Wild Rose Farm

Why We Don't!

2012-01-17T21:53:00.000-05:00

It's Freezing Out Here, But We're Wearing Wool!

Visiting other farm blogs after last weekend reminds me of why we don't lamb in the winter here at Wild Rose Farm. Every farmer has a different market & a different goal. If you're raising show sheep or 4-H lambs, there is a need to lamb in the winter. The busy lambing season occurs while there's no field work to be done. At WRF, we don't sell to those markets, so we lamb in warmer weather on pasture. Wea also can shear the ewes before lambing, so the fleeces are much cleaner ....
I didn't get a picture of them for the blog, but we were switching out frozen water buckets every day.
Imagine if we had lambs being born - frozen water buckets and using heat lamps is not our idea of a good time.
To each his own! :)

Temps Drop!

2012-01-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

Mike Feeding The Sheep

And boy did the temperature drop at Wild Rose Farm last week. We went from low 50's to the teens overnight. Luckily, the rain tapered off as the high winds & cold front came through Western PA. We had some snow, but it mostly got blown around. Then on Friday is was really blowing & cold all day. Our neighbor Mike is helping with the sheep right now. This is his first experience working closely with sheep & we warned him that sheep were as bad as pigs rushing in for the feed trough! He thought it was kind of neat (!), but you've got to hold the bucket up and make sure that they don't hit your knees & knock you off of your feet ...... at least he doesn't have to worry about the ram rushing him now that he's back in the ram pen.

Fluffing The Round Bale Hay ......

Step two was sliding in the sides of the round bale feeders. As the sheep eat, the sides slide in and collapse the feeding area. The little tunnel on the right of the picture shows how the sheep stick their heads in and eat the best parts of the hay. The stems are forked out for bedding and the bale is "fluffed" to pull the fresh hay out within reach. That's why all of the ewes are surrounding the feeders now ! They really put the munch on the hay when the temperature drops.

Finally A Dusting Of Snow!

2012-01-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

1st Snow Of The Season .....

It's been rainy & unseasonably warm at Wild Rose Farm for December and over the holidays into January. That changed last night when a cold front came through. We picked up a dusting of snow & we may get a little more overnight & tomorrow. We're happiest when the ground is frozen and there is a nice snow cover for the winter. We also like it to fall in nice even, small amounts on a regular schedule ....... yeah right! :) This morning, some of the ewes were munching on hay & some were still chewing their cuds with a coating of snow over them.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

Wild Rose Farm Ewe Lambs

Merry Christmas from Wild Rose Farm! Not much was going on here today. The ewe lambs were enjoying the sun for a change. No snow for Christmas here in Western PA.
The breeding ewes are doing well too. One of them was limping badly earlier this week. We caught her up & she had a stone caught between her toes. There were no lasting effects & she's fine now.

Wood Piles

2011-12-20T22:05:00.001-05:00

Unloading Cordwood

Clearing more ground for pastures yielded quite a bit of cordwood & rough cut lumber for siding. The cordwood has been stored in the picnic shelter, the barn, & beneath a stand of pine trees under a tarp. Now it's time to move it to house to be used. Right now most of the wood is cherry & locust. The cherry burns most of the time & the locust is used when we want to bank the fire. We also had some nice cherry logs rough cut by a fellow with a portable band saw .... that wood is air drying with "sticks" between the boards to help keep them flat. That's "sustainable" Wild Rose Farm. The property had been timbered 10 years ago by the previous owner & now some of the trees are big enough for a limited timber harvest again.

Rough Cut Cherry

Sunny & Chilly

2011-12-18T22:34:00.001-05:00

Wild Rose Farm Ewe Lambs

We had some sunshine early today and our ewe lambs were enjoying the cold weather & the sun. We also had some snow flurries later in the day, but they didn't stick on the ground for long. Here's Lisa looking at us this afternoon from the paddock behind the barn ..... she watches everything!

Wild Rose Farm Lisa

Not A Vendor This Time........

2011-12-11T23:47:00.001-05:00

Belsnickle & Visitors

Restored Harmonist Natural History Museum

This is the first time in years that Wild Rose Farm was not a vendor at Christmas At The Village in Old Economy Village. The event was back to 2 days, but a busy work schedule just didn't leave enough time to set up, spend 2 days, then pack up before leaving on business travel again on Monday. So ....... we took advantage of being nearby to spend a few hours actually visiting the site! When you're a vendor or demonstrator, you pretty much don't see anything except what is right next to you.
There were some new vendors with really great hand crafted stuff ...... crochet, wooden toys, redware ornaments & pottery, native plant art from Karen Sandorf Gallery, herbal products & antique clocks, & one of our favorites, the primitive wood carving below ..... complete with left-handed spatulas! Note the "Please Touch" sign.

Hand Carved Cherry Wood

Touring the grounds provided glimpses of how the Harmonists & people of that era lived .....

OEV Volunteers

Finally, on our way out, we were directed to the church built by the Harmony Society, now St. John's Lutheran Church, for a concert by the Old Economy Orchestra. What a great building with wonderful acoustics, much like the 2nd floor of the Feast Hall. Some of the music was original to the Harmony Society.

St John's Lutheran Church Built By Harmonists

And last, but not least, we ran into our farmer friends, Marcy, Dale, & Nigel Tudor of Weatherbury Farm in Avella, PA. Check out their web-site to see what they're up to ......

Striking Sunrise .....

2011-12-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

Earliest Light

Here's was a really colorful Wild Rose Farm sunrise as seen through the branches of our locust tree, loaded with seed pods. You should see how many pods are already on the ground!

Eastern Sky Brightens Up!

Ewe Lambs For Sale!

2011-12-04T07:57:00.002-05:00

Good Year Blimp Heading Home

Just before the pictues of the lambs were taken, something caught our eye yesterday. We just got a shot in just before the Good Year Blimp disappeared behind the trees. We see blimps around here occasionally since we are on the flight path to Pittsburgh ..... it must have been around for the Pitt football game yesterday.

Ewe Lambs with #802 Upper Right

We have 2 twin registered Rambouillet ewe lambs for sale now at Wild Rose Farm. This spring, the majority of our Rambouillet lambs were ram lambs ...... that's just how it goes sometimes!
The lambs are separated from the older ewes now that it's breeding season & the ram is out. Their babysitter is our old ewe #802 ..... no breeding for her, plus our current Rambouillet ram is actually her last lamb.

The Season Starts!

2011-11-27T20:43:00.001-05:00

Ewes With Numbers - Now Where Is That Ram?

Breeding season started today at Wild Rose Farm .... our traditional Thanksgiving weekend festive event. I wish! There was nothing festive or fun about gathering up the ewes in the rain today. We had a couple of ear tags to replace on the older ewes & we put the official permanent ear tags in the yearlings today. Every ewe also gets her ear tag number sprayed on her hip. It's much easier to read that big number from a distance.
Then the ram was penned up & we got his breeding/marking harness put on with the green crayon. He's still afraid of people, so he tends to be behind the ewes. We'll see if he figures out what his job is. Only 1 picture today ..... too risky to try & get that perfect shot in between the rain drops!

Black Friday @ Standing Chimney Farm!

2011-11-24T09:20:00.002-05:00

Bottle Wear or Gift Bags!

Here's an idea if you're local to the Western PA area ...... stop out at Standing Chimney Friday or Saturday and join the fun by shopping in a relaxed & welcoming atmosphere! We can guarantee that there will be food & beverage sampling for you. Wild Rose Farm visited last Saturday under our alias "LFLF". We found some great stuff if you're a fiber enthusiast. Beth has felt, roving, & a small selection of yarns from Stramba Farm Alpacas. She also has some repurposed wool sweaters with felted ornamentation from the wool of her own Icelandic sheep.

I just loved these bottle sleeves/gift bags! I'd say that they qualify as a "green gift"!

Standing Chimney Luke Is Waiting To Greet You!

The shop is full of other things - talk about variety - and the focus is on featuring local artisans, crafters, & foods! Expect to see more Christmas greens out front on the porch!
More comments on the LFLF blog ..........

Cutting & Clearing

2011-11-22T22:02:00.002-05:00

Sumac Trees & Brush Cut Down ....

The work of clearing ground in the Wild Rose Farm pasture areas continues. Look behind the sheep & you can see where the trees have been cut. These were some of the largest Sumac trees that we've ever seen.
The triangle of ground in the Back 40 has been cleared, next the stumps will be pulled & the ground will be leveled out and prepared for seeding.

