Winter in the fall!

We got socked with a snow storm yesterday, 10-12 inches of heavy wet fluffy snow! Roads were slick and with freezing rain later in the evening, people were staying put! I was supposed to go pick up my new ewe lamb and drop off a leased ram at Linda W's yesterday, but I cancelled because of the weather. Today I was supposed to go, but I awoke with the flu. Hopefully next weekend will be better weather.

Although the snow makes everything look so lovely and fresh, I was not quite finished with my fall chores. Today it is warmer, so some of the white stuff is melting, but not fast enough!

I have two new female llamas. The older gal will be bred to my white calico male llama, Bran. The younger may be going to a new home already! If not, I'll be working with her and hopefully training her to be a pack llama.

Maybe I can spin between coughing spells?! Happy Halloween!

Winter, then Fall, then Winter, then Fall again!!!!

The weather is crazy!! -8c has been the coldest so far, but brrrrrrrrrrr ... and still the fall clean up isn't complete. We've had some snow, but it mostly melted today.

We just had the flock vet come out for our annual Scrapie inventory and check. Other than one case of pink eye, one ram that misbehaved and our older ewe's body condition being a little low, all looks good.

I LOVE our flock vet, she's AWESOME!! She is so good with our animals, she even did our guard dog's, Bear, physical and vaccinations while she was here. Mostly because he doesn't not travel well and she scolded me a bit last time she was here. But, how many vets would do such a thing??

I found out that the vet was learning how to felt wool, so I gifted her 1/2 lb. carded Shetland wool from one of our butchered lambs. She gifted me with my very own felted wool lamb!!



So, during the vets visit we found that my dear Heidiwho is now 13 years young, is a bit thin. She is missing most of her teeth, with a few more ready to fall out. We've started her on alfalfa/beet/rolled oat mash and she LOVES it! I'm hoping to put enough weight on her before the weather gets colder. We are now best of friends. I open the feed barn door, she comes in and waits for her mash. It works out great this way so I can keep her pen mates away from her so she doesn't have to fight them for the yummy mixture. When she is done, she looks around, gets some scratches and then walks out. We give her her own little pile of hay that she happilies "gums"!

I'm posting some new pictures of my lambs on the sale blog site. (http://windygrangebreedstocksales.blogspot.com/)

This guy isn't for sale, but I wanted to show him off!

This is Windy Grange Bronte. I'm in love with his fleece. His dam, Fibre Works Fiat, has a more "primative" fleece. His sire, "Willie", has UK genetics and a very crimpy fleece. Bronte is sporting his dams longer fleece with a nice crimp that both dam and sire passed to him. YUM!

Other farm news - our llama, Bran, decided to go for a walk about the yard. He "escaped" and rather than chase him all over, we just let him wander about as long as he didn't head toward the road. Well, when he was done with his walk about, he returned to the gate of his pen and waited until we let him back in. Yay for well behaved llamas!!

What happened to fall?

Flurries yesterday and flurries again today. Cold, cold, cold!!! The vet and I cancelled her visit to inventory/check my flock for the Canadian Scrapie Program and rescheduled for next Wednesday. Come rain or shine - or flurries - we HAVE to get the inventory done.

I still haven't decided which ewe lambs are staying and which are being sold. I haven't decided which ram lambs are staying, which I'm watching until larger and which are being sold. The culls will be put onto grain and in a few months will meet Bob (the butcher). So much to do and so little time.

Did I mention it is cold out??

The inside cats are NOT impressed with the white stuff. I cannot say that I do not blame them. All I wanted was just one more week. ;0)

Hopefully pictures of the lambs and decisions this weekend. Until then, paperwork needs to be done.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends! mmmmmm ... Turkey!!!