Fleeces For Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest

Dashing off a quick post between T-storms last night and today ... notice the slanting sunlight in the background before the storms started yesterday.

Wild Rose Farm Skirted Fleece - Rambouillet Ewe #329 - 2014

Here is a wonderful fleece from Rambouillet #329.  It is destined for Paula at the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend.  Just look at the crimp!  Coincidently, #329 had a set of twins yesterday with one ewe lamb to hopefully carry on the tradition ...

Wild Rose Farm - Rambouillet Ewe #329 - Fleece Close-up

Now back to the barn - more fleeces to skirt now and lambs to process with ear tags this afternoon!

Fleeces (And More Lambs)!

After the post Monday morning, we ended up with 3 more ewes lambing between 5PM & 7PM on Monday.  Then this morning between 5AM & 7AM, another 3 ewes lambed.  Now we're down to 5 ewes left to lamb ... 
So ... here's a hazy sunrise picture this morning of one of the ewes in labor after we'd brought up #47 with one lamb and another on the way.  We had T-storms & 1.2" of rain overnight, so it was a little misty.  Good to soak your pant legs if they're not tucked in ...

Wild Rose Farm Sunrise

The background bottom ewe is in labor and the ewe on the right, #404, delivered one of a set of twins an hour after this picture was taken.  We kept going back & forth with the chores and picking up lambs!
Now on to the fleeces for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend. 

Rambouillet #406 Fleece

I did 3 fleeces this evening, but forgot to take a picture until I finished the 3rd one ... more tomorrow including another "pre-sold" fleece. 

Obligatory "U" and Lamb Pic!

View From Barn While Working On Fleeces - Llama & Sheep Grazing

Wild Rose Farm Lambpedes Begin!

Bringing In #134 & Lamb At Dusk

Well, Mr. WRF was right again.  The 24 hour total was 11 lambs from 6 ewes through 5AM this morning.  After we left the last post, #39 had a set of ewe lambs, then our horned ewe #134 had a ram lamb around 8PM.  At the 5AM pasture check this morning, we found #127 with a set of twins.

Wild Rose Farm X-bred #134 With Newborn Ram Lamb

But while we were waiting for #134 to deliver last night, it was off to the races!
The lambs formed up and a LAMBPEDE was underway ...


Someone Gets The Idea & The Lambpede Begins ...

Watching a small group, one lamb starts to twitch and jump, then another twists and runs & soon they're running in a pack!

Here They Come Back Again!

The group picks up more runners as they flash by ... tiny hooves pounding.

Wild Rose Farm Lambpede In Full Swing!

Until later after several laps, they've worn themselves out and are back to quietly following the grazing ewes ... a peaceful pasture scene at dusk.

Wild Rose Farm Ewes & Lambs With Llama Snow White At Dusk

Mother's Day Barn Action!

Kitty & Mountain Lion - Let's Stay Out Here - It's Way Too Busy In The Barn!

It started out with nothing happening at the 5AM pasture check ... there were no lambs born yesterday either.  Mr. WRF said, "I get the feeling that we're going to suddenly end up with a pile of lambs.".  Guess what's happened since he made that comment?
3 sets of twins at 8AM, 11AM, & Noon.  One of the older ewes, #39, was trying to steal newborn lambs from a younger ewe.  Then her water broke & now she's in labor.  Since she was so interested in those lambs, we let her follow that little family as we brought them up to the barn.  Ha!  We outsmarted that sheep ...
Meanwhile, I'm working on fleeces for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest next weekend.  Here is a special request Suffolk fleece from a nearby farm --- we don't have that breed of sheep here at Wild Rose Farm.

Suffolk Yearling Fleece With Washed Samples

Suffolk Sample 1 - Grease Fleece "Before"

Suffolk Sample 1 - Washed Fleece "After"

OK - the break is over - it's back to the barn and pasture to see what's going on now!  :~0

Mt. Llama ...

When you're a llama in a pen of lambs, you're the highest point!  And ... lambs want to play king of the mountain.  To be fair in this story,  we all know that they climb on the ewes too.

Hey Llama, Wanna Play With Us?

After the 5AM pasture check, the #99 lambs decided that climbing the llama might be fun.  Snow White was not interested in lamby acrobatics ...


You Guys Are Starting To Bug Me!

Basically, after pawing on her and climbing over her, the lambs leave when she turns her head towards them ... good riddance she seems to say.  We had some rain off and on today, so we didn't let the barn crew outside to graze.  By the 8PM pasture check, a new crew of lambs was back at it ... scaling Mt. Llama.

How Many Of Them Are Back There???

With her "barrel clip", the lambs can't get any traction on most of her body ... and she put up with it for quite some time ... getting used to her scappy little pen mates.

After A While, You Get Used To Them ...

The lambs either wander away or the llama gets up and walks away, ending the fun.  Animal dynamics ...

Llama & Sheep First Outing ...

Radar's Snow White - Heading Out To Graze

The mixing pen ewes and lambs were out grazing today with the llama.  The ewes were thrilled to be eating green grass and Snow White was munching away too.  This was the first outing where we get the ewes and lambs out of the barn together.  There's always lamby confusion as the ewes are preoccupied with grazing and ignore their bleating lambs for a while.

Snow White with Sheep Underfoot

 Snow White spotted Glenda the donkey in the next paddock & couldn't take her eyes off of her.  Her home herd had just learned what horses were recently, so she didn't send out an alarm call although she kept a close eye on Glenda. 

Watching The Sheep Return To The Barn

Then there was the return to the barn accompanied by more bleating!   Once the lambs find their mother, the noise subsides and the barn becomes quiet.

What Lambs Are Learning ...

Wild Rose Farm Lamb Tasting Sheep Mineral Mix

Lambs learn to mimic their dams ... these lambs are sampling the the sheep trace mineral mix.  A perfect (perfectly lucky!) shot of the lamb sticking it's tongue out licking the mineral off of it's nose. 

Wild Rose Farm Twin Lambs Touching Water

We try to keep the buckets full to the top so that the lambs can touch their noses to the surface and learn to drink.  They tap the surface a few times and snort, but quickly get the idea.  
No lambs so far today - temps in the 70's, so mid-day is spent under the pine trees for the pasture ewes ...