2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest - Friday Sneak Peek!

 

Appalachian Hills Farm - Beautiful Batts!

Here is your sneak peek at some of the booths set up today for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest tomorrow!  After finishing the Wild Rose Farm booth set-up, I took the opportunity to get a few pictures of what some of the vendors brought.

Ashgrove Soaps & Sundries - Nice Selection!

Folks, Lori as back this year and the wonderful smell from this booth is sooooo tempting!

Mystery Booth?

Boone Hollow Baskets

It turns out that we can get a glimpse of the mystery booth in the background of the Boone Hollow Baskets photo ... that's Holly Road all the way from eastern Pennsylvania.   Can't wait to see what else is undercover.

Ridgetop Pottery - Working on Booth Set Up

Finally, a glimpse at some beautiful work in Tabitha's booth ... fingerless gloves or wristlets?

Tatting by Tabitha - More Than Tatting!

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the Wild Rose Farm booth!  Well, you've seen the skirted fleece photos and the naturally-dyed yarn in the studio before it was packed up.  We have our Rambouillet combed top, Dorset wool quilt batts, Dorset pencil roving and wool locks for sale.  BTW, our "upcycled woolens" rack has several Irish wool sweaters, a vintage green Pearce wool blanket, some cool wool and felt hats and a Marlboro buffalo plaid car blanket with carrier handle strap.  

See you tomorrow! The festival is from 10AM - 5PM. 

Skirting Fleeces for 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest!

 

Wild Rose Farm #119 Dorset Fleece

Here are a couple of fleeces that we skirted today - warm weather is perfect for this job!  The lanolin is great for your hands ...

Wild Rose Farm #151 Dorset x Rambouillet Fleece

Stay tuned for more skirted fleece pics tomorrow.  We're bringing these fleeces to the 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend.  The festival will be a "streamlined" one day event this year on Saturday May 22nd at the Greene County Fairground in Waynesburg, PA just off of the I-79 Waynesburg exit. This is in Southwestern PA folks! :)

Finally after a year without fiber festivals, you'll be able to actually GET YOUR HANDS on wool & wool yarn!

Wild Rose Farm - Three Lambs Resting!

The great part about skirting fleeces is that I get to enjoy watching - and listening to - the ewes and lambs in the barn!  

Lambing Season & Changing Weather

 

Snow White Watches Ewe & Newborn Twins!

Even though it's much warmer now for lambing than in February, the weather changes by the hour.  Our Dorset ewe #119 had a set of twin ewe lambs just as the wind picked up and a misty rain started.  Snow White stayed nearby and we saw her go up and greet the lambs!  Time to go out and bring the new group up to the barn. Snow White is relieved of her duties as she sees someone coming and she heads back to the rest of the flock.  

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe #119 & Twin Ewe Lambs
Dried Off & Warmer in the Barn ...

This is the second time that #119 has lambed and she followed right along up to the barn and into the pen like an old pro.  After having their navels dipped in iodine, it doesn't take long for the newborn lambs to start nursing!  Two hours later, the sun came back out for the rest of the day ... 

More Lambs Arriving!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe #117 & Twins

A couple of days have gone by and that means more lambs have arrived here at Wild Rose Farm.  The 3 pictures in this post are from lambs that were born on Tuesday the 27th.  We processed the lambs today giving them their shots and ear tags. Tomorrow we'll paint numbers on them and put them into the mixing pen to run around!

Wild Rose Farm X-Bred Ewe #144 & Ewe Lamb

Wild Rose Farm Dorset #120 & Twins
... this is her first lambing!

2020 Lambing Season Starts!

Wild Rose Farm - Dorset #118 & Twin Ewe Lamb

Once again, the sheep have not consulted the calendar before starting their lambing season!  My schedule said that lambing should start around April 20-21, but our #118 Dorset ewe kicked off the season on April 16th. Here she is nuzzling her ewe lamb after we brought them up to the barn.
As of today, we are waiting for more ewes to join the party. Several pens are ready and you can see that we are doing our nightly pasture checks …  

Fall Chores ...