Back 40 Clearing Off Of Fence Line

Next project? See the clump of trees & brush on the right? It's just the leading edge of a tangle of dead & dying trees being smothered in bittersweet, poison ivy, grape vines & a particularly nasty upright multiflora rose growing up against a large tree trunk.

Trail Camera Wildlife

2011-11-20T00:57:00.001-05:00

Deer .......

How about a photo essay from a trail camera set up just outside of a pasture field? We've seen does with fawns inside the high tensile fence at Wild Rose Farm, now here's a look at the traffic outside of the fence.
Believe me, you have to look carefully to see things when there are 1489 pictures to go through!

Squirrel!

Buck ....

The clump of goldenrod in the foreground waving in the wind was probably responsible for 1419 of the pictures ............

Raccoon!

Legal!

Turkey Flock

Little Buck

Doe

Night Deer

Curiouser And Curiouser ...........

2011-11-12T21:29:00.002-05:00

Pardon the glare, but this was the only angle we could get on the hesitant, but curious Wild Rose Farm Lisa coming in for a closer approach. In hindsight, maybe setting the camera to "Beach" would have toned this down .... We're trying to spend some time just being in and around the paddock to get her used to us moving around with normal activities. One thing we've learned .... notice the black feed bucket hanging in the barn on the right in the 2nd picture. She keeps looking at the grain in the feeder, but will not put her head into the deep bucket to get the grain. Obviously, she instinctively doesn't want her vision blocked. We'll have to get a shallower hanging feeder for her.

Lisa Starting To Drift Closer

Lisa Thinking Hard About A Few More Steps

That's It .... That's As Close As We Get!

Settling In ........

2011-11-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

Lisa has started to get used to the routines here at Wild Rose Farm. She is in with the lambs now and seems to be doing fine. Amazing that such a large creature won't push her way into the feeder when we put grain out to call the lambs over. Her feed has to be placed out of reach of the piggish sheep!

Here she is "grazing" off of the top of the rack with her little friends .....!

And The Ears Have It!

2011-11-06T20:03:00.002-05:00

Lamb Ears .......

Maybe it's just me, but the ears have it! Looking through pictures from today, it seems that the animals are all ears. If you've been around animals, you know how alert they are.

Llama Ears

We've often said that no one can sneak up on you when you're out in the pasture. All you have to do is look at the sheep .... if anything is unusual, they're focused on it!

Donkey Ears

I happened to be hanging around in the barnyard late this afternoon just to get our llama Lisa used to me. She has settled down & is doing well with the lambs, but she is not near being ready to be handled. This will take time. Today she cruised by me about 4 feet away going back into the hayrack in the barn. She moves freely in & out of the barn and she likes to walk over to the lower side of the paddock to look over the pasture.

Amusing story from 2 weeks ago ..... we have a bowhunter who has been hunting from a tree stand in the wooded pasture over in the background. Seems he heard some loud crashing through the brush and saw Glenda come bucking & kicking along chasing 3 deer towards him! Who knows what she was up to? That ended any chance of a buck coming by his treestand for that morning!

Maple Tree Saga

2011-10-28T22:49:00.000-04:00

WRF Sugar Maple "Before"

Well, our beautiful Sugar Maple finally had to go. The first sign of trouble was 2 years ago when we noticed leaves drying up early on a big branch on the left side. Then last fall, about a third of the left side looked anemic before the leaves dropped. This summer, the whole left side died out, bark started to peel, & the leaves on the front branches withered early. Now was the time to remove the tree. We'll still have time to plant several evergreens to shield us from the busy road.

First Big Branch

Half Way

Last Branch

Almost ........

Timberrrrrrr !!!!!!!!!

Rotten Center ...... :(

Given the choice of "do you want me to drop it on the dogwood or the holly bush?", we chose the holly bush. Actually, the damage wasn't too bad. A severe pruning for Christmas greens should fix that right up! Now what else to plant???

Meet Wild Rose Farm Lisa!

2011-10-22T21:11:00.000-04:00

There's always something new when you live on a farm. Today we picked up Lisa the Llama! Lisa was part of a group of 4 llamas who needed to find a new farm. We were approached about giving a home to a llama & after going to visit the group, we made arrangements to take one. We called a friend who already has a nice group of llamas and other fiber animals. The other 3 went to her farm.
So begins the process of introducing Lisa to the sheep and to us. The 4 were not halter broken and will need to be able to be handled so that they can get a much overdue shearing in the spring. Lisa has never been an "only llama" and she will be looking for her former herdmates for a while. We'll see what time & patience will do. For now she's in the ram pen by herself next to the lambs in the barn.

Request For Yarn Pics .....

2011-10-17T23:03:00.000-04:00

We got a request for pictures of Wild Rose Farm worsted weight yarn, so here we go. Always a caution when taking pictures of what the true color is, so there are a few angles & a close up. Natural dyes listed. The dark brown has a greenish cast & the madder & logwood are varigated since we used a tie dye effect in the dye bath. Probably should take some pictures of the sport weight too ..... different colors there ......

Dark Gold Onion, Lighter Yellow Osage Orange

Teal w/yellow underlights overdyed with Indigo

Dark Brown Sumac & Reddish Brown Cutch

Orange Madder, Purple Tie Dye Logwood, Magenta Cochineal

New Sheep Friends!

2011-10-16T21:36:00.000-04:00

Wild Rose Farm took some time today to visit with Dave, Vanessa, their children and their 3 sheep. This spring, we referred them to our sheep shearer and today we stopped by to work with them to do some hoof trimmng. It's not a tough thing to do, but learning to flip the sheep over & then how much to trim takes a little practice. The good news is that, judging by the looks of things, these sheep probably will only need to have their feet trimmed about twice a year. Yeah! They have a completely different type of sheep than most everyone around here. They are East Friesian x Lacuane crosses ---- dairy sheep! The ewes are about 18 months old & they are considering breeding them this fall if they can get a suitable ram. It just dawned on me that we didn't get a group photo of the ewes, just the hoof trimming exercise ....... :(
Anyway the other 2 sheep were white. It looks like they're going to have a 4 or 5 inch fleece by next spring. They have nice clean wool free heads and legs and naturally short tails. I imagine that they'll give quite a bit of milk, so could sheep milk cheese be a possibility? I know that most of the beginning cheese making classes & seminars are jam packed!

More Color Before The Rain!

2011-10-15T22:29:00.000-04:00

Wild Rose Farm Fall Color!

More fall color at Wild Rose Farm taken before the rain & wind came last night ..... The next pictures won't have nearly as many leaves in the background. The ewes are always curious when someone comes out to the pasture since it could mean a bucket of grain! Then back to grazing once that hope is dashed .......

Walnut Dyebath Getting Started ......

2011-10-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

Black Walnut Hulls For Natural Dyeing

If you're driving around at this time of year, you can't help but spot black walnuts dropped along the roadsides. The crushed nuts and hulls & their distinctive brownish black stains are found along roads & driveways in the country & even in town. Most people will let you pick them up if you ask. Be sure to wear gloves, then either strip off the hulls or use the whole walnut, & soak in water for a couple of days.
Just Google "dyeing with walnuts" for all kinds of advice on how to do some dyeing. You can also concentrate the liquid & use it to stain wood & baskets
These walnuts came from the farm where we picked up the hay ..... you can see the trees in the background behind the corncrib with the longhorn steer hanging.

Sheep Comings & Goings!

2011-10-11T19:09:00.001-04:00

Sheep Coming! Can You Find "U"?

I took a few minutes today to get some pictures of the sheep as their grazing rotation takes them past the maples below the front pasture. With the recent rain, the grass is really green & the maples are at their peak of color! It's supposed to get cooler & start to rain tomorrow. Hopefully everyone got their hay in today. The sheep certainly like it when the weather turns cooler.

Sheep Going ..... Now Find "U"!

We've been considering jacketing the sheep, but we haven't gone down that path just yet. It shows up in the color of "U". She's not a true "black" black sheep, & you can see the difference in the sunbleached color of her fleece.

Wild Rose Farm "U" & Some of The Flock

Got Hay?

2011-10-10T21:24:00.001-04:00

3rd Cutting Alfalfa Hay

This wonderful warm October weather found most of the farmers in our part of Western Pennsylvania cutting, raking, & baling up 3rd cutting hay. Wild Rose Farm got a nice load of 3rd cutting alfalfa hay & hauled it home today. Our farmer friend may have some leafy grass hay for us tomorrow. It depends on how it dries and if he beats the rain. It will be round baled, so it can take some rain once it's baled.
Now how's this for barn art? Our farmer friend has this on the side of his corn crib ......

