My dear sweet orphan lambs, except Gina, the Icelandic, are penned separately within the ewe pen so I could keep an eye on them and whilst doing so, tame them so they are comfortable and easy with me. Next will be to halter them. Three of the lambs are purebred Shetlands, one is Icelandic, one is Cotswold and one is Jacob. These lambs were selected to stay on the farm for their very fine fleece and their mother's natures and abilities as well as hardiness. Thus far, I am so very pleased with the little angels. 
At first I would catch a lamb and sit her on my knee, stroking her head and fleece, and speak softly to her. This went on for three weeks. She would slowly sink into my embrace, close their little eyes and sigh deeply. My heart would hold them dear for a few minutes and then they would be set down, but not freed. Standing close to me was a little difficult for them at first, though as time passed, they also relaxed enough that bolting was not the first choice. 
Then I brought some tasty treats, alfalfa, new grass, weeds and dandelions, and held it for them. The Shetlands were already comfortable enough that they came immediately. Gina, the Icelandic did not come at all. I caught her and held her again and it was as though she suddenly realized she was safe, and she gave in to her instincts and became my friend. The next day all of the lambs came to me running! 
They will still require more work, and haltering will be a process, but then the lambs will remain tame and calm for the rest of our lives. They will be easy to shear, easy to milk, yes milk, and their lambs should also have no fear of me because their mothers will be so calm. Although this process will take a couple of months and twice daily visits, the results will last a lifetime for me, or rather the rest of my shepherd career. 
Sitting peacefully among nature, holding a lamb, stroking its fleece and listening to its heart beating, has to be one of the most tranquil events one could behold, and I get to do this daily. I am so blessed here on the Fat Ewe Farm. I wish you were here to share this joy!

Llamas are really interesting creatures. I love them. They not only look different , they have traits that are unlike most domestic animals in North America. Llamas are related to camels, another animal I find interesting. Camels can survive in extreme cold or extreme heat. 

Llama behaviour shows they are curious animals and somewhat shy. That is, unless they were born on the Fat Ewe Farm and loved from the moment they arrived. Karin was born here and as a baby, I hugged her and held her close. When she was a little bigger, it took strength to hold onto the little girl since it is their natural instinct to move away from humans. Karin loves to go meet any new people and will be right there smelling their faces to see who they are. Most people have heard horror stories of spitting llamas, and believe me, after having been spit on by a male we were trying to load in a trailer, there isn't a lot much grosser. Llama spit is actually vomit from the stomach and it stinks like puke. That is the only time I have ever been spit on. Karin has not once ever spit on anyone or anything that I have witnessed. She is a sweetheart. 

Llamas do not like dogs usually, but she had no choice since they were here mostly before she was. Mike and Joe live in the same pen as she does and they all get along wonderfully. If Karin hears something such as a coyote or fox, her ears go back and move around listening. I am hoping she is bonded enough to want to protect the sheep and stomp the crap out of a predator, which llamas can do.

Karin loves to be present at the birth of every lamb. She waits patiently near the mother and leans right in to inspect the newborns, but she never interferes. Kaon had twins this evening, a boy and a girl, purebred Shetlands and Karin was there. I picked a twin up to take a photo and guess who photobombed? Karin! 

Karin fur can be spun into yarn or felted for fibre. It is very silky and soft. Llamas do not need to be shorn yearly and some have short fibre that does not need to be shorn at all. Others have dreadlocks, like on a Suri Llama and the fibre grows 10 to 20 inches long! I wish I had one of those! But I am happy with Karin. Soon she will have a friend, a little white alpaca female with blue eyes. 

I am happy to have Karin on the Fat Ewe Farm and think her presence here makes the farm so much more pleasant than it would be without her. She was named after my dear sweet cousin Karin, whom I also love very much. I don't know what will happen to Karin Llama when I retire. Maybe she will go to your farm?

