2020 National Llama Appreciation Day!

Today is National Llama Appreciation Day, so last night I went in search of Snow White to get some pictures to post ...

Nope, She's Not Resting in the Shade With Us ...

She wasn't in the Loafing Shed resting with some of the ewes and lambs, so I set off to hike around this paddock. We have a secure tightly fenced section around the Loafing Shed where we bring everyone in after the day of grazing.  The spring water development is in this section too.

Snow White At Sunset

Of course, she was all the way up at the highest point of the paddock near the gate along the road. From the piles of "llama beans" nearby, you can tell that she likes this spot. 

"I can see the whole place from here!"

Snow White Can Oversee Her Flock From Gate to Gate

As I was taking pictures, Snow White wandered down to graze closer to her flock. We have been very fortunate to have her as our guardian llama. Officially, she's Radar's Snow White #280010 and she came to us during lambing season in April 2014 from the Suttons at RA DAR LLAMAS. She had never seen sheep before, but she was immediately fascinated by the lambs.  

Snow White Sees First Lamb - April 2014 - Wow! 

 So back to last night, Snow White returns to grazing and watching her flock of ewes and lambs. We really appreciate our llama! 

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White at Work! 

 Here's another way that you can appreciate your llama during these trying times ...

Flock Check @ Evening Feeding

Wild Rose Farm - Did You Say Feeding Time?

The ewes are now grazing in the bottom half of the pasture behind that gate and over the hill. Their bottom water tank is just over to the left near that blooming dogwood tree. While their fresh section of grazing is being set up, they come up to the barn for their evening grain ration.

Snow White Says "Meh" ...

The Ewes Keep Coming! 

Once they've reached the barn, they are completely occupied with eating.  I can do a check of everyone to see if there is any chance of a ewe that is close to lambing in the group … nothing tonight, so they all went back down to the fresh break of grazing!

Wild Rose Farm Evening Feeding

Snow White Feature!

Wild Rose Farm - Radar Llamas - Radars Snow White 

We moved the grazing flock today and that provided a chance for some close-up pictures. Snow White's flock is down to the ewes that haven't lambed yet, plus the ewe lambs that she wintered with in the barn. Here she is in the paddock as I'm looking over the ewes … notice her eye is always on my position!

Snow White Watching Behind Herself ...

She was dewormed yesterday, so she has reason to be suspicious! Now that she's out grazing again, she gets dewormed mainly as a preventative for the deer meningeal worm.

Lambs & Ewes Out Grazing ...

Wild Rose Farm X-bred Lamb #152 Nibbling ...

One thing is for certain … this has been one of the wettest springs/early summers on record. The pastures are growing like crazy. We've seen some hay that's been rained on & still plenty of fields after the 4th of July not cut yet. Here's what it looked like in June at Wild Rose Farm!

Dorset Ewe #118 Surrounded by Lambs

Grazing in a Sea of Grass! 

Rambouillet Yearling Ewes Foreground 

The yearling ewe lambs are in excellent shape this year. The one in the left of the picture above has a small set of horns ...

Yes, The "Middle" Spring Development Water is Flowing! 

Busy With Farm Projects!

Wild Rose Farm Sheep Grazing & Garage Project Excavation

After 27 years, we've finally gotten a garage project underway. The picture above was taken from the kitchen window. With the big pile of excavated soil, it felt like we had a view of the Rocky Mountains! The footer is being formed up today, the temps are going up to around 90 degrees, and it is humid.  The good news is that the room above the garage will be a space for fiber & yarn, plus the floor loom will reside there too!  Fiber is fluffy by nature and it now fills the better part of one bedroom with show set-up stuff & tents squirreled away elsewhere. It will be great to have it all in one spot with easy access and no staircase to negotiate - yay!
Yes - those are the ewes and lambs grazing in the background. They'll probably head for shade in the barn as it gets closer to noon ...

Snow White Enjoys Some Down Time In The Shade!

Here's a look at Snow White watching me skirt Dorset fleeces over the weekend on Saturday. She was relaxing in the barn away from the meddlesome lambs (!). She was the only one who chose to come in at the time. The Dorset fleeces went to a fiber festival in Wooster, Ohio on Sunday to be delivered to Zeilinger's Wool ... they will be custom processed into wool quilt batts.
We're down to only 1 queen & 1 full size quilt batt available for sale right now - yikes!

Lambs Checking Things Out ...

Wild Rose Farm Lambs on Garden Site!

The funny thing about the picture above is that the ewes are all grazing, but the lambs seem to be captivated by the soil in the garden site. They are exploring everything and had just finished racing around when this picture was taken. Once the ground dries up a little, we'll get some seeds planted.
Everything falls behind when lambing starts and festival season is underway ...

Waiting For Lambs!

Wild Rose Farm 6:30AM - No Lambs Here!

