Off to the Lawrence County Wool Pool!

News Clip From Lancaster Farming

The news clip says it all if you've never heard of a "wool pool".  In 2020, due to the pandemic most, if not all, of the regional wool pools were canceled. This year folks will be bringing 2 years worth of their sheared fleeces to the pool and we're not sure of the price that we'll be getting.  I'll report back on the results later today! Wool is an international commodity, so that enters into the picture.

Wild Rose Farm - Truck Completely Packed With Fleeces!

Of course, even though the truck is crammed full of fleeces, we still have nicely skirted fleeces available for sale & I have some Rambouillet wool set aside to be sorted for processing into yarn.

 

Lambs Yesterday at Wild Rose Farm ...

 

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #565 and Twin Lambs

Lambing has finally drawn to a close here for the year. We have 3 ewes that have had their lambs yesterday and today. We're not sure why there was a little group that waited longer to get bred and essentially at the same time, but here they are!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #574 With Ewe Lamb

There was another lamb born today, but no pictures have been taken yet.  We'll ear tag the 3 lambs above this evening and tomorrow we'll tag the lamb born today.  This little group of sheep doesn't have to worry about cold weather.  They're in the barn with a fan blowing towards the pens! 

2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest - Friday Sneak Peek!

 

Appalachian Hills Farm - Beautiful Batts!

Here is your sneak peek at some of the booths set up today for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest tomorrow!  After finishing the Wild Rose Farm booth set-up, I took the opportunity to get a few pictures of what some of the vendors brought.

Ashgrove Soaps & Sundries - Nice Selection!

Folks, Lori as back this year and the wonderful smell from this booth is sooooo tempting!

Mystery Booth?

Boone Hollow Baskets

It turns out that we can get a glimpse of the mystery booth in the background of the Boone Hollow Baskets photo ... that's Holly Road all the way from eastern Pennsylvania.   Can't wait to see what else is undercover.

Ridgetop Pottery - Working on Booth Set Up

Finally, a glimpse at some beautiful work in Tabitha's booth ... fingerless gloves or wristlets?

Tatting by Tabitha - More Than Tatting!

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the Wild Rose Farm booth!  Well, you've seen the skirted fleece photos and the naturally-dyed yarn in the studio before it was packed up.  We have our Rambouillet combed top, Dorset wool quilt batts, Dorset pencil roving and wool locks for sale.  BTW, our "upcycled woolens" rack has several Irish wool sweaters, a vintage green Pearce wool blanket, some cool wool and felt hats and a Marlboro buffalo plaid car blanket with carrier handle strap.  

See you tomorrow! The festival is from 10AM - 5PM. 

MORE Fleeces for 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest!

 

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #563 - Beautiful Fleece!

The better part of the day was spent getting ready for the 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest, including skirting more fleeces!  The little notebook in the picture above is our farm "barn book".  On sheep shearing day - this year in March - each fleece is evaluated and notes are taken on promising "show" fleeces. Every fleece isn't suitable for hand spinning or for fleece judging. This makes it easier to pull out the cleanest & best fleeces to skirt and bring to the shows and fairs.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #574

Wild Rose Farm #764 First Shearing Lamb Fleece

Here are a couple of bundles of lamb fleece that will be bagged for smaller projects. A whole fleece can last quite a while and various parts of the fleece may find different uses like spinning and felting. 

Wild Rose Farm #783 Lamb Fleece Bundles 
Lamb in the Background ...

Ewe Watching the Skirting Table - Almost 90F Today! 

Skirting Fleeces for 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest!

 

Wild Rose Farm #119 Dorset Fleece

Here are a couple of fleeces that we skirted today - warm weather is perfect for this job!  The lanolin is great for your hands ...

Wild Rose Farm #151 Dorset x Rambouillet Fleece

Stay tuned for more skirted fleece pics tomorrow.  We're bringing these fleeces to the 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend.  The festival will be a "streamlined" one day event this year on Saturday May 22nd at the Greene County Fairground in Waynesburg, PA just off of the I-79 Waynesburg exit. This is in Southwestern PA folks! :)

Finally after a year without fiber festivals, you'll be able to actually GET YOUR HANDS on wool & wool yarn!

Wild Rose Farm - Three Lambs Resting!

The great part about skirting fleeces is that I get to enjoy watching - and listening to - the ewes and lambs in the barn!  

Why We Go Out At 1AM ...

 

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #571 & Twin Ewe Lambs

This is why the pasture checks continue around the clock!  Rambouillet ewe #571 has lambed for the first time and has a nice set of twin ewe lambs. She's standing over the first lamb that has already nursed and is curled up resting. The second lamb is right in position - isn't instinct amazing?  She's trying to nurse and this "first time" ewe is standing still for her.  She's not in a panic when I approach & then stop to get a picture.  For the curious folks out there, Snow White is cushed about 50 feet away in the dark & the temperature is 48 degrees.  The chance of light rain is 40% by 6am and this group will be dry in the barn. 

