Friend or Foe

My sheep are treating me a bit like an enemy or at least are viewing me that way lately. The cause is I have upgraded to a new chore jacket, duck black vs. the duck brown and torn version. Now when I enter their yard I get the flight response. I am wearing the same winter hat, pants, etc. but find it very interesting that they don't recognize me immediately. They will settle but are uneasy. I speak to them but usually by then someone is already in alarmist mode and it does no good. Is it the color that makes the difference I am wondering? They should come to know me again by lambing and yes they will find out they are still alive and unharmed, and I hope they feel really silly about it. Actually, I am pleased they respond to something new in a survival mode as it is their instinct afterall but seems a bit over-reactive.

Peace & Merry Wishes

Winter is a peaceful time of year. It is now officially here. A few of my peace symbols have volunteered to help with the visual part of my greeting. May the gentle spirit fill your hearts this season. Merry Christmas!

Checking In and Giving Thanks!

Hi all,
Thought I'd check in and let everyone know what I've been up to-- keeping me away from updating my blog. My summer was spent with a couple of projects. Adding patio block walkways from the existing patio, then getting in a partial privacy fence, and some landscaping. I had assistance with a friend and it ended up much nicer with his help (he also put in a underground drainage pipe) which was a problem in the past. I ended up pulling out my initial attempt and redoing it! Good thing my back was feeling good at that time!

Then I acquired a new position as appointed Treasurer for the Town of Troy as the elected Treasurer resigned effective July 31. That works fine as I had time to get things organized a few months before getting thrown in to tax collection like last year. I will retain my Plan Commission Secretary position and I am now office and election help as I cannot be Deputy Clerk which was my previous job title. I will complete the current elected term until April and if I want to keep the job I will have to run to be elected to the office. I am continuing also a couple of days per month at Harmony Pet Care.

Spent the summer doing some things Rachel likes such as swimming, taking her to horse riding lessons/camp,and helping her get the rabbits ready for fair/shows. I took part as a vendor in the East Troy Marketplace on Saturdays selling lamb, wool products, and some produce.

September was busy with fair, followed by Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, and then the North American Clun Forest Association meeting in Ontario, Canada. I took care of getting the import paperwork in order to export one of my rams and a fellow Clun breeder's ram as well. Had a good trip and it was great seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and of course--Cluns and beautiful farms/country. I was the first to recommend a place to lodge based on the idea it would be nice to support a local long-term business vs. a chain motel and soon most of the NACFA members had booked rooms there. It made for some laughs as we had slivers of soap, exfoliating skimpy towels, non-symmetrical non-fitting bathroom doors, interesting wall art, train traffic within ft. of the rooms (and lots of it), Egor the housekeeper, and you get the point it was an unforgetable place BUT was clean. I don't think we can beat this place next year in Iowa!

The highlight for October was preparing for artificial insemination of my ewes and ewes from Bramble Hill and the visiting LAI vet. It went very smoothly and it was a new experience for some of my help (they had some good stories to share locally!)
After that I was very busy preparing for the November election with lots of absentee voters and then post-election duties, budget preparation for the Town, and getting ready to send out those lovely tax bills right before the X-mas holiday.

Most of the lambs are now gone but a handful reserved for ethnic holidays. Sheep stayed local in Wisconsin, to traveling to Michigan, to Ontario, to Colorado. I want to thank my breed stock buyers, meat lamb customers, and farmer's market buyers for giving me a good year. It seems fitting even though I missed sending the Thanksgiving message on the proper day! Hey at least it is the right month. Oh, and the sheep have enjoyed the post-Halloween & Thanksgiving pumpkins. And let's hope those market lamb prices stay high for another year!
Michele

School's Out

School's out and summer is almost here to enjoy! Once again, I've been absent for awhile as spring chores/projects and good weather for the most part have allowed me to spend most of my time outdoors. Chores have been moving sheep between pasture paddocks and hauling water, whacking thistles, mowing, etc. Schools out for the lambs this week as well as they will be weaned and on their own for awhile. The garden is in and I've been keeping up with the weeding so far in spite of the rain. Projects have included putting in patio block walkways. I've started Saturday Farmer's Market as part of Experience Historic East Troy on the square. This is a new time and venue in a way so will see how it goes. Hope to add some more direct market customers as the season goes along. So far the lamb gyro patties are the most popular.