I go through a whole lot of effort to provide safe, dry and clean places to birth the lambs. The sheep seem to have different ideas. Red had twins at the manure pile base. I brought some clean straw and put it down for her. The lambs do not really care, but Red should. The wet lambs get covered with the manure and she has to lick them clean, thereby ingest the feces of the sheep. This is not good for the worm situation either. Red has two beautiful ewe lambs, a dark dark brown almost black and dark red. The girls will stay here on the farm, but Red and Thor, the Icelandic ram will be off to a new home in 3 months when the girls are weaned. 

Enya had her little guy outside, as they all did except the man bred sheep, the Blue Faced Leicester, who had her lamb in the shelter. At least the shelter is quite clean with good straw down and it is out of the wind and dry. It was 5 degrees today, but the wind was very cold. I hate to see the little lambs shiver, so I towel them as dry as I can to give the moms some help, especially if there is more than one. Enya is a primitive sheep, a Jacob, and she has a crossbred lamb, Shetland sired through the fence of all things. The ram she was with missed the mark I guess. Gwen, the BFL is not a good mother and leaves her little girl alone. The baby cries and finally lays down, but Gwen does not come back for a long time and if I bring the lamb to her she ignores her and continues eating. If she does not smarten up, tomorrow I will lock her up in  a stall in the barn with the lamb. I love the wool of the BFL sheep, but they simply do not compare with the primitives and need lots of interventions to be healthy and thrive. They would do well in a warmer winter climate too. 

Lyssa Cotswold had her single lamb, a large boy, outside the shelter.She had a bit of a time with him, making all kinds of noise and demonstrating her discomfort. The lamb was presenting correctly with the head between two little hooves, so I left her and went to finish the chores. When I returned she was still moaning and groaning and the lamb's front hooves and nose were out, but the head was not wanting to cooperate. I gently grasped the feet and pulled very lightly down and the head passed and the lamb slipped out. I am pretty sure Lyssa could have done that on her own, though just a little assistance was welcome. She was licking the air like crazy, but not the lamb, so I toweled him off as much as I could. I watched to see if he could latch on to a teat and drink, but he was a little confused as to where it was, so I laid Lyssa down and clipped the fleece from around her butt and udder so he had a clear path and bingo! He was nursing on his own. 

Obe had her boys cleaned and they were dry by the time I was out of the house this morning, twin rams. She is an excellent mother, only her second time, but her instincts are spot on and she is attentive and is always mothering her babies. I made a final round outside at 9:30 and there were no sheep isolating themselves or showing any signs of labour, so all should be well until tomorrow. They tend not to have babies in the dark. Those farmers who have barns and leave the lights on, in my humble opinion, are encouraging night births out of synchronization with nature. I will be up early to check again in the morning. 

I am grateful for these little babies born today. Lambs are sweet natured, innocent and full of life. They bring joy to my life just being around them and that is why I am a farmer!  The video is Lyssa complaining about being in labour. 

Given that the sires were young Shetland ram lambs, between 4 and 5 months of age and small, as Shetlands are, it is a wonder they bred those big girls at all. The ewes must have laid down for the rams or they snuck up on them when they were lying down. Otherwise they could not have mounted those girls who were twice or more their size. And given that it was completely unplanned and unwanted breeding, I was feeling very unhappy. 

But, as usual, I chose to look for the silver lining in the storm cloud. The lambs have all been strong and healthy, though singles instead of twins. The ewes were those who had previous twins regularly, so the only assumption to be made, is that the numbers of sperm being produced by the young rams was not much yet. It was obviously enough to do the job. A ewe will release one to four eggs and then they will be fertilized by the same number of sperm. The ewes were coming in off pasture then and were in prime shape, fat and healthy. They would have released the greater number of eggs as usual. The only other explanation is that one or more of the fertilized eggs did not continue to become a lamb, though who would know why. All the lambs born have been singles. 

The lambs have been born without assistance. They are robust and alert and know their mothers. They were born outside in the open air and the weather has cooperated by being unseasonably warm. Today it reached 9 degrees, almost unheard of for February in the frozen north. Call it global warming or whatever, it was perfect for babies being born in the open.