Just realized when I went to start this post that the previous WRF post belonged on the LFLF blog. Oh well ......... first time that's ever happened!

Rainy Market Day

2011-10-02T09:45:00.003-04:00

It was cool & rainy at the Beaver Farmers' Market on Saturday, but the market still had a good turnout.

LFLF picked up baked goods, apple cider, & green beans before putting away the umbrella & jumping back into the truck. We saw grapes again, plus new this week were chestnuts, decorative corn, bittersweet vines, & gourds.

The fresh winter squash & eggplants looked great glistening in the gentle rain!

To Market, To Market .....

2011-09-24T21:59:00.002-04:00

Lambs Munching 2nd Cutting Hay

The recent rains have been great for the pastures & the ewes started a new rotation today. The sheep will be enjoying the cooler weather. Fall is market time for lamb at Wild Rose Farm. We've been fortunate to get good prices for lambs the last 2 years. We'll be taking in freezer lambs for a couple of customers in the next 2 weeks. We also have some registered Rambouillet ewe lambs that will be going to a new home.
Work continues on clearing an area for a building site for next year. There are old fence posts in a line through this area & a "dead furrow" where the ground had once been plowed. It's probably been 60+ years since that area was a pasture field judging by the size of the trees. Just look at some of the firewood & timber that we have built up. We'll be calling in a small portable sawmill to saw the cherry logs into boards.

Logs & Fire Wood

Clearing & Brush Pile

2011 Fair Wrap-up

2011-09-11T22:17:00.000-04:00

2011 Hookstown Fair

Wild Rose Farm got in a couple of fairs this summer. The Hookstown Fair had great weather & we got some good pictures of the 4-H kids showing market lambs. What was the new catch phrase this year from the judge? As readers know, we're alert to new trends in livestock judging and the show ring this year did not disappoint! In separating a 1st place lamb from the 2nd place lamb, the judge indicated that "my second place lamb would have had to have been a couple of clicks better to win the show tonight" over the first place lamb. Love it!

Good Sportsmanship - One Click Better!

We got shut out of the bidding on the market poultry pens at Hookstown - prices went way up - so we ended up at the Big Knob Fair the following week. We successfully bid on a market hog that we are splitting with friends. It's a great opportunity to support the 4-H youth who work hard on all of their projects.
Our final shot is from the Canfield Fair. It was really hot on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, so we got there early and were leaving by 1PM. Whew .......
The Largest Squash contest is always impressive, but if you look, the weight was down this year.

2011 Canfield Fair - Grand Champion Largest Squash!

Hoopiefest Found!

2011-08-21T23:19:00.000-04:00

Hoopiefest Has A Special Theme This Year!

It took an event like Hoopiefest to bring Wild Rose Farm back to the blogosphere! We've been very busy & things are finally starting to settle down a little at work. Enough so, that we made it to the Beaver Farmers' Market Saturday morning. Strangely enough, a few days ago, the thought of "hey, isn't it about time for Hoopiefest?" came to mind. As I was wandering around the market (see other blog here), one of the vendors mentioned being invited to Hoopiefest. "WHAT?", I said!
"Oh, some old neighbors of mine have a party the 3rd weekend in August each year ..... my sister usually goes, & this year I got invited .... I volunteered to bring the corn, but they already had it lined up." "It's out in the middle of nowhere."
I couldn't believe it! I mentioned the saga of trying to track this down for 2 years, but no directions were forthcoming ...... hmmmmm. So ..... I returned to where we've seen the sign before and was not disappointed. Again we turned down the back road.

One Lane Bridge On The Search For Hoopiefest

We drove on along the road looking for any indication the Hoopiefest was near ........ up ahead were a bunch of balloons on either side of a hidden driveway. But no, this wasn't Hoopiefest. :(

A Baby Shower!

Just when it seemed like we'd gone too far & had surely passed it up - here it was! Looks like it really is an honest to goodness Hoopiefest! The picture has been cropped to protect the innocent.

Now You've Made It To Hoopiefest!

Work, Work, Work ......

2011-07-17T22:29:00.002-04:00

Lot's of work going on here at Wild Rose Farm! The barn has gotten a seal coat of linseed oil & the trim is painted white. We may paint just below the roof line drip edge on the front ..... The other white is bold enough to balance more white on top, right?

The WRF sign was turned over and we have a bright looking farm sign again. The sheep & background in the center of the sign was handpainted by Campbell Signs & Apparel over 12 years ago. I'd recommend them to anyone looking for original art, not just computer generated clip art signs!
Here's Glenda standing near us as we look over the area that was cleared last winter. We've seeded it with rye & orchard grass, but we really do need some rain. The locust tree roots are sending up sprouts everywhere. We had just finished trimming Glenda's hooves. Here's an interesting tidbit. We collect the hoof trimmings & give them to the dogs. They like them better than pig ears and rawhide chews! Life on the farm ...... :)

Weekend Activites

2011-07-09T23:03:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was the weekend to trim feet & deworm the sheep at Wild Rose Farm. This time of year is when the parasite load seems to take hold & we don't want to lose any of the ewes or lambs. This weekend, the humidity is down & the sheep are spread out a little grazing just before sunset.

Fawn In Pasture With Sheep

As I walked back to check on the sheep, I spotted a fawn in the pasture with them. The fawn was curious & stood frozen watching my approach. I got pretty close before it panicked, took off all the way along the fenceline behind the sheep, ran up over the hill, and disappeared out of sight!
This weekend we started the process of working on the barn. The plan is to seal the wood with linseed oil & then paint the accent trim with white paint. Here's the first coat of primer going on the trim. The siding has already the clear seal, so it just has a slightly wet appearance.

Painting Barn Trim

Neighboring Farmers

2011-07-03T01:23:00.001-04:00

WRF went on a quick drive to the nearby McElhaney Family Farm - they've been raising Shorthorn beef cattle for 3 generations. We wanted to check out a piece of hay handling equipment that we might like to buy for our farm. Well, in true farm style community generosity, the equipment was at someone else's farm being used, so we'll have to wait to see it.
The McElhaneys sell their dry aged freezer beef at several farmers' markets including the Sewickley Farmers' Market on Saturday from 9AM to 1PM and the Ambridge Farmers' Market on Thursday from 4PM to 7PM.
They were moving some cows and calves when we arrived so we snapped a couple of pictures of their cattle as the sun was setting .......

Washington County Wool Pool

2011-06-26T23:19:00.002-04:00

Future Wool Producer -
Yearling Rambouillet Ram

We spent last weekend at Wild Rose Farm sorting through the fleeces that we won't show, sell, or have made into yarn. Not every fleece is a show fleece or a hand spinning fleece, so the rest of them go to the wool pool. The majority of shepherds aren't selling to fiber artists or making yarn, so most of the wool shorn from flocks each year is taken to a "wool pool" to be sold. The Washington County Co-Operative Wool Growers held their event on Monday (flocks with >125 fleeces) & Tuesday (small flocks with <125 fleeces). Our fleeces went on Tuesday.
FYI, there's a world wide increase in the price of wool, so we got almost twice as much for our wool in 2011 -vs- 2010. Example: Fine Staple was $2.20/lb - vs- $1.40/lb last summer. Not a fortune, but a better price for the fleeces that we won't use otherwise. Expect to see prices of wool yarns going up across the board out there, even at the (gasp) big box craft stores!
As I sort the fleeces, I can't help but pull out choice sections of Rambouillet fleeces that are going to the wool pool. ;) They get added to the future yarn stash.

Getting Ready For Winter!

2011-06-18T23:04:00.000-04:00

The Wild Rose Farm woodpile is shaping up. This is the last of the wood picked up after cutting & clearing last winter for more pasture. We laid down old railroad ties to get the wood off of the ground & then stacked the wood between the trees. There are stacks in the barn and under the picnic shelter ... roughly 9 cords now. Glenda was very attentive and standing nearby until the chainsaw started. She decided to leave the area! This has become the technique for going through the gate .... fire up the chain saw, leave it running, and go through the gate. Glenda won't go anywhere near the open gate.

Lamb Totals

2011-06-11T23:53:00.000-04:00

We've been traveling a lot lately & hadn't had a chance to recap the mix of lambs born this spring. The stats for Wild Rose Farm this year are a total of 13 ewe lambs and 23 ram lambs. All 8 Rambouillet ewe lambs are twins and we'll also have a good selection of twin Rambouillet ram lambs to choose from for sale after weaning. 3 of the crossbred ewe lambs are twins & they will also be available in late July once they are weaned.

Hauling Hay .....

