The Fat Ewe Farm and Bed and Breakfast
The Fat Ewe Farm and Moose Hills Inn
Organic Permaculture Farmin' for
the Lazy Ewes
  • The Fat Ewe Farm
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • The Fat Ewe Farm Store
  • Livestock Breeds (click here to see all the breeds)
    • Angora goats
    • Icelandic Sheep
    • Jacob sheep
    • Old English Southdown Babydoll Sheep >
      • Babydoll Sheep on the Fat Ewe Farm
  • Contact Us
    • Photo Gallery (click here for some awesome photos or watch the slideshow) >
      • Video Slide Show
    • Phone Number
    • Map
  • Sale Barn
  • Recipes From the Fat Ewe
    • Old Stuff
  • How Much Meat Do You Get?
  • Ukrainian Easter Eggs
  • Moose Hills Inn

Very Wooly Sheep

3/18/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
It is spring in northeastern Alberta, much earlier than any other year I have been here so far. The sheep have heavy wool coats and they are hot, even though the temperatures are around 10C in the day time. The dogs are hot too, still coated with their double coats as well. They tend to sleep a lot during the day and to avoid moving too fast. Fortunately, there is not much for them to do right now. The coyotes are busy having pups themselves, so they are not our hunting as much. 

When the flock is small, there is not so much incentive for the shearer to come and often the job is put of and put off until he can secure something else in the area or the cost becomes astronomical and the farmer cannot pay it. I bought shears last year with the intention of learning to shear my sheep, even if I had to do it one at a time. Unfortunately, the blades do not come sharpened and I don't know of anyone other than a shearer who can sharpen them. As I am writing this, Vermillion college has a sheep component in their agriculture studies, and they just may have knowlege of a shearer or sharpener. They are only an hour away. 


The ewes must be sheared at least a month before delivery or they are too uncomfortable and could have problems if they are carrying multiple lambs. They are due to start lambing in April and possibly not finish until the end of May, so shearing should have taken place now. The shearer had lined up two other jobs and both canceled so he canceled my booking. Waiting until the lambs are born is fine too, except that it is getting pretty warm out. 

The wool again this year will not be valuable due to being contminated with too much hay. I have tried many feeder styles and nothing seems to work well enough. I have another feeder being built right now, delivered in two days if all goes well. It will be the 6th or 7th model I am trying. I have spoken about coating the sheep for the winter, or rather for the 7 months they are fed hay here. That requires a coat change almost monthly to accommodate the growth of new wool so it does not felt on the animals. In other words, it is a lot of work and who wants to go out in the mid of winter at 40 below and change coats on sheep anyhow? But, if I am to be any kind of a fibre farm, there in lies the problem - dirty wool doesn't sell. 

The tight wooled sheep have fared best of all and the long wooled the worst, with the greedy long wooled sheep in the worst possible mess of all. The vegetative matter goes all the way through to the skin of those sheep and can only be used for insulating dog houses or compost. The cost to have the sheep sheared is $550 and that is expensive insulation! 

I am also buying a chipper shredder tomorrow to shred the alfalfa for the new feeder. It will hopefully accomplish two things: take care of the waste of all the alfalfa stems, which is 2/3rds of the bale at $100 per bale wasted, and also help to keep the alfalfa out of the wool, because it is the hardest to remove. 

So, my poor wooly fat ewes are pregnant and hot and have to stay that way for another month or two. The rams, well, they don't have to worry about babies and feeling too big, so they might be good ones for me to start shearing. Let's see….
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Airstream Land Yacht 1964
    Alpacas
    Alpine Goats
    Ameraucana Chickens
    American Buff Geese
    Ancona Ducks
    Angora Goats
    Angora Goats
    Angora Rabbits.
    Babydoll Southdown Sheep
    Babydoll Southdown Sheep
    Bed And Breakfast
    Berkshire Pigs
    Blue Faced Leicester Sheep
    Blue Swedish Ducks
    Boer Goats
    Border Collie
    Border Collie
    Bronze Turkey Standard
    Bronze Turkey (Standard)
    Canadian Horses
    Canadian Horses
    Cats
    Chickens
    Cotswold Sheep
    Crafts And Hobbies
    Cream Legbar Chickens
    Dorset Sheep
    Ducks
    Embden Geese
    E'st A Laine Merino Sheep
    Farm Life
    Farm Life
    Farm Store
    Finnsheep
    Flemish Giant Rabbit
    Flowers
    French Lop Rabbit
    Galloway Cattles
    Gardening
    Gotland Sheep
    Guinea Fowl
    Herbs
    Holstein Steer
    Icelandic Sheep
    Jacob Sheep
    Japanese Bantam Chickens
    Jersey Cow
    Kahaki Campbell Ducks
    Karakul Sheep
    Kiko Goats
    Kilo Highland Cows
    Light Sussex Chicken
    Livestock Guardian Dogs
    Livestock Guardian Dogs
    Maremma Sheepdogs
    Maremma Sheepdogs
    Meishan Pigs
    Miniature Nigerian Dwarf Goats
    Moose Hills Inn
    Muscovy Ducks
    Norwegian Red Dairy Cow
    Nubian Goats
    Nygora Goat
    Ossabaw Hogs
    Partidge Chantecler Chickens
    Pekin Ducks
    Permaculture
    Pied Guinea Fowl
    Polish/Ameraucana Bantam Cross Chickens
    Polled Dorset Sheep
    Potbelly Pigs
    Pygmy Goats
    Recipes
    Rigit Galloway Cows.
    Romanov Sheep
    Romney Sheep
    Rouen Ducks
    Saddleback Pomeranican Geese
    Saxony Ducks
    Sebastopol Geese
    Sheep And Goats
    Shetland Sheep
    Silver Spangled Hamburg Chicken
    Soap And Hand Made Cosmetics
    Standard Jack Donkey
    Sustainability
    Swiss Blackneck Goats
    The Llamas
    The Llamas
    Toulouse Geese
    Tunis Sheep
    White Chantecler Chickens
    White Danish Geese
    Wool

    Author

    Fluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. 

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    view old blog site

    RSS Feed

Contact Us
Home

The Fat Ewe Farm 

All text and photos are the sole property of The Fat Ewe Farm  and may not be used without written permission.