Moving On

Walter moved on to his new home last week.  He is just a few kilometers away and has a new harem of girls as well as a variety of other livestock to keep him company.  He is on Rock Farm along with the two male lambs we sent to be hand raised and bottle fed so he already has family there.  We shall miss him.  He was a good ram; not too aggressive and difficult to handle and always available for a good head scratch as you passed him by.

Meanwhile the lambs continue to grow and to thrive.  The weather has been fairly mild and so they have enjoyed the sunshine while learning the farm routines.  Dave goes out each day and gives them grain which is a real treat so they gather around him, affording an opportunity for him to inspect them and check for any injuries or problems.  They play hard and can often be seen limping along from some minor injury sustained while engaging in a game of king of the castle.

inspection time

Meanwhile, I have finished my first weaving samples and have been knitting.  I also went to Duncan to visit my women friends who Knit the Cowichan Sweaters.  I took a second indian head spinner with me that we mounted on an old treadle sewing machine base for Terry, one of the knitters to use.  The wool for the sweaters is all hand spun into a single ply, thick lopi weight yarn.  Terry makes spinning look so easy but I am having trouble getting the knack of it and can't keep the yarn even enough.  

Spinning looks easy

I am learning so much from these women and have knit a jacket for my granddaughter in the Cowichan style.  It is opening a whole new direction for my knitting and while I feel uncomfortable using the traditional Coat Salish patterns, I think it would be fun to design my own patterns reflective of our island life.  

So two things have moved on this week; first Walter and then the spinner.  Both have gone home.

Meanwhile, John just reminded me I have a  freezer full of strawberries and blackberries from last summer waiting to be made into jam.  So much to do; so little time.

Final count

Of 19 bred sheep, two were barren.  17 sheep dropped lambs for a total of 31 live births.  5 lambs died, smothered by their ewes - all of them triplets.  Two white male lambs were sent to Windsor Farm to be bottle fed.  One lamb was still born.  28 healthy lambs survived.  7 are black, 4 female and 3 male.  Of the white lambs, 10 are male (including the bottle fed lambs) and 11 are female.

 Dinner time.

This past two weeks was school spring break so the house has been full of grandchildren.  The weather has been amazingly warm and sunny and all the daffodils are out in the field; trees are in bud and I have been out planting the garden.  Today I put in red currant and gooseberry bushes.  Weaving and knitting has taken a back seat to the outdoor projects which also included refinishing another old singer sewing machine table and mounting a second Indian head spinner which I will deliver to the Cowichan Knitters on Wednesday.  I did finish the grey jacket I started in February and have been designing vests for both granddaughters using some lovely old, hand drafted patterns found in the recycling bin at one of our seniors homes.  The designs look like a cross between the traditional Cowichan Sweater patterns and the old Mary Maxim sweaters that were so popular in the 60's.  More on these patterns later.

Granddaughter Emily and friend.

That's All Folks!

There have not been any new lambs.  The two remaining sheep are likely not pregnant although one of them is very large and may yet surprise us if she was missed in her cycle for breeding but then bred later.  The other has never looked pregnant.  So now it is time to do the math and discover the final results from the event.  That can wait for a few days.

Meanwhile we have had some nice sunny days and can start cleaning up the garden.  It was St. Patrick's Day yesterday; the day to plant potatoes in Ireland according to my old friend who lives there.  Dave spent it digging up the rhubarb patch.  We moved some of it up here from the farm to my house and I now have a patch of my own next to the kitchen door.  Of course, it is shrouded in wire netting to keep the deer out of it.  Although the leaves are poisonous for them, they eat it anyway; and anything else of value that sticks a shoot more than a half inch above ground.

I have spent the day threading my loom under the remote tutelage of Mary P., Master Weaver who helped me to wind my warp and 'beam it up' last week.  We had several exchanges today by e-mail of pictures of my progress and by phone for her advice.  She talked me through to the 'tying on' stage - not to be confused with tying up which will happen tomorrow and is a whole different part of the process.  I am using grey wool from our flock that was grown two years ago.  My first project involves weaving a sample to determine how it works into blanket cloth and to try some of the weaving patterns.

 Ready to tie on

Meanwhile, another friend in Vancouver is knitting her first pair of socks.  She ran into difficulty and e-mailed for help turning the heel.  Now there is a challenge, talking (or writing) someone through that process.  She may end up with some funny looking socks.

It is raining again tonight.  I will have a good excuse to stay inside tomorrow and to finish dressing this loom ready for some weaving.

