Windy Grange

Moving forward

2010-09-12T00:29:00.002-06:00

So, the Shetlands are at their new homes. 14 rams, some lambs and some mature, had to be sent to the market. Thanks to the wonderful Shetland breeders, all of my ewes and a huge amount of my rams have found wonderful homes throughout Canada.

I have moved and started a new life in Edmonton, AB. I still have 40 of this years fleeces and have decided to keep the majority of them for my own use. I have two jobs, one part time and one casual both in my field of dentistry. I am a registered dental assistant and found it quite easy to find work here.

What's next? Who knows, but it is less stressful and lovely here in the city. My main blog, Windy Grange, will become my fibre arts blog. I am going to be taking some spinning courses, continue my research on ancient textiles and work on reproducing them by spinning and weaving reproduction textiles of my own. There is also tablet weaving to study and reproduce too!!

I am going to work on felted characters. A friend has also offered to teach me how to knit, although I know the basics, I cannot follow a pattern well.

So many projects, so little time!!

Thanks for your support!! Check in from time to time and see what fibre fun is on the plate.

Rams - Mature and 2010 lambs Still Available

2010-07-12T08:42:00.001-06:00

Hi Folks!!

Thank you for the outstanding response to my sale. We have sold all of our ewes, but have many mature and 2010 ram lambs still available. They would make incredible flock sires. Please contact me for listings!

Summer Solstice

2010-06-21T08:26:00.004-06:00

Today is the summer solstice and I think it may rain! I cannot complain, the past few days have been hot, hot, hot!! We NEED the rain, it is dry and the pasture will not continue to grow without more moisture!! I still have sheep to feed for heavens sake!! :0)

We still have 30 sheep left to sell. Prices are marked low so there are no further discounts or horn guarantees. Pictures are on my sales blog (link on the right) or by request. Here is the sales list:

Mature Ewes:

Windy Grange Annika – S 30286
Fibre Works Isidor x Fibre Works Falerno
April 29/2008 Black Iset $200

WillowGarden Alexa – S 28253
Branble Nick x Great Plains Sara
May 4/2008 White $250

Fibre Works Fiat – S 19010
Great Plains Maximmlian x Fibre Works Sundae
May 7/2004 Grey Katmoget $200

SOLD
Fibre Works ISP – S 25422
Fibre Works Fandango x Fibre Works Gefion
April 27/2007 Black Flecket $250

SOLD
Fibre Works Kallisto – S 304881
Fibre Works Hasan x Nier Lakes Celeste
April 27/2009 Grey $250

Mature Rams:

WillowGarden Rex Harrison – S 18040
ShltrgPine Jacob Two Too x SheltrgPines Safiye
June 7/2004 Black/White Yuglet/Flecket $250

Fibre Works Isidor – S 25420
Fibre Works Finis x Fibre works Signy
May 2/2007 White $250

Fibre Work Indiana Jones – S 25421
Fibre Works Fandango x Fibre Works Daisy
April 20/2007 grey Katmoget $250

Nier Lakes Emmet – S 28304
WillowGarden Duke of York x Nier Lakes Emmy-Lou
May 9/2005 Black flecket $250

Windy Grange Apollo – S 30285
WillowGarden Rex Harrison x Fibre Works ISP “Issy”
April 23/2008 White Ilget $250

Windy Grange Blance –
Fibre Works Isidor x Fibre Works Fonteyn
May 4/2009 White $250

Windy Grange Bo - Fibre Works Isidor x Fibre Works Eureka
May 6/2009 White $250

Windy Grange Benji –
Fibre Works Falerno x Whistlestop 0531 AI
May 7/2009 Black $250

Windy Grange Brone –
Fibre Works Highwood x Whistlestop 0531 AI
May 8/2009 Mioget $250

2010 Lamb Ewes:

Windy Grange Caramel –
WillowGarden Rex Harrison x Fibre Works Easter
Twin Moorit Bleset $250

Windy Grange Ceallach –
WillowGarden Rex Harrison x Fibre Works Easter
Twin Musket Krunet/Bielset$250

Windy Grange Cora –
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works Fiat
Quad Grey Katmoget $250

Windy Grange Camilla
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works Eureka
Twin Black Krunet/Bleset $250

Windy Grange Christoff –
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works ISP
Twin Black Smirslet

Windy Grange Chica –
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works Highwood
Twin White/Black Yuglet/Flecket $250

Windy Grange Cappicino
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works Falerno
Twin Moorit Slight Krunet $250

Windy Grange Cass –
Nier Lakes Emmet x WillowGarden Adella
Twin Moorit Flecket/Yulget $250

2010 Lamb Rams:

Windy Grange Coal –
WillowGarden Rex Harrison x Windy Grange Annika
Twin Black krunet $150

Windy Grange Coco –
WillowGarden Rex Harrison x Windy Grange Annika
Twin Black krunet $150

Windy Grange Ciara –
WillowGarden Alexa x Windy Grange Apollo
Single Black Bleset $150

Windy Grange Chaucer
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works Fiat
Quad Black/White Flecket/Yuglet/Sokket $150

Windy Grange Calli Lilli –
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works ISP
Twin Black/White Flecket/Yuglet $150

Windy Grange Circee –
Nier Lakes Emmet x WillowGarden Adella
Twin Black Yulget/Sokket (Flecket?) $150

Windy Grange Chico –
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works Highwood
Twin White/Black Yuglet/Flecket $150

Windy Grange Caper –
Nier Lakes Emmet x Fibre Works Falerno
Twin Black Krunet $150

Sales List is complete

2010-06-13T09:53:00.001-06:00

I would first like that thank everyone that has sent me such kind and supportive messages. Disbursing a flock of beloved Shetlands is not an easy task in so many ways!!

I have a complete sales list of all our Shetlands and it is available to anyone wanting to peruse it. Please contact me at vfoster@xplornet.com and I will send it to you.

Again, thank you for your support!

Vicki

So, it is at hand ....

2010-06-08T07:30:00.002-06:00

I sadly have to announce that I must disperse the flock. I am moving and I cannot take any of them with me. :-(

If you know of ANYONE wanting Shetland breeding stock, please have them contact me. I have only had my Shetlands for 3 years, but have worked hard at having breed standard animals with beautiful fleeces.

Of course, I'll be keeping more of my fleeces than I expected, but at least I will have something of my lovely Shetlands.

I will be reducing the prices and all the animals listed on my breeding stock blog will become available as the person who was going to purchase them neglected to send a deposit and has since stop all communication. If you wonder, just look at Bill Stearman's blog for more details. I knew it seemed too good to be true, but in this case I was hopeful.

I will post pictures of all the mature Shetlands in the next day or so.

Lambs staying on our Farm!!

2010-05-23T18:18:00.007-06:00

These are the 7 lambs that are staying on the farm - for now. I may change my mind later, but I want to observe their growth and colouring. I love the lambs, but hate making these decisions!!!