Wild Rose Farm Ewes on the Move!

With the shorter & cooler days of fall, the sheep are always nice & frisky!  Here they are rushing past on their way in to graze down the hospital pen. We're sorting through the ewes and planning the breeding groups for this season. We'll have a group of Rambouillet ewes with a Rambouillet ram and the Dorset & crossbred ewes with a young Dorset ram. That smaller sheep in the picture above is a crossbred ewe lamb. She was born late and we just separated her off of her dam last week. She's been running with the ewes all summer … it just seemed easier to leave her out there and she did quite well!
We've had some folks looking at lambs lately & we have some really nice crossbred ewe lambs for sale + 2 commercial Dorset ram lambs & several Rambouillet ram lambs.  We were skewed towards rams this year and ended up with only 5 Rambouillet ewe lambs - we sold one and are keeping the other 4 for ourselves. They're all twins and one is a triplet. :)

Lambs & Ewes Out Grazing ...

Wild Rose Farm X-bred Lamb #152 Nibbling ...

One thing is for certain … this has been one of the wettest springs/early summers on record. The pastures are growing like crazy. We've seen some hay that's been rained on & still plenty of fields after the 4th of July not cut yet. Here's what it looked like in June at Wild Rose Farm!

Dorset Ewe #118 Surrounded by Lambs

Grazing in a Sea of Grass! 

Rambouillet Yearling Ewes Foreground 

The yearling ewe lambs are in excellent shape this year. The one in the left of the picture above has a small set of horns ...

Yes, The "Middle" Spring Development Water is Flowing! 

More Fleeces Skirted!

Wild Rose Farm #153 - Dorset x Rambouillet Ewe & Lamb

The first fleece up on the blog post today is brought to you by WRF #153, a 2 year old crossbred ewe. She is a 50% Dorset/50% Rambouillet ewe.

Wild Rose Farm #153 - Skirted Fleece

We also skirted a group of nice Rambouillet fleeces to take to the 2019 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend …

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #554 - Skirted Fleece

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #555 - Skirted Fleece

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #556 - Skirted Fleece

& Barn Book With Shearing Notes!

Finally, we finished another x-bred fleece as it was getting dark outside!

Wild Rose Farm #142 - Skirted Fleece

The truck is mostly packed up and ready to go for the festival set-up tomorrow. In addition to the fleeces, combed top, yarns, quilt batts, etc., we've got a really nice selection of vintage/upcycled woolens this year.  Come check out the racks and stacks! Did I mention buttons?

Fleeces for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #561 - Skirted Fleece

Here's one of the Rambouillet fleeces that we will be bringing to the 2019 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend.  All of the fleeces will have the ewe's micron test report with them in case you're as geeky about that as we are!

#561 Rambouillet Ewe Washed Fleece Sample

I grabbed the little sample in the top picture and swished it quickly with warm water & plain old Soft Soap over the kitchen sink … you can see the crimp in the sample. Rambouillet fleeces clean up well if pulled out in lock formation and washed by hand.

Wild Rose Farm Ram Heads Down the Road!

Speaking of crimp & micron tests, we sold our Rambouillet ram about a month ago to some folks who were specifically looking to get some finer "half-blood" wool from their commercial flock. He sired all of our Rambouillet lambs last year and this year and has a 21.5 micron fleece. It was good to have a ram go to another flock where he can help improve a future wool clip!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe #117 & Twin Ram Lambs

And who doesn't want to see another picture of lambs? Attentive Dorset ewe #117 has a nice set of twin ram lambs this year. They were sired by our performance tested Dorset ram. We'd like to se them go to a small commercial flock for breeding … they're filling out nicely now. 

Off To A New Home!

Dorset Ram - You Say New Ewes Are Waiting For Me? 

