Start your year off right…

Posted by kenleighacres on January 10, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , , . 5 Comments

and order a Jacob Sheep calendar!

The artwork was done by JSBA member, Julie Kuroki, and it is all amazing!

From January

to December.

My favorites are June and August.  They feature animals from our farm!!!  Julie was looking for pictures in two categories and asked if I could help.  She wanted a picture with a herding dog and jacob sheep and another picture with a group of rams.  I sent the pictures off and couldn’t wait to see what she came up with.  The bonus to sending pictures in, is you got the original artwork back!!!

Here is Kate with Kenleigh’s Duchess and bide a wee Shana.  The prints are 16″ x 20″.   She is so talented!

 The boys, Kenleigh’s Wrangler and Kenleigh’s Reno.  Now to frame them and rearrange our walls for all of the artwork we have been blessed with, in the last couple of weeks.

You can order a calendar by sending an e-mail to jsbaoffice@yahoo.com  They are $15 + $7.90 for shipping.

Feeling good!

Posted by kenleighacres on January 8, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , , , . 16 Comments

This girl gave us quite the scare.

After Infiniti lost her lamb, she developed an infection from a little bit of retained placenta.  She was put on a higher dose of Penicillin and I think she is feeling better – what do you think?

She was bouncing…

and jumping…

and kicking up her heels like she was one of the lambs.  It made my heart happy!

 

These little guys also gave us lots of smiles today.

They had plenty of bounces to get out too.

A great day to be outside!

Quicksilver cracks me up, he is so full of himself.

He stays close to mom, but he has a lot more confidence than his sister.

Sweet little Theodora is quite the mama’s girl 🙂

I see you…

Posted by kenleighacres on January 6, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , , , , , . 3 Comments

or in this case ‘I see ewe’

 

We have a security camera in the barn!

The camera is from when we had our last foal, many years ago, and I was determined to make it work in the sheep barn.  The problem was that it wasn’t a wireless camera and the barn is just too far away to string wire out.  I have looked at wireless cameras, but the ones that go the distance we need are out of our price range.  After the dozen or so trips out to the barn checking on Infiniti, I was on a mission to make the camera we had work.  Much to my amazement, I found a kit online that would turn our camera into a wireless system.  I was a bit skeptical, but optimistic.  My husband was just skeptical 😉

I looked at several websites that carried the kit and sent e-mails asking more detailed questions.  The customer service at Security Camera 2000 was very helpful and suggested a different model and an additional antennae.

The kit arrived in the mail yesterday and my (still skeptical) husband hooked it up for me…

and IT WORKED!!!

I love when optimism wins out over skepticism 🙂

I can look forward to walking to my office to check on things instead of the cold, dark, scary walk I usually have to take out to the barn.

Now for a little bit of ‘cute’ to finish this post.

Lambs!!!!!

Posted by kenleighacres on January 4, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , , , . 13 Comments

Jonquil surprised us and had lambs sometime during the night!

We went out to give Infiniti her shots and checked on Jonquil and it looked like she had another day or two…

Much to my surprise and delight, I found lambs when I went out to feed this morning.

Proud mama is Mud Ranch’s Jonquil and the sire is Kenleigh’s Lancelot.

Here is Quicksilver, a ram lamb.  His name means ‘tending to change rapidly or unpredictably’, much like his mom did 🙂

He is a flashy guy!

His sister is oh so feminine.  Her name is Theodora and means ‘God’s gift’.  After the rough start we had to lambing season, both of these lambs are a gift from God.

Love her little nose…

and the white in her ear…

and her fleece that looks very promising!

 So good to have lambs to snuggle.

Words to Live By

Posted by kenleighacres on January 2, 2012
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Photography, sheep. Tagged: , , , , . 13 Comments

I have never been one to set resolutions for the New Year, but I do love reading little ‘mottos’.  They are easy to read and be mindful of as you walk through the next year of your life.

Here are some of my Words to Live By to start this New Year…

Sometimes you just need to jump for joy.

Don’t be afraid to go after what you really want.

It’s ok to be silly.

Don’t just listen, but really hear what someone is saying.

Take the time to just hang out with your friends.

Happiness was made to share.

Nap

Take care of those that are smaller than you.

Take time to smell the flowers…or in Dolly’s case ‘eat the flowers’ 🙂

Be a shoulder to lean on.

Be proud of your accomplishments.

Turn your face to the sun.

What are your ‘Words to Live By’?

Focusing on the Positive

Posted by kenleighacres on December 29, 2011
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , , . 11 Comments

Raising animals has many rewards, but it can also be very heartbreaking.  Today was one of those days.

Infiniti was the first ewe due to lamb and it looked like today was going to be the day.  I made many trips out to the barn and each trip it looked like she was getting closer, but it wasn’t progressing like I thought it should.  Around 2:00 I put on a big glove to inspect what was wrong with the lamb.  I found two front feet (a good sign) but couldn’t find the head (a very bad sign).  I finally found the head bent back and sideways.  I worked for 1/2 an hour trying to get the head to flip around and each time I had it in the right position and would pull on the legs, it flipped back…combined with how BIG the lamb was, I knew I was in trouble and needed some help.  At this point I was more concerned about Infiniti because I had the feeling the lamb was already dead.  I called my vet and he arrived very quickly.  While Infiniti sat in my lap, he worked and worked on getting the lamb out.  Both of us were afraid it was going to end up with him doing a c-section.  Finally we laid her on her side and he was able to manipulate the lamb out.  He was 12.5 lbs.  Her last two ewe lambs have been in the 7 lb. range.  I am just devastated over the loss of a beautiful ram lamb, but am trying to focus on the positive…

Infiniti is going to be ok.

