Wool on the Hoof Available!

We have several sheep available at Wild Rose Farm. Check out our ad in the Farm & Dairy. After using our horned Colorado registered Rambouillet ram for 2 years, we are offering him for sale. He is a twin & will be 4 years old in February. He has a really nice fleece - his test from Yocum-McColl Wool Testing Labs was 21.5 microns. Here he is after being turned in with the ewes last fall --- he is a proven ram offered very reasonably @ a hundred and a half. We'd love to see him go to a good flock! We also have one of his horned ram lambs available for sale. Either one of these rams would be a great way to get fine wool into your flock. This picture on the left is the only picture that we have of him at the moment. He can be registered & is offered at the same price as our more senior ram.

Since buying a new Rambouillet ram this summer, we are focusing on building up our Rambouillet ewes and are also offering 4 Dorset two year old ewes for sale. These ewes all had lambs this spring and are ready to breed now .... offered at a hundred each .... excellent to start a small flock or add to your flock. Micron test results are available on these 4 ewes. Here is one of the ewes that is for sale: The First Lamb is Here. The others are like her and all were born as twins.
Finally, we have 4 Dorset x Rambouillet crossbred twin ewe lambs for sale. Our crossbred ewes have very nice fleeces - they are popular with handspinners. These ewe lambs were born in early May and were sired by our registered performance tested Dorset ram (who was sold in late winter to a small flock in Butler County).
We'd be happy to answer any questions about these sheep!

Another Use for Wild Rose Farm Wool!

Gina came out to Wild Rose Farm for the PASA Summer Farm Tour in July to try and get some wool for her bobbin lace work. We ended up selecting about a pound of combed top which she was going to use to stuff/wrap in her bobbin lace bolster. Apparently, some of the synthetic materials (polyester?) can be slippery and the pins don't hold well enough. It sounds like it is working out really well for her. I see that the instructions to make a bolster also mention using felt as part of the wrapping ...... well, our combed top is also great for wet felting & needle felting, so it will probably tighten up or "felt" over the years with use.

Thanks for the pictures Gina!

Annual Canfield Fair Outing

It was off to the Canfield Fair on Saturday, our annual pilgrimage. We raise sheep, but I love to see the judging of the colored breed dairy cows ..... something different that the ubiquitous black & white Holsteins for a change. Is it me, or are the 2 Guernseys above bigger than I remember them in my Penn State "College of Ag" days? I showed a Holstein back then at the annual spring dairy show, but these Guernseys look just as big. My favorite class is the "Aged Cow" class ...... these "girls" are 6 years old and older. When they stay in the herd that long, they're good sound producers. The Jersey cow in the left center of the picture is 12 years old. If you doubt for a minute that she's well cared for, look at her owner holding her. Something tells me that she was the first 4-H heifer project that this young woman had 12 years ago ...... Which brings us to this sign from Ohio Farm Bureau. Yes, those of us with animals have to care about them and make sure that they're doing well.

And finally, we have one of the unsung heros of the dairy cattle show ring ..... the requirements for this job are a keen, watchful eye, a fleet foot, and the skill & knowledge to know how much is enough! Enough sawdust, that is, to firm up the consistency of the cow pie, but not so much as to be wasteful. Our man had to "flip" most patties, make a scoop, smooth over the divot with his boot, and scamper off to the wheelbarrow while balancing the cargo. All of this while staying out of the way and not startling our slowly circling bovine friends and their handlers.
It looks like it helps to have a sense of humor too! Love the t-shirt!