Radar's Snow White Arrives At Wild Rose Farm!

Radar Llamas At Wild Rose Farm

Look who arrived at Wild Rose Farm today!  Our new llama from Darlene & Ray Sutton of Radar Llamas.  Ray led her off of the trailer and right back behind the barn to the ram pen.

Radar's Snow White At Wild Rose Farm

Darlene had freshened up her barrel clip and I have a bag of the wool.  She is quite curious about those small white creatures in the barn next to her, but no humming and no ears pinned back.  You can tell that she's been handled and has traveled before today!  This should be a good time to get her into the swing of things here ... lots of barn trips by us because of lambing, lambs and ewes next to her, and a nice view of the pasture field where the ewes will be grazing for the next several weeks. 
Post Script for those who didn't know - Llama Lisa died suddenly last fall - it seemed peaceful - no problems leading up to it - old age?  We knew that she was a much older llama.  When we saw the classified ad in the Farm And Dairy 2 weeks ago - "Need a llama for any reason, give me a call" we made a trip out to look at llamas!     

Official Start Of Lambing ...

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #420 & Ewe Lamb

We can consider this the "official start" of the 2014 lambing season at Wild Rose Farm.  I found this first time mother with a lamb at 5AM this morning in the pasture.  The lamb was dry and had a healthy set of lungs once we started to move her.  She ended up walking the whole way to the barn with the ewe as the sun came up.   Love the cell phone ... called Mr WRF to come out and assist since we had to go through a gate, etc.  We also heard a turkey gobbling over in the field where I had spooked the hen turkeys a week ago.  Everytime the lamb let out with a loud "Baaaaaa", the turkey gobbled! 

Tulips In The Yard

 I pass these tulips going back & forth to the barn.  Surprisingly, they've lasted 4 years now.  I've snipped a few for the old "lady head" vase ... they make a great bonnet for her head!

So What's On The Radar Screen?

More Fiber Pics Coming ...

Teaser ... stay tuned!

Reality Check ...

Coyote In Pasture Field

What started as a barn & pasture check at 8PM turned into a reality check.  Still in the house, I saw movement in the main pasture field below the barn - no sheep are in this field today - and spotted this coyote.  Glenda was on the other side of the fence, but was on alert and fixated on the same area. 
From the kitchen window, Mr. WRF used the "varmit gun" (previously only used on ground hogs).
Then we did the pasture check ...

Grazing Started ... Lambs Coming?

Wild Rose Farm Ewes - Back 40

We moved the ewes to the "Back 40" today to start grazing.  The grass seems to be about a week or so behind this year & I'm hearing that local rainfall is an inch below normal so far this spring.  Part of the section that the sheep are on today is a little thin.  This was cleared in late 2011/early 2012.  Looking back,  just above the top-most sheep in the center is where the brushy tangle & tree used to be.  We didn't frost seed this area in February, but I may run some seed back now and let the ewes tramp it in.  It takes a little while to get a cleared, formerly wooded (and wet) area to develop a good turf.

Think They'll Be Lambing Soon?

We separated off the first 7 ewes that were marked as bred by the rams last fall.   They are in the barn.  The ewes in this group were marked later, but that doesn't always mean that some of them won't go first.  Late night & 4AM pasture & barn checks have started! 
We have determined that #422 was an accidental breeding when we had a group of sheep gathered in the barn paddock for customers last fall ...  their loss as she is a first time lamber with a set of twins!   Ha!  ;)

Lambs Outside

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet #422 Coming In With Lambs

The ewe and her twins were out in the warm sunshine yesterday.  Here they are coming back in when we got home with a load of hay.  They still stick close by her side right now.
We picked up some small square bales of second cutting hay to feed the ewes in the barn once lambing starts.  It's so much nicer tossing hay around now than in the heat of the summer!  :)


Stacking Hay On The Trailer - Barn Built In 1952

Winter Work To Be Finished

Wild Rose Farm - Squaring Up A Pasture Field

I know, it's a little boring, but here's our next chore to be completed.  We keep pecking away at adding more pasture area for grazing.  The trees were cut in the winter and now the wood has to be split.  There are a couple of butt logs in there to be sawn into boards.  One is locust wood & the plan is to use that to frame a raised bed garden box.   We'd like to get these split and up off of the field edge once it dries up a little and we can get both tractors and the wagon over there.  The stumps will have to be pulled and then we'll seed in the areas with grasses and clover.  We'll probably spread some quick growing rye seed as a cover crop once we get the wood picked up.
When I walked back to this area, I sent 4 browsing hen turkeys running to the treeline and awkwardly flapping up into the trees ... too quick to get a picture!