2011-06-05T22:33:00.001-04:00

Rambouillet Ewes & Lambs

Just about everyone around here is baling their 1st cutting hay. It started early last week after the threats of rain ended and the humidity broke. Scattered T-storms made some folks nervous last night, but it missed our immediate area, so the locals were baling & cutting again today. We've been hauling some square bales & storing them in the loft. Next come the round bales. Business travel is coming up again this week, so WRF did weeding, pruning, & grass cutting over the weekend. The barn was cleaned out where we put our lambing pens in preparation for storing round bales. The 3 ewes above and the six lambs were kicked out of the barn & onto pasture. The little lamb in the front is a bottle baby & she just found out what an electric fence is tonight ..... they learn very quickly!

A Little Cooler Now

2011-06-03T22:02:00.000-04:00

The weather cooled down at Wild Rose Farm as the week progressed. Not much activity with the sheep until the sun starts to go down in the evening. The ewes enjoy a fresh break of grass & the lambs get to run around & gather in the mowed areas .....

Twin Rambouillet Ewe Lamb

Busy Weekends!

2011-05-30T22:56:00.001-04:00

The ewes and lambs are out on pasture now & it's beem really busy around the farm lately. Last weekend was the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest and this weekend was occupied with hauling firewood, working in flowerbeds, mowing grass, and a visit to family in Maryland. Next are business trips, so there won't be much getting done at home. Oh well .... it will all be here waiting! Now that we've had our fill of rainy days, we're getting record temps in the low 90's.
We had a group of visitors this weekend and here's one of our helpers bottle feeding one of our lambs. Luckily, only 1 bottle lamb this year. Our total lambing for this year? 20 ewes with 36 lambs & none were triplets. All were born in a 17 day window, so our ram was on the job & didn't miss a thing!

Fiber Festival Crowd!

2011-05-22T23:15:00.000-04:00

Lippencott Alpacas On Parade!

What would a fiber festival be if it didn't feature fiber animals? This weekend at the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest, we saw all kinds of fiber animals. Most were sheep, but here we feature shots of nicely groomed attendees .......

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest Blurb

2011-05-19T23:40:00.000-04:00

Here's a press release for the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Fest. It gives an nice picture of what will be going on this weekend! WRF will be there tomorrow setting up the vendor spaces and our own booth.

Getting Ready

2011-05-15T22:39:00.000-04:00

Wild Rose Farm is getting ready for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest next weekend. With business travel this week, we have to get things staged tonight. So ......... we also had a flurry of activity in the barn this afternoon. We finished ear tagging, vaccinating, & tail docking on all of the remaining lambs. The final numbers are in for the lambing season. We have 36 lambs from 20 ewes this year. We started with a couple of singles, but finished strong with twins, twins, twins. Our Rambouillet ram got all of the ewes bred on the first service .... we started lambing on April 26th & finished on May 12th. We have one bottle lamb out of the bunch, She's #300 & she was small & wobbly at birth. Her twin was normal size & he's doing fine with the ewe, but this one needed some help getting her strength to stand up. Hopefully all of the lambs stay healthy. It's always something that seems to come up.

Almost Attacked By Lambs! :)

NOTE for the festival: I got a call from someone who has a J-mode 4 harness table loom, 23" reed,warping board, shuttles, thread, books, etc FOR SALE. She's asking $300 or best offer. I'll have the pictures and phone number at my booth and at the information booth if anyone is interested. Sounds like a good deal to me & a great place to try and find a new home for it!
Now back to work for a few more minutes .... bundling up copies of Sheep!, Shepherd, & Stockman Grass Farmer magazines to resell at the festival. It's a bargain & I sell them every year!

City Streets, City Sheeps?

2011-05-14T18:22:00.000-04:00

Returning from a business trip, Wild Rose Farm was startled to see this group of sheep approaching along Route 22 in Zanesville, Ohio! Wow! It turns out that I stumbled upon the Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio & Gallery. Of course I had to stop, take a few pictures, and visit the studio. The studio is only a few minutes from the Zanesville exits off of I70 & definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.

Lambs Wool For Sale

2011-05-08T22:49:00.001-04:00

WRF # 197 - Lambs Wool Fleece

We have 2 lambswool fleeces skirted for the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Fest. One is from the 1st shearing of a Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet ewe lamb & the other is from one of our crossbred ewe lambs. Of course they're smaller than the fleeces from the mature ewes and they have a very soft handle. Anyone who knows me, knows about my "lambswool" rant, expressed a few weeks ago on this blog. :) Unsuspecting folks buy "lambswool" sweaters and then complain that they are itchy & scratchy. It bears repeating that just because wool comes from a lamb, it's not necessarily soft or fine. Every sheep was a lamb at some time & all breeds have different wool characterstics & micron counts.
Since we're in the middle of lambing, I usually don't go to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, but I bet there are some really happy fiber artists/addicts out there tonight and some really exhausted vendors .... Hopefully eveyone had a great time!

More In The Barn

2011-05-07T23:09:00.001-04:00

Today we had another single lamb & a set of twin ewe lambs at Wild Rose Farm. Here are some of the ewes & lambs from the group that were born in the "flurry of twins" on Thursday ........ they were all born out in the field, but we brought them in to the barn since it just keeps raining. Better that than to take a chance with twins losing too much body heat on the wet ground in the rain.

Rambouillet #328 & Twin Ewe Lambs

Rambouillet #323 & Twin Ram Lambs - they'll fill out in a couple of days!

Rambouillet #404 Cleaning Twin Ram Lamb

11 More To Go

2011-05-06T21:50:00.000-04:00

We have 11 more ewes to lamb at Wild Rose Farm. The temperatures are little cooler than normal in the evening for this time of year. The colors of the trees, the green grass, and the white ewes make for a nice picture postcard!

Lot's of Lambs .....

2011-05-05T22:42:00.000-04:00

We had 4 sets of twins today at Wild Rose Farm. First a set of ewe lambs for Rambouillet #328 around 6AM. Than in the afternoon, 3 other ewes all had sets of ram lambs out in the field. They had to be sorted out, since originally it looked like the Dorset ewe in the picture had triplets. Turns out that the smallest lamb to the right belonged to another ewe & must have wandered off. Now they're all paired up .....

Save The Date!

2011-05-02T22:31:00.000-04:00

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest coming soon!

Two Lambs & Two Fleeces

2011-04-30T22:36:00.001-04:00

Wild Rose Farm #105 Dorset and Twins

We like to be in the barn a this time of year sorting & skirting fleeces. You can hear the ewes & lambs "talking" to each other. Dorset #105 was settled in with her twins sleeping right in front of her.
Here are 2 more fleeces skirted & ready to go to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest .....
First up is a nice Rambouillet fleece from one of our 2 year olds, Wild Rose Farm #401. The cast iron lamb mold in front was an Easter present! I've always wanted one of these. Special thanks to "S&L" for adding another item to my cast iron collection ......

Wild Rose Farm #401 Rambouillet Fleece

The next fleece is a crossbred fleece from Wild Rose Farm #50 ---- more Rambouillet in her breeding than Dorset, so she also has a fine fleece.

Wild Rose Farm #50 Crossbred Fleece

First Set of Twins

2011-04-28T23:47:00.002-04:00

Wild Rose Farm Dorset #105 Twins

Here we are bringing the 1st set of twins born this spring up to the barn. One person has to carry and the other one has to open & close the electric net fence. The ewe is very attentive & concerned .... you almost trip over her because she stays so close to the lambs. These are Dorset x Rambouillet crossbreds out of Dorset #105. One ewe & one ram and both are healthy.
And now a follow-up to the post yesterday about "U", "U2", & the headgate. U was released from the headgate this morning and is doing fine. No problems now with allowing the lamb to nurse. It usually works out without a problem ... yea!
Looking back as I closed the fence, I saw a group of the expectant ewes watching their flockmate go up to the barn with her lambs.

Where Did The Lambs Go?

First Lamb Jitters

2011-04-27T21:44:00.002-04:00

It's U2!

Well, this morning, Wild Rose Farm U had her first lamb. A healthy snow white ewe lamb! U did a great job of cleaning off the lamb, but then kept backing off & wouldn't let the lamb nurse. This doesn't happen often, most years we have no problems, but we keep a grafting headgate for just such occasions. The gate allows the ewe to stand up, lie down and get her feed & water, but makes sure that the lamb can get to the udder, nurse, & get enough colostrum to get a good start. Sometimes the lambs slips through the neck opening & can be found curled up peacefully under the ewe's nose. Usually, the ewe can be released the next day or so, but sometimes it takes longer for her to accept a lamb, espsecially if it has been grafted on to her. Gotta have a grafting headgate if you're going to do any lambing ..... then hope that you don't use it often!
So what to name the ewe lamb? Aunt Mary Ann agrees with me ..... U2!