Enjoy the "eye candy" aka enjoy the lambs......

Windy Grange Ceallach
Dam: Fibre Works Easter
Sire: Willow Garden Rex Harrison

I cannot decide if she is Moorit or Musket. She has a blueish-grey tinge
to her fleece. I will have to do more investigating when I tag the lambs.
Edit: I am leaning toward Musket - she does have a mixture of white/brown fibres
coming when you look at the entire lock structure!

Windy Grange Conn
Dam: Nier Lakes 315405977 AI "Baker"
Sire: Nier Lakes Emmet

This ram lamb is unique. We are unsure if he just has excess phaeomelain
or if he will stay "calico". We will wait and see. He is nearly 4 weeks old and
is not fading much at all!!

This is one of the quadruplets, Windy Grange Cookies & Cream.
Dam: Fibre Works Fiat
Sire: Nier Lakes Emmet
Sale pending

Windy Grange Cappicino
Dam: Fibre Works Falerno
Sire: Nier Lakes Emmet

The deal fell through on this gal who I thought was sold. She has a beautiful, very even crimp and her markings, Moorit spotted Gulmoget, is so unique that I just have to keep her!!!

Windy Grange Cairo
Dam: Willow Garden Anu
Sire: Windy Grange Apollo

Windy Grange Caoilinn
Dam: Willow Garden Aelwen *Sale Pending*
Sire: Windy Grange Apollo
I love her even crimp and her grey colouring. I am
unsure if she will stay spotted or not, but I do not care.
She is yummy to the eye and to the hand! :)
*Sale Pending*

Windy Grange Cass
Dam: Willow Garden Adella
Sire: Nier Lakes Emmet

She is moorit and white with very few spots. Fleckett?? hmmm,
I will have to look into her markings. Yuglet for sure!

April Snowstorms brings .....

2010-05-21T19:24:00.008-06:00

May Snowstorms!?!??!???

Well, it is our May long weekend - Victoria Day is Monday. We are notorious for wild weather this time of the year. We have had drought conditions for some time now and happily we have been getting much needed rain the past few days. Well, 24 hours of rain, some low pressure and cold conditions and what blew??? .... SNOW!!!

This shepherd does not care much what kind of moisture we get, we need it or the pasture will only be usable once. The ewes, rams and lambs??? well they are so not impressed! They are hiding in the shelters or near a fence, not wanting to move!! They finally got up to eat around 6 pm, I guess they figured they could wait out the storm?? Didn't think so!!!

I really wanted to tag, vaccinate, trim toes, etc. this long weekend but that will have to wait. I can finish some spinning and the tons of paperwork that has been waiting to be finished on a "rainy" day!

Apparently Bear, our black lab, doesn't think the weather, or I am, so funny!

Lambing Season was fast and furious!!

2010-05-15T20:24:00.005-06:00

Lambing Season 2010 is complete!! It feels like it just started, what happened? I'm not even sure who hasn't been posted here yet. I do have pictures of 2010 sales lambs on my sales blog, check them out!!

Fibre Works Highwood (Nier Lakes Emmet) gave me lovely twins again this year. Surprisingly, they are black/white NOT Moorit or Mioget, which she usually produces. The black is pure black, so I doubt they are going to lighten up to Moorit!! WOW!!!

Ram lamb

Highwood with her ewe lamb

My favorite twins are Willow Garden Anu (Nier Lakes Emmet) ram and ewe lambs. I am not sure, but I think they are gulmoget, like their mom, but look at the face markings!! What would you call them????

Dark Moorit Ram Lamb

Moorit Ewe lamb

Their fleece is very even throughout!!

Fibre Works ISP "Issy" has twins!

2010-05-13T20:25:00.004-06:00

Are they not cute???

Closeup of her ram lamb, look at those spot!!!

And ....

here is what happens when lambs get into things they should not
be getting into .....

;-)

More lambs...

2010-05-13T17:41:00.000-06:00

We have had a run on lambs. I will post when I get a chance to catch my breath!!! :)

Happy lambing!!!

Orphaned and Re-adopted

2010-05-09T11:45:00.005-06:00

This poor wee guy either was sent packing or wandered off again, only to be re-adopted by Issy (Fibre Works ISP). Issy had twins this morning, although I thought it was triplets until I dipped and found this guy was not a new born. He was already suckling, so I just thought he was 1st born. His markings were very familiar to me, although I have had a lot of black krunet lambs this year, I was suspicious. Lo and behold, his last adoptive mom only had two and was not looking for the wee guy. So, for now he is with Issy, although she is not so sure of him.

I have a friend looking for a bummer ram lamb, so if she visits the farm today I think I may send him with her. We have only 2 more ewes to lamb and I am sure they will both have twins. At least this sweetheart has had a good start to life and will be very spoiled at her farm. We will see what unfolds .... for now, he is with Issy.

EDIT: The poor little guy has been rejected yet again! He will be living at my g-friends farm where he will have lots of love and they encourage friendly animals of all sorts - cautiously friendly that is! ;0)

I guess all stories need happy endings, even if they are not the ending we intended!

Quad Update

2010-05-09T00:30:00.004-06:00

The quads are doing very well. Fibre Works Fiat is keeping them well fed and attended to. They refuse supplemental feedings and, well, they usually have full bellies anytime I went to check to see if I needed to supplement. They are all thriving and join in the lamb races. Good job Fiat!!

Speaking of lamb races ...

Yet more lambs!

2010-05-08T23:48:00.004-06:00

While my ewes have been busy lambing, I have been busy fighting a sinus infection. I dislike being sick and this sinus infection is kicking my butt! Well, on to more fun things like LAMBS!!

Another two sets of twins!!

Milehaus Clare had a lovely set of twins, but ...

her second born ram lamb wandered off and when we got the three of them into a jug, Clare decided he was not hers and we could not make her have him. So, we have a bottle lamb....

But ...

Willow Garden Adella had a set of twins (ram and ewe lambs)

later that day and
I whisked the abandoned ram lamb into the barn, smothered him in her
fluids, set him behind her and ...

Adella now has triplets!! She is an awesome first time mom
and is attentive to all three!

Winter, summer, spring, back to winter and now moving into spring!!!

2010-05-05T20:00:00.004-06:00

The weather here has been amazingly crazy. Winter settles down and SUMMER kicked in!! We had a few weeks of 20c + weather! I am sure the sheared Shetlands were mighty happy they did not have to freeze without their coats. Then, normal spring time weather showed up. Not so bad, 10c + type weather, great lambing weather! Well, next comes winter (again)!! This was what I woke up to a few days ago.

I am NOT complaining too loudly, my fellow shepherds in southern Alberta had a worse time of the springtime wintry blizzard. I thought for sure we would have some lambs, but the ewes held tight.

Last night was the coldest night we had in a month and a half, -10c. Well, when I went out for the 6am check & feeding I found an adorable set of twins.