The mothers all are fleece animals and with the infusion of the crimpy fine Shetland fleece, their offspring should have pretty exquisite and unusual wool. I am tempted to keep these babies and see how they turn out. 

I think that Tova, the Gotland ewe will be next. She is laying down and getting up a lot, but she is a hogget, or a ewe who has not lambed before, so she does not know what to expect. Gotlands are primitive sheep though, so her instincts should be strong and her mothering ability excellent. It looks like Rosy, my favourite Babydoll next to my Anna, who now lives in a new home, is also bred. Shetland/Babydoll crosses are fairly common and apparently they are sweet natured and have great fleece. 

So, really, there is nothing to be upset about other than yes, this is not what I had in mind, but given all the positives, there is definitely a silver lining. Today, Sharon, the lovely Karakul/Cotswold ewe, gave birth to a beautiful black baby girl with tightly curled fleece. Karakuls are born black and as they age, they become silvery, but Shetlands born black stay black ,so it is a wait and see with her. I am grateful for these babies, strong and healthy, and for their mammas, protective and nurturing and even those rascals who sired the lambs. Boys will be boys, I guess. 

​

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 babies came fast and furious today. Celia finally had quints, but one was stillborn I think, though I missed the brith. I just went in for supper and by the time I was done, she was done. She has 4 beautiful baby girls and the one that passed away was a girl too. The quads are black and white, but Celia is brown and white. They are adorable. 

But that was not the only birth today. Obe and kaon, the Shetland girls had little boys, both by themselves. They went into the barn, most likely because when they first arrived that is where they lived for 2 days and it felt like a safe spot. They had their babies, cleaned them off and had them nursing in five minutes total. The Blue Faced Leicester, on the other hand, which is a man created breed, needed assistance. One leg was back and she was not able to get the little gaffer out, so I pulled him out. She did lick him clean but would not let him nurse. I left them to be in a stall in the barn and when I checked later, he had managed to nurse. I brought her food to distract her and make her stand still and the rest was up to him. It seems to have worked. 

But then, just as I thought I was going to bed, I checked the sheep pen and one of the wild things had a teddy bear. She was bred to Tuck, a coloured Old English Southdown Babydoll and she is part Icelandic. The baby is white and black spotted and absolutely adorable. The mom is wild. I don't know why. Some sheep are, almost no matter what you do. She will teach her baby to be wild too. The baby is a girl. Her only saving grace is that Babydoll sheep are born friendly, so perhaps once she is weaned she will tame down. Her mom is going to be sold or go for meat, even though she has a lovely fleece.

So finally, it is nearing midnight and I can go to sleep. I am pretty sure there is no one in labour at the moment. I will be up early to check again. I don't have any more man bred sheep to deliver, thank goodness, so the rest of them should be fine on their own. One of the quads that Celia had is very small and weak. I tried to bottle feed her and she did not want anything to do with me so I left her with her sisters and mom. 

And so to bed. Another day comes tomorrow. 

I read a lot. As a matter of fact, maybe I read too much. I am always researching and looking up things I want to know and learn. When I decided to be a farmer, I already knew I wanted to be an organic farmer, since my lifestyle was primarily organic for years prior. What I did not understand, is that in some areas, the theory of organic farming is not only not practiced, but frowned upon. I spoke to an elderly lady today, a well known business woman in the small town of St. Paul, and she told me she sees absolutely no value in organic cotton as opposed to regular cotton or synthetic fabrics, with her preference being the synthetics because they are easy care. Whoa! I told her I make soap, lotions, salves, creams and blend essential oils and again, she said that none of those things appealed to her because she can go the store and buy any of those much cheaper and better than the hand made ones. Whoa again. 

