Poor Paisley sure has it tough.
After enjoying a romp in the snow…
she enjoyed snuggling in our warm bed 🙂
I was minding my own business, trying to get some stuff done on the computer tonight and I received an e-mail with a note saying that I had been ‘tagged’ by Mud Ranch – thanks!
The rules of the game are this–
Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Post 7 random or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
Tag 7 people and link to them – I don’t have 7, so hopefully the world doesn’t end.
Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.
7 Weird/Random Things About ME!
1. I really don’t like chocolate – I know it’s a sin!
2. I am the oldest of six children.
3. I love watching ‘America’s Next Top Model’ – maybe because it is such a different world from the one I live in 🙂
4. I don’t like the rain. Why do I live in Oregon? Good question!
5. I would rather muck sheep pens all day long in the freezing cold rain than go to a bridal shower, baby shower, or any other kind of shower.
6. I used to think sheep were stupid and NEVER in a million years did I think I would be raising them and loving it.
7. Someday I would love to have a muscle car…
And to the unfortunate people that I feel comfortable taggins – sorry: Meridian Jacobs, Patchwork Jacob Sheep, Checkers, Mountain Dweller.
The last couple of days have been pretty busy. On Wednesday we had 4 ewes lamb for a total of 6 lambs. On Thursday we had a first time mom deliver a huge ewe lamb. No one was due today and I was looking forward to catching up on chores in the barn and in the house and maybe, just maybe – take a nap while my son was at school – ha ha ha ha ha.
Symphony thought I was rather silly for even thinking that 🙂
My list of chores for outside included – cleaning pens, ear tagging, banding tails, vaccinating, worming ewes, bucket brigade water to the barn considering we have had a week of temperatures below freezing with the nights getting to the low teens, regular chores, etc. I was in the middle of the list and Holly thought I was getting too much accomplished, so she decided to go into labor.
She had a very cute ewe lamb with little interference.
I finished my list of items just in time to pick my son up from school. When we got home we checked on the sheep one more time before we had to head into town to run a couple of errands – everyone looked fine. We came back inside and I realized that I had forgotten something in the barn, I ran out real quick to grab it and out in the field I saw Freckles laying down weird. I ran out to see what she was doing and sure enough, she was lambing 🙂 She had a set of twins,
a boy
and a girl.
I moved them in the barn, dried them off really good and after they were both up and had eaten I left to go to town. We ran the couple of errands that we needed to and made it back just in time to do chores all over again…where in the world did the day go…and what happened to the wonderful idea of having a nap – maybe tomorrow?
There were a couple titles that I came up with for this post – nasty start, miserable cold, trouble lambing – but in the end this is the most fitting and definitely the most positive! Isabel was due last Friday but hasn’t shown any signs of lambing or stress until this evening when I fed. She ate and promptly went over to a dark corner by herself. I thought to myself “Nice night to lamb Isabel, it’s only supposed to be 19 degrees!” I had a little pep talk with them this morning (when it was a chilly 12 degrees) that if they were going to lamb today that it would be wonderful to do it while the sun was shining. Isabel must have been chewing her cud and daydreaming during this little discussion. Since she probably had a little while to go, I came in and had some dinner. I proceeded to check on her and warm myself periodically in my little room in the barn, with a blessed heater. She paced, pawed the ground, layed down, got up, and chased the other ewes away from HER corner for quite awhile. Finally she layed down and started pushing….nothing happened. I felt like there was something wrong but didn’t feel like she had been given enough time to warrant my sense of dread. I had my husband come out and hold her so that I could make sure. I couldn’t feel any lambs blocking the birth canal, only a water bag still intact. Ok, give her some more time to progress….finally when it was apparent that she wasn’t going to progress, I went in again. Of course my husband was in bed and sound asleep at this point 🙂 Luckily she was obliging! I felt 2 feet and 1 head – yay, wait a second, what the…another head…and that is 2 feet but it sure feels like a back leg and a front leg. Reading the lambing books never really prepares you for this scenario, and while reading these books this is definitely my most feared scenario. Ok, take a deep breath. After pushing and pulling and maneuvering and twisting and swearing and praying – Isabel and I (with a little help from the good Lord) were finally able to get both lambs out. It is always a little nerve wracking when you are pulling on these fragile little creatures that they are going to be intact and alive when they finally get out. I plopped both lambs under Isabel’s nose and she quickly started talking to them and licking them while I vigorously rubbed and dried them. Within seconds they were both talking back to her – YAY!!!!!! Now to get them dry and warm enough to withstand these frigid temperatures we are currently having. Luckily I planned ahead and had brought out a pair of my son’s polar fleece pants. I cut the legs off and cut little holes for their front legs and gave one to each lamb. These 2 girls are definitely fighters! They were standing within a couple of minutes and both had eaten within 10 minutes. And the icing on the cake is that they are both stunning little girls 🙂
Here they are with their little red jackets on.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Kate is my right hand here on the farm. It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that she can move whatever I need to wherever I need it. She proved this again on Friday when I needed to move 4 lambs to the barn to be sheared. This sounds rather simple, right? It would have been, except for the fact that we have all of our small sorting pens torn down due to lambing and that 2 ram lambs were in a pasture with one of our llamas. She had to sort these 2 ram lambs off from their buddies while being kicked at and chased by the llama. The look on her face was priceless. She couldn’t believe that the llama thought that would deter her from the job that needed done!