Fibre Works Highwood gave me these wonderful black/white spotted lambs, one ewe (left) and on ram (left). They were mighty cold, the ram lambs back legs were icy and stiff. He was born last as he was very wet still when I found them. Both of their umbilical cords were starting to freeze. Into the barn and under the heat lamp they went!! Towel dry for the two and some hay & water for mom and all are doing well.

Then, this afternoon while I was at work, my husband found these two lovely ram lambs.

Windy Grange Annika, a first timer, had these two black krunet ram lambs. They have lovely wool and will both be for sale.

Just over half done lambing now - 6 more to go!!

I, unfortunately, want to be out with the lambs more but have just discovered that I have a sinus infection. No wonder the left side of my face wants to blow up!!

Colour Genetics

2010-05-01T09:48:00.002-06:00

So, I will admit that I understand the very basics of colour genetics. This year I admit that I'm stumped with some of the wonderful spotted and katmoget patterns I am seeing. I did not use a katmoget ram in the breeding program and there is absolutely no way he had a chance to breed.

If you have any advice, suggestions or can just outright "splain it to me", please do!!

There, I've said it outloud for everyone to witness.

So, back to the books & pedigrees .....

One more ...

2010-04-30T22:38:00.004-06:00

Today, Willow Garden Aelwyn gave us a beautiful ewe lamb. The eveness of her fleece is amazing! Look at that lovely pink nose! :)

Hold on to your hats ...

2010-04-28T22:10:00.003-06:00

Hold on to your hats folks, today has been a whirlwind!! It's rained on and off all day, but the certainly hasn't interfered with lambing.Two more sets of twins this evening with another (or 2) in some stage of labour (not hard labour but ...)!!

This big boy is going to be special!! Very even crimp throughout ... mmmmmm...
His mom, Nier Lakes 315405977 AI aka "Baker" (because she is originally one of Kathy Baker's)
and his Sire is our very first born lamb, Windy Grange Apollo.

This little guy loves to play "peek a boo" under his mom!! He is much smaller than the
first and where in the world did the Katmoget markings come from?? My only Katmoget
ram was tightly put away from all the ewes until WAY after breeding season!! Can they breed through plywood?? Could it be possible to have the Katmoget gene from the rams background "pop" out at any time??? Must I do DNA testing?? Very confused with the genetics at this point.

These two are from Whoopi, my Gotland/Finn/Shetland ewe. I love this X-breed's wool (~6" staple with a lovely loose crimp) !! The black is a ram and the moorit is a ewe.

Thus the lamb count is 12, 5 rams and 7 ewe lambs. Come on gals, we need more ewe lambs!!!

Good Morning, two sets of twins .....

2010-04-28T12:41:00.005-06:00

Good Morning Wednesday!! Today was the day that "Bob", the butcher, came to visit at our farm. When we awoke to make ready for "Bob", I discovered not one but TWO sets of twins!! The twins were sharing moms for feeding, which was confusing to the moms and to us. Luckily, I could tell one set was "older" than the others (already dry compared to very wet), so I separated the older twin and mom and everyone is bonding well.

This is the older set of twin from Fibre Works Easter, two ewe lambs!

These two are from Fibre Works Falerno, one ram lamb (black, left) and one ewe lamb (moorit, right).

Lamb count for Windy Grange is 8 lambs from 3 ewes, 6 ewe lambs and 2 ram lambs! Could this be the year of the ewe??? {{fingers crossed}}

Quadruplets!

2010-04-28T00:12:00.002-06:00

More pictures of our quadruplets! Fibre Works Fiat and her lovely 3 ewe and 1 ram lambs.

This little ewe lamb has droopy ears, but that is all that is wrong with this little fighter. She was probably one of the weakest (we had 2 larger and 2 smaller lambs) ewe lambs, but certainly not to be under estimated. Once she warmed up under the heat lamp (thus the reddish tint to the pictures) and got her fill of colostrum, she is every bit as feisty as her siblings. Her only brother is a cutie! Lovely and soft as corn starch wool and his colouring is so adorable. He is one of the larger lambs.

Here the brown/white "droopy" eared ewe lamb decides to explore the jug with her sister.

Another ewe lamb from the same group. Where did she come from?? Her sire is black/white. This gal is a looker, also one of the smaller of the 4 lambs, but just as rambunctious as the rest!

"Are you talking about me??
I know I'm a looker, just wait until I'm older!"

Oh, never mind, I just need another drink ... so thirsty!!!

Fibre Works Fiat is an excellent mom. She raised triplets last year and surprised us with the quads this year. She is not impressed that I try to bring supplemental bottles to her lambs. She consistently makes sure all 4 of her lambs get their time to feed.

I still introduce the bottles to the lambs ... just in case ....

Lambing 2010 has begun!!!

2010-04-26T22:14:00.004-06:00

When it rains, it pours - but today the flood gates are wide open!! Lambing has begun at the Windy Grange today with Fibre Works Fiat (Nier Lakes Emmet) blessing us with QUADS!! Yes, 3 ewe lambs and 1 ram lamb!! Our first set of quads!! What a way to start!!

Three of the quads - 2 ewes & 1 ram lamb

This little gal was 3rd born, but seems to be the smallest. Her ears are a bit droopy and she was chilled. She wasn't sucking well, so we drenched with mom's colostrum and put here, her siblings, and mom into a large sized jug with a heat lamp for warmth. Her ears are still droopy, but I've seen her nurse since she had the colostrum. She is lying under the heat lamp on her own, but I have seen her "frolic" and follow her siblings to mom. I will keep an eye on her, I just hope I am not missing anything.

Well, there it is. We started 2010 lambing with a BANG!!

Fleeces, Shearing, and dogs - but NO lambs.

2010-04-23T07:25:00.004-06:00

Shearing day has come and gone, it was a whirlwind of a day. Many thanks to my friends who came over to lend a hand since my husband was not able to be home to help. New shearers (there were two going at the same time!) this year who sheared 44 Shetlands, 3 Gotland/Finn/Shetlands, 1 Suffolk mix, 2 Romney mix and two llamas! WOW!

I was going to start skirting my fleeces this past Wednesday, which was my day off of work (I am a dental assistant working extra hours to cover for a co-worker who had surgery) BUT the wind had another idea for me. I like to skirt outside, much tidier that way AND it gives me the opportunity to sit with my pregnant ewes to observe and give them much love during the day.

My dog, Bear, a lovely lab/Pyrenees mix, earned his keep yet again! He laid chase to a sneaky fox who was either investigating the sheep pens OR looking for the barn cats. Regardless, Bear is keeping an eye on such matters!!

This is Floppy, a young female llama who joined our flock (herd) last fall. She is named for her ridiculous ears that have not developed properly and "flop" all the time. She is mighty happy that she was not one of the chosen llamas for shearing this year.

Well, time for work at "work". Perhaps this weekend there will be skirting, and maybe lambs!??!?!?!?! Here is to hoping anyhow.

Waiting ....

