Fall days/Ram for Sale

What gorgeous weather we’re having! The temps are supposed to be in the upper 70’s (and maybe even 80) all this week.

I am very thankful for all the good things bestowed upon us - the sunny days and the beautiful fall landscapes.  Heck I’m even grateful for the bad things, there’s no one who escapes the bad things in life and we are no different than anyone else in that regard. But it is really hard facing some days. The good news today is that Stan's long term disability claim has been approved!  It took almost 7 weeks for his short term disability claim to be approved so this is an improvement.  Granted, disability pay is only 60% of his usual pay, but at least it's something and we are grateful for it.

We had a very good turn out for the Open Studio on Felt United Day.  In fact, it was such a busy day I didn't even get any photos taken.  Thankfully the grant coordinator, Judy B., took lots of photos so I'm counting on her to share them with me so I can share them with you.  Suffice it to say that I have lots of felted rocks and flowers for the collaborative piece.  But we forgot to make the LEAVES, I can't believe we forgot the leaves!

I am offering Sommarang Hansel for sale after December 1st.  I plan to use him on 3 mature ewes in November.  I really want to see what he produces with my F2 Holly ewe, River Oaks Hattie. She always gives me the best lambs, but last year she lusted after the BFL ram and produced mule ram lambs.

Hansel on the right

This photo shows the beautiful tips on his back.

This photo shows the color under the light tips.

Hansel’s a smooth polled grey gulmoget, At/Aa BB/Bb, he’s not Ag.  His fleece is very fine, but I must confess that I never actually sent in the micron sample I took from him this spring.  His lamb fleece is very fine and a beautiful blue grey. I’m hand-combing it when I get time (it’s not going very fast).
You would think he was mioget or fawn if not for the back on his face and legs. He has produced black lambs when bred to moorit ewes, so we know he’s not Bb/Bb.
He sired 6 lambs for me this past spring, all were gulmoget (3 of the dams were gulmoget too).

He’s a very unique genetic package, email (becky at riveroakssheep dot com) or call me at 320 679 4117 for more details and pricing.

Lambing is just weeks away

Natural colored BFL ewes pregnant Rhyn on left, and her daughters Rhisa and Rhaya

I'm nervous about lambing in March.  Last October when Harwell jumped the fence I didn't care for the idea all that much and now it's time to pay the piper.  The weather this past week was absolutely wonderful, I hope we get more like that in March.

I don't want to jinx myself by saying this, but Rhyn is looking like she might have multiples this year.  That would be a first for us and her.  We've only had single BFL lambs, but the good news is that they have all thrived.  Rhyn is due on March 10th and is already doing that grunting kind of breathing that pregnant ewes do when they get close to lambing.  Notice that cute little Pepper in the back on the left.  I love her little pink nose!  And that's Freya lounging on the right in the back.  The Shetlands won't lamb until April.  Except for Hattie who is due on March 12 with BFL sired lambs.  She was the one cycling when Harwell jumped the fence to get in with the Shetland ewes and wound up hanging by one foot.  Oh that was scary!

It's obvious that we won't have shearing done before the BFL lambing this year.  So I just hope the ewes are in good condition under all that wool. I've been supplementing our low quality hay with corn and alfalfa pellets, but I'm hoping to get some good quality alfalfa or orchard grass hay soon.

I've already got the barn cam set up.  I did that when I put all the sheep together (rams and ewes).  I had to make sure our little Shetland ram Hansel didn't get killed by Harwell who is at least three times his size.  Reuniting the whole flock went fairly smooth because the rams were interested in the new ewes so they didn't concentrate on trying to kill one another.  I left them that way about two weeks and then separated the boys because they sure don't need to compete with the pregnant ewes for the corn and alfalfa pellets.

I took this photo of the boys out the window yesterday afternoon. Shetland ram Hansel is in the coat on the left and Pokey the Dorset cross, Socks the Shetland Mule and Harwell the BFL ram are on the right. Notice how low that hog panel is. Harwell could jump it easily and head back over to the ewe pen, but thankfully they have all stayed inside.

So the days of checking the barn cam and checking bags, comparing notes to last year's bag sizes and lambing dates are back. It's really kind of exciting!  And the chicks are doing fine outside with the mother hen.