Couldn't have said it better myself!

I'm ready to drop from all of the activities the last 3 days at the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival! Here's a link from a visitor with great pictures to tide you over until we get more details posted .....
http://handknitsbysusan.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/sheep-and-fiber-festival/

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest - MORE Vendors

First a look at the latest lambs from this afternoon. We had 2 sets of twins born today. One set was born in the barn and this set of Rambouillet twins was delivered in the pasture. They're only hours old. This is #325 and she has one ram & one ewe lamb. We're going to have quite a selection of Rambouillet ram lambs for sale this year. We may keep one for ourselves. The lambs have been brought up to the barn since we're going to get heavy T-storms tonight at Wild Rose Farm ...... no sense leaving them out to endure that.

As promised, here are MORE VENDORS attending the 2009 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival on the 16th & 17th of May ..............

Walks Far Acres

Adamson Pottery - handthrown pottery including WS&FF custom pieces.

Sheepstone Natural Fibers

Rostraver Farms - home of "Becca's Buddies" clay sheep pins, felted sheep, needle felting supplies.

Shadyside Farm Studio

T. L. Holmes - tatted lace items, lace jewelry, bookmarks

Highland Alpaca

Sheep Thrills - angora rabbits, Pygora goats, sheepskin items, teddybears

Papa Bear's Doggy Den

Wilson Stained & Fused Glass - layered dichrome fused glass jewelry, fused wine bottle cheeseplates

Annadele Alpacas

Prairie Wind - hand-dyed, handspun yarn, sweaters, vests

Reflections At Roclans

Morning Meadow Sundries - knitting totes, soaps, lotions

Handwoven By Tina

We're coming down to the final preparations ----- see you there!

My, What Big Ears You Have ....

The better to hear you with, my dear! Look at the "propeller ears" on this Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet ram lamb. Then take a look at this Dorset ewe lamb below. Notice the difference in the ear size. Dorsets typically have smaller ears as a breed characteristic.
Who says that you can't tell these sheep apart? The lambs in the barn are a little younger than the ones out in the field so they haven't recieved their ear tag yet. We'll process another group of lambs tomorrow and get the lamb tags in their ears. Right ear for ram ram lambs and left ear for ewe lambs.

Well, it started tonight ..... it caught me by surprise in this photo, but
the little mob of lambs in the barn broke into what I refer to as a "LAMPEDE". It starts when one or two lambs spontaneously get a sudden twitch, leap into the air, and take off at a dead run. Of course the other lambs turn and run with the first lamb, creating a mob mentality that sweeps all lambs in it's path into the fray. The mad dash continues in large circles until tired little lambs begin to drop out of the race. They mill around for a while and finally lay down to rest. It's hysterical! They do this out in the fields too. You can actually hear their little hooves pounding ......... it reminds me of the Ben Hur chariot race (if you're old enough to remember that movie).

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest Vendors!

Here is a group of folks gathered around the sheep shearing demo booth at last year's festival ...
As promised a while ago, here are some of the vendors coming to the 6th Annual Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival. The festival will be at the Greene County Fairgrounds on May 16th & 17th. You won't want to miss it!
Flying Fibers
Columbus Park Fiber & Quilting - wool batts
The Rosefield
From Many Threads - hand & machine stitched dolls, animals, quilts, blankets
Bitsy Knits
Aboundingful Farm - roving, yarn, finished products from angora rabbits, mohair, Jacob sheep
Folklore Fibers, Herbs, & Homestead Essentials
The Wool Garden - roving, yarn, shawls, needlefelting, knitting needles
Shipyard Point Glassworks
Royal Meadow Farm - mohair, yarn, kits, jewelry, charms
Lippencott Alpacas
Boone Hollow Baskets - handmade baskets with oak handles

Tune in again for more vendors!

