Darn those precocious breeds of sheep anyhow!

There was another ram lamb born today, a four horned all black half Shetland, half Jacob, born to Jean, my four horned Jacob ewe. I was so set on breeding her Jacob and building some Jacob stock back up. The young Shetland rams had other ideas it seems. Jean's little fellow will have four horns and will be half Shetland. That in itself is a little rare. I am thinking I should castrate him, making him a wether, and keep him for a pet and for his fleece. It will be very interesting to see a four horned half Jacob who is all black. His fleece should be quite wonderful, I am thinking. 

So, upon a very very close inspection, I noted that there are several ewes further along than they should be in their pregnancies, if they indeed were bred to deliver in April and May.  There is over a month to go and the Tunis sheep has a developed udder and is ready to deliver any moment. She is not overly large this time, which makes me think that the entire flock is destined to have singles only. 

I am very disheartened with this knowledge. I had so very much counted on the purebred babies to help along the flock development. If the Babydolls are going to have cross bred lambs, and I suspect Rosy for sure will, as she is very large for the predicted due date of being bred to the Babydoll ram, then a whole year of breeding is somewhat wasted. There are 7 Babydoll ewes, though the ewe lambs may be too young this year and if all of them are bred to those little Shetland baby boys, what a terrible waste of this year. 

We do learn from our mistakes and this is a huge one for me. 

A new baby was born earlier this evening. She is a strong, but small, robust little girl, a ewe lamb, born to Mary, a Cotswold/E'st a Laine Merino, and my largest sheep. Mary should have had twins that were twice this size, but like the baby born to Lena last week, I believe the sire of this lamb was a 4 month old Shetland ram lamb and the mating took place in September prior to separating the lambs from the mothers. I am pleased that both lambs are well and strong, but my ineptness in this situation, the lack of prompt removal of the male lambs from the ewe flock, has led to two breedings so far. I am hoping there are not many more if any. 

One good thing is that the fleece of this little angel should be exquisite. The Cotswold is soft, lustrous and curly, while the E'st a Laine Merino is crimpy and fine and thick. Add the soft Shetland curls to the mix and she should have fleece to die for. 

I separated the mother and baby,taking them to the barn where there was no wind so the baby could dry off. The mother was still cleaning her at that point, but at 9 pm, Mamma Mary had already led the lamb back to the flock, despite the snow falling down outside. The lamb appears not to be cold (it is only minus 4 currently) and knows where to nurse. She is not hungry but wags her tail when she is near her mother, so she is recognizing her in the flock. Mary is an excellent mother with superior instincts and will be a wonderful mom again. 

Welcome baby ewe, welcome to the Fat Ewe Farm! I guess Mamma sheep is not as fat as she was this morning. 

The Blue Faced Leicester ram was the main sire for this year's lamb crop and it sure does show. They all have the BFL influence with the long legs, deer like ears and wide set eyes. Although the Blue Faced Leicester sheep is not very hardy on its own, when crossed it creates a wonderful hybrid with almsot any other breed of sheep. When crossed with Shetland sheep, it creates a larger lamb with spectacular fleece for hand spinning. When crossed with the Tunis, the lambs are the Tunis red but have a finer fleece than Tunis and the tyical BFL handsome face. The second in from the right lamb is a Coswold/E'st a Laine Merino and BFL lamb and perhaps the best of the bunch. It is somewhat stocker showing superior muscling, has a thicker fleece more in keeping iwth the Merino breed but it is fine as the BFLs and the face is slightly less long. 

In winter the cross lambs will probably perform much better than the pure bred ones. The black one on the right and the middle one are purebred BFL lambs. Unfortuantely for them, they have a slight single coat of curly wool that parts easily and is not rich in lanolin. They need to eat more to stay warm and benefit from being in a warm barn. The cross lambs should do well with their three sided shelter and a normal amount of feed for winter. The BFL sheep, being a breed created specifically by man and not an evolved breed that adapted on its own, also benefits from grain. Since my sheep are not fed grain, they must eat a tremendous amount more to just maintain body condition. They are not the best sheep for this forage based farm, but I sure do like the cross babies. Perhaps good winter coats will help this winter. I will see what I can do..maybe go the thrift shop and find some old down winter parkas. We shall see. Just a few more weeks and the lambs can be weaned from their mothers and sold. They sure are cute right now though, aren't they?

