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!

Hello 2021!

Snow White & Ewe Flock Headed Back to Pasture

 It's been quite a while since we've posted here at Wild Rose Farm!  Our 2020 was pretty uneventful with all of the pandemic restrictions and canceled events.  No shows, no festivals, no wool pool, no Hookstown Fair ... nothing to report except sticking close to home!  We even had to cancel our last group of freezer lambs due to lack of processing capacity, grrrr.  The breeding season began on Thanksgiving weekend as usual and we've been grazing and waiting for the first lambs to arrive.  The ewes come up to the barn for feed each afternoon and we look them over.  You can see them above on a beautiful day headed back to a fresh section of pasture with Snow White bringing up the rear.

Rambouillet Ewe #333 With Ewe Lamb!

 Our frequent pasture checks paid off this afternoon! We found one of our Rambouillet ewes under the pine trees with a new ewe lamb.  Actually, I was looking closely at the ewes below the trees for signs of impending labor when I heard a lamb bleat! There she was standing next to the ewe up in the shade of the trees. Both are resting comfortably in the barn tonight.  

Another Set of Triplets at Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm #142 Cleaning Her Ewe Lamb!

Both of the ewes that we put in the barn last night had lambs early this morning. When we went out to the barn around 6:30 AM, ewe #142 was standing there with her head in the corner. Hmmmm ... that means she's thinking of something! We let both of them out into the hospital pen and after about an hour of grazing they separated. Ewe #142 went into labor and within an hour had delivered this first lamb in a nice clean grassy area. Here she is earnestly cleaning her lamb and "chuckling" the whole time.

Wild Rose Farm #142 Tending to a Second Ewe Lamb!

In a little over an hour, she delivered a 2nd ewe lamb. At this point we can see that there will be another lamb coming as she continues to work on the two lambs that she has now.

Wild Rose Farm #142 Turns Her Attention to the Ram Lamb!

Within 15 minutes of delivering lamb number two, a third lamb easily joined them! Wow. We were very lucky to have a trouble free birthing on clean pasture to such an attentive ewe.
All three were moved up to the barn and are doing well as of 9PM tonight.
Meanwhile, as we moved this group to the barn, companion ewe #152 was restless and starting into labor nearby. Her she is circling & then laying down to deliver the first of what turned out to be a set of twins.  They are also doing well tonight!

Wild Rose Farm #152 Just Before Delivering Her First Twin

Two Sets of Twins!

Wild Rose Farm #151 - Twins!

Time to catch up on the lambing season … we had two sets of twins born on the 27th. Our pretty horned crossbred ewe #151 has a ewe lamb & a ram lamb. We just tagged & vaccinated them this afternoon & the ram lamb will have horns too.  Both are doing well!

Wild Rose Farm #144 - Twins Too!

Late in the evening, and actually a few minutes into the 28th, #144 delivered a set of twin ram lambs. She seemed to be "thinking about" lambing for a couple of days as you've seen.  Here she has them cleaned off ... the one lamb has his head down searching, but he needs to go towards the other end!
Snow White continues her pasture duty with the rest of the flock.  This is the first time I've ever seen her munching on the white pines …

Snow White Snacking on the White Pines

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 …  

Super Sheep?!?

Wild Rose Farm Ewe #141

We had just moved the sheep back over to the Loafing Shed after replacing a couple of ear tags, when this ewe caught my eye.  Hmmm, who is this somewhat short legged, chunky little ewe?  I had to creep up on her quietly to see that she was #141. She's a Dorset x Rambouillet cross and her records show that she's had 4 sets of twins. We'd already made the decision to retain her ewe lamb this year based on her growth - she's the only x-bred ewe lamb that we're keeping. It's tough since we're keeping 5 ewe lambs (3 Rambouillet, 1 Dorset) & we could only keep one more.
I'll try to get a picture of her one of these days ...
We have some really nice twin x-bred ewe lambs for sale that would really be nice to keep. We've sold a Dorset ram lamb & a horned Rambouillet ram lamb in the last couple of weeks and it would be great if some of the ewe lambs went to a new farm!

Fleeces For Waynesburg Part Two ...

Maybe My Fleece Will Be In A Show Sometime!

More fleece pictures, but first, here's a nice ewe lamb resting while the fleeces were being skirted in the barn ...