Three sheep left this week for a new home. Our Dorset ram is off to new pastures where he'll be turned in with a new flock of ewes. We trimmed his hooves and put fresh raddle paint on his chest as an added bonus, lol.

Wild Rose Farm - Dorset Ewe Lamb

Two Dorset ewe lambs were selected and went along too. They are twin siblings born on May 11th out of our ewe Wild Rose Farm #117. We're keeping one Dorset ewe lamb & seven Rambouillet ewe lamb replacements for ourselves this year. Now all of the breeding ewes are in one group again with the Rambouillet ram. He'll stay out with them until some time in March. He's happier outside in a group and we don't have to take hay and water buckets to him every day in the barn pen.

Wild Rose Farm - Twin Ewe Lambs Loaded Up & Ready To Roll!

The Rams Are Busy Now!

Wild Rose Farm - Breeding Season Supplies ...

The sheep breeding season started the day after Thanksgiving here at Wild Rose Farm.  It was a little muddy around the barn with all of the rain we've had, but it was a relatively pleasant day.  The raddle powder is mixed with mineral oil and rubbed on the chest of the rams. The ewes are then marked on their rumps when they've been bred. That gives us a date to track so the we know when to expect the ewe to deliver her lambs in the spring. We also use the special spray paint to put each ewe's ear tag number on her hip. It's much easier to read the painted number than an ear tag from a distance! The paints weather or wash off over the winter. The little color remaining at shearing time is able to be scoured off of the wool. We also use the craft shears to trim up the back end of the ewes if needed, but everyone was pretty clean this fall.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewes & Ram - Just Mixed Together

 This year we have our Rambouillet ram in with Rambouillet ewes & our Dorset ram in with the Dorset & crossbred ewes.  The 2 breeding groups are separated into different pastures. We also move the llama out of the pasture groups and into the barn with the ewe lambs.

Rambouillet Ram Panting After An Hour With The Ewes!

The first few hours in with the ewes are pretty exciting (and tiring!) for the rams.  The ram above immediately started following everyone and narrowed it down pretty quickly to one receptive ewe.
As of today, just under half of the ewes are marked and it's time to freshen the raddle paint over the weekend.

Lambs Ready To Go!

Wild Rose Farm - Sorting Ewe Lambs 

It's time & the lambs are ready to start leaving the farm now! Here we were above, sorting through some of the ewe lambs at the beginning of August. We have Dorset/Rambouillet crossbred ewe lambs and several Dorset ewe lambs sired by our performance tested Dorset ram available, as well as one registered Dorset ram lamb. We're planning to keep several of the registered Rambouillet ewe lambs for our own flock, but we do have a couple of registered Rambouillet ewe lambs and and ram lambs for sale.
We had good weather last week for the local Hookstown Fair and now it's back to focusing on the chores here … we have a routine farm visit from the veterinarian scheduled this week. Glenda & Snow White get their annual shots and a check-up, plus we review the lambs for sale in case health papers are needed to sell across the state line. Unfortunately, it looks like a hot week with temperatures in the 90's … yikes!

Busy With Farm Projects!

Wild Rose Farm Sheep Grazing & Garage Project Excavation

After 27 years, we've finally gotten a garage project underway. The picture above was taken from the kitchen window. With the big pile of excavated soil, it felt like we had a view of the Rocky Mountains! The footer is being formed up today, the temps are going up to around 90 degrees, and it is humid.  The good news is that the room above the garage will be a space for fiber & yarn, plus the floor loom will reside there too!  Fiber is fluffy by nature and it now fills the better part of one bedroom with show set-up stuff & tents squirreled away elsewhere. It will be great to have it all in one spot with easy access and no staircase to negotiate - yay!
Yes - those are the ewes and lambs grazing in the background. They'll probably head for shade in the barn as it gets closer to noon ...

Snow White Enjoys Some Down Time In The Shade!

