling fawn katmoget ewe. Then there are 3 shetland ewe lambs a black (Calico), a shaela (Orchids) and a grey katmoget (Brocade). The sixth is a bfl/shetland white ewe lamb. I'm also getting a pure cormo white whether later this fall from my friend Jane. That should give me a wide aray of colors and some very soft silky fleeces to blend with my angora bunny. I'm really enjoying my small flock, Clara is very tame and all the lambs follow her around. That sure comes in handy when I want to bring the flock into the fold in the barn at night. Last night I went out and yelled for Clara and the whole group came a running. Stay tuned as I continue my adventure into shepherding

Changes

Life moves on, after a lot of thought I have found new homes for both of my arab horses. I've had them for many years and raised them on the farm, but as much as I loved them it was getting more apparent that I would not be riding them. My arm has continued to give me trouble since my fall 6 years ago (hard to believe it has been that long). It gives me pain and numbness if something yanks on it and as good as they both were we would have that situation every once in a while with a critter that is a flight animal and weighs 1,000 lbs. I am happy with my decision and they have both went to very good homes where they will be ridden and have excellent care.
The next question was what to do with the grass that grows on my 5 acres. Since I've been in the fiber business for 6 years now the obvious choice was a small spinner's flock of sheep. Hopefully that dream will start to materialize next month. I've got a little bit of fencing to do and then a bit of barn work, but not too much. I'll update the blog with pictures as things happen.

Keeping Warm

Some folks at work were wondering how I keep the bunnies warm in winter when their warm wool coats are sheared. They have to be shorn every 90 days or the coat gets too long for use and it also causes the rabbit to have issues. So I still follow the schedule and shear them, but then they get to live in a heated room in the barn for a while. I spent a lot of time this fall and the room stays toasty warm thanks to a small oil filled heater and 2 inch foam insulation on the walls and ceiling. They also get to wear their little fleece coats.

Satin Angoras For Sale

I've made my selections from this spring's litters. I have the following for sale at this time.

AE Sugar - 1 1/2 year old Choc Agouti Satin Doe 3/10/09 had a litter this spring and I'm keeping her daughter so she is for sale. She has 2 legs. $60

These juniors are all 87% Satin and 13% German, the next gerneration the German will be off the pedigree. These rabbits all have very nice wool. They are priced at $40 and I'll give a discount if you purchase more than one.

Litter 1 AE Hershey / May's Eclipse 5/8/10
SWF Galaxy - Tort buck
SWF Cosmos - Black doe

Litter 2 May's Diana / AE Mac 5/13/10
SWF Macgregor - Copper buck
SWF Macanna - Choc Agouti doe
SWF Macduff - Black buck

I also have 1 German 40%/French 60% cross tort buck for sale, born 3/17/10 $25 he is a bit small, would make an excellent wooler, priced accordingly.

And The Bunny Bunch

There are currently 4 new litters of varying ages and 4 more on the way due over the next month. That will be it for the spring breedings. First is a litter of 2 satins out of AE Sugar and AE Mac. One choc agouti doe and one copper. I'm going to name them after their daddy, Mackenzie and Mackayla. These 2 will be retained for my fall show string. I love the intense color of the satins. Next is the older litter of SWF Partly Cloudy's out of Somehill's Valhalla. Partly Cloudy is 83% german and Valhalla is a grand champion french. She has 8 babies and all but 2 are bucks. I'll be keeping the 2 fawns to see how they mature, the rest are available as spinner bunnies,colors available, tort, agouti and black. I have one new pure german litter in the nest out of Wiley's Hufflepuff and SWF Everest. There are 5 kits and all rew and all will be retained. The last litter is out of SWF Lily also from SWF Everest, Lily is a tort doe who is a bit older, she is a german cross who has the texture I'm after. This litter has 2 rew and 1 black, at least one will be retained for the fawn project, they are 75% german. Litters due over the next month are 2 pure satin litters one of which should be 100% self colors, the other one is another Mac litter. Also due is a red/fawn french litter and a pure german colored litter, hoping to get another pure german agouti from this breeding and some big blacks.

New Kids on the Farm

I thought I'd post all the pics of the spring babies here on the farm. First up are the new kids. 2 Toggenberg doelings are now 2 weeks old. One had a bit of a rough start, seems mom's womb wasn't big enough so her legs were a bit weak. A trip to the vet and lots of exercise has put her on her feet. I cannot tell now that there was anything wrong. They are growing like little weeds. They are both for sale and should make someone excellent milk does. They had their horn buds burned last week so they won't be horned goats. I would love to find some 4Hers who need projects.

Cute Pic

I decided to update the blog and show a photo of the fawn doe from the fall litter. She is a german/english/french cross rabbit, in other words a mutt, but I love the color and the texture of her wool. Her mother and her aunt are my favorite spinning bunnies. I noticed that when I snapped this photo she had her tongue out, don't see that very often when taking bunny pics.