Do you see what I see? That's right, a llama and a flock of ewes grazing this morning at 6:30AM. No lambs and no ewes separated off or looking anxious.  Last year our lambing started on April 28th. We put the rams in 2 calendar days earlier in November, so there was a chance that lambing could start a couple of days earlier too.  Not so, ha!  Anyway, we're nice and close to the barn now after grazing the "Back 40" for a week.  Stay tuned ...

Perfect Day For The Farm Tour!

"Hey Llama, Why Are You Looking At Me Like That?"

We had a perfect fall day for the 1st Beaver County Self-Guided Farm Tour. Temps ranged from the high 50's to the mid 60's with big, puffy white clouds and a nice breeze.  We were able to have Snow White & the ewe flock grazing right along the driveway in the small "Hospital Pen".
We were so busy talking with everyone and answering questions that I only got one or two pictures taken when the crowd thinned out near the end of the day - oh well!  Llama Snow White was pretty popular with the visitors. The young fellow above kept talking to her and asking why she was looking at him so funny ... we told him that she usually only sees sheep and they don't ask her questions!  One thing that I did notice - look closely at the grass in the pen. The flock spent most of their time grazing as far away from the people as they could get. The grass next to the front fence line is still tall after 5 hours!
Glenda did not disappoint either, with her random & raucous braying next to the folks looking at the lambs in the barn.  Thanks to everyone who came out and visited us at Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White & Her Flock Back at the Loafing Shed

Just Routines!

Wild Rose Farm - Done Grazing Here!

The ewes & lambs have settled into a routine now that everyone has been processed with ear tags and they're out grazing. They spent the evening & overnight in the "hospital pen" near the barn to graze it down. When you do a graze with high stock density in a limited area, they say it's a third, a third, a third. One third eaten, one third trampled, one third remaining.  That looks about right, lol, and now we'll mow off the stems & seed heads.  The sheep were off to the pasture on the other side of the Loafing Shed ...
Leading up to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest, I noted that we were running low on our Rambouillet combed top and needed to have more made. We quickly skirted and took 20 pounds of raw fleece out to the Great Lakes Sheep & Fiber Show in Wooster, Ohio over the Memorial Day weekend. We dropped it off with Zeilinger Wool to be processed ... yay!  They make a lovely combed top for us and we'd sold a bunch at Waynesburg.  

2017 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival

2017 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest

It's time for the 14th Annual Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend, May 20th & 21st! We're all tagging and packing up our "stuff".  We've got a great group of vendors this year - it just keeps getting better.  New this year is a Maker's Space on Sunday manned by the Washington County Spinners & Weavers Guild in Building #10 --- come join in! 
Wild Rose Farm will be bringing our new Rambouillet 2-ply Bulky Art Yarn.   Be sure to check it out ... it's so soft.  Thanks to Ruth & the crew at The Mill At Meadowlands! 
We're wrapping up the lambing and the grazing is good. The picture below shows the dwindling group of ewes waiting to lamb grazing with Snow White and the 7 yearling ewe lambs.  We've been brush hogging daily to try and keep up as we graze each section.

Grazing Background, Mowed Foreground

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White & Her Charges In A Sea Of Grass!

Sunshine, Twins, & Grazing!

Sunshine At Wild Rose Farm, Finally!

After several rainy, cool, & windy days, we've got sunshine!  The ewes really enjoy a fresh section of pasture and it's not so "washy" to eat. In the rain, we stepped up the pasture checks to every 2 hours to make sure that we got the lambs in to the barn before they chilled. Mission accomplished.
We had 2 sets of twins born in the rain & 2 more sets of twins born today ...

We Were Born In The Rain, But We're Fine Now!

We're Nice & Dry In The Barn ... And Now The Sun Comes Out! 

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe #118 With Twin Rams Born This Afternoon

Hey - What's Going On Down In That Sheep Pasture???

We're grazing in the pasture below our neighbors and the Goat Mahal. Of course, the goats come down to the fence to check things out!  When we moved the net fence this afternoon, we saw a doe leave for the back of the field. She probably has a fawn hidden in the pasture so we were careful not to cause too much disturbance.  It's probably gone by now. We've noticed that does will take advantage of the relative safety behind the pasture fences.    

Early Grazing ...

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White & Ewes Grazing

The ewes are now out grazing for the better part of the day. We move the electric net fence every day to provide fresh grass & you can see the area in the foreground that was grazed the day before the picture was taken.  It was overcast and rainy a couple of days ago when we took the picture. 
Since then, the temperature went up and boy, did the grass jump! The leaves are coming out & filling in on the trees & now the dogwoods are in bloom. Can lambs be far away now? :~0
It's out to the barn today to get the first pens ready ...

Grazing & Waiting!

Putting Up Net Fencing Before Grazing

We're getting ready to start some light grazing at Wild Rose Farm. We usually wait until mid-April when the grass starts jumping to begin grazing. The electric net fence is up to guide the ewes up to the top pasture on the other side of the Loafing Shed. We'll graze this area first before bringing them to the pasture around the barn for lambing season ...
Meanwhile, here's a look at the 2-ply yarn that we were waiting for at The Mill At Meadowlands.