Even as a puppy, she has always been a very serious girl and has an amazing work ethic. She successfully sorted the 2 off and pushed them through 4 gates down to the barn. The 2 ewe lambs had to be sorted off from a group of 9 ewe lambs that are attached at the hip. She did this without even a bat of an eye.
Here you can see her intensity.
This sounds rather silly, but I am so thankful for the not so great dogs we have had to help with the sheep. Because of them I don’t take Kate for granted and appreciate everything she does for me!
Aimee lambed this afternoon and had 2 beautiful lilac ram lambs. She is my ideal mama – devoted to her lambs, picked a gorgeous sunny afternoon to have her lambs, lambed unassisted, followed me very nicely to the lambing jug, and is very relaxed with me playing with her lambs 🙂
Here she is with her new babies.
“Whoa – what a ride!”
“Here’s smilin’ at you!”
My son loves saying ‘Peanut’ right now – who knows where that came from… So, I told him that he could name this little lamb – guess what his name is 🙂 PEANUT!
Harley had a set of twins this morning – a ewe and a ram. They are beautiful!
Ok, maybe they aren’t beautiful yet…still a little wet and sticky! The ram lamb is the one standing up and the girl is taking a break. Harley ate dinner last night, but was acting a little funny. She was due today. I checked on her at 6:00 this morning and she was laying down in the corner, trying to be stoic and not let me see that she was in labor. Most of my ewes don’t mind me being there, but not Harley. She will practically cross her legs to keep her lambs in if I am in the barn 🙂 So, I came back inside and checked on her again at 7:00. They were both cleaned up and the girl was nursing. They are good sized lambs, the ewe lamb weighs 8 lbs. and the ram is 9 lbs. I love lambs!
Here is a picture of the felted scarves that I have been making the last couple of days.
They are wet felted using merino fiber that is dyed by a gal that lives in the town I grew up in – Rancho Cucamonga – small world! She does a beautiful job and the fiber felts very easily.
Here is a close up of the blue one….
and here is the same one on my very cute model 🙂
You can see all of the scarves and the rest of our fiber products at – http://www.kenleigh-acres.com/Products%20For%20Sale.htm
I love my lilac Jacobs, but there is something so striking about the black and white sheep.
Kenleigh’s Titan – the first lamb in 2007.
Meridian Bella – A ewe lamb acquired from Robin Lynde – Meridian Jacobs – www.meridianjacobs.com
Kenleigh’s Mercedes – One of our 2006 lambs and owned by Lisa Stirnemann – Timber Acres – www.timber-acres.com
I love to go walking and am very fortunate to live close to a state park that has lovely trails. It is really nice that Theron can go with me now and ride his bike. The dogs love it. The downside is when people ignore the signs that say ‘Please keep your dog on leash’. For the most part it isn’t a big deal. Most people are courteous and catch their dogs when they see somebody else coming. What kills me are the people that have dogs that approach us snarling, barking, etc. – see below…
and they proceed to say “he/she just wants to play!” What the @#$#@#$%! Your dog is wanting to eat my dog, not play!
Stories from the Farm 