I have had a hard time with the Nubian baby goats. They were wormed with Valbazen, which did not work and then with a triple dose of Ivermectin drench, which only worked marginally. The two wormers are of a different class, one being the 'white' wormers and the other being the 'mectin' class. Neither were effective. So I sent away for Molly's herbal wormer program. The program consists of two parts, a once in two month wormer with wormwood and a maintenance wormer for in-between, once a week. No, this is not an inexpensive alternative to chemical womers, which are very expensive too, but look at the photo. While the chemical wormers barely had any effect on the worms and the anemia resulting from a high worm load caused death, the herbal wormer caused an immediate expulsion of worms visible in the stool. The wormer does not work like a chemical wormer, killing the worms, but rather it causes the host to be inhospitable and the worms expel themselves. Then it is up to the chickens to find the worms in the stool and pick through and eat them up so the cycle does not perpetuate itself. Ideally, after worming the animals should be moved to clean ground, and a new pen entirely, but in my world, there are only so many pens and so many shelters and that is not a reality. The best I can offer is a good barn cleaning, which did happen, and since the temperatures are so mild right now, the barn is closed until needed. The goats do have a three sided shelter filled with clean bedding, so they are not left without a home. 

Along with the herbal wormer, I included a lot of granulated garlic. This also helps to encourage the worms to get out of town. To make the powder palatable and edible, I mixed it with the granulated garlic and sugar beet pulp covered with molasses. The sweet pulp encourage the goats and sheep to eat up all the wormer and I even sprinkled a few oats in the mix, just to encourage the more reluctant ones. Ideallly, each individual animal should be fed a proper dosage and that works well with only a few animals, but there are 50 sheep and 20 goats, so it is not easily done. 

I am extremely pleased with the result of the herbal wormer. The treatment needs to happen for three days and then then the second formula happens once a week for the other 7 weeks. Diligence will be the key factor in eradicating the worms. Molly's herbal wormer is a patented formula, so the ingredients are not available. I think any number of worming herbs ground to a powder and mixed together will produce a similar result. For now, I ordered a ten month supply with the intent of getting rid of the worms in the sheep and goats. The other animals can use this program too, but getting dogs to eat it might not be so easy. I did give some to the chickens, however; they were not interested in it. It is there if they would like it though. I might add it to the oyster shell, which they consume in copious quantities to encourage them to eat it. 

Worm resistance is a growing problem for ruminants and their keepers. Years ago, there were no chemical wormers and the misuse of them, routinely worming twice a year wether the animals required it or not, and under dosing causes the worms to become resistant and then the chemicals no longer work. This is what happened with the Nubians. My own animals have been on a different herbal program which was working for this farm. The Nubians were stressed and the adult does were already anemic when they arrived, so I suspect the problem was brought to the farm. For every problem there is a solution. I strongly encourage farmers to investigate herbs for the eradication of worms. Resistance is not a problem then and the animals are not subjected to chemicals which stay in the meat and milk. 

It is a universal problem. Natural is the only way to make it disappear, but constant diligence is the key. I see it work firsthand and encourage all to give it a try. 

Miss Piggy isn't  a pig, she's a sheep, a yearling Cotswold and E'st a Laine Merino cross. She was a single lamb and weighed about 10 pounds when she was born, too large for the mamma sheep to birth on her own - so I pulled her. She has grown bigger than the other sheep, even the other two Cotswold/E'st a Laine Merino cross ewe lambs (but they were twins) because she is a greedy sheep. She has to be first to the food, climb on top to feed, even if it means on top of the other sheep or on top of the hay and she is always looking for the tastiest tidbits running from feeder to feeder in case there is something better in the next. 