U & U2 Grafting Head Gate At Work

Right On Schedule!

2011-04-26T22:18:00.001-04:00

WRF Rambouillet #329 & Ram Lamb

The ram went in on November 28th, 2010 and our first lamb was born today on April 26th. These were the exact same dates as last year ......... right on schedule! Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #329 had a single ram lamb out in the pasture this evening. She's a very attentive mother & came right up with us as we carried the lamb. We brought them up to the barn since we've been having intermittent downpours so far this week.

These 2 yearlings were quite attentive & interested in the whole process. They're in the barn because one of them injured her leg in the pre-shearing breakout a couple of weeks ago. She's starting to put some weight on it, but we'll need to keep her confined until she's fully recovered. Sheep just aren't that smart and a quick scamper could ruin the whole thing. Since we're talking about "sheep psyche", the 2nd yearling is with her strictly for flock companionship. We don't sell a single lamb to anyone for the same reason. You need to get 2 or 3 so that they are in a group, or you'll end up with a frantic sheep that will injure itself ......

Fleece & Farm

2011-04-24T09:57:00.000-04:00

WRF X-bred #39

After sorting through 4 more fleeces, we came up with this one to add to our group going to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival. Not every fleece has the quality to be a show or handspinning fleece. What knocks them out of the running is that they have excessive "vegetable matter", stains, or even that some don't have enough staple length. Fleeces from the yearling lamb's 1st shearing usually don't hold together well enough to be used as a competition show fleece.
Which brings us to another point of contention ..... have you ever had a "lambs wool" sweater that was harsh & itchy? Remember that EVERY SHEEP WAS A LAMB at one point, so lambs wool is not necessarily going to be "soft". If it comes from a coarser wooled breed, it will have a higher micron count (thickness) and once you get to 30 microns, the "itch factor" comes into play. Wild Rose Farm Rambouillets have 19 - 23 micron fine wool fleeces & the Dorsets will have 28 - 36 micron medium wool fleeces. Different wools for different purposes!

What's Going On Out There?

2011-04-20T22:10:00.001-04:00

"U" - Something Gets Her Attention!

Even "U" stopped to watch the silly activity going on just outside of the pasture. Ginny & Frank were fighting over a stick ..... you may remember little Frank from last year. Well, he may be bigger, but he still plays like a pup. He found a big stick, but little Ginny just wasn't letting him have it! They ran all over, pulling, biting, & tumbling after the stick. :) You should have heard her growling & barking!

Whose Stick Now?

DONE For Another Year!

2011-04-17T22:56:00.000-04:00

Shearing Started on Yearling Ewes

After drenching rains all day on Saturday, we had clear skies & high winds today at Wild Rose Farm. The remaining yearlings & the big ram were in the barn and were nice and dry for shearing. Shearing a full size ram is almost a wrestling match .... it starts with the controlled take down. Then the ram has to be held down by one or two helpers as the shearer plows through his dense Rambouillet fleece. We never get any pictures of that since we're all involved in the process. Actually, he was pretty good this year ..... he just doesn't like the feel of the clippers when they get next to his horns. We were pleased after he was sheared since he is in good flesh. Sometimes the rams lose a lot of weight during the breeding season.
So ----- the shearing is done for another year and we now start setting up for the start of lambing season in a couple of weeks!

Shearing Done For Another Year!

Lamb Recipe How To ......

2011-04-15T23:07:00.002-04:00

The American Lamb Board referred to this article with lamb recipes & cooking techniques in Cooking Light magazine. Our lamb check-off dollars fund product promotion/placement and cookoff demos like this. Did you know that when a farmer takes lambs to the auction for sale, a percentage is deducted off of their proceeds for industry promotions & publicity?
The American Lamb Board also featured this group of lamb recipes from the Fine Cooking magazine web-site .....
Time to get a leg of lamb out of the freezer!

More skirted fleeces ....

2011-04-14T23:04:00.000-04:00

Natural Color Fleece - "U"

Nothing like working with freshly shorn fleeces! Tonight I skirted the natural colored fleece from "U". She looks brown in full fleece because of the weathered tips on her blackish wool, but she is a frosted black/grey at the skin level. We'll get a micron test on her this year to see how fine or coarse her wool is.

Here's another fleece from our Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #329 ..... her 2010 Reserve Grand Champion fleece went to the Lancaster Spinners and Weavers Guild for a fiber study project over the winter. This 2011 fleece will go along to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival for Beth - she gets "first right of refusal" on it! :) It looks nice & crimpy like last year.

#329 Rambouillet Close-up

Escape!

2011-04-11T22:27:00.000-04:00

#328 Rambouillet Fleece - 2011

The plan was to shear the yearlings on Sunday, but they escaped from the barn! We had to call our shearer and move the shearing to next Sunday. It was very damp & foggy in the morning here and the escapees were just too wet to shear. Of course, then it got up into the low 80's by the afternoon.
Sooooo ........ on to Plan B. We got a couple of fleeces skirted. Here they are. Expect to see them for sale at the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Fest ..... search out Wild Rose Farm among the vendors on May 21st & 22nd!

#403 Rambouillet Fleece - 2011

Shearing Day 1

2011-04-09T23:17:00.001-04:00

This year we've ended up with 2 days of shearing at Wild Rose Farm. Today the bred ewes were sheared and tomorrow the yearlings and the big ram will take their turn. Tonight the ewes are outside and the yearling ewes and the big ram have been moved into the barn to dry off.
Speaking of the big ram, that's him on the left watching the action in the barn as the shearing starts. This year, our shearer Don brought Hannah along to get some experience shearing. She has some sheep of her own including a Tunis ram. She did 4 of the Dorset & x-bred ewes and finished with the Rambouillet ram lamb. It's always good to see someone else get into shearing!
We definitely got some nice fleeces and several of them will be going with us to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest in May ....
As always, when you have colored sheep, they are the last to be sheared so that none of the dark fibers get mixed in with the white wool. So .... the last one to be sheared today was Wild Rose Farm "U".

Sheep Shearing Tomorrow ....

2011-04-08T21:52:00.002-04:00

"U" & Rambouillet Ram Lamb

The ewes were moved up into the barn Thursday evening in preparation for shearing on Saturday. They have to be dry and we knew that we'd be getting a lot of rain today. We can't wait to see some of the fleeces off of our our 2 year olds. This year, the fleece from "U" should be a good one. Last year she had a wool break from being sick and her fleece was trashed. I didn't even get a micron test on her, so we'll take a sample this year. I'm already thinking ahead, but wouldn't a 2-ply yarn made from 1-ply of her fleece and 1-ply of a similar white fleece be a nice addition to the Wild Rose Farm yarns?
OK, let's not count our chickens before they're hatched! :)

Downpour!

2011-04-04T20:51:00.001-04:00

The drive home from work this afternoon was in a drenching downpour. This was the scene from the driveway. The sheep had gone out to their feeders for the evening. They got their grain and also got drenched in the process. Not that they really mind (or even notice), but Mr. Wild Rose Farm had his jacket & hat in the dryer by the time I came in.
It will be warm this week and everything is getting that tinge of green. Lambing season won't be far away for us now! The ewes are really starting to look ready to get it over with .....

March Goes Out Like A Lion!

2011-03-30T22:04:00.001-04:00

Where did all of the sunshine go? Western PA & Wild Rose Farm looked a little different early this evening with the snow swirling all around the sheep. The donkey came up to the barn, but the sheep are mostly oblivious to the wet snow ..... this won't stick around very long!

Wild Rose Mountain!

2011-03-28T22:45:00.001-04:00

We've had 3 beautiful cold & sunny days in a row here in Western PA. Wandering over to where the ewes were enjoying the sunshine, I got this photo. It looks like it was taken on a West Virginia mountaintop! Trust me, it's not that steep here, but the camera angle made for an interesting perspective .........

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest Coming!

2011-03-25T22:45:00.000-04:00

WS&FF Committee Members Hashing It Out!

Wild Rose Farm was at the committee meeting for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival today at Hot Rod's in Waynesburg. Music acts are lined up & regional chefs are scheduled for demos and lamb tastings- keep your eyes open for the info in the April/May issue of Edible Allegheny magazine. We're working on food vendors and our Sheep Breeds Pavillion will have over a dozen breeds of sheep on display.
It's still not too late to contact us about applying for a spot as a juried fiber or craft vendor - see the festival web-site for the application & call or email if you'd still like to get in!
We hope to post the Fiber Arts Contest guidelines soon on the web-site and the 2011 vendor list is almost ready to go ...... things are getting busy!