It is Raining Lambs

Dave was greeted by a second set of triplets yesterday morning, again two female and one male.  He decided to send the two male of each set to be bottle fed so the mums had a good chance of rearing the ewes.  The girls at Windsor Farm (affectionately known as Rock Farm) have had great success with bottle fed lambs and these two will soon be joined by Walter, their Dad as we move him on to join that flock.

Another set of triplets.

Twins arrived this morning, both healthy and strong. Dave ringed all their tails and sent them on out to pasture in the spring sunshine.

Healthy twins

But it was not all good news.  Dave found Blossom in the field beside one of her lambs which had died in the night.  It appears that, with forty acres of field  space, Blossom had lain on her.  Both sheep who have done this have very heavy coats.  Perhaps they cannot feel the lambs under them, particularly when they are small.  

Lambs often sleep on top of their mums for warmth but tend to lie away from them as they get older.  It is amazing to see how much cold and wet these little creatures can survive with such a relatively thin coat.

  Dave ringing tails

There are only two ewes left that have not lambed.  We suspect one of them was never bred.  She might surprise us but she is very small for a pregnant sheep.  It will be good to have the process finished and not have to worry about the difficulties of birthing and be able to just enjoy watching the lambs play in the field. 

Blossom has triplets

Sometime early this morning, Blossom let herself into the comfortable barn and presented Dave with three white triplets when he arrived this morning, one male and two female.  They are lovely, strong lambs and all are doing well.  She does not appear to have had problems birthing but we will have to watch her.

Shy Blossom with her lambs

 
At the same time, one of the Romney X's presented us with two black males, both strong lambs.  It was a busy morning.

Then there were twins

 
Some time later, one of the brown Romney X presented us with twins, one black and one white and both female. There goes my colour theory again.

   Then there were more twins

While we are still in the midst of lambing, Dave and I are already thinking about next years flock.  Walter has to move on.  A ram can only provide his services for two years.  The first year, the flock is all new to him.  Any of the ewes that are born from that year are held back in year two from breeding because they are too small so the ram is only servicing the same ewes again the second year.  Then he must move on to a new flock.  In this case, Walter will move up the mountain to Rock Farm, just five kilometers away.  We have already contacted a breeder on the mainland and have located a brown, Romney ram for next year.  This will ensure more colour in future wool.

Shepherd Dave is beginning to look tired.

Dave has been bringing some of the high school students to visit the farm and check out this birthing process.  There is nothing like a little field work to connect what is in those books with real life.  Today the lesson was all about worms.  Not the common garden variety but the intestinal worms picked up by the sheep, particularly in wet, warmer climates.  Dave is constantly on the look-out for evidence of these parasites which can quickly kill a sheep if they go undetected.  The lesson included information on how to read the signs that worms might be present by the consistency of sheep poo.  I leave the reading of poo signs to him as well as the worming process.  However, when we sheer the sheep I also find signs of stress caused by these parasites in the wool which can be brittle and damaged by such an infestation.

Corri and her lamb

There have to be some benefits for studying poo!

And then there were four

One of the brown ewes delivered lovely black twins on Sunday morning.

 Brown ewe with black lambs.

Then a Cheviot produces two white lambs on Monday morning.  When lambs are newborn, their mum bites through the umbilical chord and removes the caul (membrane sac) from around the lamb and cleans it up.   Sometimes, a second or even third lamb will be born before the process is complete for the first so that first lamb gets a lick and a promise.  This clearly happened for the first white lamb.

 Brother, you need a bath.

Lambs also have long tails which the shepherd 'rings' in the first day so that the tail will drop off.  This makes life more comfortable for the wooly sheep, keeping their rear end clean and making birthing easier.

Sometimes, in their haste a ewe will bite the lambs tail mistaking it for the umbilical chord.  This first white lamb had his tail bitten as can be seen in the picture.  His tail is now ringed.  Ringing does not hurt the lamb. 

Blossom has isolated herself in the cedar trees yesterday evening so she is likely going to give birth soon.

So Much for that colour theory

One of the brown Romneys had a lovely white lamb yesterday, a singleton.  So it is back to the books on the dominant colour theory.  I think that is the first time one of our brown sheep has not had black lambs.  

So much for the theory that brown is the dominant gene.

Later in the afternoon one of the Cheviots had twins although the second lamb was stillborn.  Dave was right there and got them into the barn before the ravens and eagles arrived.  They have an uncanny sense for such small tragedy and soon swooped in.

Safe in the barn.

Then Dave sent a message early this morning to say another of the cheviots had strong, healthy twins at dawn this morning.

  

Blossom is still hanging on to her lambs but appears to be doing well.  The small female twin born on March 7 is also thriving despite my anxiety and her eye have cleared up well as you can see from the picture below.

 

I'm O.K.