Lambs

 Here are some pictures of my lambs. Most are crossbreds and are Shetland X Coopworth or Shetland X Corriedale. The grey katmoget is a Corriedle X and has very fine crimpy wool. I have two ewe lambs like that and they are for sale. I have a few black/charcoal grey/ dark brown Corriedale X lambs as well.

 I also have several white Coopworth X ewe lambs that are fantastic. I'm selling all the white cross lambs this year so the best are available. They really are nice and big with long (some have 4 or 5 in already) silky, soft fleece.

 The little grey ewe lamb (next to the black with horns) is Gloria's out of Gilroy.

 Keeper doe kid. Both her and her sister look alike, one is a tad paler. Both are super fine and soft!

Kids....I have several very nice doe kids and could sell a starter group with an unrelated buck if anyone is interested. Or they are for sale individually too. All are to be registered with CAGBA.

(Not sure why blogger is changing the color on my pictures. Again. Grrr.)

Photo Overload

These are all pictures I look in late May/early June I couldn't post them as blogger kept making my picture weird wacky colors . Well the problem is gone, so here are all the pictures I couldn't post!

 This is the lamb who broke her leg. The picture was tacken shortly after getting her cast on. She accommodated well to wearing a cast! She had her cast cut off about 2 or 3 weeks ago now. At first she didn't use the leg, then limped badly, now she has an almost unperceptive limp! I'm going to keep her as she has a gorgeous, soft crimpy, pale grey fleece and well, she is special now. :)

 This little guy, Dingdong X Gilroy now has sprouts, err horns on his head. He is a fawn/moorit and has crimpy, soft wool.

 These are England's (Syrah X Caspian) and Gordon's (China X Danburry) doe kids. They are very nice! Both are keepers. One is a little paler than the other. They are both as fine as the pure whites.

 Ivy's triplets. Two are growing well (the third is the runt and would not take a bottle, she may be available as a fiber pet) and are oooo soft....! I washed Ivy's fleece and it is almost kid fine!

 Mama chicken with one of her two chicks. The "chicks" are now teenage chickens and were dumped by their mom and told to grow up.

 Swan X Huckleberry ewe lamb-musket fine and soft

 Gloria's ewe lamb-emsket or grey? I think a slow fading grey, but not sure. Very silky and crimpy

 Sienns's lambs by Craigrothie-white is a keeper and is silky and soft

 Gloria's lamb again. So sleepy and cute snuggled up next to mama.

 Dingdong's ewe lamb-very soft, loose crimp fleece

Jade's buck kid out of Danburry

 Eden's buck kid out of Danburry. He is still a keeper! Very fine mohair and a tiny bit of color

 kids

 kids

 kids, not. Lambs! Aran's lambs

 These two are Aran's ewe lambs by Gilroy

 Hide!

 Goldenrod's twins out of Hector. Grey is a keeper, silky soft fleece!

 Fonteyn's ram by Craigrothie. He was a keeper, but unfortunately died from a heart attack. Never had that before! (I have two rams and a ewe out of Fonteyn and several ewes and a ram out of Craigrothie, none had the same problem..)

Edelweiss's ram lamb by Gilroy.

Now to get current pictures....

Market Sire

The guy is my new terminal sire. He is an Ile De France X Dorset Dec. born ram lamb (behind him is the Corriedale ram who has about 2 in of wool-the lamb has only 1/4in right now.) You can't tell from the picture how well muscled and thick he is. He is meaty!  I plan to use him on all of my Shetland X Coopworth and the Shetland X Corriedales and possibly the Merino X Shetlands.

I got him from Maralyn Fowler http://www.croftlandfarm.com/ . Maralyn thinks that the Ile De France do well on grass and so do the Dorset. The pure Ile De France would have been too thick to put on my girls, the Dorset combined well to produce a ram that is not quite as thick and a little longer and taller. Maralyn did not have to take any of her Ile De France cross lambs to market-the lamb buyers came to her and wanted those lambs.

Hopefully I'll have lots of growthy market lambs next year!

The Adventure

Meet Rocky and Napel

 Rocky - 5 year old AAGBA white (his face has been trimmed since I got him so he can see better.)

 Napel- 6 year old CAGBA black

I just got these two big guys on Wed. night from Judy Picken, Goathill Farm (I had gotten a buck from her before and one of my foundation does was out of her breeding.) Judy no longer wants to breed and does not want to keep bucks so I decided to get them. Judy brought them down to the Wagers (the mill where I work) as she was selling them some of her mohair. We loaded the boys into the back of my truck and I was on my way home.

