Monday, May 30, 2011

Lambs and kids growing up

Busy last couple weeks. Got everyone out on grass three week later than normal due to the cold weather. Dewomed in the rain-bad idea as I got drenched. Here are some of the babies. Sale sheep are for sale pending horns, fleece, conformation, and growth rate at at least three months.


PS23 Finch X PS23 Fife AI (Orion)-white, was born golden and still has a gold tone to his legs, tail and nose. Very silky and soft. He will probably be a smaller ram. He may be for sale.
White kid-I think this is the doe kid out of France and Danburry (TX buck)
PS23 Funzie X ??PS23 Fife?-Moorit horned ewe. Will need to do genetic testing if I want to register her.
She is a shy baby-here she is hiding behind mom.
PS23 Emrald X PS23 Fairlight-white ram lamb. Silky soft type fleece. May carry polled as his sire is a half poll/scurred ram. Twin sister is a keeper.
Windswept Lime X PS23 Fife-white (born with three small brown spots that faded) ewe. May be for sale.
Sheepy Hollow Sienna X PS23 Fairlight AI (Jings)- fawn katmoget/ghost katmoget? His dam is moorit and his sire is white. His sire sired one musket lamb last year (out of a musket ewe) and this year he sired this guy. All of his other lambs were white. This guy's marking have faded.

Color aside his is an excellent ram. His fleece is very fine and soft. He has great conformation and poll wool! A keeper for now.Close up of the previous ram lamb's face.
PS23 Ferndale AI (Gordon) X PS23 Campbell AI (Jericho)-fawn katmoget ram lamb. May be for sale.
Sabbath Farm Fonteyn X Drum Ram (AKA Black)- grey katmoget ram. He is a keeper! Very soft and crimpy fleece. Long and somewhat tall, nice build. He's freindly to boot!
PS23 Evening Primrose XPS23 Campbell AI (Jericho)-grey katmoget ewe. She has a longer silky fleece. A keeper for now.Just for fun a Shetland X Corriedale grey katmoget ewe.
PS23 Finch X PS23 Fife AI (Orion)-moorit gulmoget ram lamb. Very silky and soft. He will probably be a smaller ram. He may be for sale.
PS23 Forsythia X Drum Jings-grey ram. He has a white twin ram. (The white lamb in the picture is a crossbred lamb.) I haven't been able to catch him or his brother so don't know what their fleeces are like. I expect them to be soft and crimpy based on parentage. One may be for sale.Last, but definatly not least, is my bottle baby doe kid out of China X Danburry (TX buck.) She is a doll! Friendly, super friendly! (Most Angoras are shy.) She was born red with a darker red splash on her side. Very soft mohair. She is very vocal about her bottles. I got a video of her drinking just for fun.



All done kiddo. "I want more, please give me more!"

Monday, May 16, 2011

Interesting link

This is a really neat article on some Angora goats and handspinners in another country, Tajikistan. The women there spin and sell yarn from the mohair for a living, somewhat like the women of other rural areas including the Shetland islands, did an era ago. There are some neat picture of the goats, women spinning, and the BEAUTIFUL yarn.

http://handeyemagazine.com/content/new-choices

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Lambing/kidding stats

PS23 Fife AI (Orion)-moorit very fine and crimpy
PS23 Essex (moorit)- 2 moorit rams
PS23 Daysong(grey katmoget)- moorit ram
PS23 Finch (white)-white/tan? ram and moorit gulmoget ram
PS23 Ely Cathedral (fawn katmoget)-moorit ram and fawn katmoget ewe
PS23 Edelwiess (musket katmoget)-fawn katmoget ram and fawn katmoget ewe

PS23 Campbell AI (Jericho)-fawn katmoget long fine crimpy fleece
Windswept Lime(white)- moorit ram and white with fading spots ewe
PS23 Dingdong (fawn blettet)-fawn katmoget ewe
PS23 Eastwind (emsket HST)-moorit krunet ewe
PS23 Evening Primrose (black gulmoget)-black ewe and grey katmoget ewe
PS23 Ferndale AI (Gordon black/sheala?)-black ewe and fawn katmoget ram, ram may be for sale
PS23 Flourance (white)-white ram
PS23 Fiona (black)-black krunet ewe and grey katmoget ewe

PS23 Fairlight AI (Jings)-white cimpy and fine, polled/scurred
PS23 Emrald (grey katmoget)-white ram and white ewe, ram may be for sale
Sheepy Hollow Sienna (moorit)-white ram and fawn "ghost" katmoget ram-this guy is super nice! May be for sale if I don't keep him
Alice white Merino-white ewe lamb
Fronzie white Shetland X Merino-white ram and white ewe

AI Jings (white)
PS23 Forsythia (grey)-grey ram and white ram

AI Drum Ram (black)
Sabbath Farm Fontyen (fawn katmoget)-stillborn fawn katmoget ram, grey katmoget ram and fawn katmoget ram
Sabbath Farm Silvia (grey)-grey ram

AI Island Skeld (white)
Sabbath Farm Swan (musket)-white ram and white ewe

UNK sire
PS23 Funzie AI(Jings grey katmoget)-moorit ewe. I think PS23 Fife is the sire, but will have to do parentage testing to register.
Garland (white Coopworth X Shetland/BFL)-white ram