2010-04-19T22:36:00.001-06:00

Waiting for 2010 lambs ... and waiting ... and waiting!! Actually, only one small breeding group is due anytime now, the rest another week or so ... but still waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting .... *le sigh*

Some better news

2010-04-18T16:49:00.008-06:00

So, the good news is that I do not have to have a complete flock dispersment, but I do need to have a HUGE reduction! Please visit our Sale Blog for complete list of sheep available, for now, here are some of the rams available. (I'll post the ewes in a day or so!)

Windy Grange Benji
Whistlestop 0531 AI S19837 x Fibre Works Falerno
2009 ram lamb Black (twin)
Do you need a black ram for your flock sire??
Benji has his fathers looks and genetics - from UK & Washington State!!
Intermediate fleece, great confirmation,
really nice horn structure and great confirmation.
I really would hate to see him leave, but I
cannot keep them all.

Windy Grange (unnamed)
Fibre Works Indiana Jones x Mtn Niche Heidi
Heidi gave me triplets on her last
year of lambing. She is now happily hanging out
her last years on the farm.
This 2009 Moorit ram lamb is all that his father is and more
(mom has genetics from Washington State)!!!
He may be on the smaller side (he and his siblings are quickly
catching up!) but he is full of win! Great confirmation,
great intermediate fleece, great horns. What more
could anyone ask for as a flock sire??
I will not cry if he has to stay, and that is no lie!!

Windy Grange Blance
White twin 2009 ram lamb
Fibre Works Isidor x Fibre Works Falerno
This guy has a beautiful intermediate fleece,
great horns & confirmation!
If you are looking for a white sire, he's one of
two you can choose.

(Fibre Works (unnamed) 2009 ram lamb could be available,
send me a message for more details)

Windy Grange Brone
Mioget 2009 ram lamb (twin)
Great horns, dynamite fleece (~3"),
great confirmation, nice temperament, good confirmation.
He would be a great addition to any flock as their sire.

Windy Grange Bo
Fibre Works Isidor x Fibre Works Eureka
2009 ram lam White (twin)
Bo has a beautiful intermediate fleece,
good horns and confirmation!
If you are looking for a white sire, he's one of
two you can choose.

Fibre Works Isidor S25420
Fibre Works Finis X Fibre Works Signy
White ram
Beautiful intermediate fleece, proven flock sire.
Nice horns, great temperament.

Willow Gardens Rex Harrison S18040
Black/White Yuglet/Flecket
SheltrgPines Jacob Two Too x SheltrgPines Safiye
Great genetics, intermediate fleece, proven flock sire.
Good horns, good temperament.
Rex would be a great addition
to any flock!!

(shown with Fibre Works Indiana Jones S25421)

Windy Grange Biend
Single, Grey Katmoget
Fibre Works Indiana Jones x Nier Lakes 315405977 AI
This 2009 lamb ram is all that his father, Fibre Works Indiana Jones S25421, is!
He would be a great addition to any flock. Intermediate fleece,
great horns, good temperament, great confirmation!

Flock Dispersement

2010-04-11T07:18:00.002-06:00

I, unfortunately, need to disperse my flock. I am going to have to be moving off our quarter section and have no where to put my lovely Shetlands. SO, if you are interested in some good quality breeding stock, I can give you a deal!

We are still waiting for 2010 lambs and there promises to be some nice "surprises"!

Pictures soon!!!

Gearing up for the busy "spring"

2010-03-24T08:59:00.002-06:00

No pictures today, instead just a list of what is going on and what needs to be going on in the next month.

Spring - Sure wish it was here. Well, it was here, but left. The geese are feeling a bit let down since they returned and it snowed, and it snowed, and it is still snowing ... (you get the idea!)

Shearing - We originally moved shearing up by a few weeks, but have now moved it back by one due to the weather (and Easter holiday we all forgot about!) We are trying out a new shearer since our original guy keeps saying he wants to retire (and we had a bunch of second cuts in our fleeces last year), so we are letting him retire! ;0) The new shearer showed up at a friends, she only has 4 sheep, and asked if they a) needed them sheared and b) did she want the fleece for hand spinning or is it throw away? and c) he knew about our flock and we do not know him! He did a great job on those 4 fleeces and so we are going to give him a go!

We are currently looking for help for shearing day. My husband told me, after the date was booked, he was away for a course that weekend. hrmmmm .... Woman farmers will unite!! (I hope!!) :)

Lambing - 5 short weeks from the beginning of lambing! YIKES!! Time to get things cleaned up in the nursery pen!! Let's hope the weather decides to be kind to the wee ones!! 15 bred, 6 new moms and endless possibilities of colours & markings!! We used two new Sires this year!!

Wool Show - We are entering some of our fleeces, for the first time. We will be at Olds College who is hosting a 'all breeds, all colors' Wool Show June 10, 2010, during its regular one week Fiber Week activities. Any advice???

Llamas - all 5 are doing well. Our black gelding is less skittish every month. The new rescue llama is doing well. 6 weeks until we will but the stallion in with the 2 females. We have never bred llamas before, so this will be new to us.

Butcher - we have some 2009 lambs marked for the butcher. That will happen right after shearing.

Well, that is what we are doing. Life is busy, but it is good.

Rescued Llama Update

2010-03-13T23:43:00.004-07:00

Lucky, the llama my husband and I rescued, is doing fine. Her bite (on the bum), her feet, her neck and her ears are all healing well and she had no infections. She desperately needs to be sheared, but that will not happen until April 2nd when the shearer comes to do the rest of the llamas and the Shetland flock.

So, here is poor lucky who has lost her frost bitten ears. She looks so pathetic, but is actually quite happy. She has taken to the rest of the female llamas and likes to "flirt" with the stallion. The vet deemed her well enough to breed in a month along with her new mate, Rusty.

There have been rumours of who her owner is/was, but nevertheless, she has a safe home and is staying put!

Now to ready ourselves for shearing day, then lambing season!! Enjoy!!

Llamas on guard

2010-02-24T22:04:00.002-07:00

We just could not figure out why the llamas have been 'on guard', on and off, for the past two days. Today, I think I figured it out!

Meet the female moose (cow) that was hanging out in one of the summer pastures. Unfortunately, I am unsure how she got in there - either over or through the fence. Looks like I may have more fencing repairs to do this spring!!

Just to end the day on a nearly perfect note - this was my view from the front window this evening. I LOVE the sunsets here, they are lovely!! The sunrises can be beautiful too.

Rescued Llama

2010-02-09T21:16:00.006-07:00

A week ago my husband spotted a lone, stray llama roaming the countryside just west of our farm. When he stopped to investigate, another woman was looking at the llama and stated she had seem the poor thing for over a week roaming around. The husband decided he wanted to rescue this poor critter.

