Ramless in Ga

Sold my Cormo ram today. Was glad he was going to a farm to breed more fine wooled ewes and his fleece will be used for handspinning. Not the prettiest ram, but the best fleeced ram, same grade of very fine wool from neck to britch. Not a friendly ram, but once caught was a perfect gentleman. He takes the heat and humidity well and was a very easy keeper. Time for a new ram to breed his daughters, maybe a colored, curly ram. I have  tried Suffolk, Dorset, Polypay, Corriedale, Ramboulliet, Cotswold, Border Leicester, Blue Faced Leicester, and Cormo. My favorite has been the BFL-Cotswold cross, a very pretty sheep, lots of lustre and easy to shear and process, spins like a dream.

Slow motion

Don't know if I'll ever get enough locks and rovings dyed for fall shows, feels like I am moving in slow motion. The amount of time it takes to get a fleece shorn, skirted, washed, dyed, dried, picked and carded seems to consume me. Then there's that feeling of being over whelmed with the mountain of fleeces waiting on me from shearings past. It's a good thing wool will keep forever if kept dry and moth free. The lanolin will be harder to wash out of an old fleece, but the wool is protected by it. Then there's the question of what color will sell, I prefer the natural colors of the red and brown mohair, every shade of it, light to dark. But next to a lovely dyed fleece, the dyed fleece will sell first every time. Then there's the lovely shades of over- dyed colored mohair, magical.

Gathered around

Summer is slowing down for me, the garden is almost gone, kids and lambs are weaned, for the most part, I leave the doe kids and ewe lambs with their mama a little longer than the males. They will eventually dry up and wean them without all the fuss. Time for shearing again, the fleeces on the does and kids will have to be skirted and picked through since they spent most of the summer in the barn in front of fans trying to keep cool. Time to move the sheep back to their winter pasture where they will have enough grass to eat all winter, hopefuly without hay. If we get enough rain out of this hurricane it could really help the grass grow when the cooler weather gets here. Feed prices go up every week so I am hoping there will be grass for fall and winter grazing. Sheep can make it on good grass but goats will need grain to keep them going. Sheep are like menopausal women, they have a slower metabolism, goats are like teenagers, eat all the time and stay skinny.

perfect weather for everything

Perfect weather for dyeing wool and mohair. Got many pots of a new colorway dyed and the drying racks are loaded. Have 5 fleeces skirted and soaked in water over night. Now that the weather is cooler it is time to start shearing the kids and lambs. The goats and sheep are feeling completely different, kicking up their heels and head butting. After feeling drained from working in the humidity all summer, I was afraid I was loosing interest in what I believe in. After a couple of days of cooler weather I am charged and ready to go.

Monday morning meeting

Sheep are enjoying the cooler and wetter weather and decided to have the Monday morning meeting at the water tank. I hope they are making plans to grow long beautiful fleeces to be shorn next spring. And keep them clean and healthy and irresistable so they sell easily. I have bred sheep for many characteristics over the years. Since introducing BFL in the flock I am close to my goal of a dog killing sheep. My BFL's hate dogs, good or bad dogs. The poor maremma puppy in charge of taking care of them is a bit confused at times. My next goal is to breed a sheep that will spin, knit or weave their own fleece, it irritates me that they sleep in the shade all day while I am skirting, washing, dyeing, carding, and whatever to earn enough money to keep them.

Young guns for hire

These kid bucks are ready for fall breeding. Just Friday they decided it was time. The cooler nights, the wind blowing, who knows, but they are ready for action. Twenty five in this herd to choose from, except for the 4 already chosen and a few will remain here to grow and will be evaluated for breeding next fall. A few unlucky ones, or maybe they are the lucky ones, will become wethers for fiber pets. I have two of them myself that I keep with a band of does, lots, I say lots of incredible fiber and they make great leader goats. There are also two proven two year old bucks looking for a new herd, great fiber and sweet personalities. They can also be delivered to SAFF in October or come to the farm for a look.