I backed up to the barn angling to the pen on the side. My dad came to help and tide a hog panel round a t-post so they would go into the pen. Well haha, the black one-Napel jumped over the panel as he was jumping out and into the barn, not the pen. OK (the barn door does not shut as it needs fixing), I thought I could quickly swing the panel over so he'd go into the pen from the barn, but my dad had wrapped the twin around so much I could not get the panel moved before Napel took off. Rocky had jumped into the pen which goes into another pen.

Napel ran down the drive way and saw my lambs he looked like he wanted to see them. I tried to grab him, he ran across the road and zig zagged back and forth across the road.  Finally he started to tire and I cought him in the neighbor's flower bed.

I dragged the unwilling goat home and immediately after releasing him in the pen he jumped into the calf hutch to hide! Big baby!

Hmm, where is Rocky? He's not in the calf hut, not in with the boys, not in with the ewes....I was checking to see if he got in with the lambs (all the while the truth that he's gone is sinking in like a slow dread) and a car pulls up and a lady gets out and says, "There's is big shaggy sheep in the ditch a house down, is it yours?"

By the time I got to the ditch a house down the "big shaggy sheep" was gone. Gone. GONE! Oh, no! The last run away was a ram and he got out the day I got him and ran 2 miles in 2 or 3 hours. They can go far. Ok a full fleeced angora won't go as fast, but still.

I drive up and down, I walk around in the ditch and in the field, I look and stop at the neighbors behind us  who have a cow and some steers, we check-not there. Not where the runaway ram turned up. (Seriously check there about 6 times, yeah the likelihood of a second animal in the same spot is small, but I kept checking.) OK He's gone, I half to feed my sheep and water lambs.

I called the constable and the sheriff. The constable drove around with a deer shiner, and wait for it, NO buck.

The next day I had to work and then came home and as we were eating supper the doorbell rings and I guy says, "There is a goat in the ditch down the road across the highway."

We race (Mom and Dad in the car and I in my truck) off an Mr.Runnaway Goat is indeed in the ditch. He really is there!!

The ditch is across the road from us and near where Shoe Lake is. There are trees on one side of the road and then on the other side a corn field. Farther down is the drive for Shoe Lake and then trees on both sides of the road.

I shake a bucket and he starts coming, then spooks and takes off into the trees. My mom and I try chasing him in the woods and then both of us loose sight of him. I don't want to give up and wander around in the woods, then see a deer or goat trail and follow it. It leads to a swamp behind the woods and continues into the swamp. There's the buck! Just standing in cat tails! I walk over to him and am up to my ankles in swamp water-he's up to his belly. (I think he didn't know what to do so that is why he was just standing there.)

I think how nice it will be to walk him out and put him in with Napel. Easier-said-than-done. I try to drag him out of the swamp and he thrashes around I fling myself on him so he won't get away and he goes down and so do I in the swamp. We do that twice as it was so much fun. I'm wet up to my shoulders in swamp water and Rocky is wet up to his mid sides and his face is wet. He was a white buck and turned rather grey from the swamp water.

My dad ran to get the halter that was abandoned on the side of the road when Rocky took to the trees.

After my dad and my mom help get Rocky out of the woods, up the ditch and onto the road (all with as much pulling back as possible on the goat's part), my parents both think it will be easier to walk the buck home. (I wanted to put him in the cab part of my truck as we couldn't lift a wrangling goat into the box part. ) My dad drove my lifeboat,oops, truck home.

My mom holding one horn and I the other with the halter wrapped around my hand start the long journey home. Buck goats are exceptionally strong. Rocky is probably around 150#, but is not any easier to move than a 800# steer. Every few steps and Rock violently swings his head from side to side. Jerk, yank, jerk, yank. Wet bucks are also slippery.

My mom decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to put him in my truck, walks to the car; and was going to drive home, get the truck, and come back.