So, we rescued a llama. We named her Lucky, and when you hear her entire story, you will know why she earned that name. The best thing about Lucky was that she was so easily caught. She has been haltered and trained to walk on a lead! This is Lucky:

As you can see, she has scabbing (and scarring) around her entire neck. The vet seems to think this was either caused by a barbed wire fence she was caught in, or she was rubbing her neck while trying to get food. It could also have been caused by sticking her head through a metal bin for oats. We'll never know for sure. She also has not been sheared for 4-6 years, maybe her entire life?!

She also has frost bitten ears and will lose most of both of them, poor thing. Perhaps we should have called her "Stubby"?

This is a picture of her, now healing, canine bite (it was a gaping hole at one time the vet states) on her left rear flank. She also had a touch of frost bite between one of her toes and all of her pads were scrapped & cut (two were bleeding when we got her) due to the crusty snow she had been walking through.

The vet estimates she was on her own since mid-December. This time line was concluded by the amount of freezing rain we had in December. The odd thing is that Lucky is obese. My vet rarely uses that word, she rather say things like, "...on the heavy side..." or "...should lose weight..." or "...over conditioned..."!

The husband, the vet and I decided we do not want to know who owned this lovely sole because we think she was either starved on their farm or let loose because they could not afford to feed her. Regardless, the owner would be reported to SPCA if we find out who they are, so it is best that she is here and safe now.

So, Lucky is lucky to have survived on her own for at least 2 months (or more). She is lucky to have found a home where she will be loved and spoiled for as long as she lives. Oh, and because she survived not becoming dinner to these:

These three cougars (1 male & 2 females) were trapped 1 mile west of where we found Lucky. That is approximately 6-7 miles west of our farm. The county was snaring coyotes as we have an over population of the little buggers here and lo and behold this is what they found instead!!

Windy Grange made the paper!!

2010-02-06T00:06:00.004-07:00

Fabulous! Our farm was the feature article for The Peace Country Sun, a local newspaper. I cannot tell you how excited we are!!

http://peacecountrysun.com/

World of wool at Windy Grange

Erika Sherk –Special to Peace Country Sun

Posted 8 hours ago

Vicki Foster with two of her favourites: Anu on the left and Blanche. Foster started out with six sheep and now has a herd of 50 purebred Shetlands.

Move over cyber pets, bring in the fibre pets. For those not in the know, fibre pets are animals that not only provide their owners with a cuddly companion but literally the coat off their backs. Think llamas, rabbits and sheep. Vicki Foster grew up with a love for fibre arts, which led her to a whole new world of wool three years ago.

"Until I moved up here I never lived on a farm but always wanted animals," she said. It was her lifelong passion for fibre arts – spinning, especially – coupled with her childhood dream of living on a farm that brought her to where she is today: Shepherdess of 50 sheep.

She didn't start with 50. Three short years ago, she bought six sheep – two rams and four ewes. Where did the 50 come from?

"A few additions and lot of lambs. They keep multiplying!" laughed Foster. This spring, they're looking at 15 to 30 lambs and even more, if any of her ewes have triplets. "It's going to be crazy," she said, obviously relishing the thought.

Moving to Windy Grange Farm near Elmworth five years ago, Foster says she and her husband Stuart talked about sheep for years.

"I finally said, 'either we're going to do it or we're not!'" said Foster and so they installed some fencing and she settled down to research. She knew an ancient breed was in order, to fit in with her interest in textiles of the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Shetland sheep fit her bill perfectly.

"What I want to do eventually is reproduce the ancient textiles the way they made them then," she said.

For now, she's got her hands full with her 50 woolly critters. Walking into the ewes' pen, they treat Foster like a celebrity, rushing over to get a bit of her attention. It was a pretty steep learning curve at first, she said.

"I'm just happy I picked a small breed. They're easy to handle, but there is a lot of work, like trimming toes. Who'd have known you have to trim their toes? I had no idea," she laughed.

After three years, Foster has it mostly worked out. The main seasons are breeding in early winter and lambing in the spring. Shearing comes just before lambing. The Shetland fleeces, known for their softness and wide variety of colour, almost always sell out, she said.

It is a business as well as a hobby. The fleeces sell, Foster plans to sell sheep to other farms and the ram lambs that don't live up to the breed specifications are sold for meat. Of course, Foster keeps a few fleeces for herself. She's having an outbuilding turned into a studio for her spinning and other fibre arts.

"I've outgrown my house," she said. Once the studio's done, she plans to invite the other spinners in the area over.

"We can just sit around and do our thing," smiled Foster.

Foster's first six sheep came from Linda Wendelboe of Fibre Works Farm in Sundre, Alta. Though Wendelboe hasn't yet been up north to see Foster's operation, she's heard good things.

"It sounds like she's doing very well in the sense that she's got a good lambing record and the sheep seem to be thriving," Wendelboe said.

Out at Windy Grange Farm they do indeed seem to be happy and healthy and come spring, Foster will have her hands even more full of sheep, thriving all over the place.

"I can honestly say I'm never grumpy about it," she said of all the work. "I just love it. They keep me active and they're fulfilling a dream I had when I was a kid."

Article ID# 2437583

Patience

2010-01-30T11:13:00.003-07:00

Does the Universe think I need more patience?? Or am I having just another bad day?

Apparently, my 2009 Chev Silverado 1/2 ton did NOT get the memo that vehicles should never automatically lock when the keys are in the ignition and running...... hum-de-dum ..... so now I wait for AMA to arrive to unlock the beast.

I'll post later about the rescue mission my husband and I undertook this past week, for now, I wait!!!

Just for fun, here is a picture of our cat, Haley, hiding her head - for shame?? - just because?? We will never know, but it was the funniest thing we have seen in ages from this 14 year old!!

Spinning and project planning

2010-01-23T17:24:00.003-07:00

REMINDER!! I am a very novice spinner, at least on a wheel.

This is what is on the wheel. It is store bought fibre, but it is so yummy and I just LOVE the colour(s)! I am hoping to get this done soon so I can get some home grown Shetland on the wheel. I have a lovely Shaela fleece just begging to get out of the bag.

This is what I want to make out of the homespun once it is finished! I would like to get it finished before this years Fibre Week at Olds College. I am hoping I can schedule a trip to the Black Sheep Gathering in June, but it all depends on work ... keep your fingers crossed!!!!

Ever had one of THOSE days??

2009-12-02T22:47:00.002-07:00

So, we fixed the fencer and the fence - check!

Time to move the troops. Rams not in the breeding program this year moved to the newly fixed fenced area - check.

Last two breeding groups put together - check

Decided to leave the lambs with the older gals for now - check

Feed my 13 year old ewe, Heidi, her mash - check

Put things away, check gates, etc. - check

Find the entire ram flock not being used for breeding season in the driveway on the wrong side of the newly fixed fence - priceless

(and it only took 45 minutes to round them up and move them into the plan B pen!!!)

It's been 2 days since the pen mishap AND I'm happy to announce everyone is still exactly where I left them.

It's now turned cold out (-18c). Winter is here!! Happy breeding season!!

Warm day in the fall - time to get things done.

2009-11-29T19:41:00.002-07:00

Everyone fed, even though they thought they were starving - check.