The Rams

2011-03-24T20:35:00.003-04:00

PA Performance Tested Rambouillet Ram

It's getting close to lambing time when we feature the ewes and lambs at Wild Rose Farm. Of course to have lambs, the rams are needed, but most of the time they are separated out and kept close to the barn.
To the left is our PA Performance Tested Rambouillet ram ---- he'll be the sire of all of the lambs that we'll have this spring. This was his second breeding season here, so we are considering selling him, but may keep him to breed the older ewes. It just depends ..... you never know what's going to happen on a farm! He is looking out of his pen towards this next "little fellow" below, a ram lamb that we kept from last year. He's still young and skittish around people. That changes when they get older. You don't get in the pen with the big ram and you don't turn your back on any ram.
Wild Rose Farm blog followers will remember our ram lamb from this picture last summer with his dam, our 12 year old matriarch, #802. He has grown quite a bit since that time. He's in the barn paddock with "U" for companionship. We'll have a look at them to compare size in our next post.

Rambouillet Ram Lamb

Signs of Spring

2011-03-22T00:04:00.003-04:00

Species Crocus @ Farmhouse

No lambs yet at Wild Rose Farm, but there are signs of spring!

Tete-a-Tete - 1st To Bloom!

Frost Seeding .....

2011-03-20T23:30:00.002-04:00

We were up & out early this morning to do a little frost seeding. We spun on some red clover in the paddock just below the driveway & will follow up with some orchard grass the next chance we get. We also did several hours of cut & drag work in the pine trees at the far end of this field. It was time to cut out several dead trees and limb up the rest of them. These trees provide a nice area of shade, shelter, & windbreak for the sheep depending on the season. They look nice & neat now ..... nothing like a sense of accomplishment!

It turned out to be a beautiful day to work outside. Here's one of the Wild Rose Farm barn cats enjoying the afternoon sun!

Vendor Applications Coming In!

2011-03-16T21:55:00.001-04:00

2010 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest - Yummy!

Here's a quick post to give Wild Rose Farm fiber followers a "secret preview" of some of the vendors coming to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest on May 21st & 22nd. Tonight we're sending out our latest round of acceptance letters:
Beth's Beads, Etc. of Holbrook, PA --- Folklore Fibers & Zipty Acres of Holtwood, PA --- Honeysuckle Pottery of Keymar, MD --- Temple Ridge Llamas of Waynesburg, PA --- Lizzie Weaves of Fairchance, PA --- Cobun Creek Farm of Morgantown, WV --- From Many Threads of Leetsdale, PA -and - Lunar ReCycle of North Huntingdon, PA.

WRF will get links up to vendor web-sites when we get a few more free minutes ........ :)

Another Sunny Day

2011-03-14T22:26:00.000-04:00

Not much to say ..... just a sunny, dry day at Wild Rose Farm!

Sheep Out!

2011-03-12T23:45:00.000-05:00

It was a bright sunny day - finally - at Wild Rose Farm & we came home after lunch to find a wooly breakout! The heavy wet snow yesterday must have caused the electric net fence to lean over. You can see it leaning behind the water tank. The sheep will always find a breech in the electric fence within hours. Off they scampered to the wet areas that are greening up. Much tastier than hay .....
You can also tell that the ewes are due to lamb in about 5 weeks by looking at their profiles.

Notes From The Conference

2011-03-11T22:58:00.001-05:00

Beef Evaluation Component - Question @ Rib Eye Comparison

It's a week to the day that Wild Rose Farm attended the 2011 Appalachian Grazing Conference in Morgantown, WV. Those folks in West Virginia sure know how to hold a conference! We only made it for the 1st day, but we came home with a bag of goodies & info. The goodies in the logo bag that we all got at registration?

A wonderful new glossy full color book included in the registration; "Identification & Adaptation - Common Grasses, Legumes, & Non-leguminous Forbs of the Eastern United States" by Dr. A. Ozzie Abaye of Virginia Tech. (For $55.00 includes shipping payable by check to Virginia Tech Foundation. Order the book via: Kimberly C. McCoy Administrative & Office Specialist Crop & Soil Environmental SciencesVirginia Tech 424 Smyth Hall (0403)Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231-5797 Fax: (540) 231-3075).
Found a DVD "Silvopasturing in the Northeast - How Land Owners Can Maximize The Use Of Their Land" by Christine O'Dell for $5. Still need to watch this, but it should fit in with our tree thinning project!
A 2011 - 2012 "Pennsylvania Conservation Planner" calendar included in the registration. Our friend Laurel from the Greene County Conservation District was part ot the team that created this calendar.

If you get a chance to go, this conference is held every two years & there was some talk of PA Project Grass & other PA ag organizations putting on a conference in alternate years ....

Felt Like I Was Back @ Penn State!

Another Topic - Marketing Info For Producers

AND THE FOOD WAS GREAT TOO!

Seen At The Conference

2011-03-10T22:47:00.004-05:00

Wild Rose Farm is always impressed with the adult leaders and volunteers that make things like 4-H, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts possible. This First Class Scout and sibling of an Eagle Scout can be counted on to buy Girl Scout Cookies & support local youth.

I spotted this gentleman at the Appalachian Grazing Conference and asked him to stop to take a picture of his team jacket. He was the proud team coach. How many of you knew that soil judging existed?
I remember a class in Soil Science at Penn State. "IT'S NOT DIRT!" said the professor ..... it was a combination of biology, chemistry, classification, & management. It really was one of the "building block" science classes in the College of Ag.
Anyway, hat's off to the leaders & coaches who mentor, take time, & travel with their teams to compete!

Long Weekend

2011-03-06T22:57:00.002-05:00

Got a chance to spend some time away over a long weekend. I attended the Applachian Grazing Conference in Morgantown, WV on Friday - info & pictures to follow on this blog - and then headed down to Maryland for the weekend. The weather went from sunshine to wind to rain, but we got out before the rain. Here are a couple of pics ......

It looks like this grove of trees have been pretty popular ........

George Washington Did Not Sleep Here!

On the way out, this posting got our attention .....

Time to get out of the woods before the Northern Goshawk returns to nest!

Heading For The Safety Of The Car ......

Sunny Sheep

2011-03-02T12:42:00.000-05:00

This sunny picture comes to you from Wild Rose Farm on a vacation day from work. The ewes are enjoying the day and actually seem to be smiling. :)
Meanwhile, the lambs are split up between their hay bale & munching on some pine trees that we cut down. The sheep always enjoy a different taste .... hard to explain, but it doesn't hurt them to eat it.

Ewe Lambs Munching on Pine Trees

Sunset Sheep

2011-02-27T21:40:00.000-05:00

Wild Rose Farm Ewe Lambs @ Afternoon Feeding

The weather warmed up today and the forecast is for heavy rain overnight & into tomorrow at Wild Rose Farm. Yuck. We always prefer to have the sheep on frozen ground, preferably snow covered, in the winter. They are quite warm enough in any weather and really won't come in to the barn. The snow cover just keeps the fleeces cleaner and that's a good thing!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

2011-02-21T23:00:00.000-05:00

WRF Casey Joenz

Western PA & Wild Rose Farm have been suddenly blanketed with what looks to be 6" of snow. It started at 3:00 PMish and just came down! There are all kinds of traffic horror stories being told on the radio right now. Some folks haven't made it home from work as of 10:00PM.
Luckily, WRF left work early, headed for an appointment, & so made it home before it got bad, but the plows were already running.
I imagine that the ewes are all bedded down with a thick covering of snow on their backs ..... yes, they're well insulated and this doesn't bother them at all.
Here's one of our black sheep before turning in for the evening!

A Bright Spot!

2011-02-12T23:59:00.002-05:00

Michigan Fiber Farm!

Wild Rose Farm went to the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival today. Part of our mission is to drop off the "Save The Date" cards for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest. Our real reason is to go, shop, and see what's out there for the fiber folks! The show was really crowded this morning and it took about 15 minutes of cruising the hotel parking lot to find a space. I met up with an old friend, Linda, and we took in the show together. She had arrived early and had taken 2 classes. I also ran into Susan, another farmer friend who lives out near WRF. She had taken a triangle loom weaving class and was spotted leaving with a bag of fiber goodies! She had the great good fortune to aquire a big "barn loom" that is going to be put back together one of these days .... can't wait to see it!