Miss Piggy has lovely fleece and is robust and healthy on a grass based diet. But she is greedy. Greedy sheep are often those who die from bloat. This happens because they find tasty morsels and eat and eat and eat until they are stuffed, sometimes a food too rich for the rumen, which cannot digest rich food at that rate. Then the rumen produces gas that the sheep cannot expel in either direction and literally they blow up like a balloon. I sure hope that does not happen to Miss Piggy. It did happen to her mother though, who was also a greedy sheep. She succumbed when she found a pocket of alfalfa in the hay and ate the whole thing. I found her the next morning as big as a blow up doll, feet stuck out in all directions. It must be a horrible way to die, not that there is a good way, but the pain must be terrible. 

Anyhow, I cannot make my mind up to keep or sell Miss Piggy. The sheep will have to be divided for feeding from winter on with the small ones separate from the big ones. Miss Piggy hogs the feeder and pushes the little ones out, so they remain somewhat hungry. It will be better for them to be fed separately so they do not have to compete. 

Today Miss Piggy, true her name, smelled grain in the bucket and though it was empty, stuck her head in and got stuck inside. She was hilarious while I fumbled with the camera, bouncing off the fence and into the other sheep who were curious as to what on earth she was doing. Ha ha Miss Piggy. You funny girl!

It is a big day tomorrow. The sheep, Angora goats, llamas and alpacas will all be sheared. This time I am trying the Hutterite colony. They are experienced with shearing and have won awards for their wool (not sure where, just that is what they told me), so I am willing to give them a go. I did have to call them because they did not show up the first time booked. Nat, the man in charge, said he lost my number. Anyhow, tomorrow is the big day. 

I spent a few hours preparing the barn, sweeping the floor, putting down two sheets of plywood, making a holding pen and a release pen with livestock panels and installing power via two long extension cords. I likely will have to come up with a second extension line, because I believe there are two shearers and two helpers. I won't have time to skirt the wool, only to fold and pack it and then tomorrow I can lay it out and take my time cleaning and skirting, which is removing the manure tags and very dirty wool. It is supposed to be just above zero, so it will be cold again. They do not think they will take a whole hour to shear 50 sheep, 3 llamas and 2 alpacas, plus the 6 Angora goats. The cost is $7 per animal, plus so much a kilometer to drive here, calculated at around $130 dollars. All in all, it is estimated to cost $450 or so dollars. I did not ask if they trimmed hooves, but I will when he calls tomorrow to say they are on their way. It is going to be a big day!

The little ewe lambs were put in with the big ewe lambs today. Some of the little ones were the daughters of the big ones and sheep can and do recognize one another, even after months apart. The joy in the sheep pen was amazing, but there was sadness too. Two sets of twin ewes called and called for their mothers, but it was those mothers who died in the dead of winter to bloat from bad hay, so they were nowhere to be found. After a while, the little ewes gave up searching for their mothers and looked for food instead. It is only three weeks until the first lambs will be born and the presence of the older ewes may comfort the younger ones who are bred. This also cuts down on one set of chores, so the ewes can be watered and fed together now in one pen, though they have access to all three pens. The little ewe lambs stayed with the adults in their pen and everyone seemed content and relaxed. The two livestock guardian dogs kind of did a double take on the quick increase in numbers, but they know the ewe lambs, though they have not directly lived with them yet. I trust all will be well in the next few weeks as the preparations for lambing begin. The ewes must be sheared or at least crutched, that is the wool removed from their tail and udder areas for ease of birth and so that the silly newborns do not latch onto a chunk of manure covered wool thinking it is the teat instead. Lambs have been known to do that! Excitement is about to begin.

The rams have been with their breeding groups for 2 months now. The ewes cycle every 18 days, so they should have cycled at least twice, if not thrice, in the time the rams were with them. I see no evidence of the rams' interest in the ewes anymore, so it is natural to assume they are now bred.

