Monday, May 23, 2011

4/14 Shearing day!


Shearing day went off without a hitch...kinda. The weather SUCKED! It was SO cold, we were all wearing sweatshirts AND jackets! Our previous shearing day had been rained out, so we weren't going to give this one up as it was hard enough to get it rescheduled. I was too cold to take many photos....lol :)
I think this is Aurora getting shorn.
Even Babydoll got a haircut! LOOK AT THAT BAG! lol. She looks like a fricking dairy cow this year, it's crazy. And only had twins! She's definitely heafty....lol
Calico colored ground after shearing that light fluffy alpaca wool in 30 mph winds....lol
Even Willie got shorn! This is his reaction.....scary, I know. Willie the billy prides himself in terrorizing the public....*shudder*
NEKKID GURLZZ!!! I was pretty happy with everyones condition. A few could have used a few more groceries, but are now fine now that they're on grass.
Ahh the scrap wool pile....wait a minute....what's that?
CUTE wool scraps! lol. Biggify if you can't see what I'm talking about in the middle of the photo. They blended right it, it was hilarious :)

4/13

The 13th was a historic day at the Funny Farm! But first, I just love this picture of 3 day old "Gift"...she is such a cutie!



Anyway, the 13th was when we had our first set of triplets! Ever! We were planning on shearing that weekend, so we had been sorting everyone for taking fleece samples. They hadn't been run very much, just enticed into the pen with grain and hay and the doors slammed on them lol. But Charm decided to pop out the triplets in a span of less than 20 minutes. We literally had locked everyone up to settle down for a few, ran in the house to eat, and came back out and in 15-20 minutes she had 3 little boys all cleaned off and trying to nurse.


2 white and one grey katmoget. Thor is the father. The little katmoget who was the smallest, and the smallest of the white boys had a hard time attaching to that nipple, so needless to say, they came in the house for the night and took bottles like troopers!


"Dis MY brother...."


They were put out with momma every day for the first three days, then the little katmoget went to live at a former classmates home with her family! Jojo is now doing well, and HIGHLY spoiled, she even texted me the other day to find out when his birthday is so he can get cake next year :)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Lambing (Continued, and pic heavy)

Okay! To continue!

RYL Konnel was in the polled pen, just to see if she was a possible carrier...and I think that's negative. The ram lamb born, Gazebo, has HUGE horn buds.

Not to be out done, my lovely Torrent had twins, a boy and a girl. The ewe lamb, Gift, is a sweet little katmoget, I believe she's modified, as her main fleece is almost white. Goblet, the ram lamb, is a gulmoget. Goblet will be for sale, but Gift, along with every other Torrent lamb, will be retained. I LOVE this line. :) Goblet is as of now, unregistered, but that could change.


And, not to be out done again..... North Star Wendy had a BEAUTIFUL little spotted girl, Lace. Lacey is beautiful, I just love her patterning. She's a goon. She will be staying.


The next day, the 11th, DeeJay and Banner(I didn't name him) were born! DeeJay is so named because he's got BLING! :) FirthofFifth Rhiannon is a proud momma :)
I thought DeeJay was black a first, but if you enlarge, he's actually a VERY dark brown. Maybe modified dark brown? Mom is mioget & dad was emsket, sooooo.... :)


Anyway, that's all for today. I gotta get to bed! Oh! And a photo of the yaks for Becky!

Finally! :) (Pic heavy)



Finally some photos! I am SO sorry to everyone, I've just been going nuts over everything, and going 20 ways at once!

Less talk, more lambs!

Here is North Star Iduna, with North Star Bachelor. He was born on 4/5 and was one of the first lambs born. He is for sale, he could possibly be for sale with momma before weaning, but it would have to be to a VERY special home. Iduna is a total sweetheart, and I have to know that she's in good hands :) Daddy is Minwawe Padlock.

Also this day, Minwawe Magnolia had twin girls! They're so cute. "Maid of Honor"(Black) & "Bridesmaid"(moorit) are darn cute, and growing every day! Daddy is Sheltering Pines Arturo. Both of these girls are available for sale.


I got a TON of facial spotting this year.

Before we headed out to Garretts, Justalit'l Marion graced us with a ewe lamb. "Dress" is out of Arturo.

We'll have to watch the bite on this girl though, she may be need to be sold as a pet only. We'll watch her as she grows, and see how she turns out before offering her for sale.