The yarns, accessories, fiber, books, etc. are really the cure for the winter blues if you need to get out .......

Needle Felted Jacket - Wow!

Really Cold ...........

2011-02-10T23:25:00.001-05:00

Ewe Lambs Coming to Feeder

At this time of year, Wild Rose Farm is really glad that we lamb in late April/early May. Temps have been in the single digits the last few nights. Brrrrrr. The sheep are fine, but we're glad we aren't hauling water buckets to lambing pens now!

This picture above was taken in the wooded area where we are clearing brush & cutting firewood. It's one of many deer beds that I passed while walking around. Most were like this one ..... back to a tree and looking down the slope. Click on the picture to enlarge & you can see the "droppings" ..... we wouldn't make this up for our readers! :)

Festival FYI

2011-02-03T23:22:00.002-05:00

A quick note for anyone in the Pittsburgh area or the I79 corridor ...... the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival is next weekend! It will be crowded & admission is charged, but it's worth a visit if you NEED yarn & accessories! Have cell phone number in hand and planning to sync up with my old friend Linda somewhere in the crowd!

Time For Paperwork

2011-01-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

We don't take anything for granted around here at Wild Rose Farm. Now it's time to renew our membership in the American Rambouillet Sheep Breeders Association and get these ewe lambs registered. They're past most of the things that would cause us to "lose" (!) a lamb. We have a ram lamb to register this year too, out of our 12 year old #802 ewe. The big ram is in the ram pen now and the little ram is in with the breeding ewes.

Keeps On Snowing .....

2011-01-27T23:31:00.001-05:00

There's nothing unusual about snow this week on the East Coast, but we're really more of a Midwest location. Wild Rose Farm managed to miss most of it - especially what got dumped just south & east of us. The snow of late last week shown above with our ewe lambs had melted down somewhat, but now you can see that the breeding ewes & ram are in another round of flurries.

I don't envy anyone who has been lambing in the cold temperatures.

Hey - more snow in the forecast tomorrow & on the weekend!

Winter Chores

2011-01-15T22:59:00.001-05:00

The latest project at Wild Rose Farm is clearing some of our lightly wooded areas. It's been several years since our last go-around with opening up some more area for pasture. This work isn't as bad as some of our original work clearing down over the hillsides to put in high tensile fencing. At least we're not dealing with a 20' wide clump of multiflora rose! The stumps are left high enough to be easily pulled by a backhoe. The tops are put into brush piles and are burned, while the good wood will be split into firewood.
Most of the trees in this area are locust & wild cherry trees. There is also a huge sumac tree - a weed tree as far as we're concerned. It came down today.
You can see the barn over in the background .....

Applications Coming In!

2011-01-11T23:09:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm still wrestling with getting everything back up to speed on my wonderful desktop PC, so that's the excuse for disappearing over the last month. The Holidays were busy as usual, & with some vacations at work, the PC took a back seat. Recent pics coming soon ...... the sheep sure are enjoying the cold weather.
Meanwhile, vendor applications & requests for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest are coming in at a nice pace. Several returning vendors and some great new vendors so far! We've been distributing our fabulous "Save The Date" cards for this year & we also had a winner on the raffle for the "Alpaca Extreme Weather" gift basket, just in time for Christmas. Thanks to all who supported the festival by buying tickets and a big thanks to Lippencott Alpacas for donating the gift basket!

Winter Weather Coming!

2010-12-12T19:31:00.000-05:00

Wild Rose Farm had a great time at the Christmas At The Village event yesterday. We saw several of our regular yarn & wool customers and got to meet a couple more! We've been handing out the "Save The Date" cards for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival. Last night bunches of them made their way into the hands of knitters & fiber folks to take back to their friends and their clubs or guilds. The camera battery ran out, so no pictures of the show ..... :( I hate when that happens!
It sounds like we have the snow and cold coming our way tonight. It was raining earlier today, but the temps dropped and the flurries have started. It may be a winter wonderland tomorrow ..... we brought Glenda up to the barn yesterday so she has shelter from the cold rain.
As of today, 14 ewes are marked as being bred ..... 7 more to go!

Christmas At The Village

2010-12-05T23:23:00.000-05:00

Wild Rose Farm will be at Old Economy Village on Saturday December 11th for their "Christmas At The Village" event. We will be selling our yarns, wool, quilt batts, combed top, etc at the Weihnachtsmarkt located in the Granary building. There will be other local craftsman & artists selling their own unique gifts & hand-crafted items. The event is from 2PM - 8:30PM ...... you get to stroll through this historical site along lantern lit walkways ..... it's really a great family activity for Christmas. I always find some really neat one-of-a-kind gifts here.
The theme this year is Christmas Around The World ..... Hope to see you there!

The Ram

2010-12-02T22:09:00.003-05:00

Ram & Ewe #329

We put our Rambouillet ram in with the ewes on Sunday. After first stopping at the mineral feeder for a few minutes, he quickly found a girlfriend. She was none other than Wild Rose Farm #329! She's been in the news lately because we shipped her prize winning fleece to the Lancaster Spinners & Weavers Guild a couple of weeks ago. They are studying different breed fleeces, and this was their Rambouillet review. Here she is hanging around with the ram.

Yearling Rambouillet #403 &Aged Rambouillet #321

The rest of the ewes decided that the mineral feeder was a good place to loaf too. Their ear tag numbers are spray painted on their hips .... makes it much easier to identify who is marked with the ram's breeding harness crayon in the light at dusk.

Sorting Sheep

2010-11-29T22:42:00.001-05:00

#802 & Ewe Lambs

On Sunday we put our Rambouillet ram in with the breeding ewes. It's a multi-step process that started with us first sorting off the lambs. Some are being retained as breeding stock and some are freezer lambs. We're keeping one registered Rambouillet ram lamb out of our #802 ewe. We're also keeping about 10 Rambouillet ewe lambs and 3 crossbred ewe lambs. Here are the "keepers" and a few others out with #802 (on the left), the Wild Rose Farm "grandma". She'll be 13 years old and we're not going to breed her this year. Believe me dear readers, she is not happy to be stuck with the lambs ..... she is looking towards the other sheep and of course, the lambs will follow her lead.
Some of these lambs are for sale. All are sired by our Rambouillet ram.

Temperatures Dropping!

2010-11-26T22:16:00.000-05:00

Boy did the wind start kicking up this afternoon at Wild Rose Farm ..... we had rain, some heavy, for the last 2 days and now the temperature is dropping to 23 degrees F overnight. At least we don't have to take water back to the sheep any more. The rain was enough to soak in and recharge the water table, so the middle water tank is flowing now. The ewes and ewe lambs were really frisky tonight at feeding time. Jumping and running and head butting. It's the cold weather and the time of year - breeding season - causing that behavior! I even got to drive the tractor ....... you can really feel the wind when you're perched up on the seat.

How Dry Is It?

2010-11-22T21:54:00.000-05:00

It seems that if you're not a farmer or not relying on a well for water, you may not be aware of how dry it is around here. The ewes have been moved to a section of pasture served by our "middle water tank". This tank is fed by a spring development that always goes dry seasonally. That season is usually August through September. Unfortunately, it's not producing a flow of water right now. That means carrying buckets or running our portable 35 gallon poly tank out on a wagon to where the sheep are grazing. Of course the temperature "spiked" today up into the high 60's, so the ewes were thirsty. Time for some heavier rains to get the ground charged up again!
Here's a look at one of our other dependable spring developments. This tank is gravity fed by a spring that originally came from the farm spring house. When we bought "Wild Rose Farm", all that was left of the spring house were a few stones and a collapsed & rotted roof. We developed the spring as part of our farm conservation plan. This summer we replaced the old tank and directed it's outflow to a new 2nd tank. In the picture you can just see the light colored tip of the 2nd tank in the upper right of the picture. Now what's that floating in the tank? A bundle of barley straw! Yes, an old time solution to the green slime build-up in tanks & ponds ..... the water is now clear enough that you can see the inflow pipe under water and the overflow stand pipe. So ...... these water tanks are full and flowing, but the sheep are somewhere else grazing!

Moving To New Pasture

Fall Sunset

2010-11-20T22:41:00.000-05:00

There was a glimmer of sunshine this evening after a mostly overcast day. The skies are really clear overnight and the moon is really bright out there right now. We'll be bringing the ewes up to the barn tomorrow to de-worm and "tag" them in preparation for breeding season. Thanksgiving weekend is when we traditionally turn in the ram at Wild Rose Farm.