Rambouillet 2-Ply Bulky Yarn!

This batch is moving on to the skeining process ... Yay!

And The Heat Goes On!

Triplet Ram Lamb Leaving For New Home

The hot & dry weather continues here at Wild Rose Farm. We got some rain in the last 2 weeks, but we're still way behind for the year. The nights are getting cooler, so at least there is some relief. One of our ram lambs was sold recently - he was one of the triplets out of our Rambouillet Ewe #403.
As dry as it is, we moved the ewes onto round bales of hay for now. The pastures are recovering nicely for fall grazing after the rains that we did get lately.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #401 Munching Queen Anne's Lace 

The last grazing stop before heading to the round bales was the "Hospital Pen" along the driveway near the barn. It was last grazed in early June, so the grass (and weeds) were really high.  We always say that sheep prefer weeds & browse over grass and you can see it here ... I had my cell phone with me as the ewes selected their own favorites!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #407 Reaching Ironweed Leaves

Then, WRF #407 "Walks Down" The Ironweed - Yum!

Other Work To Be Done ...

Mowing The Lambing Pasture

Of course, there's other work to be done in between the lambs and the raindrops. Here we are mowing the part of the pasture where we have been lambing. In grazing terms, we "set stock" the ewes on an area that gets larger as we move the electric net fencing forward to provide fresh forage. The open area behind provides enough room for ewes to separate off of the flock when they are ready to lamb. Yesterday we back-fenced this area and moved the ewes on to a new section of pasture to start the process again. The dew finally evaporated and the field was dry enough to mow this afternoon. This mowing cuts off the seed heads forming on the pasture grasses. It also cuts back seed heads developing on weeds. The regrowth will be mostly leafy instead of old and full of stems & seed heads.
You can see how fast the grass is growing - the point of grass in the middle right is grazed regrowth that was back-fenced 2 weeks ago. :)  The grass back behind the white electric net fence hasn't been grazed yet.

Wild Rose Farm - Ewe #98 & Newborn Twins

We had another set of twins today from one of our crossbred ewes, #98. As you can see, she had to get up close and personal when we dipped the lamb's navels in iodine. Mama doesn't want you to take her babies and stays REAL close!

Warm & Breezy November!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe Prancing In The Breeze!

We had a lovely Indian Summer here this week.  The flock is enjoying their fall grazing and with the temps in the 70's we had a nice breeze to keep them cool. The only color in the woods now comes from the oak and hickory trees.
Here's a fine point of farming, but if you look at the picture below, you can see that the rear section of the pasture is a darker green.  There is a distinct line.  The back section is where we spread composted manure in August.  

Snow White & The Grazing Flock!

We've had a couple of soaking rains since then and you can see the result. That area had been grazed too, it's just much greener.

Close-up Of Compost At Work ... Whoo-hoo! 

Lambs Out & About!

Wild Rose Farm - Ewes & Lambs In Front Paddock

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the ewes & older lambs have been out doing some grazing.  We're having nice, cooler weather with overcast skies & a bit of rain scattered in too.  MUCH nicer than mid to high 80's with the trees not fully leafed out yet.   We have 1 ewe left to lamb and then we're done ... always a straggler in the group, eh?

Lambs Learning To Graze

The lambs learn by watching & doing ... here the lamb is nibbling the seed head off of the grass stem.  If the weather was warmer and sunnier, the local farmers would be out in their fields.  It is time to be making 1st cutting hay.  As it is, we have already mowed or brush hogged down the section of pasture that the sheep have been grazing while they were lambing.  

1st Pasture Outing!

Wild Rose Farm Lambs

We let the ewes with older lambs out to graze in the early evening yesterday.  Of course, the ewes rush out for fresh grass and most of the lambs come along behind bleating in mass confusion!   And quite frankly, it takes about 10 minutes of munching before most of the ewes go looking for their lambs.  We noticed that "U" was the first one to go back to the gate area and pick up her lamb.  Some of the lambs managed to never lose their ewe in the rush, like #403 below ... she's happy, they're happy!  :)

WRF #403 & Twins Nursing

We only had 1 lamb born yesterday evening.  We got caught in a drenching downpour just as we were a couple of hundred feet from the barn.  That also sent the remaining grazing ewes & lambs back up to the barn & the traffic jam slowed us down!   Aaccckkkkk!

Sunrise & Lambs At Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm Sunrise & Lambs!

Last night we penned up #50 in the Loafing Shed ... she definitely was getting ready to go into labor.  Here she is this morning around 7 AM with her set of twins.  We walked her over to the driveway area where she is munching up a storm with the lambs at her side.  She probably hadn't really eaten anything since yesterday afternoon when she started to get that "distracted" look and began to pace around.

Wild Rose Farm #50 Grazing With Twins

We have been impressed with her.  She is an excellent mother & last year she raised a set of triplets with no bottle feeding.  She is a x-bred ewe with a high percentage of Rambouillet.