Here's a look at Snow White watching me skirt Dorset fleeces over the weekend on Saturday. She was relaxing in the barn away from the meddlesome lambs (!). She was the only one who chose to come in at the time. The Dorset fleeces went to a fiber festival in Wooster, Ohio on Sunday to be delivered to Zeilinger's Wool ... they will be custom processed into wool quilt batts.
We're down to only 1 queen & 1 full size quilt batt available for sale right now - yikes!

Fleeces For Waynesburg!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe #118 Fleece

As promised, here is a look a Dorset fleece from #118. Generally speaking, we use the Dorset wool for wool quilt batts, but they would also make a sock wool or a pillow stuffing wool - in other words, something that isn't supposed to felt.

Wild Rose Farm #129 With Twin Ram Lambs Born Today!

We also skirted a fleece from our Dorset x Rambouillet ewe #129 and it is in 4 bundles. Believe it or not, she lambed today and delivered a set of ram lambs shown above. Here is a picture of her fleece below ...

Wild Rose Farm Dorset x Rambouillet Ewe #129 Fleece

Finally today, here is a fleece pic from another of our Dorset x Rambouillet crosses, ewe #147.  Hey, maybe that's her in the background bleating. Just banging a bucket in the barn starts a cacophony of baas ... it's always feeding time if you're a sheep!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset x Rambouillet Ewe #147 Fleece

Skirting Fleeces For Waynesburg!

Wild Rose Farm #118 Dorset Ewe

My Fleece Is Coming To Waynesburg!

Pictures of the spinning fleeces are coming as soon as we get everything skirted. We've had some windy & rainy days lately, so we haven't been able to skirt fleeces with the barn doors open ...

2018 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival This Weekend!

Watching & Checking For Lambs!

Wild Rose Farm Snow White Isn't The Only One Watching!

The one constant thing about lambing season here at Wild Rose Farm is the watching and regular checking for ewes in labor.  Or ewes with newborn lambs since the last time we checked.  Or a white plastic bag that blew into the pasture and looked like a lamb left behind by an errant ewe under the pine trees ... yikes!  Yes, that happened yesterday to Mr. WRF & he was not happy ... "luckily" it was a bag.  But look at the picture above and enlarge it to see another watcher.  This was taken at 6:30AM today when I thought I heard a noise coming from up above. Yes I did!
Closely scan the skyline and you'll see either Otis or Lotus - one of our goat neighbors - watching from atop the Goat Mahal Annex!

Dorset Ewe #117 With Newborn Ewe Lambs

 Here's another reason to keep a close check on the ewes. Today our Dorset ewe #117 had a set of twin lambs under the pine trees. When we went out to pick them up, one of them had crawled or rolled around and was head first partially in a groundhog hole!  If several more hours had passed, that would have been a disaster. As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, "it just goes to show you, it's always something!".  She and her lambs are safely in the barn now.

More Lambs Since Monday ...

Wild Rose Farm - #148 & Ram Lamb

We've had a half-dozen more ewes that have lambed since Monday evening. Cross-bred ewe #148, a "first timer", delivered a large ram lamb and is taking great care of him! Ditto for another "first timer", #150 - she delivered a large ewe lamb.

Horned Crossbred Ewe #134 Cleaning Her Twins

 Blog followers will recognize this horned ewe, #134 from previous years, She has a nice set of twins, one of each. We'll have to see if they have horn buds like their dam. These lambs were sired by the Dorset ram.

Wild Rose Farm #134 & Lambs

We also had another set of Rambouillet twin lambs born yesterday - Rambouillet ewe #407 had a ram lamb & a ewe lamb. Here she is with her newborns below ...

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #407 With Newborn Twins!

All four of these ewes above lambed between 3PM and 8PM yesterday!  It was a busy afternoon & evening here at the farm!
And ... today this afternoon, Dorset ewe #1445 delivered a set of twins too - one of each. They will be registered and are out of our performance tested Dorset ram.
Time to get some sleep!!!