Previous "Midnight" Pasture Check - Ewes Resting

 Yesterday the scene was similar, but nothing was happening. None of the ewes were in labor, so by 5am, the shepherd knows that things cannot have gone too far astray. 

Snow White Was Just Out of the Picture!

The same as this morning, Snow White was just out of the picture watching over the flock!  You can see the barn lit up in the background on the hill.  Ok, time to get some sleep now.  

Liquid Gold!

 

Sheep Milk Colostrum Going to the Freezer!

Here's an upside down selfie that I took to show everyone the precious colostrum that we milked from our ewes.  The first milk from the ewe after lambing is "anti-body rich" colostrum and it's critical for the newborns to get up and nurse.  It's thick and you can see the more golden color - which is one of the reasons we consider it liquid gold!  When a ewe has a single lamb, that's a perfect time to get some colostrum for the freezer. The frozen colostrum can be thawed later and fed to another newborn lamb that needs to be started or supplemented.  Both of the jugs above are colostrum, but from different ewes, so there's a difference in their color. 

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #568 & Ram Lamb

The ewe above delivered this large single ram lamb and is the donor for the jug on the left. The picture was taken after a 1AM pasture check when we brought them up to the barn.  The colostrum was milked from the side that the lamb wasn't nursing on yet at around 7AM.  It actually provides some relief to milk out the ewe and the single lamb will soon be nursing on both sides.  

The jug on the right came from a ewe that delivered twin lambs around 6AM the same morning. She just happens to have a very heavy milk flow, so we recruited her as a colostrum donor ... 

There was plenty of milk to go around!  :)

Hello 2021!

Snow White & Ewe Flock Headed Back to Pasture

 It's been quite a while since we've posted here at Wild Rose Farm!  Our 2020 was pretty uneventful with all of the pandemic restrictions and canceled events.  No shows, no festivals, no wool pool, no Hookstown Fair ... nothing to report except sticking close to home!  We even had to cancel our last group of freezer lambs due to lack of processing capacity, grrrr.  The breeding season began on Thanksgiving weekend as usual and we've been grazing and waiting for the first lambs to arrive.  The ewes come up to the barn for feed each afternoon and we look them over.  You can see them above on a beautiful day headed back to a fresh section of pasture with Snow White bringing up the rear.

Rambouillet Ewe #333 With Ewe Lamb!

 Our frequent pasture checks paid off this afternoon! We found one of our Rambouillet ewes under the pine trees with a new ewe lamb.  Actually, I was looking closely at the ewes below the trees for signs of impending labor when I heard a lamb bleat! There she was standing next to the ewe up in the shade of the trees. Both are resting comfortably in the barn tonight.  

Working on Lambs and Garden ...

Looking Towards the Garden ...

We've gotten the ewes with older lambs out and into the field where we have the garden.  They've just passed through this field and have moved on to the pasture by the Loafing Shed. Even with the electric net fence around the fledgling garden, I'm still nervous! Somehow it seems that one of those goofy lambs will manage to get into the garden!  There are a dozen tomato plants, the sunflowers & summer squash are just starting to sprout, and we've planted popcorn this year … never tried that before, so we'll see how it goes.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #555 & Twins 

We had a nice delivery of twins out on pasture and we left them out long enough for the ewe to clean them off outside. Here's another ewe with her set of twins in the barn.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #553 & Twins

Oh, and did we mention the barn project? The hemlock board siding got a coat of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits for preservation … what a chore, but it's done!

Resealing the Barn!

Sadly - 2020 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival Cancellation!

No Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival This Weekend … :(

Normally at this time, we'd be in the Saturday morning joy of the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival!  Wild Rose Farm would have set up our booth on Friday and headed out around 6AM this morning to be ready for opening day … Unfortunately with the COVID-19 restrictions, the committee was forced to cancel the festival.  Just look at the great art for our Save the Date Cards and t-shirts … we were READY!  Many other fiber festivals have been canceled or may be rescheduled this year. Waynesburg will be back in 2021.
Our farm is still essentially closed for visitors now, but we have had a couple of folks show up asking to buy freezer lambs later this year. People are looking at their food and fiber a little differently these days.  We also have 2 custom made cherry wood shelving units from Pat Zeibers Furniture ready and awaiting pick-up for our studio.  The were ordered after Christmas and were finished just as the Pennsylvania lockdowns started!  Hopefully we'll be able to pick them up in the next couple of weeks and get things organized.

April Shearing Day - Penned Up & Ready!

One thing that did happen during the shutdown is the essential service of sheep shearing! 

 We'll be skirting fleeces and posting pictures of fleeces for sale as soon as we get several warm & dry days to work on them!    

Rambouillet Ewe on Shearing Board

Random Pictures ...

Lambs on the Loose @ Wild Rose Farm!

