Wild Rose Farm Summer Routines

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White & Ewes Getting New Hay

It's the time of summer when things have settled into a routine ... "sort of".  Here the ewes are waiting for the new round bale of hay to be set out for them.  Snow White is really laid back as she waits!  The other exciting break for them is when we dump in a bucket of apple drops for them to munch.   After a long run of dry weather, we got a heavy T-storm that contributed to the apples falling in the yard.  They make perfect sheepy treats, but I stay with the sheep until they finish so no one chokes on a round slobbery apple piece.
In other news, our young Rambouillet ram managed to knock off both of his horn scurs in the last 2 weeks.  The first one wasn't bad, but the second one really had to be cleaned up.  How?  A drenching hydrogen peroxide rinse, drying off the stump as much as possible, a generous dump of "blood stop" powder, and finally a liberal coating of an aluminum based wound spray to cap it off and seal the area.  Then he got an antibiotic shot & also an iron shot for good measure.
Keep in mind that this is a 2 man job - it's not like they stand quietly for the process.  As they say, never a dull moment!  :~0

2015 PA Performance Tested Ram Sale Results

L to R - #2 Senior Dorset Ram, #2 Suffolk Ram, & #1 Senior Dorset Ram
Arrive In Beaver County, PA!

On Saturday August 1st, Wild Rose Farm headed up to the PDA Livestock Evaluation Center in Pennsylvania Furnace, PA for the 2015 Annual Ram Lamb & Meat Goat Buck Sale.  The facility is on "this side" of State College and we  took a fellow Beaver County sheep producer along with us.  Between the 2 farms, we ended up bringing 3 of the top performance tested rams in the sale home with us!
The #2 index Suffolk and the # 2 index Senior Dorset rams got off the truck at JAS Registered Stock Farm. The #1 Senior Dorset ram, in the front with the red halter, came home with us.

Hollystone Farm #14-78   TW RR 4.25 Adj LEA
Senior Dorset Ram At Wild Rose Farm

Our "best effort" highlights from the 2015 PA Performance Tested Ram Sale:
Suffolks - 6 rams sold, #1 index ram out of McCauley Suffolks sold for $1100 on a phone bid.  Range of sale prices were one at $350 and the rest between $575 & $975.
Dorper - The 1 Senior Dorper out of Pushback in MD sold for $575. Then the 7 additional Junior Dorpers sold. The #1 indexing Dorper @ $800 was out of Black Creek Dorpers.  The prices ranged from $375 to $700 for the remaining 6 Dorpers sold.  1 Dorper was scratched from the sale.
White Dorpers - Top indexing ram out of Scott Mountain sold for $425, & the 2 others (also Scott Mountain)  sold for $400 & $475.
Texel - 7 rams sold with the successful bid on the #1 indexing Texel ram out of Clay-Nob at $900.  The balance of the 6 rams brought between $400 & $475 each.
Dorset - 5 Senior Dorsets sold.  The #1 indexing ram out of Hollystone Farm sold for $475 (that's him above!) and the other 4 Senior Dorset rams saw successful bids ranging from $400 to $700.
The Junior Dorset walked.
Hampshire - The top indexing Hampshire walked and the 3 other RR rams sold in sale order at $600, $400, & $350 respectively.
Shropshire - The top indexing Shrop out of Clay-Nob sold for $350 and the 2nd Shrop walked.
Both the Natural Colored & Crossbred rams walked.
A disclaimer here since we could have missed an exact bid amount & we did miss one of the Senior Dorset rams in the flurry after our bids ... :~0  There was also some spirited bidding on the Dorper, White Dorper, Texel, & Dorset ewes offered after the main sale, but we had to clear out to load up the rams, so we missed half of that action.
We do have to say that the sale was well organized this year and the paperwork & help with loading was quick!

A Visit To Friends!

Wild Rose Farm Ewe Lambs At New Home!
Dot, Samantha, Onie, & Angel

We had a chance to visit with the 4 lucky ewe lambs who left Wild Rose Farm a couple of weeks ago.  They are living the good life comfortably bedded down in a big horse box stall.  I think that I got the names right in the picture above - I'll hear about it if I didn't!  There are a pen of turkeys a stall or two over and also 2 horses. But most fun of all are the 2 "piggets" across the aisle ... yes, the boys call them piggets.
And happy piggets they are.  The spotted pig just loves to get a belly scratch and immediately flops over on her side.  :~0

Swooning For A Belly Scratch!