Minwawe Bejig also had a ewe lamb on this date, but I wasn't able to get photos before I left. But when I came back.....

This little cutie is also for sale :)


Now on the 9th, this is the day that my first poll carrier pen decided to lamb. I am quite excited about these two, "Grace" & "Elegance", sired by North Star Lightning, dam is Sheltering Pines Cornet. They will likely be for sale, as this was a line breeding (Cornet is Lightnings mother) so I do not want to breed them back to him. This will definitely be a repeat breeding!

The color difference between these two is nifty. :)

The other lamb born on the 9th was Minwawe Polkas daughter, "Friend". She's not tame, but will probably be tamer than most of the lambs since momma is a honey. She will be for sale when weaned.



I'm gonna start in another post so these don't become TOO pic heavy. :)

Friday, April 29, 2011

Whew it's been a cold spring! Small update, some photos

Well, with the nasty cold spring we've been having, and a handful of first time mothers, we've had our hands full this year. We had TWO sets of triplets! We've never had trips on the farm before, so its' been interesting. One of the crossbreed Charm's triplets, the little katmoget ram, went to live with an old highschool class mate of mine, with her kids and her zebu in the front yard :) He was a sweet, tiny little fella, and his brothers are doing awesome with momma out in the field, so I think it was a good choice.

A purebred Shetland ram who was confused who his mother was went to a family member as her husbands Easter present. We've had one mother who wanted nothing to do with her lamb, and one lamb who was REALLY weak since that we've had to bottle, hoping to find good homes for them. Unfortunately both are ram lambs, but they'll hopefully find good pet/fiber homes. Mothers will be given another chance before they're culled, of course. I can only imagine how confused I'd be as a first time mom :)

Glenmore March Madness suprised us with a second set of triplets on Monday (4/24). A black ewe, an Ag ewe and an Ag ram lamb. We'll be keeping a CLOSE eye on her with her age and keeping a good amount of grain on her so she can keep the babies without too much help. We've got her seperated with a wether as a companion (Tigerseye) and is doing great. They were actually good sized babies, but I just figured she'd have two HUGE lambs again like she did when Woody & Mater were born with 1/2 inch horn buds lol. The pictures aren't very good as she was in the barn, but they're cuties. Mom is THRILLED to get an Ag girl out of March. Little boy and one little girl both have tiny krunets, so they *should* carry spots, YIPEE! The fleeces all look pretty nice, little black girls probably the best. Ugh, another keeper out of Lightning! lol.

Speaking of keepers out of Lightning, daddy did very well for himself. He had five ewes; RYL Konnel (Ag), Sheltering Pines Cornet (black gulmoget), North Star Jasmine (moorit gulmoget krunet), Firth of Fifth Kimia (black) and March.

Konnel had a single ram lamb, with HUGE horn buds, and therefore likely does not carry polled. He was born with a dog coat, but hoping he'll grow out of it like a lot of them do.


Cornet had two of the most perfect ewe lambs! They're leggy, elegant and super nice fleeces already. They were the second named, "Elegance" & "Grace" to go along with our Wedding theme. Cornet IS a poll carrier (she's actually Lightnings mother, so this was a line breeding that will be repeated!) so these girls have a good chance of being full polls! Neato :)


Jasmine had a single gulmoget ram lamb. Dog-like baby fleece, already starting to show nice crimp underneath. Also had big horn buds, so she doesn't likely carry polled (test breeding since she's a Forest Granddaughter)


Kimia had twins, one of each, both jet black. Girl had the dog fleece, boy is gorgeously fleeced. Boy had small horn buds, so we'll see how he turns out.

17 rams, 21 ewes (lost one ewe lamb in the rain, sold two ram lambs so far) is the current total, and we're a little over half done, though about half of the ewe lambs doing look to have taken, which is okay.

I will post another post with bunches of lamb photos that I've taken so far :D

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Lambs lambs lambs!

So sorry, been neglecting the blog again! Been on vacation all week, and the lambs have started!

