Psalm23Farm: January 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Sheep know best

Sheep know best-they always eat dessert first!

On a more serious note-the lamb prices are incredible! Finished market lambs are going from $1.55-1.75 and feeder lambs are $1.80-2.00. Even culls are up with cull ewes going from $0.70-0.90 and cull rams going for $0.75-0.85 a #. That's almost lamb price from other years! Equity Livestock (WI) has a website and on the website they have market reports for each sale yard (bottom of page) and after each sale they update it with the new prices. http://livestock.equitycoop.com/market_reports/?vm=r I'm planning on taking my lambs (that I haven't direct marketed-sold quite a few direct so far) to Johnson Creek (that's the best sale yard in the system price wise for sheep and goats due to a strong buyer base) in two weeks. I hope to get a good price!

I have four kids that will go to market, but I'll keep them for a while longer so they can grow more mohair before I sell them (I'll shear them before they go.)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Size Comparison

I thought that since I had time/daylight yesterday when I started doing my chores that I'd take some pictures of the Shetland ewe lambs side by side with the Shetland cross lambs.

From the left two Shetland X Coopworth ewe lambs, the biggest Shetland ewe lamb that I have (Sabbath Farm Swan X PS23 Fife) and the Shetland/BFL X Corriedale ewe lamb.

From the left again two Shetland lambs (one wether and one ewe PS23 Daysong X PS23 Fairlight) and then three Shetland X Coopworth ewe lambs.

A close up of two Shetland lambs (white ewe is PS23 Daysong X PS23 Fairlight) on the left and two Shetland X Coopworth ewe lambs on the right.

On the left and in the background are three Shetland X Coopworth ewe lambs and the grey one is a Shetland ewe lamb (PS23 Emrald X ShelteringPines Justinian.)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Few more fleece shots

A Shetland X Coopworth ewe lamb

Grey Katmoget wether-unfortunately he is a wether not a ewe! I'm going to use his sire PS23 Fandango next fall in hopes of getting some nice dark grey katmogets.

White Shetland ewe lamb out of Windswept Lime and PS23 Fandango

Black/charcoal Shetland ewe lamb out of PS23 Emrald and SheltringPines Justinian

Shetland X Coopworth ewe lamb

White Shetland ewe lamb out of Sabbath Farm Silvia and PS23 Fairlight.

Shetland X Merino ewe (Shetland sire/Merino dam) This one is a bit blurry and the tiny crimp doesn't really show up. This is more matte than Shetland, while the Shetland X Coopworth is much shinier. (Coopworth lamb is more matte than adult Coopworth so these Shetland X Coopworth lambs' adult fleeces should almost glow!!)

A couple fleece shots

The other day I snapped a few fleece shots of some of my ewe lambs...

Musket Shetland ewe lamb out of Sheepy Hollow Sienna and PS23 Drummond.

One of my Shetland X Coopworth lambs. Nice bold crimp and very shiny. (This picture turned out a little blurry.)

The Shetland/BFL X Corriedale lamb. Vey soft and silky.

One of my favorite ewe lambs. This is a musket out of Sabbath Farm Sawn and PS23 Fife.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Replacemanet lambs

When I walked down the driveway to get the mail the ewe lambs all lined along the fence hoping to be fed. (The lambs are Shetland and Shetland crosses, a few are wethers destined for market in the spring.)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A Scare

On Sunday when I went out to feed I saw that one of my ewes was stuck on her back out in the pasture. She was not moving- "my heart leaped"- and I knew exactly who is was. Silvia, one of the ewes who was AI'ed this fall, a nice older ewe (9) who still had lots of milk and really nice lambs last summer. I ran over to her expecting her to be dead (I had one one year that got stuck and died) but she wasn't! I righted her and she could barely walk. She stumbled and held her head to the side. Oh no! I thought (I know some people who's sheep have died after being stuck if they were stuck for too long) then she staggered over to where everyone else was eating their hay. Ok. So then I waited to see if she would eat any hay. She simply lay down. I made her get up again and she lay down again. I also noticed that she was quivering so I decided to take her temperature, it was 101-within the normal range, and I gave her some keto drench (it has propylene glycol and vitamin B in it.) I took her back to the barn and put her in a temporary pen next to some doe kids that are staying in the barn. She showed interest in her hay and ate a small handful of grain (a treat for the ewes as they don't get any grain except at lambing and breeding.) I left her in the barn and then last night she was baaing at me and was wanting to get out. I put her out with the other girls and she was very happy and ate some hay!

Here she is waiting impatiently to get out.

Welcome to Psalm 23 Farm

I'm breeding my NASSA registered Shetland sheep for fine and med. fine lustrous single coated fleeces in both the crimpy and the locky, wavy fleece styles. I have a wide range of colors and makings as well as the bright pure whites. I'm emphasizing on production, mothering ability and sound conformation. I have both horned and naturally polled Shetland rams and a few horned Shetland ewes.

I also produce fast growing grass-fed market lambs and commercial ewes with excellent fleece. (Shetland x Coopworth and Shetland x Australian Corriedale.) These F1 (first generation cross) ewes are great maternal ewes to put under a terminal sire for the ultimate grass fed market lamb.

Angora goats are my other love. I'm selecting for fine yearling grade mohair in adult animals. All of my goats are CAGBA (colored) or AAGBA (white) registered. I'm also selecting for sound healthy goats.

Posts will be about the Shetlands and Angoras with an occasional post about the other animals on the farm. Posts will also be about wool, spinning and a variety of other topics.

Psalm 23 Farm sells raw "jacketed" wool and mohair fleeces, mohair locks, dyed and natural Shetland and Shetland/mohair roving. Also sheepskins, quilt batts, handspun yarn, mohair lock yarn, and mill spun yarn.

From the Shetland Sheep Society

"Shetland sheep have for generations been noted for their very soft and well crimped fleece. The wool is the finest of all native breeds and shows an amazing variety of colours and patterns. There are 11 main whole colours and 30 recognized markings.

By selecting from coloured fleeces a range of naturally coloured yarn can be produced. This eliminates the need for dyeing and therefore retains the soft feel of the natural fibre and is favoured by those who prefer a totally natural approach.

Shetland wool fibres are of a simple construction witha central cortex covered by a thin scaly cuticle, and have an average diameter of about 23 microns. However there is a range from 10-20 microns for neck and shoulder wool to 25 to 35 microns for britch wool. the average staple length is 3.5 inches. The amount of crimp varies, and is most important in providing the 'bounce' required for knitwear. There is a positive correlation between fineness and crimp, with wool of the finest quality being crimped at between 8 and 12 to the inch. Wool from Shetland sheep is used to produce gossamer lace, the famous 'Fair Isle' knitwear, and fine tweeds. Pure bred Shetland sheep tend to shed their fleece in spring. The growth of new fleece can cause a rise or weak point and where this is present the fleece can sometimes be plucked or 'rooed' by hand. The timing of this can be different in each sheep, however, it is worth taking the care to get it right as rooed fleece can be amongst the softest because the fibers have no harsh cut ends as occurs with a sheared fleece.

Shetland fleece can be handspun straight from the fleece or made into rolags and then woollen spun. It can also be worsted spun by hand, used on a peg loom or handwoven. It also felts well using either dry or wet methods. When processed commercially the wool can be made into the finest lightweight worsted cloth or heavier weight, harder wearing fabrics and tweeds."

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