Love it

Everything is loving this beautiful weather. And I am trying to spend every minute working on outdoor projects while I can. Made a pen for Dan the Cormo ram including shelter, the hard part was separating him for the others and getting him in the pen. Then tackled the late job of shearing Ruby and Curlie and trimming feet. Ruby has more hair than three goats, and it is kid hair on an adult doe. She has been moaning all day long for the past few weeks, after I sheared her it was plain to see, she must be having twins. I know she is relieved to take off that ten pound coat. A heavy coat can slow a doe down, after shearing she will eat more and be more active, her metabolism will speed up as she grows a new fleece. Curlie does not have enough hair, she is a small doe but has a kid fleece that is silky soft,  she is one of my favorite pets, and someday she might have the perfect kid that has her handle with a ton of hair.

Hard week

Not feeling well today, think it is just exhaustion. Need to rest a bit. Took all day of Wednesday to move the kids and lambs from last year, a few does taking a break, a few old does, three ewes that wouldn't get caught when I loaded the sheep and moved them to another pasture, a few dinks and a couple of wethers to the bottom pasture. Took a lot of calling sheep-sheep and goooatie to get most of them to follow, three didn't and had to be caught and dragged and rode on the gater. Then I had to move panels and gates to lock them in so they wouldn't crawl under the fence and beat me back to the barn. Then halter the horses and move them up to the house. Then move the first fifteen bred does to the old calf lot and barn, clean out the old lambing barn, move all the feeders and start to set up the kidding and lambing pens. Cleaned the lambing barn, need to get fresh straw. My big male Pyrenees Wolf, who loves the goats is going down in his hips, can hardly get up, not much I can do for him, he is huge and old, just give him some pain medicine. His loud, deep bark will be missed. Some of the does will be shorn before kidding, started yesterday with Jewell, she is feeling much better, had a ton of hair on her, all have to be wormed and vaccinated. February 22nd is coming fast and somebody always jumps the gun, hopefully I will be ready.

Not Extinct

The wooly mammoth is not extinct. Two of them live here. Mostly hay burners, these two do help fertilize the garden and pastures while grazing behind sheep and goats to help break the parasite cycle. Horses do not share the same parasites as sheep but are too big to pasture with them, they could accidently step on a little one, so they are moved to a pasture after the sheep have gone. As soon as I find the time, can't remember where I put it, I plan on training these two to haul, drag, plow or even ride. Dreams are free.

Does my butt look big?

January is the hardest month of the winter for the sheep and goats. Just can't pour out enough feed to keep them happy and fat. One of the kids from last spring was looking pretty thin and lagging behind, but has improved the last few days. The cold rain we had a few weeks ago is just hard on angora goats, especially the little ones. They could be penned by themselves so they can eat all they want, but as long as they can keep up with the flock, they are happy. Goats want to be with the herd even if they are getting picked on. It happens in goats and chickens, just like people, there is always one that is picked on by all the others. It's the rule of order. Hoping for a warm, dry spell so I can shear a few goats that missed it last fall. The goal is to let the locks get 8 inches or longer for spinning curly yarn without completely ruining the fleece. Felted fleeces are in high demand so if they felt while waiting for that magical day of shearing, all is not lost.

Storing away

Loaded, hauled and stacked 120 more bales of hay in the barn today. Hope to get more tomorrow since the weather is nice again. There is never enough hay on a sheep and goat farm, no matter how much you store, you always run out in April- May, when all the hay farmers and feed stores are long sold out. You think you will have grass to graze and it is just a few weeks until more hay will be cut. That never happens. My hay farmer only had one cutting, that was in August, luckily I found a new supplier a little farther down the road where they had rain. It got me through the summer since we had no spring rain, I had no grass. I did have grass later in the year when the rain finally came.

Most of the day

Spent most of the day dragging hose pipes and hauling water to unthaw all the water tanks. I know all the stock appreciates having a drink of warm water when the temperature is below freezing, but mainly they have to drink a lot of water to keep their system working properly. It's also important to have plenty of hay free choice and a little grain so they are continuously eating when not lyeing in the sun chewing their cud. It would be nice if I could train the sheep and goats to spin or knit in their free time. Sometimes, it feels like I am doing all the work around here. Well, they are growing wool and mohair and lambs and kids while waiting on the servant to get out of bed. I did take a goat walk with the group of goats I had locked in the barn the last few nights. I am retraining the young, small and slightly stupid group to stay in the barn when it is cold and rainy. Some of the young kids are loosing weight because of the rough weather and not seeking shelter from the cold rain. So that means an extra feeding just before dark to lock them in until they get the hang of it and are waiting for me in the barn to tuck them in.

What does it mean

It has to be a sign of the up coming weather to see fog cover a valley in late afternoon. It has been a very mild few days. Yesterday was Distaff day at Peachtree Handspinner's guild. I planned on finishing my tea dyed yarn that I was spinning, but enjoyed the afternoon talking about spinning, weaving, dyeing and what projects to start this year. It's not wasted time talking to other spinners, I am absorbing everything that is said and done and storing it until needed in a future project. Every January I am stuck on which direction to take, what spinning and weaving projects to start, what fleece to skirt and wash, and what colors to dye. A farmer looks back on the past year to see what worked and what didn't and should you try it all again another year. What changes should you make? Or did things work out like you had planned. In a few weeks, when kidding and lambing rolls around there won't be time to think, I'll just do it all again and be thankful that I can.

A new year

The last day of 2011 and the first day of 1012 were so warm and sunny, today is sunny but still below freezing at 1:38 pm. It took a long time to get all the stock a warm drink of water. Still have to make the trip over to the sheep pasture to feed and haul hot water to melt their water tanks. Hopefully there will only be couple of days this harsh weather, it would just be too hard to do this all winter.  Sheep love this cold weather, they can be seen running and jumping in the air, just because it feels good. Goats are not so happy about it, even tho they have on a mohair jacket, they are not thrilled by it. And that blowing wind messes up their hair. Goats will hunker down and wait for it to pass, sheep just back up to the wind and rain and endure it. The farmer is in and out warming hands and drying gloves by the wood stove. A great day to be inside spinning yarns of wool and mohair.