Weekend With Fellow Shepherds!

Wild Rose Farm Table At Symposium

Wild Rose Farm went to "Pennsylvania's Shepherd Symposium" in State College this weekend.
We set up a small table display with our naturally dyed yarns, combed top, accessories, & "up-cycled" wool finds like the "name-brand" wool sweater in the picture.  The  session on Saturday focused on parasite management strategies & general flock health.  Sunday morning was a specialized workshop on developing a farm Manure Management Plan --- PA livestock owners are required to have a written plan by the end of 2013.   Yes, if you own one or two horses, you're included too!  More info & helpful links in my next post.
All in all, a great weekend with fellow shepherds ..... caught up with some old friends and made some new ones! 

Nice Weather ......

Wild Rose Farm Lisa Watching The Sheep

We've had rain and wind during the week, so some of the leaves have been falling.  It seems that the weeping willow tree holds the green color late into the season.  We planted that tree near a stream.  Every farm needs a weeping willow & the sheep keep the bottom trimmed ..... just make sure it's not near water or septic lines!  Lisa the llama is a pretty nice white color now that she's been trimmed and I guess she'll start to even out as she grows back in.  I'm getting ready to wash some of her locks & some wool in the next week or so. 

Wild Rose Farm Lambs & Sire WRF #402 Rambouillet Ram

We were walking around the back of the barn ....... of course, the lambs had to come out & see what was going on!  That's the Rambouillet ram in the ram pen behind them.

Color At Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm - Ewes Near Barn Stone Pile

We had some beautiful fall weather today here at Wild Rose Farm.  It was warmer than yesterday when we took a fall leaf peeping drive north to Forest County, PA.  We saw some great color up there mixed in with the green pines & hemlocks along the Allegheny River. 

Wild Rose Farm "U" & Ewes!

But of course, we have some beautiful maple trees right here on the farm ......
It was a little overcast this afternoon & no sooner did we take these pictures & get up to the barn, a light drizzle started.  We still need the rain around here.  We saw a couple of farmers on our drive yesterday who were taking off some hay and wrapping it.

Wild Rose Farm Ewes Watching The Coonhound! 

Here's an attentive line-up of ewes watching one of the coonhounds getting a lesson in the field.  Usually this level of intensity is reserved for someone coming with a bucket of feed!  :)

Fall Is Here ......

Wild Rose Farm Llama Lisa & Leaves Starting To Change

Your Wild Rose Farm blogger has been doing some business travel lately, but we did snap this picture of Llama Lisa yesterday.  The maple trees are starting to change.
Speaking of business, a group of us from my company were participating in a "Charity Challenge" at work today with Old Economy Village.  Part of my volunteer work today was cleaning up in their exhibit gardens ..... I was also assigned to take fig tree cuttings and put them in a sand filled growing bench in the greenhouse to root them.   We used a rooting hormone powder.  Looking the process up on the internet, I discovered "willow water".  Not being a horticulturalist, this was new to me ..... interesting if you want to use "natural" methods. 

Funny Looking Sheep!

Michael Asks "Is That A Lamb Or A Giraffe?"

This little future farmer seems to be thinking, "Hey that's a funny looking sheep!" ........
Wild Rose Farm has a few more photos from the St. Mary's County Fair.  If you go to fairs and shows aroung the country, you're bound to see different breeds of livestock.  This fair had Romney sheep among the Suffolks, Dorsets, & Hampshires. 

St. Mary's County Fair - Romney Sheep Getting Ready For The Show 

The Babydoll  Southdowns are always popular with the crowd.  Because of their short stature, some flocks are used as a "green" method to mow the grass in vineyards. 

St. Mary's County Fair - Babydoll Southdown Sheep

We also watched the 4-H Steer judging show.  The judge did a good job sifting through the breeds and then we see him here comparing 2 steers in the final competition for Reserve Grand Champion of the show. 
First the judge handles the Crossbred steer ........

St. Mary's County Fair - Judging The Muscling & Finish On The X-Bred Steer

Then over to the Hereford steer ........

Looking Back & Comparing The Hereford Steer To The X-Bred Steer

 In the end, the Hereford steer is chosen as the Reserve Grand Champion and another 4-H season is in the record books!  It was also the last fair of the season for Wild Rose Farm ......  :(

Equine Power!

Suttler Post Farm Clydesdale Getting Some Attention!

Wild Rose Farm has been on a couple of road trips over the last few weeks, so we have some highlights to share ....
These pictures are from the St. Marys' County Fair in Maryland last weekend,where we saw quite a bit of equine activity.   First the 6 horse Clydesdale hitch from Suttler Post Farm was a BIG hit with the crowd ...... they thundered into the ring to the tune of "Welcome To The Jungle"! 


Suttler Post Farm Clydesdale 6 Horse Hitch At St. Mary's County Fair

After a great driving demonstration, these champions parked in the center of the arena and in came a team of mini-mules! 

Mini Mule Team At St. Mary's County Fair

Clydes & Mini Mules

Finally, as the sun started to go down, the heavy weight draft horse pulling contest got underway. 
To give an idea of how big these Belgian horse teams are, the 2 biggest teams weighed 4,800 pounds!
The winning pull for the contest was 8,500 pounds pulled a distance of 27' 2".  Don't hold me to that exactly --- I'd like to see the results officially posted here to confirm!  The winning light weight team pulled 7500# the night before ......

St. Mary's County Fair - A Heavy Team @ 6500 - 7500# Pull

Lisa Gets A Haircut!

Lisa Safely Kushed In Chute

Last fall, we had an opportunity to get a free llama ...... Lisa came to Wild Rose Farm and has settled in nicely here.  She is an older llama and she is not tame.  We've been working to get her to be more trusting and she now moves along well with her sheep.  She will eat feed out of a bucket when we hold it, but doesn't want to be touched.  Well, today was a big day here!  Our latest project was building a llama restraint chute so that we could safely handle her as needed.  Our first priority was to get her clipped.  We don't know when she was last sheared, but it had been years ......

Sue Weaver Advised Use of Spring Loaded Scissors

Once we got her haltered & into the chute, she "kushed" in a minute or two.  That's a typical reaction for a llama in this situation.  Of course, it makes the shearing or clipping more difficult snce she's down on the ground, but you just start at the top and work your way down her sides.  We knew that she wasn't matted down to the skin and we wanted to leave a couple of inches for the winter.  Since we weren't using electric shears, we found a tip from the book above to use spring loaded scissors & it made a big difference. We also used a pair of manual sheep shears & they also worked great.  I'd say Lisa was in the chute for about an hour and the good news was that she didn't try & spit either!   Her cut is a little choppy, but we hear that it will look fine in a month or two.  :)
She actually seemed to have a little spring in her step after it was all done ............

Wild Rose Farm Llama Lisa "After"

Back With The Ewes & Off To Pasture!