Lambing started on the 5th with North Star Iduna & Minwawe Magnolia both lambing. Iduna having a single ram, and Maggie with twin ewes. On the 6th, Bejig had a single ewe lamb. On the 7th, Justalit'l Marion had a single ewe lamb. We skipped a day, and on the 9th, Cornet and Polka both went. Cornet with TWIN GULMOGET EWES! That are absolutely amazing. And Polka with a black ewe lamb. On the 10th, Torrent, Konnel and Wendy all went. Torrent had twins, a gulmoget ram and katmoget ewe. Konnel had a black ram, and wendy had a black ewe. Skipped a day again, and on the 12th, Olga, Kimia and Jasmine went. Olga with a single ewe, Kimia with black ones of each, and Jasmine with a gullie ram. Then on the 13th we were suprised with Charm, our crossbred ewe, giving us triplets! Our first set of triplets on the farm! And ever since its' been FRICKING COLD out. 2 inches of snow today. Shearing went off without a hitch on Thursday, but, with this snow, I feel SO bad for everyone! One of our alpacas came down with pneumonia, but the whole day was particularly stressful for them as they all got moved around and all put in with the sheep.

Last night, our Babydoll had twins, and they're doing well out in the snow today. Chalemeaux had twins today, and it sounds like Lyra also had a single. We're headin gout to the farm today to take photos and get some more wind blocks up for everyone. Big fat Glenmore March Madness is in the barn because she looks as big as a house, and was quite cold the other night after shearing. She should be carrying AT LEAST twins sired by Lightning McQueen.

Other than that, everything is peachy in the frozen hell of Minnesota. Had a rough start to the day, some bad news, but that means everything else can look up right? Oh, and our wedding favors are being shipped today! Yay! Just a week over five months left til the wedding! AAAHHH!!! I keep telling him we should elope, I just feel bad throwing all this money into dresses and tux's and chairs and an officiant and everything. Not sorry about my dress, as I probably would have purchased one anyway, but yeah. Maybe just prewedding jitters? Who knows.

ALSO!

Wedding is my theme, since we're getting married this fall. I have 84 key words so far, but I want more, as I don't particularly like some of these, and there will be others I'm sure I like better. Please give me your suggestions!

aisle
arrangement
bachelor
bachelorette
beloved
best man
betrothed
bliss
boquet
bridal matron
bride
bridesmaid
budget
cake
card box
centerpiece
ceremony
church
courtship
cupcakes
Deejay
dessert
diet
dress
engagement
eternity
exercise
favor
feather
First dance
flower
friend
garter
gazebo
gift
goblet
gowns
groom
groomsmen
guest book
happiness
honeymoon
invitation
kindness
kiss
lace
love
maid of honor
marriage
married
matrimony
memory
miracle
music
nuptuials
officiant
partnership
party
pen
petal
photographer
planner
planning
promise
reception
rehersal
ribbon
ring
ring bearer
RSVP
sanctity
sequin
share
soulmate
speech
sunny day
tenderness
tie
toast
togetherness
union
unity
usher
vase
veil
vow
wedding

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Busy, busy busy!!!

Seems like I'm running steady right now. The girls are all ready to explode. Judging by backsides, Marion will be one of the first to go, which is a good thing because I have to keep an eye on her bag incase there's scar tissue from the infection she had last fall. The dogs, cats & chicks are doing good, the bunnies are doing good, I will try to get updated pictures up soon. As are all the farm critters. Need to get updated photos of what we aquired at the last auction lol.

My BFF Tracy is now on a LOA from work and will be through the remainder of her pregnancy and through my wedding (thank god, I need my MOA!) but at least the little munchkin will be born healthy. Baby is breach right now and will require regular checkups to make sure the little thing isn't tangled in the cord, but doing well now. Can't wait to meet my little godchild/niece or nephew!

Ummm...wedding preparations are still going alright. House rennovations are still going. We're working on getting the shelving up in the kitchen now. Soon as my camera battery is charged I'll work on getting some photos.

Sorry for the quick update, but it's my "sunday night" and I have to work tonight, so gotta get my butt to bed! Night!!

Monday, February 28, 2011

It's a mystery....

We've got these 3 little sweet black chicks in the order...and don't know what they are!

Of the breeds that Murray McMurray offers, these are the black breeds:

Black Australorps
Black Giants
Blue Andalusians (blue gene means you get 25% black hatch usually)
Anconas
Black Minorcas
Sumatras
White Faced Black Spanish
Lakenvelders


They could be any of those breeds. Adam and I went through the list and through Murrays site, and think that they're either Anconas or Lakenvelders (G's hoping the later), but I'd like your opinions! Here are the chicks!

Here they are as day olds:




And now as week olds:


Chick1


Chick 2



Chick3




Please let me know your expert opinions!