Walking The Line .....

The Wild Rose Farm young Rambouillet ram has been walking the fenceline on this rainy day. The ewes had been let out of the area where they've been feeding on round bales of hay. So now, the ewes aren't in sight on the opposite side of the fence from the ram. They're happily wandering around grazing ..... sooooo, he walks up and down along the fence looking for them. He was just moved to this paddock after we sold the older horned ram last week, so he's really getting some exercise. This is a warm-up for all of the walking he'll do when he's actually put in with the ewes. Rams can cover miles every day during breeding season. At times, they forego grazing and lose weight while they constantly follow their flock around courting the receptive ewes ...... it's important to make sure that they're in excellent condition prior to joining the ewes. Don't worry, he came in and ate his daily ration of grain before heading back to the fence.

Meanwhile, the rest of the flock is enjoying grass on this cold & rainy day. Here are some of them!

Custom Livestock Hauler

Here's an inventive adaptive reuse of a ditch witch trailer and a wire tote box. Click for a close-up. One can only imagine what came to the Eighty-Four Livestock Auction this morning (or what is going home) in this nifty little tag-along trailer! Love it .... it gives new meaning to "custom". Note the elements of down home creativity .... no project is complete without baling twine & bungee straps.

Fall Activities: aka, the glamorous life!

I don't think that we've ever featured this glamorous aspect of Wild Rose Farm life before ...... yes ...... spreading manure! We don't keep the sheep in the barn that much, so it's not as big a deal here as on some farms. We can get the job done using this little spreader that we picked up "gently used" several years ago. With the chore of spreading several loads of manure complete, it's parked here waiting to be hosed out & greased before storage for the winter. It was a beautiful bright, sunny, cool fall day here ---- perfect for the lambs!

Where did everyone go?

Do you ever get that feeling that you're all alone out there? I was off in the distance & then I noticed that this Wild Rose Farm lamb was by itself. It finally stood up, looked around & saw that the rest of the flock had drifted away. A quick look at me and then off it ran! Whew, that was close!

Wool on the Hoof Available!

We have several sheep available at Wild Rose Farm. Check out our ad in the Farm & Dairy. After using our horned Colorado registered Rambouillet ram for 2 years, we are offering him for sale. He is a twin & will be 4 years old in February. He has a really nice fleece - his test from Yocum-McColl Wool Testing Labs was 21.5 microns. Here he is after being turned in with the ewes last fall --- he is a proven ram offered very reasonably @ a hundred and a half. We'd love to see him go to a good flock! We also have one of his horned ram lambs available for sale. Either one of these rams would be a great way to get fine wool into your flock. This picture on the left is the only picture that we have of him at the moment. He can be registered & is offered at the same price as our more senior ram.

Since buying a new Rambouillet ram this summer, we are focusing on building up our Rambouillet ewes and are also offering 4 Dorset two year old ewes for sale. These ewes all had lambs this spring and are ready to breed now .... offered at a hundred each .... excellent to start a small flock or add to your flock. Micron test results are available on these 4 ewes. Here is one of the ewes that is for sale: The First Lamb is Here. The others are like her and all were born as twins.
Finally, we have 4 Dorset x Rambouillet crossbred twin ewe lambs for sale. Our crossbred ewes have very nice fleeces - they are popular with handspinners. These ewe lambs were born in early May and were sired by our registered performance tested Dorset ram (who was sold in late winter to a small flock in Butler County).
We'd be happy to answer any questions about these sheep!

Another Use for Wild Rose Farm Wool!

Gina came out to Wild Rose Farm for the PASA Summer Farm Tour in July to try and get some wool for her bobbin lace work. We ended up selecting about a pound of combed top which she was going to use to stuff/wrap in her bobbin lace bolster. Apparently, some of the synthetic materials (polyester?) can be slippery and the pins don't hold well enough. It sounds like it is working out really well for her. I see that the instructions to make a bolster also mention using felt as part of the wrapping ...... well, our combed top is also great for wet felting & needle felting, so it will probably tighten up or "felt" over the years with use.

Thanks for the pictures Gina!

Annual Canfield Fair Outing

It was off to the Canfield Fair on Saturday, our annual pilgrimage. We raise sheep, but I love to see the judging of the colored breed dairy cows ..... something different that the ubiquitous black & white Holsteins for a change. Is it me, or are the 2 Guernseys above bigger than I remember them in my Penn State "College of Ag" days? I showed a Holstein back then at the annual spring dairy show, but these Guernseys look just as big. My favorite class is the "Aged Cow" class ...... these "girls" are 6 years old and older. When they stay in the herd that long, they're good sound producers. The Jersey cow in the left center of the picture is 12 years old. If you doubt for a minute that she's well cared for, look at her owner holding her. Something tells me that she was the first 4-H heifer project that this young woman had 12 years ago ...... Which brings us to this sign from Ohio Farm Bureau. Yes, those of us with animals have to care about them and make sure that they're doing well.

And finally, we have one of the unsung heros of the dairy cattle show ring ..... the requirements for this job are a keen, watchful eye, a fleet foot, and the skill & knowledge to know how much is enough! Enough sawdust, that is, to firm up the consistency of the cow pie, but not so much as to be wasteful. Our man had to "flip" most patties, make a scoop, smooth over the divot with his boot, and scamper off to the wheelbarrow while balancing the cargo. All of this while staying out of the way and not startling our slowly circling bovine friends and their handlers.
It looks like it helps to have a sense of humor too! Love the t-shirt!