Time Lapse Photography

Some time lapsed today and here's what we have to show for it! Curious about what goes on during lambing season at Wild Rose Farm? Well, today we had 2 sets of twins born between 4 a.m. and noon. The 1st lambs were born overnight in the barn. We had a Rambouillet ewe going into labor on Friday evening. We were having a heavy downpour, so she was brought into the barn. She delivered her twin ram lambs overnight and all was well when we went out in the morning to check on them.
Meanwhile, out in the field with our curious friend #330 above, another ewe was showing signs of being ready to go into labor. Our crossbred ewe #29 can be seen in the middle of the 2nd picture ..... notice how her udder looks very full, her flank is sunken in, and her belly has dropped. This was at 8 a.m. She then proceeded to drift off away from the rest of the flock .... another sign that she was going to lamb soon.

Nothing to do at this point but wait and come back later. Meanwhile, back at the barn, we noticed that those lambs had nursed unevenly on the ewe's udder, so we milked out one side of the udder. We save this colostrum from the ewe and freeze it. It is full of antibodies and can be used to feed a lamb that may be orphaned or whose dam doesn't have enough milk.
Notice how rich the milk is. These containers are perfect to milk into because of their wide mouth and the indentations on the sides so you can keep your grip on them. Let's just say that the ewes don't exactly enjoy the process of being milked since they're not handled on a daily basis like dairy cows!
But that's not all for the morning. On the way back into the house, I stopped to cut back the flowers bolting from the rhubarb plants. Most people have rhubarb to make pies and cobblers, but that's a sideline here at Wild Rose Farm. The stalks are used for pies and jellies, but the leaves are considered to be poisonous. They contain oxalic acid and are used here as a natural dye for our yarn. The link above mentions both uses.
Soak the leaves overnight and boil for about 1 hour to create a dyebath. The yarn comes out as a yellow with green undertones if an alum pre-mordant is used. The leaves soaked all day and they're simmering as we speak. It's a busy time of year with the lambing and the natural dyeing preparations for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival and our annual spring open house. After shredding the leaves (wearing rubber gloves) and covering them with water to soak, we left to run errands and go to the farmers' market.

When we returned just before noon, we immediately went out to the pasture to check on #29. Look what we found .... Two newborn ram lambs that were nicely cleaned off and who had already been nursing. Note how white they are after being born in the dewy clean grass.

Catch Me Now .....

Didn't we say that the 1st lamb born would be impossible to catch in the field soon? This little gal has never been in the barn and now at 5 days old she really moves out with the rest of the flock!

Second Set of Twins

Let's just say that it's not easy getting a good picture of wobbly half day old lambs. Trying to get 2 in the picture adds to the fun. In the first picture, you can see why shearing ewes before lambing helps out the lambs. Whoops! Not to worry, this lamb has been nursing very well, but you can see that a newborn can go a little astray looking for the right place to latch on! She did nose around to the other side, but imagine what this would look like if the ewe wasn't sheared.
Hey! We have numbers now JUST LIKE MOM ......

Yes, the lambs are marked with the same number as the ewe's ear tag. Since this set of twins are both ewe lambs, one is "39" and one is "39 dot". That way, when the lambs are in a group or at a distance, we can tell who they are and to which ewe they belong. Even a sick sheep can blend in and move with the flock when you're tryng to approach and get a better look at them. At Wild Rose Farm we find it easier to spray mark the lambs so that we can pick out and evaluate them without having to get right on top of them. Shortly, they will sport small numbered ear tags of their own --- right ears for ram lambs and left ears for ewe lambs. It's just another way to sort them out without having to check for plumbing! When a ewe lamb graduates and is added to our flock, we place her permanent ear tag in the right ear.

And finally, to those who worry about the self-esteem of sheep who are "just numbers", here's a quote from a wise old extension agent ..... "IF A SHEEP HAS A NAME, IT'S TOO FAT!". In other words, it's a pet and is likely to be overfed and give you trouble giving birth at lambing time. Who am I to argue with an extension agent?