And what about the blackberries, you ask?  Well, this usually isn't the cooking channel, but here are the goodies & I've got the scratches to prove it!  We've picked & frozen several quarts as well & I think we'll get one more picking in before they are over for the season.

Fresh Baked Blackberry Cake & Blackberry Pie

That's my favorite old linen towel in the background, a gift from my mother shortly after we got the sheep!

Random Summer Happenings ...

Glenda Assists With Round Bale Movement

Lot's of routine stuff going on during the summer at Wild Rose Farm & most is not remarkable.   Moving hay bales over to feed the sheep gives Glenda something to do ... follow the skid steer!

Back To Pick Up Another Bale

Then she came back and proceeded to munch on the hay, picking it out through the net wrap.  Why eat acres of grass when there's dry hay around?  :~0

Yummy Dry Hay - There's Too Much Green Stuff Out Here!

Later in the week, it was time to load up fire wood from the big pile of seasoned wood, aka, the Log Mahal. Once again, it provides an interesting diversion if you're a donkey.  Sometimes she pins her ears back, follows close behind, and acts like she wants to bite the wagon.  Crazy donkey!

Now It's Time To Follow The Trailer ...

Another summer routine is the annual Boy Scout hike to the Ligonier/Latrobe area.  The troop sets out from a church a couple of miles from here and goes right past our farm.  I usually get to document the hike because our kennel of hounds goes crazy when people walk or bicycle past on US Route 30.  It's "not normal", so they sound the alarm!

First Year For The Scout, 7th Year For The Leader!

On down the road they go in safety orange ... not sure where the first evening campsite is.  Hope they had some dry weather.  Notice the uncut hay field across the road and it's late July!

And Off They Go ...

Finally, last week we started to pick blackberries.  With all of the rain, it's been a good year for berries.  We have a thicket of blackberries, multi-flora rose (yuck!), & grape vines on the edge of an old log landing back in our woods.  We got enough for a pie the first time and yesterday we got enough for 2 pies.  Some will be frozen for a nice winter pie.  Take a look at these berries about 7 or 8 feet up in the air.  I guess that leaves something out there for the birds!

Can't Reach These Blackberries!  

Summer is for weeding, pruning, dead heading, & picking fruit ... how about you?

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

Lambs To Go!

Wild Rose Farm Pen Of Lambs Ready To Go!

The picture above is a group of lambs before we separated them into pens of ewe lambs and ram lambs.  Except for one mistake (!), a tag in the right ear means a ram lamb and a tag in the left ear means a ewe lamb!  That makes it easier to sort them and we put our flock tag number in the right ear for the ewes that we keep ...
We have some folks coming over soon to pick out their lambs and we have also picked out several that we are keeping here as replacements.  All of our lambs for sale this year are Dorset x Rambouillet crosses. 

Triplet Ewe Lamb From Rambouillet Ewe #401 - I'm Ready To Go!

Ewes Off To Blue Ribbon Farms!

Blue Ribbon Farms Trailer Loaded & Ready To Pull Out!

Today Wild Rose Farm sent 3 ewes off to retirement at an educational farm!   Dan at Blue Ribbon Farms in Aliquippa, PA checked with us about getting some older sheep.   They will spend the rest of their “career” teaching the BRF campers & students about wool.   The timing was perfect since we had just weaned the lambs & the ewes were available to go.   We were able to make a nice selection of different types of sheep and the young men from Blue Ribbon Farms headed over with a big horse trailer to pick them up.

Blue Ribbon Farms - Ride With Pride!

For a job like this, lambs need not apply!   Each ewe left with her “curriculum vitae” neatly tucked in a Wild Rose Farm sheep & wool reference manual that we put together.  We included DOB, breed, individual micron test reports, number of lambs raised, & profile pictures.  

Safely Locked In & Ready To Go!

 One of the happy campers easily recognizable is “U” in the back.   The others are #39 after raising 14 lambs (!) and #130 looking a bit chubby after not nursing her lamb & giving us our lone bottle lamb of the year.   #130 was quite feisty loading up and promptly flopped down and got herself all dirty … sheesh.   After getting her loaded up, I took the picture through the screen so she didn't run us down through an open door!

What an ideal situation for these ewes ... safe travels!    :)