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #554 

Our Rambouillet ewe #554 is a 2 year old & is due to lamb "any day now". This is her second shearing. 

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #555

Ditto the above comments for our Rambouillet ewe #555 ... another fleece from a 2 year old ewe who is due to lamb "any day now", lol. The lighting was a little strange last night with overcast skies, so using the camera flash seemed to yellow out the picture. 

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!!!

Spring Grazing Pics!

Snow White & Ewes On Pasture

We think that the grass is about a week or so behind this year. We've heard other local folks saying that the trees are leafing out later too.  I don't know about that, but we're marching along in our intensive grazing program.

Wild Rose Farm - Setting Up For Grazing Tomorrow

In the picture above, you can see where the sheep had grazed behind the fresh section of pasture that the sheep are munching now.  The fence will extend up between the pine trees to give the ewes some shade if needed. It was overcast today, but the temperature is going up by mid-week.

Wild Rose Farm - Got Grass?

Oh yes ... we had one ewe lamb born today too ...

Snow White At Your Service!

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White Watching Over Things!

We came home near sunset to see a ewe & lamb separated off in the pasture field with Snow White about a hundred feet away. She had ambled closer and stood watch for a while as we got our boots on and headed to the field. It was a nice breezy 60 degrees & perfect for lambing.

Hey, What's That Behind Ewe?

She gently checks out the lamb and sniffs around at her new pasture acquaintance ...

Time To Go To The Barn

Farewell, new found lamby friend ... Snow White watches her leave for the barn!

Wild Rose Farm #145 & Ewe Lamb 

2017 Lawrence County Fair

1st Place Rambouillet Ewe Lamb Resting 

After The Show

We made a trip to the Lawrence County Fair to see the sheep show. The Rambouillet ewe lamb that was picked up in late July seemed to be an old hand at showing and was resting calmly after the show.  It looks like she took the Penguin Stanley Cup Hockey theme seriously, lol!
We wandered around the grounds and spotted the Mercer County Spinners & Weavers Guild set up and doing spinning and weaving demonstrations. Their natural dye workshop sample cards caught my eye & reminded me that it's time to collect goldenrod & walnuts ...

Mercer County Spinners & Weavers Guild 

Natural Dye Sample Display Cards

Off To A New Home!

Wild Rose Farm #557 - Loaded Up & Leaving! 

The first Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet ewe lamb sold this season headed off to a new home over the weekend.  She leaves comfortably ensconced in a large Rubbermaid tub tucked into the back of a Jeep!  There was barely enough time to remember to take a picture as she thinks about jumping out ... I'm sure that she enjoyed looking out the back window during her air conditioned ride home.

Rambouillets In The Barn

Wild Rose Farm Ewes & Lambs Heading To The Barn

We're getting ready to sell some lambs, so we started the weaning process. Every Rambouillet ewe lamb this spring was born as a twin to a ram lamb. So ... if we want to sell a ewe lamb, we end up weaning both the ewe lamb and the ram lamb off of their mother. We now have 12 lambs in the barn. Registration papers have been filled out & sent in for 5 ewe lambs and 1 ram lamb. We'll wean another group of lambs once we give the last newborn lambs their booster shots and move them out of the barn.
Final lambing update: WRF #143 had a ewe lamb, the last lamb of the season, on the 4th of July!  

More New Lambs!

New Ewe Lamb at Wild Rose Farm!

Well, who knows what happened, but we have a group of 3 ewes that are now lambing. These are their first lambs and we figured that they were not bred for some reason. Then they seemed to be getting a little bigger, so we penned them in the barn to keep a closer eye on them. Sure enough, their udders started to fill in and we now have 2 new lambs. The first one from #146 was born on Tuesday and last night #147 had a ewe lamb. One more ewe to go!  We pulled the ram out on February 4th, once he started to rough house with the bred ewes, so it was possible for these three to get bred. Let's just say that this saved them from the auction as non-breeders (and the lamb & rice "natural" dog food bag).

Good Morning From Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm - 6:45AM Peaceful Pasture

A "once over" of the pasture this morning revealed a peaceful scene ... nothing going on here. Or is there? Most of the ewes were behind me, but there were a bunch in front of me scattered out grazing. As I got closer, I noticed a ewe behind Snow White watching me.  See her? I still didn't see anything until I walked by above them and saw something bright white between them.