Gate fixed - check.

Fence rewired - check.

Fencer not working yet - check.

One out of 3 breeding groups put together - check.

Watching ewes act a beautiful, yet pathetic death scene because of a halter - priceless.

Winter in the fall!

2009-10-31T18:05:00.002-06:00

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!!!!

2009-10-17T00:05:00.007-06:00

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?

2009-10-08T20:09:00.002-06:00

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!!!

Grey Ewe

2009-09-25T07:50:00.004-06:00

This past spring I lost my beloved Beatrix to grain overload (bloat). She was a beautiful grey ewe, very shy but adorable. Today I decided to purchase a new grey ewe. Welcome to the Windy Grange Fibre Works Kallisto!

Now to go out and sort this years lambs and get better pictures posted. All this in the high winds that are being threatened by the not so beloved weathermen. Why can't they be wrong on things like high winds??? grrrr ....

Rain, rain, hot, hot ... see the crops grow!

2009-07-30T20:47:00.005-06:00

First there was a drought. Then, it rained! and it rained and it rained and it rained ... Okay, it rained over a few weeks 3", but I cannot complain. Now it is hot, hot, hot - again, not complaining! The heat is making the crops grow AND the pastures too!

The pastures that the ewes came off of will be regrown in a few weeks!! The best part is that I have enough grass to put all my Shetlands on until the newer pastures grow back!! (yes, I told my husband he couldn't mow 1 acre of the lawn, but ... )

Last year at this time we were supplementing with hay and started full hay feeding by August 14th. I'm so hopeful that we will make it through to fall without digging into the hay. Speaking of hay, it's delivered and all but 117 bales are stacked in the hay sheds.

What a lovely site!! The ewes & lambs on new pasture!!

So, last year I purchased a Gotland/Finn/Shetland mixed lamb. By 6 months she was nearly the size of the mature Shetlands!! She's lovely and so is her fleece. So, I put my black katmoget ram on her and she had twin ewe lambs. One, a lovely black and the other black katmoget, but look at her, isn't she lovely!! I hope the colour of her fleece stays, what do you think??

Well, need to finish some portable fencing so the boys can have new pasture. Happy summer!

Lambs, ewes and rams ...

2009-07-14T23:03:00.003-06:00

It is, afterall, a blog about a Shetland Sheep Farm! :)

I've listed several 2009 lambs and two mature ewes on my other blog (http://windygrangebreedstocksales.blogspot.com/) Take a look and let me know what you think about my lambs.

Windy Grange Farm is also pleased to have brought in a new mature ram, Nier Lakes Emmet S28304! He has Dailley genetics and has a slightly more primative fleece than my other rams. He and my ewes with a similar fleece should produce some lovely lambs.

I've sold off most of this years fleeces and realized I only saved myself ONE!! The few others are for teaching. I did purchase a few fleeces from the Olds Fibre Week Fleece Show and Sale, so I should have enough to keep me busy.

Tomorrow we move hay. I guess I should say, the boys move hay. Because of my lacerated & sutured hand, I'm unable to toss the small bales (and was strongly lectured by the ER doctor not to). So, I get to supervise and to BBQ for the hungry boys. Luckily, we have hay and it's from the producer I like to purchase from. His hay is some of the best in the area!! It always tests at the high ends for protein and other micro/macro nutrients!

Thursday I need to move the ewes and lambs. It's nearing time to seperate the older lambs, but that will have to wait until next week. This week? we are going camping!

Have a happy week.

Quick update ...

2009-07-13T18:39:00.004-06:00

Lambing season has come and gone. 27 live lambs and one stillborn to 13 ewes. Since, we've been busy, busy, busy ...

We are in a drought again! I was sure we'd be feeding hay again next week, then the clouds opened up and blessed us with 3 inches of rain over the last week and a half!! Now for a little warmth and the pastures will be in good shape for the Shetlands!! Unfortunately, the hay crop is lacking so some farmers are scrambling to train or truck in hay from the East. I'm fortunate that our neighbour is our hay supplier. He normally bales (small squares) 9,000 but only baled 1,500 this year. Our hay is being picked up Wednesday, now I'm set for the winter - or earlier if need be.

I've also injured my hand. My husband has been after me to use leather gloves, but I so hate wearing any type of gloves when I work. What happen you ask?? Well, I was moving a ram into the trailer and he tried to scoot under the trailer door and, having him by the horns, my hands/arms went with him. I scooted him back under the door to load him into the trailer when I realized I was bleeding. So, in the trailer he goes, the doors get closed and I inform my friend it was time to go to the hospital for sutures.

I spent a week down at Olds College for Fibre Week. http://www.oldscollege.ca/programs/ContinuingEducation/trades-career-studies/fibreweek/index.htm While in Olds I was able to see Linda Wendelboe, who let me come to her farm to see her Shetlands. Thanks Linda! I had a wonderful time chatting, you farm is lovely. It was also great to see and pet a few Shetlands, I always start missing my gals so! I've finally learned to use my wheel properly, so as soon as the hand heals I'll be spinning to the hearts content! I purchased lots of toys, some fleeces and met some wonderful people. I cannot wait to go back next year.

More updates later, but I will leave you with a picture of my orphan ewe lambs. Aren't they lovely?? They are becoming extremely friendly, perhaps I should continue to work with them to be show Shetlands?? Now to find a show ... lol

We took the ewe lambs to a family gathering because I thought my nephews and niece would enjoy seeing and petting them. I found there were more children there, cousins children. The Shetland lambs were a HIT!! I'm still the coolest Auntie "ever"! As you see, they no longer fit in a box, so it's time to find a large dog carrier for them.

While at the family gathering at the lake cabin, a storm blew through. Huge chunks of hail pelted us! I ran in the house, looked out the window to see hail pelting the poor lambs!! My husband and I ran back out into the hail storm to save the poor things! They were very happy to be back in their "box" and out of the hail. When the storm was over, this is what was left.

The pen where the lambs were. Look at the size of that hail!!!

The Adventures of three chicks and a lamb ...

2009-07-02T11:36:00.002-06:00

Two chicks were watering the sheep. One ram lamb had a icky looking eye. The two chicks decided to investigate and while one chick went to get antibiotics, the other chick decided to try to catch the lamb. When the chick with the antibiotics returned, the other chick had caught the lamb, but tripped and fell thus releasing the lamb. *sigh*

The two chicks run after the lamb, who hid by his mom and brothers. The two chicks corner the mom and lambs - Yay! Well, the mom escaped with one of the lambs, the other two decided to try to escape through the electric fence thus sending jolts through the one chick. One lamb escaped, but the injured lamb was captured and looked after. Unfortunately, the lamb had a HUGE cut on his eyelid needing stitches, on a Saturday evening - Oy!

So the two chicks put the lamb into the nursery and went to call the vet. She was pissy with the one chick, but agreed to come in but had to emphasize that she charged $100 just to meet at the office - in GP no less!!! *le sigh* So, the two chicks get ready to leave and the third chick decided to come along for the fun.