And it is that way with sheep too. The production farmers who raise sheep want bigger, fatter, faster growing lambs so they stuff them full of grain as soon as they are able to nibble food. I cannot find evidence of my theory on this, yet, but I think that the early feeding of grain forever ruins the sheep's ability to thrive on forage, and that is likely the same for goats and cows as well, also being ruminants. I am basing my idea on only what I have seen in the past three years as a farmer. The sheep I have acquired as adults, who have been fed grain from babies, do not adjust well to a grass fed operation. They are always 'hungry' and some even have to be taught to eat hay. 

The Angora goats that came to the farm were from a fibre farm where they were fed pelleted feeds and straw for roughage. This was done to keep the coats clean so the fibre, mohair, would fetch top dollar. When the goats came home, they were fed hay, as rumunants should be, and they nearly starved to death. I eventually had to go buy some pelleted food, that which they were used to, and sprinkle it on the hay, to teach them to eat hay. Two of the does never did thrive and were made into meat, which, I must say, was delicious. The third managed to adapt and has done very well. 

Many of the sheep that have come from grain heavy farms also struggle with forage based feeding. The Cotswolds were from two different farms, the ram from one and three ewes from another. Only one ewe managed to switch over and I have kept her. The ram and the other two ewes could never gain enough weight to thrive, so I sold them (to a grain feeding farmer). The Cotswold ewe I have kept is robust, fat and healthy and has given me one single lamb per year for the past two years. Cotswolds are not known for multiple births, but twins are not uncommon. Her lambs are big and healthy, so I am fortunate there. One of her lambs, is like her mother, thriving on the hay and pasture, but the other is smaller and thin. All ewes, sheep, get the same care, with worming and supplements in the form of alfalfa at the onset of pregnancy and the month prior to delivery and the month after. They do not get grain, though sometimes I have given them some field peas. 

The sheep that seem to thrive on the forage based feeding system also seem to be more worm resistant than the grain pigs. I , so far, cannot find research that shows a correlation between grain feeding and poor worm resistance. I am only going by what I observe in my small flock. The animals that do not thrive on hay and pasture are sold or go for meat. I am particularly interested in breeding those that not only do well on the grass feed, but also are parasite resistant, and have strong hooves. Good feet are paramount to health for ruminants. The breeds that I favour are primitives, those that have not been improved by man and are the way they have been for centuries on end. The Icelandic, Jacob, Shetland, Finnsheep (to some degree, but lots have been altered) are all short tailed naturally and do not require tail docking to keep the flies from chewing them alive in the summer. They are hardier than the commercial 'white' sheep breeds that have been created by man and which did not evolve long ago. 

I am not really interested in a lamb that is for production. This started out to be a little fibre farm and as soon as I find ways to keep the fleece free of vegetative matter, because they are hay fed for 7 months of the year, the fleece quality will be good enough to sell for hand spinners and felters. But, well fed sheep also have better pelts. That does not translate to grain fed sheep. 

The grain fed sheep that have been on the farm are greedy sheep who fight for a morsel of grain. It is like heroin to them, fixating on a sugar high immediately. Research has shown that grain is not the answer to keeping the sheep warm in winter. It is akin to coffee for humans, or sugar, where there is an instant rush and then nothing except the desire for more. Hay is proper food for runimants and it is digested slowly, chewed twice and provides energy to the sheep, provided it has adequate protein. Not all hay is the same, so I have discovered. The hay I had last year was planted hay and the sheep did extremely well on it. This year's hay is just pasture grass and is variable from bale to bale, with some being better than the others. With the alfalfa supplementation, they seem just fine. When they are shorn, then real condition scoring can take place. It is harder to asses when they are wearing their thick wool coats. They will be shorn at the end of this month. 

In conclusion, I want to stress that sheep farmers are not doing the sheep any service when they feed them grain and when they worm them routinely, whether they need it or not. Instead of breeding the parasite resistant sheep that thrive on forage based feeding, they shove grain down them as early as they can, never giving the sheep a chance to live naturally. And, with routine worming, the worms are now resistant to many of the antihelminics out there, and they are no longer working. What if only the parasite resistant were kept as breeding stock? The flock would be a hardy, naturally resistant flock, strong and the costs to the farmer would be way down through parasite deaths, plus the elimination of grain would cut the feed bill. 