We were out shopping and had just come down the driveway … Hey! What are those sheep doing under the cherry trees?!?  Mr. Wild Rose Farm walked up & into the barn to get some feed while I stayed out here to head off anyone who might break in this direction.  I needn't have worried.  The lambs scampered back in through their gate into the pen.  It's where they were safe & where they get fed!  By the time I got my cell phone out to take a picture, you can see the last lamb just outside of the gate heading in to safety … Whew.  We've had the donkey loose on the lawn before, but never any sheep. And of course, the donkey thinks it's a game, high steps, and kicks her heels when you try to catch her, lol.

Rambouillet Ram Lamb Turned in With Breeding Ewes

Breeding season started here on November 26th. We turned a young Dorset ram in with the Dorset & crossbred ewes. We also turned in this triplet registered Rambouillet ram in with a separate group of  Rambouillet ewes.  The ewes know where to go and had headed down the runway, but the ram turned back around to look at me … not sure of what was up!  You can just see the green marking paint on his chest. As of today about 1/2 to 2/3rds of all the ewes are marked.

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillets - Ram Looking Back

Super Sheep?!?

Wild Rose Farm Ewe #141

We had just moved the sheep back over to the Loafing Shed after replacing a couple of ear tags, when this ewe caught my eye.  Hmmm, who is this somewhat short legged, chunky little ewe?  I had to creep up on her quietly to see that she was #141. She's a Dorset x Rambouillet cross and her records show that she's had 4 sets of twins. We'd already made the decision to retain her ewe lamb this year based on her growth - she's the only x-bred ewe lamb that we're keeping. It's tough since we're keeping 5 ewe lambs (3 Rambouillet, 1 Dorset) & we could only keep one more.
I'll try to get a picture of her one of these days ...
We have some really nice twin x-bred ewe lambs for sale that would really be nice to keep. We've sold a Dorset ram lamb & a horned Rambouillet ram lamb in the last couple of weeks and it would be great if some of the ewe lambs went to a new farm!

Fall Chores ...

Wild Rose Farm Ewes on the Move!

With the shorter & cooler days of fall, the sheep are always nice & frisky!  Here they are rushing past on their way in to graze down the hospital pen. We're sorting through the ewes and planning the breeding groups for this season. We'll have a group of Rambouillet ewes with a Rambouillet ram and the Dorset & crossbred ewes with a young Dorset ram. That smaller sheep in the picture above is a crossbred ewe lamb. She was born late and we just separated her off of her dam last week. She's been running with the ewes all summer … it just seemed easier to leave her out there and she did quite well!
We've had some folks looking at lambs lately & we have some really nice crossbred ewe lambs for sale + 2 commercial Dorset ram lambs & several Rambouillet ram lambs.  We were skewed towards rams this year and ended up with only 5 Rambouillet ewe lambs - we sold one and are keeping the other 4 for ourselves. They're all twins and one is a triplet. :)

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! 

More Fleeces Skirted!

Wild Rose Farm #153 - Dorset x Rambouillet Ewe & Lamb

The first fleece up on the blog post today is brought to you by WRF #153, a 2 year old crossbred ewe. She is a 50% Dorset/50% Rambouillet ewe.

Wild Rose Farm #153 - Skirted Fleece

We also skirted a group of nice Rambouillet fleeces to take to the 2019 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend …

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #554 - Skirted Fleece

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #555 - Skirted Fleece

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #556 - Skirted Fleece

& Barn Book With Shearing Notes!

Finally, we finished another x-bred fleece as it was getting dark outside!

Wild Rose Farm #142 - Skirted Fleece

The truck is mostly packed up and ready to go for the festival set-up tomorrow. In addition to the fleeces, combed top, yarns, quilt batts, etc., we've got a really nice selection of vintage/upcycled woolens this year.  Come check out the racks and stacks! Did I mention buttons?

Fleeces for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #561 - Skirted Fleece

Here's one of the Rambouillet fleeces that we will be bringing to the 2019 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend.  All of the fleeces will have the ewe's micron test report with them in case you're as geeky about that as we are!

#561 Rambouillet Ewe Washed Fleece Sample

I grabbed the little sample in the top picture and swished it quickly with warm water & plain old Soft Soap over the kitchen sink … you can see the crimp in the sample. Rambouillet fleeces clean up well if pulled out in lock formation and washed by hand.

Wild Rose Farm Ram Heads Down the Road!

Speaking of crimp & micron tests, we sold our Rambouillet ram about a month ago to some folks who were specifically looking to get some finer "half-blood" wool from their commercial flock. He sired all of our Rambouillet lambs last year and this year and has a 21.5 micron fleece. It was good to have a ram go to another flock where he can help improve a future wool clip!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe #117 & Twin Ram Lambs

And who doesn't want to see another picture of lambs? Attentive Dorset ewe #117 has a nice set of twin ram lambs this year. They were sired by our performance tested Dorset ram. We'd like to se them go to a small commercial flock for breeding … they're filling out nicely now.