Waiting & Skirting ...

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White & Ewes Under The Pine Trees

No lambs yet as of this evening, so work continued without interruption on the fleeces today. Taking a break at noon, by walking out to the ewes to check on them, we turned up some pushy ewes ...

WRF Rambouillet #403 Would Like A Treat!

And "as long as you're handing out treats", #401 says, "I might as well push up to the front of the line". It's hard for me to get back far enough to take a picture! :)

WRF Rambouillet #401 Pushes Her Way In Too! 

Since there are no pictures of lambs yet, we'll have to settle for 2 more yummy Rambouillet fleeces that we skirted today.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #332 Fleece

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #410 Fleece Fills The Bag!

Rambouillet #332 Fleece Close-up

Rambouillet #410 Fleece Close-up

Watching The Calendar!

Wild Rose Farm Lamb Fleece

We need to put a calendar up in the barn. Our lambing season should start any minute now, so we need to let the ewes know what today's date is! As of this morning, no new lambs ...
With the sunny weather & temperatures in the mid-70's for two days, it's time to skirt some fleeces. This is a nice lamb fleece from a twin daughter of Rambouillet #405, so it is a 50/50 Rambouillet/Dorset cross. The skirted fleece now weighs about 4 lbs.  The 0477 number is her lamb ear tag. We will put permanent flock tags in over the next month or so ... I need to order another batch of tags.

0477 Lamb Fleece Close-up

Chores Almost Finished ...

Beautiful Day At Wild Rose Farm!

We're wrapping up the pre-lambing festivities here at the farm.  We had temps in the low 80's this afternoon as we brought the ewes up for their vaccination boosters.  We ease them up in stages through the various fields so there is no rush or overexertion.

Snow White Gets Vaccinated Too ...

I was going to brush out Snow White & even up her clip job, but I ran out of time once we got started giving the ewes their shots.  We'll have plenty of time for that later, I guess.  It was just getting dark as we took the flock back to the Loafing Shed.  Now begins the early morning and late night checks for lambs!

Gathered & Waiting To Move

2016 Shearing Done!

Only 6 Sheep Left To Be Sheared! 

We finished the rest of the shearing yesterday here at Wild Rose Farm. Our shearer has his own flock of 100+ ewes, so he arrives here mid-morning after his chores are done.  Mind you, after he finishes here, he heads home to do his own chores again. We split the sheep into 2 groups here now and do about half at a time.
How does the sheep that you're after know that she is the one?  Rambouillet ewe #332 started to spin around just as the picture above was snapped ... she was next and she knew it!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #332 - Very Nice Fleece!

This is #332, but the tag you see in her left ear is her scrapie tag - we put flock number tags on the ewe's right ear as you see in the 1st picture.
Guess who got a full body clip this year? Yes, that's llama Snow White & she's standing pretty quietly for her clip job! Her early handling and showing career before she came to us certainly serves us well.

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White - Off Comes That Heavy Fleece!

 One thing that she didn't want to do was stand on the shearing board & carpet.  Oh well ... I got some of the prime fleece as it came cleanly off & now what to do with it?  For the record, by this afternoon, she had found the spot where we had burned brush over the winter.  She enjoyed rolling around and taking a nice dust bath in the ashes.  She is now a dusty gray color & no longer shows up as bright white against the green grass like the ewes ...

Almost Frozen & Temps Dropping!

Drooping Daffs ...

I went out this afternoon to cut the almost blooming early red tulips and did a little yard tour.  First I encountered the big drooping daffodils in the front yard.  It's hard to tell, but only 1 bloom could be saved, the rest were frozen & iced over. The forsythia bushes had been frozen and had turned an orange/yellow color ...

Frosted Forsythias ...

The red tulips around the outhouse looked good, so anything close to blooming was cut to bring inside!

Wild Rose Farm Outhouse Tulips!

Tulips Starting To Open On Windowsill ...

Finally, the rhubarb bed that is used for natural dyeing had a bit of snow, but the hardy leaves shrugged off the cold so far.  Hard to believe, but after dipping into the teens tonight, the long range forecast is calling for temps in the 70's next Saturday ... ahhhh, Spring!

Wild Rose Farm Rhubarb Plants In Recently Edged Bed

Change Of Shearing Plans!

What The Well Dressed Shearers Are Wearing!

We got 25 of 46 sheep sheared yesterday with temps in the mid-40's.  We mutually decided to reschedule the rest for next week after this cold front passes.  The shearing machine is still hanging from the nail in the rafters and the board + carpet are leaning against the wall.  Click to enlarge & notice the footwear repair with sheep duct tape! :)  Our shearer does not wear felt booties like some do when shearing.

Wild Rose Farm - Another Nice Fleece Comes Off!

Once again, all of the fleeces are recorded, evaluated, bagged, & tagged as they are being sheared. With just 2 of us to help catch, sweep, bag, and move fleeces, we don't have time or room to set up a skirting table. I usually have a couple of bags of belly wool, dirty top knots, tags, & hay filled neck wool that I've pulled off as we are shearing. One of the ewes was sick last year and so there was one fleece with "wool break" that will end up in the tag pile at the wool pool.

Wild Rose Farm Fleeces "Bagged & Tagged" ...

Rambouillet ewe #422 with a 19.9 micron test produced a nice spinning fleece that we will sample for the Virginia guild project.  Once again, Rambouillet ewe #410 has another great show fleece - look for this one again at the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest Fleece Show in May!

A Glimpse Of Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #410 Coming To A Show Near You! 

As they were sheared, the hungry ewes were released to pasture. They ran around munching until we finished, cleaned up, and then opened up the barn paddock gates to them again.  A sudden downpour sent them running back up to the barn where we closed them inside ... but not before some sheepy confusion about where they were supposed to go.  Typical sheep!

Bright White Sheep Flock Back To The Barn

  Yep, they ran past the open paddock gate and stood outside where they had been penned for shearing.  :)

A Bucket Of Grain Calls Them Back To The Gate Behind The Barn ... 

Snow White & the full fleeced ewes were sent back to the Loafing Shed to wait until next week.

Ready For Shearing Day!

Headed For The Barn!

Today is shearing day at Wild Rose Farm ... notice how nice and sunny it was yesterday! Temps are now hovering around 43 degrees and will be falling later today.  Oh ... and it's drizzling with spotty heavier rain throughout the day.  Yuck. Unfortunately, that's the way it goes when you schedule in advance.

Wild Rose Farm - Wait 'Til You See How We Clean Up!

Everyone spent the night in the barn to keep dry and we'll get about half of them sheared today and the other half probably tomorrow if all goes well.  Being newly sheared, they'll have to stay inside for a week or 10 days depending on the weather ... they always have access to the outdoors & they make the choice.

Wild Rose Farm Dorset #115 - I'm Ready To Get This Done!

Dorset ewe #115 was one of the first ewes marked as bred last November ... let's follow along and see if she is one of the first to lamb.  We have an order for a Rambouillet fleece for a guild study project in Virginia, so I'd like to get that put together and shipped by Monday.  :)