BSOD Strikes Wild Rose Farm

2010-11-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

We are just getting back on line after being hit with the Blue Screen Of Death on our PC. We've been thinking about a laptop for some time just for the portability - what else? - so that's what I'm on now. The big PC is visiting the shop & we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, we just installed web access on this laptop and we're stumbling around setting this thing up!
No pictures for now, but we did take some lambs to the auction today. It was time to move a few of the ram lambs out. We have several crossbred ewe lambs that would make a good starter flock ..... get in touch if you'd like to give them a good home.

Just Grazing Around!

2010-11-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

Not much is going on now at Wild Rose Farm ..... the ewes are out grazing the fall pastures. The ram is back at the barn waiting for Thanksgiving weekend, our traditional time to start the breeding season here. We finally had a really hard frost here on Sunday and it's been very cool at night this week & looks to warm into the 60's during the day.
Just before the wind and really cold temps on Sunday, we got a really nice look at the final leaves of the season. They're mostly gone now ...........

Dawn Redwood
If you have a large yard or a farm, you NEED one of these!

Sugar Maple

Hemlock With Maple Leaves

Wild Grape Vine Leaves

Barn Renovation

2010-11-02T22:16:00.001-04:00

Local Barn Renovation

This barn is several miles away from Wild Rose Farm on a country road. We passed it on the way to buy pumpkins. Wow! I don't know about you, but to me it's really sad to see old barns that aren't being used & are falling down. There were beef cattle around this barn in years past, but now there seems to be some horses in the pasture. Did the farm change hands? We're not sure, but it's really great to see this renovation work with a new blue metal roof and fresh siding. Who wouldn't love to have the nice outbuildings too?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch ............ 12 year old Rambouillet #802 leads the ewes & ewe lambs to the feeders!

Butting Heads

2010-10-31T22:48:00.000-04:00

As soon as the weather cools down and the days get shorter, the sheep get friskier at Wild Rose Farm. Today there was a bunch of head butting. By the time I ran in and got the camera, things had settled down a bit. This is the last face off involving "U", the aggressor, and Rambouillet ewe #329. What a coincidence, since we just shipped off the champion fleece of #329 and I didn't realize it was her until I double clicked & enlarged the picture. Look, there's another of the volunteer pasture pumpkins just under "U".
And what's up with this little lamb? Doesn't she know that the minerals are inside the feeder??? :)

New Home!

2010-10-29T21:41:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but we've been having a few problems with our computer and hadn't been able to download pictures, etc. I hate when that happens! Things still aren't back to normal, but we'll just have to keep hacking around. With a business trip out of town & other unexpected family events, the time goes by quickly.
This young Dorset x Rambouillet crossbred ewe lamb is headed for a new home. She joins another ewe bought a couple of years ago by Chris. She'll probably be spoiled and live quite the cushy life up in Butler County. Right now you couldn't convince her that leaving Wild Rose Farm is a good thing .... baaaa, baaaa, baaaa!
We got a request for some Rambouillet fleece from a guild out in the eastern part of the state, so we're shipping the Reserve Grand Champion fleece from the Hookstown Fair. Hopefully we'll get pictures of the results and comments that we can post here. The guild was referred by Andrew, who bred a ram that we used for 2 years. The champion fleece came from #329, a 2 year old Schafer ram daughter. Pictured below is #403, one of the yearling daughters of the Schafer ram & our friendly cookie eating #330 ewe, seen previously in these pages nosing up at the camera. You can see the density of her fleece. Last spring, her fleece tested at 21.1 microns. Can't wait to see it at shearing next spring! That's #405 standing lengthwise behind her ...... also a Schafer ram daughter out of our #327 ewe.

Rambouillet Yearling Ewe #403

Note to sheep watchers: the whiter sheep in the picture are Dorsets or Dorset x Rambouillet crossbreds.

Yarn Pics ......

2010-10-13T23:08:00.001-04:00

After washing and drying some of our naturally dyed yarn, I took it outside to take a few pictures in the natural light. The sun was starting to set & our Rambouillet ram seemed to think that it was feeding time again. Here he is walking up to see what's going on. See the pumpkin growing in the pasture? Several pumpkin, squash, or gourd plants end up in the fields every year ..... they germinate on their own from the seeds of the pumpkins that we feed to the sheep after the season is over.
In fact, it's time to go out and buy the Wild Rose Farm fencepost pumpkins for this year!

The colors of the yarns didn't come out well in the slanting sunlight, so here they are again on a stack of fence rails that we're saving for another project. (Notice that the ram is behind the posts with new rails and 2 strands of electric high tensile wire. You can just see the wire above the pumpkin.)
The blue yarn is dyed with indigo and the green/multi yarn is deep yellow osage orange overdyed with indigo. The wild grapevine gives a better idea of the colors .........

Back To Grazing

2010-10-10T22:57:00.001-04:00

The sheep are back to grazing as of Friday. They are really enjoying this after munching on round bales of hay for the last couple of months. It was just soooo dry at Wild Rose Farm that we didn't want to stress the grasses and permanently set back the pastures. Now that we've gotten some rain, the pastures aren't "burnt out" like they were. We also had the hydraulics repaired on the tractor, so we can follow behind the sheep and brush hog when they're done. This will be the final pass of grazing for the year. The leaves are changing color and the maples look really pretty right now. The hot & dry weather caused a lot of the leaves to just turn brown and drop off in the last several weeks ..... you can see that in some of the background trees.
We were breaking down the round bale feeders and the clanging brought the sheep running over to see what they were missing. The banging must trigger their feeding response because, here they are, with that "What did you bring us to eat?" look!

Cleaned Up

2010-10-04T22:25:00.002-04:00

Not sure who cleaned them up, but the corn husks were gone the next morning. Here is Wild Rose Farm #404, one of our yearling Rambouillet ewes, trying a bite. After making dinner Saturday night, we tossed in the leaf trimmings from a head of fresh local cauliflower ...... they were gone the next morning too.

Wild Rose Farm #404 Rambouillet Ewe

Side note ..... I'm looking at some of the fleeces developing on the yearlings like #404 and the ram. We may just have to put sheep covers on some of the sheep. The fleeces look really nice ......

Fall Sky

2010-10-01T21:47:00.000-04:00

The sky was really striking tonight over Wild Rose Farm ...... the red really started to jump out at sunset. We had just finished husking sweetcorn & the husks were throw in to the sheep. The ewes mostly ingored them, the ram in the outside field munched his down, & Glenda ran away from them. She circled back after about 15 minutes, tentatively sniffed them, and finally decided to eat one. We'll see if they're cleaned up by morning!

Somebody's Watching Me .....

2010-09-25T22:10:00.001-04:00

Do you ever feel like you're being followed, so you turn around to see who's there? She definitely did not like the flash and backed right out of the chute!

Just Returned ..........

2010-09-21T23:15:00.002-04:00

We're back from a trip to Columbia, MO for a wedding ........ we don't travel much for long periods of time since we have to get someone to take care of the animals. Thanks to one of our good friends for handling feeding duties twice a day while we were gone. Columbia is a typical college town, complete with interesting bumper stickers and dreadlocks(looks like a lot of effort goes into these). Both pics were snapped at the Columbia Farmers' Market.

The University of Missouri campus is just beautiful & so was the weather.

Then it was off to the State Capitol in Jefferson City on the way home. Here's a detail shot of the art & architecture in the capitol building.

At 10am on Sunday morning, we ended up getting a private tour of the building including the House Lounge & the now famous/formerly infamous Thomas Hart Benson "Social History of Missouri" mural.

We had a great trip and now it's good to be back home ........ always lots to do here!

Look Who's Here!

2010-09-10T23:23:00.001-04:00

Introducing Glenda, our new donkey! We have been waiting for Glenda to be ready after we picked her out. She is taking the place of Claire as our flock guardian. Our friend & breeder stands behind her donkeys with a guarantee. Not all guard animals, be they dogs, llamas, donkeys, or mules are suited to all species or situations in which they are placed. While conditioned to all types of animals such as cattle, sheep & lambs, goats & kids, chickens, guineas, alpacas, etc., sometimes a particular "match" doesn't work out. Guard animals have been known to take a dislike to certain indivduals &/or certain colors of animals or even ignore the animals that they are supposed to watch over. Long story short, is that the beautiful chocolate Claire returned to "donkey valley" and will be working as a breeding jenny. She has an excellent temperment and should be a great mother.
Meanwhile, Glenda will be learning her way around Wild Rose Farm. After she arrived and was unloaded, she went straight down the aisleway to join her new sheepy charges.