We have had a month of birthdays including Rachel's 10th. Rachel's Rabbitry has been busy with 3 foster baby Mini Rex rabbits and hope to get some little thriving buns of our own this week.

I found out also why Indian Runner Ducks are called Runners because they run away from home. We lost all of our adult (7)Runner Ducks BUT have 2 eggs incubating that we hope will hatch.

Last week was another Tex & I adventure as we have secured his future by collecting the stud dog. His boys are frozen and stored at the International Canine Semen Bank which is about an hour and a half away. He turned out to be a Super Stud as he performed like a 90 lb. dog so I was wishing he was like the goose who lays the golden eggs! He always seems to give better than what I expect. One of his recent pleasant suprises was coming back Normal on his DM (Degenerative Myopathy) test so his pups should have a life without PRA, DM, or dysplastic hips.

With the green grass and misty rain this eve. it feels a bit like jolly ole' England so decided to post a bit of the flock on the green (photo taken last month)!

Enjoy the Upcoming Summer!

Easter Bunnies & Lambs!

Happy Easter to Everyone from a few of our resident Bunnies, aka Rachel's Rabbitry.

The Mini Lop is Samantha, our litterbox trained adoptee and the most photogenic! Thankful, she knows the difference between an Easter basket and her litterbox. Next, are our Mini Rex does: Beauty the Black Otter, and Lesley the Black Broken. Not pictured are Mini Rex bucks, Buddy & CJ, both Black Otters; and Rachel's Holland Lop's Cupcake, a broken Tort doe and Cupid, a Tort buck. Rachel is showing all but Samatha and Buddy.

I also want to share a first for our flock: What is looking to be a black fleeced Clun Forest ewe lamb. Guess, what I have named her? Clue is in the above paragraph. That is Rachel holding her still for a moment. The lamb has a twin sister (white fleece and medium brown face & legs) and in fact her aunt produced a natural colored fleeced Mule ewe lamb last year.

LOL: Lots of _ _ _ _ lambs!

The flock started lambing 2 weeks ago and we have had 87 lambs born (a couple of twins were DOA) but lots of bouncy thriving lambs. It has gone smoothly and I am down to the last 8 ewes (7 of these will go in the next few days and then we will wait until around April 9 for the last.

As promised I am now posting photos of my Bluefaced Leicester ram "Beechtree Glen Roth" (sire of this year's Mule lambs), and Muleflock 18 Red (1/2 British Suffolk ram) "Sully". We refer to Sully's lambs as Sullicopters (see photo above of one of his lambs---ready for take-off!).

Will try to update more often and share farm/flock/family news.

Ready for Spring, Ready for Lambs!

I've been basically winter hibernating the last few weeks from my blog. The days are getting longer and warmer with some thawing days so we are readying for lambs and spring. I am getting my barn cleaned out and setup this week. I thought I'd preview what we are expecting:

If my numbers are right I should have 39 Clun Forest ewes bred pure. 10 Clun Forest ewes bred to the Bluefaced Leicester ram "Beechtree Glen Roth" for Mule lambs (was hoping for about 15 ewes but the cleanup ram got some of his). 6 Clun Mule ewes should be bred to "Sully", the 1/2 British Suffolk ram lamb acquired last fall from Mark Lelli for our 1st terminally sired bred market lambs.

For the purebred Clun Forest I used two main sires (photo attached). Prairie SAN S32 pictured left (F1 son of Netherlands SAN 125) and Prairie FAF R4 (F1 son of Netherlands FAF 025). Sure was nice of them to pose next to each other for a photo!
I used a Cleanup Clun ram Prairie FAF R7, a half-brother to R4.

I will get photos soon of Glen Roth and Sully. The action should start happening around March 14 and I will have a busy 3 weeks.

Life, Death, and Taxes

With a title of life, death, and taxes how can I say Happy New Year! But it is my first post of 2010 and the title seems fitting. The New Year brings thoughts of all the good things to expect in the coming year from life. Death, well the last of the last year's lambs went to market this month. Taxes, besides paying them I have taken on the responsibilty of collecting them for our Township last month (another interesting event/long story since I've becomed involved in civic life). It feels good to be in the home stretch of the unplanned add-on and it has been a positive for me. I am starting to look forward to the planning of the next couple of months and the start of lambing, so..... more life and the cycle continues.
Since it is still January I will wish all a Happy New Year!
Michele