Grass fed meat has been proven to be much healthier for humans to consume, though here in Alberta, most won't touch it because they are used to sweet, well marbled meat that grain produces. I want to say that there is a direct correlation between human health and grain fed meat consumption, too. But that is another topic for another day. Suffice to say that this farm will endeavour to breed the sheep and keep the sheep that thrive on our forage based feeding system and are parasite resistant naturally. Too bad I have just started farming. If I had another thirty years (I would be ninety then if that was to happen), I would have created some darn healthy sheep! In the meantime, I am doing my best to learn as I go and have a thriving, healthy and well loved flock of sheep at the Fat Ewe Farm. 

When I first started out with sheep, I decided to try Shetlands for many reasons. They are hardy, do well on a forage based (grass fed) farm, are small and easier to manage, have exquisite fleece which is wonderful for hand spinners and for felting, and they lamb without need for intervention, plus are very good mothers. So, I set out on a long drive and acquired 5 ewes and a ram. The ram was quite spectacular, black and white and many of his offspring also were black and white. But the ewes were not friendly at all and not easy to manage because they would run as soon as I was present and continue to run and do everything in their power to escape. At that point, I believed the primitive instincts in the breed was too much for me, especially being new to sheep. So, I sold them locally to a lady who always wanted to start with Shetlands and she, too, has since sold them. 

After three years of working with the different breeds of sheep, I have learned that not all sheep from a particular breed are the same. Those wild ones that I had were not typical of the breed, and after speaking to other Shetland sheep owners and breeders, I decided to give the breed a second try. 

The Fibre Works Farm in Alberta is a well known Shetland sheep farm with a shepherd who is not only knowledgeable about the breed, but who selects for very fine wool and good temperament. She did indeed have some sheep  that she thought would suit my farm and me and offered them to me, plus a ram. I decided against the ram for now and instead chose to have the ewes bred to two different rams, that way, should they have ram lambs, they could breed that one which was not the mother. 

After much discussion and many emails, the sheep were purchased and subsequently bred, or at least put with the rams. They were not tested to ensure that they were pregnant prior to leaving their farm. My friend made a trip to southern Alberta to visit with a friend of his and offered to pick the ewes up for me since my truck is still broken down. He kept them at his farm overnight and today, the two beautiful girls were brought to the Fat Ewe Farm. Indeed, they do have lovely fibre, both being single coated, or rather, not have the long hair coats, just the short one. Shetlands, like Icelandics, have dual coats of short wool and long wool, which can be separated or spun together. The wool of these two ewes is very fine and since they are single coated, there is no need to separate the wool fibres, long from short. 

The ewes were put in the barn in a stall for a few days to allow them to get used to me and the other ewes, who all came in to check the newcomers over. They looked at the Shetlands and then went back to do what they do best, eat. The Shetlands were fed a little alfalfa and lots of hay and given a bucket of fresh water. I visited them four times during the day and gave them some treats that were sent along with the sheep, to help them feel comfortable with me and to not upset their systems with food they were not accustomed to. How thoughtful of the shepherd of farm from which they came. 

My ultimate goal is to have small sheep, but I am not yet finished the experience of working with different breeds. There are still the Romneys to come to the farm and two Rambouillet lambs. Both Romney and Rambouillet are larger sheep and unless they are particularly easy to handle and friendly, they likely will not stay forever. The Old English Southdown Babydoll sheep are my absolute favourites. They are born friendly and even the crossbred ones seem to have the friendly gene. It will be interesting to think about the little Shetland lambs that will be born in May. 

Welcome to the Fat Ewe Farm Kaon and Obe. Obe is the black one and Kobe is the beige and striped one. Their colours and patterns have real Shetland wool names, which have escaped me at this time, but I will post about them again, I am sure. I am so pleased with Fibre Works Farm and the ewes. Thank ewe so much!

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.