The older ewes have two rams with them. It was not meant to be that way. I can only hope that Walter did his job and the ewes cycled before the fence got busted and Eric joined him. There is a little Southdown Babydoll ram with the ewe lambs. The Babydolls are old enough to breed this year, and a few of the earlier born larger ewes may have also been bred. The Blue Faced Leicesters joined the ewe lamb pen a little while ago, and the ram was interested in some of the larger ewes that the Babydoll ram would have had trouble mounting, since they were twice his size. As long as the Babydolls were bred Babydoll, the rest is just a bonus.

The two bucks in with the goats will stay there now and actually the buckling from last year will join them until the does give birth. The goats do better with other goats, rather than sheep, but it is difficult to keep them apart entirely on their own, so they live with the boy sheep. For the next three months, they will get to live with the goats instead and enjoy the like company.

The rams will return to the ram pen. Walter was just wormed so he is ready to go back now. His babies from last year were wonderful, especially the E'st a Laine Merinos. Unfortunately, not all the offspring can be kept, so there will be a huge sale this year, with ewes and ewes lambs and lambs from this breeding all being sold. Now that I have experience with some of the different breeds of sheep and have discovered more about the actual market for them, the three breeds being kept will be the Jacobs, Blue Faced Leicesters and the Southdown Babydolls. As much as I love the others, I do not need fifty sheep!

So, the rams can go back to retirement and the ewes will continue on with their pregnancies. The grass hay has been set for the rams and the does and ewes and ewe lambs will get the premium dairy hay with alfalfa to support their additional nutritional needs. Farming is a delight when all is well, it really is.

The Fat Ewe Farm has exotic rare breeds of sheep, for the most part. These sheep were selected for their fleece and meat is a by product. Hence they are not the largest sheep, but they do have beautiful fleece. For the past 2 years, different methods of feeding the ewes have been tried with the aim to keep the hay out of the fleece. Feeding low to the ground would be the best option, but the sheep are so tame, that as soon as they see me they stand there waiting for the hay. To really keep their coats clean, they would need to be removed for feeding or fed in a long low trough that extends for quite a distance. Another option would be to remove the sheep to a different pen, place the hay and then bring them back in. That is a lot of trouble in the dead of winter at 50 below though. The best system is not yet found. Next year, some of the sheep will wear coats, but they need up to 6 different sizes during the wool growth so it remains light and lofty and does not compact and felt. That, also is a lot of work.

To produce excellent wool, the sheep need good food. This year's hay is superior and their coats are beautiful. The wool would be bring a premium price from hand spinners IF it was free of vegetative matter, which it is not. Still, it will make for some lovely projects. The sheep are bred and due in late May or early June, so do not need to be sheared until April. They will go out to pasture as soon as the grass allows it, lambs in tow. Hopefully one of the livestock guardian dogs will accompany them this year. Mike seems the best prospect for that.

The photos of the wool coats in the sunshine are nowhere doing the fiber justice. It is thick and lush and soft this year, very pretty. Take a peek...

Winter is a bitterly cold season in northeastern Alberta. Although the pristine landscapes offer vistas of sparkling white snow atop evergreen trees, with the golden sun highlighting the diamonds on each bow, it is also a time for survival. Sheep have adapted better than most livestock and are experts at making the most of winter. Their warm woolen blanket shields them from the elements and the wool fat, or lanolin, provides water and wind proofing amidst those tender fibers. This insulation keeps the sheep warm in winter, so much so, that the long wooled breeds, such as the Icelandic and Karakuls, do not seek shelter except in the worst blizzards. High winds will also send them looking for refuge, as will heavy downpours of rain. But, for the most part, the sheep snuggle themselves into a depression and sleep with the downy flakes falling on the downy wool that covers them. In the morning, they wake up and shake off the snow, leaving an imprint and the telltale dung passed during the night. The snow further blankets their wool and does not melt, since their body heat is kept well away from the exterior of the covering. Some breeds of sheep, not the more recent man bred ones, but especially the primitives, also eat the snow to acquire their water. When fresh water is offered, they are not interested, since their thirst has been quenched by the consumption of the snow. While the poor shepherd must dress in layers, hopefully some of them constructed from the precious wool from the sheep, to keep warm, the sheep are simply themselves. Nature is amazing and so are the wooly creatures on the Fat Ewe Farm.