Two boys about 10 or 12 ride up on bikes and ask, "What did you catch?!" This is a buck goat and I told them all about him. "Can we help?" one boy hold the bucks horn and the other pushed on him. All of a sudden Rocky does his powerfully head swing and I go flying (my mom said I went airborne) and I get dragged a few feet in the ditch before stopping him. One of the boys said, "Wow, I would have let go!" The boys decided to go home (and probably tell their parents about the crazy neighbor who catches swamp monsters, err,  runaway Angora bucks. )

Finally mom comes back with my truck and Rocky jumps in as good as any dairy goat. Pop, in he went. Mom and I drag him and his swinging, whacking head over the the pen where his buddy is and I give him some Penicillin (as his head did go under and he was stressed out with all the chasing and running.)

Whew.

Rocky is much better behaved now that he is with his buddy and is not so scared. He even ate a cabbage leaf from my hand yesterday.

Corn, Mono Cropping and Drought

First corn as a feed:

We raise Cornish X Rock meat chickens every year. Normally we feed them a meatbird ration made up primarily of corn and soy. This spring we (us and another couple people that use the feedmill) decided we wanted GO free chicken. Joe the feed guy made up a new ration with oats, barley, alfalfa, fish meal and lysine. This was because none GMO corn (even before the drought) was sky high. We are going to put a little organic soy meal in the next batch instead of lysine as they don't really like the taste of lysine. 

Wow!  The meatbirds this year are not the normal fat, sluggish, out of breath chickens that they normally are. Normally they walk three feet and are exhausted. They normally eat sitting down as it is too much work to eat standing up. THIS year they  are active and run around and are in my little sisters term, "Normal chickens!" I really can't believe how active they are compared to other years meat chickens. Paul the other guy raising them on the same feed also can't. (The meat chickens also aren't smelly like they normally are.)

Now, this could be because it is a GMO free ration, could be the corn in and of it's self or it could be the soy. (I'll find out if it is the soy soon.) My speculation is it's the corn and or the GMO which is now the same thing being then organic corn is not an option. One organic farmer near us is feeding there cow only small grains and their cows are beautiful clean and not smelly. They do also graze. 

Mono Cropping:

What did most people in Ireland grow? Potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes. What do most cash croppers  and farmers grow? Corn, corn, corn and a few soy beans and hay. A few guys in our area grow winter wheat and other small grains. The winter wheat this year is coming off beautifully! There is lots of tick golden straw (used both as a beef/ dry cow feed filler) and good amounts of grain. This year the corn and soy beans are looking ok right now, but if we don't get enough rain soon they will fail. Southern WI, IN , and IL's corn has gone to pot. People both food (grain) and feed (meat and milk) rely heavily on corn. If/when the corn fails there could be a huge problem? People are cutting back, and selling out completely on sheep and beef. Next year and the year after there won't be as many calves or lambs born for beef and lamb. We (the US) are already lower on beef then we had been and the rest of the beef consumed is made up of dairy cows getting slaughtered. At some point, I would assume, there will be a beef shortage.

Drought:

This is a map of the drought: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ if you click on a region it pops up and then you can click and individual state.

I didn't realize how bad this drought is. I did now it was the midwest and parts of the west, but it is basically EVERYWHERE! We don't know what is in store for us yet, we may get lots of nice rains in Aug. producing a nice third cutting of hay, but we also may not. 

Loving Tommy

This post is a little off topic, but is about our very important greeter.

 Tommy is a wonderful old guy. He is friendly and shows off to everyone who comes, "See me, look at me, aren't I handsome!" He even likes the turkey poults and has literally taken them under his wing! Look closely under his right wing. These poults are from a hatchery and have no "mom", Tommy has taken over the job, and even comes running to protect them if I pick one up (ex: one gets stuck on the wrong side of the fence and needs help going back) and it screams.

All lined up to sleep. Tommy lost his tail to a dog attack. Unfortunately Tommy has some competition from a young year old tom. The year old tom does not like the poults and pecks them, so Tommy's act really is a bit unusual. (Talking of unusual the most unusual animal couple we've had was a cat and a chicken who was 1/2 the size she should have been as she had something wrong with her. Those to slept together every night under a goat milk stand.)

18 Days

Since the last rain..It is getting (err is) very dry again. Sadly for me it rained in both directions from me last Tue. with in 2 miles. We are praying for more rain. I went on a little trip with both my sisters to Lake Geneva and the corn down there, while more mature, is definitely more drought stressed. The trees down there are even wilted! In our area we have had two barns burn down. One was a dairy farm and they lost three cows, the other is a fiber friend of mine and she lost three bunnies, thankfully all of her goats and sheep are ok! Please pray for rain for all the farmers and ranchers who don't have any or enough rain!