I have a great vet that was able to come help so quickly.

Infiniti has a lot of milk and is very willing to let me milk her, so I will have a wonderful supply if we end up having a bottle lamb.  I already have 10 oz. of colostrum in the freezer.  My sister has an EZ-Milker which will make this task easier.

My son has such a sweet, caring nature and offered to give me one of his lambs when they get here because he felt so bad that my lamb died.

Infiniti is already eating and seems to be in good spirits.

  I wish this was a happy post with lots of pictures of a new baby lamb, but that is the unpredictability of raising animals.

Budding photographer

Posted by kenleighacres on December 23, 2011
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments

The fog cleared off, the sun came out, and my camera begged me to go outside!

The sheep were also begging to go out in the pasture where the grass is, so my son and I put on a couple of layers and headed out.

You can really see the bellies now 😉

While we were walking through the sheep, my son asked if he could take some pictures.  I always love it when he takes the camera because his perspective is so different and I love sitting down at the computer to see what he has captured.

Here are some of the pictures he took…

One of his ewes, Petunia.  She didn’t lamb last year, so he is excited that she is very pregnant this year.

He loves that she is a big talker 🙂

He caught me talking to Delight.  She has a while to go before she lambs and I was discussing her big belly with her.

This is one of my favorites.

Here is the little photographer with one of his buddies.

Enjoying the sun while it is here!

Double check your boxes!

Posted by kenleighacres on December 21, 2011
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , , , . 11 Comments

As we near Christmas, this is my warning – double-check your boxes…there may be treasure hidden in the peanuts 🙂  Luckily, my box that contained a hidden treasure was stored in my shop and not thrown away!

On December 12th, UPS delivered a box that I was very excited to receive.  It contained a painting from Royal Unzicker at Ivy Brook Meadow, someone I feel honored to call a friend and a very kind man.  He agreed to paint a scene from our farm as a Host gift for the JSBA Annual General Meeting, the event we had here at the end of August.  For the last several years, he has donated a painting for the JSBA AGM raffle and I keep hoping that ‘this’ year will be the year my name is called, but it hasn’t happened yet.  So I was beyond THRILLED when he told me that he was going to do a painting for us!

So much anticipation when the box showed up!  I had no idea what scene or sheep he painted.

When he was here in August, he was snapping away with his camera.

What is it?  What is it?

Oh my goodness!  It is amazing!  Taken from a picture of some of my favorite rams – Kenleigh’s Reno, Kenleigh’s Wrangler, and Magic Moon Junior.  I was delighted with it and so happy and immediately sent an e-mail to Royal, saying ‘THANK YOU!’

Little did I know there was another treasure in the box.

I hung the painting in our kitchen – the colors are perfect…and then took the box out to my shop.

A week later, I got an e-mail from a mutual friend and it said…’Royal had mentioned to me that he did two paintings for you.  Did you get the second one?  The second one was meant as a surprise and I think you’ll like it’.   I read the e-mail and then read it again and was very puzzled.  A second painting???  I e-mailed her back and said that no, I hadn’t received a second painting.  I was perplexed.  It didn’t make sense for him to mail two separate packages.  It hit me that maybe it was still in the box!!!  I ran over to my shop and what I found brought tears to my eyes…

A painting of our son and his ewe, Precious.  A true treasure!  The details are amazing and my son loves that he included his glasses and the details in his pants 🙂  He really captured the love these two share for each other and the patience in her eye.

THANK YOU ROYAL!!!

It’s not the same…

Posted by kenleighacres on December 20, 2011
Posted in: family, Farm Life. 9 Comments

The farm doesn’t feel the same, we lost our Bailey cat over the weekend and it is so quiet now.

Here she is with our other cat, Dexter, in the background.  She didn’t get much blog time, but anyone that has visited the farm has probably been ‘meowed’ at or warned to check their car before leaving.  She liked to sneak into vehicles while you weren’t looking.

Here she is, in one of her favorite spots on the front porch.  Unfortunately, her other favorite hangout spot was across the road…no matter how much I scolded her for crossing the road.

The thing I miss the most, is our morning ‘chats’.  She liked to talk and loved to snuggle.  When she really got to purring, she would start drooling.  She was one of the sweetest cats I have known.

She preferred the pampered life but was a farm cat at heart.

She was just over 13 years old and was the first unplanned animal to come home with me after being married.  My sweet husband just kind of shook his head at me.

I hope she has beautiful fields of grass with plenty of sunshine to roll around in.

Rest well sweet Bailey.

Good news and bad news…

Posted by kenleighacres on December 11, 2011
Posted in: Uncategorized. 5 Comments

The pregnancy report came back for the 3 ewes and I’ll start with the bad news…Venus is not bred 😦  I am really bummed, but I knew it was a long shot.  I haven’t decided if I am going to give her another year or not???  We’ll see.

She is a pretty easy girl to have around, which is a big plus.

Now for the good news!

Hope and…

Chevelle are both bred!

This was Chevelle’s 3rd and last chance to get bred.  She lambed as a first timer and for some reason she hasn’t had lambs the last two years.  She is a special girl and I am very excited.

If you are interested in having any of your livestock (cattle, goats, sheep, wildlife, bison, or horses) pregnancy tested, you can check out bio Tracking’s website.  I may not always be happy about the results 😉 but it is nice having the answers now to make decisions instead of in 3-4 months.

2 weeks to lambs…