So, two chicks decide that the pregnant chick should NOT hold the lamb, he may kick her and she is, after all, pregnant! So, the three chicks get into the truck with the lamb and head to GP to see the vet.

Not far down the road the chick with the lambs says the lamb just pooped. "Are you sure?," ask the other two chicks, and she replies, "yes, they hit my foot and bounced off, I am sure." Just then, the pregnant chick opens the window in disgust and states that the smell is so horrid, "... pull over and get rid of the poo or I'm going to puke," so we did.

We giggled the rest of the trip to GP and we were nearly to the vets office this chick with the lamb states, "...my leg is feeling awfully warm, I think the lamb peed on me." "What did you do with the towel I gave you to wrap him in?" the chick in the drivers seat asked. "I think it moved when the lamb tried to kick me..." the chick with the lamb stated. The pregnant chick laughed.

We got to the vet office, in one piece I may add, and the chick in the drivers seat grabs the lamb and jets in to see the vet. The other two chicks join us in the vets office where the one chick says, "I hope you weren't intending to wear your green sweatshirt that was in the truck ..." The three chicks laugh, the vet looked confused.

Then the vet gives the three chicks instructions on the care of the lamb. You try putting ointment into the eye of a lamb that you can hardly catch!! Oh, and the "dye" in the eye of the lamb will not harm his cornea, it is meant for the eyes of sheep! It is, after all, a antiseptic and has a bit of dye in it so you can see that you got it in their eye!! Duh!

During the entire drive to the vet, all three chicks were discussing food. It was late, after all, and we hadn't eaten in a long time. I don't think the lamb was thrilled that we thought of going to the Greek restaurant and offerning him as food was such a nice thing. Meh.

The story ends with the vet fixing the lamb, the three chicks end up with pita's because everything else was closed and the lamb happily returns to his mommy!

Post Note: The lamb's eye is healing nicely and the nice vet used stitches that will dissolve! :0)

PSS ... After writing the Post Note, the said lamb had ripped the corner of his eye and has been back to the vet. She figures it will heal nicely this time and that he hasn't lost much of his eyelid. This time he wet upon my friend Lance! lol Oh, the adventures I have with my friends with my Shetlands!

Thus ends lambing season!!

2009-06-03T07:28:00.003-06:00

Our last AI ewe, "Baker", has given us a handsome and large Grey Katmoget ram. He is the size of our one week olds!! Largest to be born on the farm for sure!

27 lambs on the ground with one stillborn. Three sets of triplets, two singles and the rest twins! What a year of lambs for the Windy Grange. We are so excited and pleased that things are going well.

Pictures later, but for now I can relax because lambing season for this year is finished!

Happy Spring!!

Lambing Season not quite finished

2009-05-29T17:17:00.002-06:00

Spring has definitely arrived at the Windy Grange. We have 25 lambs on the ground and one ewe holding out for something ... we haven't figured what that something is yet. ;0)

Our oldest ewe gave us triplets, making that three sets this lambing season! One ewe had a single, it was her first year lambing, and all the others had twins.

We lost one beautiful jet black ewe, she was a stillborn and one of the triplets. Her brother and sister are pure white!! We are pleased with the lambs that are such a beautiful variety of colours. Moorit, dark brown, katmogets, black, white and spotted are the colours we have in abundance! One may turn from black to grey, her mom is shaela. I'm still working on the genetics of colour so each year is an experiment!!

Our rams have some great genetics, one being AI with UK genetics. Pictures will be posted soon. If interested in stock, take a look at the Windy Grange Stock Sale blog.

Happy Spring!

What happened???

2009-05-19T10:47:00.004-06:00

What happened to spring, summer & fall? This is what we awoke to this morning:

The lambs think it's cool! The 5 ewes left to lamb don't think it is though. I hope they can wait until tomorrow when the temperatures will be warmer and really, waiting to the end of the week would be better because of all the mud that will arrive after the melt.

Words cannot describe ... happy day!

End of lambing - Phase I

2009-05-12T00:46:00.002-06:00

Last in our first phase of lambing came these two lovely
ewe & ram twins! Their crimp is tight and they are a lovely
colour and confirmation. They were born Friday, May 8th.

Fibre Works Highwood X Whistlestop 0531 AI (Willie)

The lovely spring weather seems to be fighting with Father Winter,
they are predicting snow tonight. Not to fear, it will melt
by the afternoon. The rain/snow is welcomed as we have
been extremely dry for a few years now. Here's hoping
for better pastures this year.

16 lambs on the ground (10 ram/6 ewe lambs) from 8 ewes.

Lambing - Phase II should begin in a week or so ... 5 to go.

5 more in 18 hours!!

2009-05-07T20:48:00.002-06:00

Wednesday night I knew that my ewe was in labour. 11:00 p.m. came and went and she was still in labour. I took a nap knowing that it would be in the wee hours when she delivered and I was right. Just before 2:00 a.m. I found these two jet black ram lambs just born! They got dried off and booted into the Nursery pen and they are all doing well.

Fibre Works Falerno X Whistlestop 0531 AI (Willie)

The goal with this pairing was to get a crimply jet black fleece
free of white fibres.

I came home from work yesterday, cooked supper then went to give the
ewes their "snack". It's light here until 10:00 p.m. none of the sheep know
why I don't give them more food. It's light afterall!! So, I've taken to
giving them their hay twice a day. This seems to be working well with
all the sheep. They are never without food and they are not
over conditioned! Anyhow, behold in the shelter there was
my Fiat with triplet ram lambs!!

I've been Fiat's pesonal massage therapist for the
past week and a half! I've been waiting for these lambs.

Fibre Works Fiat X Whistlestop 0531 AI (Willie)

14 lambs on the ground from 7 ewes with 6 left to go!!

and lambing continues ...

2009-05-06T19:36:00.003-06:00

Today I came home and found these two lovely ram lambs.

Fibre Works Eureka X Fibre Works Isidor

9 lambs on the ground from 5 ewes, 8 more to go! Oh, and one ewe
is in active labour - I think. They fooled me before, but then again, I
have thought she would have lambed by now. She's nesting and I think
her water has broke. I'll go check again in a few minutes to see what I can see!!

Happy lambing!

More Lambs!

2009-05-04T21:16:00.003-06:00

These two cuties (ewe and ram lamb) were actually a
set of triplets. I had to pull a black ewe lamb
who was already dead. They were born this afternoon.
Mom and "twins" are doing fine!

Fibre Works Fonteyn X Fibre Works Isidor

7 lambs on the ground, 9 more ewes to lamb.

Lambs!!

2009-05-02T22:50:00.003-06:00

This was our first born ewe lamb (unnamed) of the season!
First timer is a delightful and
attentive mom.