Cooper-white Coopworth
Fuzz (white Shetland X Corriedale/Dorset)-white wether and white ewe
Febee (white Shetland X Merino)-white ram and white ewe
PS23 Bluebell (sheala iset)-white ewe and white ram
PS23 Cinderella (black iset)-2 white rams
PS23 Early Spring (moiget)-white ram
PS23 Ewe Won (mioget HST)-white ram
0364 (unregistered musket Shetland)-2 white rams
0367 (unregistered lt.grey Shetland)-2 white ewes
0369 (unregistered lt.grey Shetland)-white ram and white ewe

Windham-white (color carrier) Corriedale
Echo (grey katmoget Shetland X BFL)-2 white ewes
Fudge (charcoal Shetland X BFL)-white wether and charcoal ewe
PS23 Dove (white)-white ewe and grey katmoget ewe
PS23 Ewe Two (moorite)-white ram and white ewe
PS23 Felicity (white)- white ram
PS23 Easterlilly (white)-white ram and white ewe
PS23 Fairlie AI( Orion fawn)-white ewe with black dot on neck

Grant-colored (charcoal/grey) Coopworth
Bramble Jocelyn (moorit)-black ewe and black ram
UnderTheSon Sorelle (moorit iset)-black ewe and black ram
Longshadow Amber (musket)-2 grey rams and black ewe
UnderTheSon Claremori (fawn)-black ram and black ewe
PS23 Elm (lt. grey)-grey ram and black ram
0363(unregistered lt.grey Shetland)-black ewe and grey ram

Goats:
Albee-AAGBA white OR buck
England (CAGBA "black")-pale silver buck, cream buck, white doe
Pearl (CACBA faded red)-white buck, white doe
Eden(AAGBA white)-stillborn white buck

Caspian-faded red CAGBA buck
Belle(CAGBA white)-2 white bucks

Danburry-AAGBA white TX buck
China(CAGBA "black")-2 reddish bucks and a reddish doe with a darker spot on the side (they will look like white goats when they grow up)
Terra (AAGBA white)-white buck-died
Jade (AAGBA white)-white buck
Treasure(AAGBA white)-didn't kid
France (CAGBA white)-white doe

92 born out of 53 bred 174% lambing/kidding

182% with just the sheep, 220% for CAGBA does, 75% for AAGBA does (both kinds of goats together 133%.)

Out of 92 3 died/or were stillborn= 3% death loss

Summery: I really need to work on lambing percentages! The AAGBA goats do have an excuse for this year as 3 were from OR (one of the OR does is the one who didn't kid.) My goal is to get over or at least at 200%

Last year I had 166% lambing/kidding, so at least this year I did make a little progress (8% better.)

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Lamb and kid pictures


This is the youngest lamb-a single ewe. I love her! She is out of PS23 Funzie (F1 Jings). I don't know who her sire is as I thought her dam had settled to AI as I had put the teaser ram in and she didn't act like she came into heat. Haha to me she was in with everybody as I had stuck all the ewes and rams together when she did come in heat. I think PS23 Fife (F1 Orion) is her sire, but if I won't to register her I will need to do genetic testing. Or I can just keep her as an unregistered ewe.These are the youngest babies. Colorfield Farm Pearl had a buck and a doe out of Albee (the white AAGBA OR buck.)

This is the best black ewe lamb this year. She is out of PS23 Fiona and PS23 Campbell. She is keeper at this point.
This is her twin also a keeper.
PS23 Edelwiess'es ewe lamb (the other is a wether.) She'll probably be a keeper.

Thief! This lamb was caught in the act of stealing milk! She waited untill the opportune moment, when the ewe got up and was stretching to get a swig of milk. The moorit is her twin brother (a wether.) He had been born at night and his dam acted like she was done, but in the morning had a little "leftover" lamb! They are out of PS23 Ely Cathedral and PS23 Fife.

I have seen lambs trying to steal from does and vice versa this year. That looks funny when they do.

PS23 England had triplet kids out of Albee. The silver and pale cream are bucks and the white is a doe. The lamb in the background is out of PS23 Finch and PS23 Fife. He is a pale tan color. His twin brother is a moorit gulmoget.
Close up of the tan ram lamb. I'm guessing he is white genetically.
Moorit gulmoget ram lamb.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Greencastle Fiber Event

Mud, rain, snow, rain and more snow. Were WI last month. Now it is May things can get sunny. The mud is starting to dry up and we have not had any rain yet this month. The grass is starting to grow, a little and I have enough hay for 3 more weeks now.

This year I went to Greencastle, IN Fiber Event for the first time. I've never been to the southern part of IN and the top part was boring, and flat. Greencastle area is really nice. It was somewhat hilly and there were quite a few trees. I don't think there were quite as many lakes and ponds as where I live in WI. I had a great time! I got to visit the Gygis and see all of their sheep. Wow, Theresa's "culls" are nicer or as nice as most of my "inbetween grade" sheep!! She has a very nice set up too. I showed a couple fleeces at the Fiber Event.


Shetland X Coopwoth (sire) lamb fleece

Shetland ewe fleece. This ewe is PS23 Funzie an F1 Jings, grey katmoget.

Shetland/BFL X Corriedale (sire) lamb fleece