Wild Rose Farm New Neighbors!

Wild Rose Farm - New Goat Neighbors!

I was out checking the bred ewes to see if anyone had lambed - or - looked ready to lamb.  What appeared in one of the yards above the fenceline?  These 2 goats were wandering towards the action.  I'd heard them before and could see their home, the "Goat Mahal", but they've never been down in the lower part of their property. 

Goats - Curiouser & Curiouser!

We'll have to get a picture of the Goat Mahal for everyone to see - quite the nice structure up on the hill near the house.  It has a red metal roof and can be seen all the way from US Route 30!

Hello!  I Guess The 10 Strand Fence Is Turned Off Right Now ....

No action with these sheep at the moment, so after chatting with the goats, we headed back up to the barn ........

Wild Rose Farm - No Lambs From These Ewes Yet!

Day 2 Lambing

Wild Rose Farm #37 - Twin Ram & Ewe Lambs

On our 2nd day of lambing we had one more single and 2 sets of twins born.  WRF #37 above is a x-bred ewe shown here with her ram lamb and ewe lamb.  The lambs were born out on pasture and this experienced ewe just followed the shepherd carrying her 2 lambs right up to the barn.  They are a nice even pair.  The other set of twins were a smaller pair.  We're just happy to have live, healthy lambs.  The weather?  It's in the 60's and no rain right at this moment.

First Lamb At Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #407 With Ewe Lamb!

As we like to say at this time of the year ..... we're off and running with a new crop of lambs!  This little ewe lamb came about 2 days sooner than we expected to start lambing.  Of course, it's also been said that sheep don't know how to count, so that explains them having lambs whenever their schedule suits them.  She was a nice uneventful birth out on pasture & we brought them up to the barn for several days.   We went out and looked at the rest of the ewes ..... there are some pretty big ones out there.  Stay tuned! 

Shearing Day at Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm "U" and Friends After Shearing

Saturday was shearing day for the bred ewes at Wild Rose Farm.  We had 33 ewes sheared and now we're ready for lambing to begin!   We brought the sheep into the barn on Thursday since the forecast was for heavy rain Thursday night and Friday morning.  Yes, it did rain and the temperatures also dropped.  Shearing day was about 10 degrees cooler that we like it, but it was dry and sunny. 

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #403 Gets Started!

We were very pleased with the fleeces this year.  It's great to have a nice group of young Rambouillet ewes and Dorset x Rambouillet ewes in their prime!  We will have some wonderful fleeces skirted to take to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival. 


Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #401 Shears A Show Fleece!

Can you see the "Rambouillet" in WRF #401?  Small horn scurs and our shearer plowing through a dense white fine wool fleece!   And she's got a nice open face.  She is out of the Colorado Andrew Schafer Rambouillet ram from several years ago.  She had triplets last year ........ we retained the ewe lamb and the horned ram lamb.
I'll have fleece pictures up on the blog in the next couple of weeks when I can get to them around the lambing season!

2013 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest Is Coming!

2012 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival Shoppers!

Well, sheep & fiber friends, it's time to start thinking about our 10th Anniversary Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival!  This year it will be held on May 18th & 19th at  the Greene County Fairgrounds in Waynesburg, PA.  We have a great variety of over 40 juried vendors signed up so far this year.   There is still time to enter the photography contest and the fiber arts contest - check the WS&FF web-site for applications. 
Here are a few more pictures from 2012 to get everyone in mood!  As usual, there will be chef demos, lamb recipe sampling, sheep shearing demos, the Breed Pavillion, and kids activities.  A recent feature story in Lancaster Farming by Laura Zoeller provides a nice background on the festival & how it got started.


Fantastic Fiber - Rivers Edge Fiber Arts - Back in 2013!

2 Friends - From Many Threads - Back in 2013!

Annadele Alpacas Gorgeous Yarns - Coming Again in 2013!

Black Cat Valley Farm Jellies - Back in 2013!

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest 2012

 

Wild Rose Farm Wild Turkey Trot!

Wild Turkeys in Pasture

We looked out the other morning around 7:30AM to see this small flock of turkeys in the paddock below the lower driveway.  We're not sure what they were up to, but they headed up the driveway to the barn.  

Wild Rose Farm Turkey Trot!

They milled around in front of the barn for a few minutes and then turned back down the driveway the way they came ......

Beavers In Beaver County?

Beaver Lodge Near Wild Rose Farm

A close relative, who shall remain un-named, once said, "there are no beavers in Beaver County!".  Well, we know better around here.  A couple of years ago, there was a roadkilled beaver out in front of our property.  We took it for a beaver heading to new territory ..... and he never quite made it!
Mr. Wild Rose Farm was out hunting the other night and had to pass around these newly discovered beaver dams a couple of properties down stream from our place, so he went and got some pictures.


Beaver Work In Progress

  These dams weren't here 2 years ago, so they've done a bit of work fairly recently.  They're called busy beavers for a reason .........

Bark Stripped Off .....

Also seen walking off was this flock of wild turkeys.  Stay tuned to our next post for more on the local turkey flock ..... really local, you'll see!

Wild Turkeys Leaving The Beaver Dams