#144 With Her Ewe Lamb

I moved in even closer and everyone got up ... #144 was sticking close & taking good care of her first lamb.  The ewe lamb looked great and was an item of attention & curiosity for Snow White.  Ewe & lamb are resting comfortably in the barn now near the 4 sets of twins.

Snow White Watching Ewe Lamb

Another late post & it's time to go back out for a late night pasture check ...

Singles Today

View From Kitchen Window Through Early Morning Fog

Today was a day for singles at Wild Rose Farm. We started with Rambouillet #405 in the front paddock at 7:30AM. We spotted her going into labor - the closest one we've been able to watch from the house this spring.  There was no rain, but it was a foggy, misty morning. It didn't take her very long to deliver a single ewe lamb.

Wild Rose Farm #405 With A Big Ewe Lamb

The fog started to burn off and we brought them up along the driveway to go to the barn.

Ewe & Lamb Resting Along Driveway

Later during the afternoon check at chore time, we found 2 other ewes with single ram lambs in the main pasture group ... That's probably it for today!

Twins Arrive!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe #118  With Twins

Yesterday morning, #118 delivered her first set of lambs - one ram lamb & one ewe lamb. That's what shepherds look for ... twins from ewes on their first lambing and good mothering instincts!
Nothing else as of this morning, but here are some nice pasture scenes to set the mood.

Snow White Resting

Grazing In Front Of Stone Pile & Dogwood

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #401 Coming For A Treat
Triplets Last Year - Hmmm - Wha'cha Think?

In the bottom picture, you can see both of our ewes that have horns. #401 is a Rambouillet with small horns (too long to be called scurs) & X-bred #134 behind her with true horns. I've got a small bruise on my arm right now from her hooking me as we were doing vaccinations last week ...

All Is Calm ...

Hey Lady - Why Do You Keep Coming Out Here To Look At Us? 

Everyone is still standing around as of this evening with nothing going on.  We'll just keep checking!  Just before I was going out to the barn to work on more fleeces, we got a visit from one of our blog followers. It's nice to know that folks are out there watching the comings and going of the flock ... I promised lamb pictures "soon", so now we're feeling the pressure to perform.
We got another lamb's wool fleece and another Rambouillet fleece skirted today ... at least something is getting done around here! :~0

Wild Rose Farm - #420 Rambouillet Fleece In Dazzling Sunshine! 

Wild Rose Farm - Ewe Lamb 0538 X-bred Fleece

Wild Rose Farm - Ewe Lamb 0538 Fleece Close-up

Off To A New Home!

4 Ewe Lambs Leave In Cushioned Comfort!

We're finally catching up on our pictures from the weekend and shooting up this blog post.  Wild Rose Farm waved farewell to 4 ewe lambs on Sunday.  They rode off with their family to a great new home!   They were protected & cushioned in the truck as they headed out.
The first report back says that 2 have been named so far ... Samantha & Odie!   BTW, that cute triplet lamb from the previous blog post?  That's her, #01E, standing in the middle.  She's a 50/50 Dorset x Rambouillet crossbred.
In other news ...
Foreshadowing her clever "escape" Sunday morning, the picture below shows #37 heading down to check out a new hay bale. All of the other sheep had already raced to the new bale, but she was busy picking every last kernel of corn from the feeder.

#37 Heading To Join The Rest Of The Flock ... Snow White Can't be Bothered!  :)

Notice the skid steer tire tracks in the grass leading in & through the electric net fence.  By the time I had driven to the fence to return, she had raced up behind us and slipped through as we opened the fence. Mmmmm ... fresh clover on the other side!  Well, we lured her up into the barn with a bucket of grain and she joins the ewe lambs until we have a chance to move her back with the dry ewes.  She and her twin ewe lamb quickly found each other!

Wild Rose Farm #37 - That's Her Lamb Right Behind Her! 

Each lamb has their dam's number on the right side.  The underline is our indication that she is not for sale ... we are keeping her as a replacement.  Why?  Ewe #37 is 10 years old, still has all of her teeth, the lamb is a twin, and #37 has raised 17 lambs in 9 lambings.   And she's STILL out-hustling the others and escaping!  :~0

Wild Rose Farm  #37 @ 10 Years Old With Twin Ewe Lamb