Milehaus Clare X Fibre Works Isidor

Our first set of twins of the season. Yearling mom
is doing well keeping these very active ewe and ram lambs
(yet unnamed) in her site. They are loving the lamb games that started
in the nursery pen.

Fibre Works ISP X Willow Garden Rex Harrison

These cute ewe lamb twins (also unnamed) were born May 1st.

Fibre Works Easter X Whistlestop 0531 AI ("Willie")

10 more to go!!

It's a Girl!!

2009-04-26T21:01:00.002-06:00

We've had the wierdest wintery weather today. How did I know we'd have our first lamb today?? ;)

Milehaus Clare (Fibre Works Isidor) delivered Windy Grange's very first lamb of the season!! She had a lovely white ewe. After getting the first time mom into a jug (apparently I have two ewes wanting to steal the poor little lamb) they are doing fine. Pictures tomorrow - I think the run has started.

Day 150

2009-04-25T09:23:00.002-06:00

It's Day 150 since I put the breeding groups together and still no lambs. I know it will be soon, but the anticipation is KILLING me! Lambing season is like Christmas - you never know what is in that package until it's opened!!

There are definitely 2 different lambing dates since there was the fence failure with two of my four breeding groups. Only one ewe will deliver from the first grouping and, luckily, I saw her bred so I know which ram is the sire!!

Time for a lamb check.

Shearing - check; Lambing???

2009-04-20T19:31:00.002-06:00

The shearer made it out today as promised and we have 25 skinner sheep!! Too bad it decided to be damp and drizzly, luckily we got all the sheep sheared prior to any drizzle.

I was getting things ready for lambing and noticed one of my ewes seperating herself from the rest and not eating quite as much. She's also put herself in the shelter facing the corner and chasing everyone else out. She paces a bit, then puts herself back into the corner of the shelter.

Lambing watch for her has begun!!! Better check my supplies asap!

Another Post !

2009-04-15T11:01:00.003-06:00

This coming Friday is shearing day. I have two days to get things together and ready for the shearer. Luckily, my husband has decided not to go away this weekend and has now been recruited to help move sheep. I also have my girlfriend Susan and maybe another coming to help move the 25 ewes and rams in and out of the shearing barn. This will give the shearer less work, and after everything the shearer taught us from last year (i.e. no help, not as ready as he would have liked, me being intimidated by the rams, etc. - hey,we were new at this!!), he will be very pleased!!

For anyone in the area, if you want to help be here around 3:30 p.m. Friday and we will provide supper afterward!!

For Sale: 25 fleeces in a variety of colours. If you are looking for Shetland, I have 24 (and a few left from last year) and I also will have one lovely Shetland/Gotland/Finn mix fleece in a warm brown. I can provide pictures for anyone interested.

I am looking at AI for my Shetland/Gotland/Finn mix ewe(s). I have the chance to obtain some 75% Gotland straws for next breeding season. I have an appointment with my vet to see if she will be on board with the AI program. Without her, it will be useless to try!!

I also have 4 lambs in the freezer and another that needs to be butchered. Anyone interested in a lamb? How do you market your lamb??

The county coyote control man has collected his traps and has rid us of 5 or 6 coyotes. I hope this helps. If not, he will be called in again. Cross your fingers!

I haven't had any new pictures to post in a while, so I decided to allow my favorite barn cats to bless the end of my post. The love to love and to be loved! Spring has finally sprung in Northern Alberta Canada, so they are the perfect ending!

Our farm cats, Oliver and Twist!

That is all the news from the Windy Grange Farm - for now.

Spring storm

2009-04-13T14:54:00.002-06:00

Just when things were just about melted, mother nature decided to remind us that we live in Northern Alberta. It was lovely this morning and then started to spit some rain. Now, the drizzle and rain has turned to HUGE flakes of snow. The rams do not look impressed, the ewes are hunkered down, except on ewe! Fibre Works Fiat is enjoying the snow and licking the flakes off of the gate. You'd think she was a lamb, but she's nearing 6 years old. Fun to watch, at least I have work inside to do to help keep my mind off of all the outside work that needs to be completed before lambing in 2 weeks.

No new pictures again. Soon!!

SPRING!!!

2009-04-12T18:17:00.002-06:00

Spring has finally come to Northern Alberta!! The snow is melting, and there was A LOT of it!! The run off has decided to sit in two of the sheep pens, one of them is the lambing pen, so we've been pumping it out 12 hours a day.

Lambing date is April 27th which is coming quickly. But, as we all know, the lambs could come sooner (April 18th at the earliest I think). The ewes are bagging up, so things are going well. Since everyone has been posting about their lambs, I'm getting the need to see some on our farm!!

There's a bunch of work to do prior to lambing, so the next week will be BUSY!! That's what happens when one goes on holidays before lambing season.

Alright - back to work!

Spring has not sprung

2009-04-02T23:51:00.005-06:00

Spring has not sprung, so they tell me. I'm in Palm Springs with my husband having a holiday before the fun of shearing and lambing begins.

I'm told there has been snow falling since we left. I feel a bit guilty leaving my girls the last 7 weeks of their pregnancy, but they are in great hands!! I'll be home before they realize I'm gone.

Shearing is going to be interesting, it may have to wait until after the snow goes. I don't have a large enough barn for all my fellas and gals to keep them dry. I'm sure the shearer won't be coming out in the snow either!! It's still early, things can change in two or three weeks!! Lambing isn't scheduled until the very end of April - beginning of May.

We've lost a llama last week, poor fella. The vet was out and said he most likely had a metabolic problem since he was a hybrid (llama/alpaca mix) or a twisted gut/intestine. Nothing contagious, but the poor thing died before he could be put down.

As you can see he had the most gorgeous wool!! I was so looking forward to spinning it and colour was so reddish brown it made me drool. Oh well, some things cannot be helped.

While the vet was out, he checked on the condition of some of the pregnant older ewes and they have good body condition, so yay!! This is important as it is only our second season of lambing and it's always good to know we're doing things right!

Everyone is teasing me with their postings of their lambs and I'm getting so very excited to see what my girls will have this year!! So cute and so wonderful! Shetlands are so addictive ...

Where's Spring??

2009-03-12T15:25:00.004-06:00

Spring certainly has not sprung here in Northern Alberta, Canada!! We just finished another bout of -40c temperatures. When it did warm up, it snowed and blowed. Now, the weather is warming up, but the winds picked up (chinook blowing in??) and the weather promised wet snow the rest of the week. How I miss Spring in the Pacific West where I used to live. Palm Springs is on the schedule starting next week, it cannot come soon enough.

We have a short window of time to get out of the cold for a bit because lambing season (#2) starts the end of April. This year we have 13 ewes bred. I'm looking forward to seeing what surprises we get.

So, to make up for the lack of spring, I went out with the Shetlands (llamas and cats too) to take some new pictures. Here is some of the labours of our love!

This is all but 4 of our ewes. 13 of the 18 of them
are bred. 5 lambs were just too small and I think
I'm okay with not breeding the lambs anyhow.

This is my Shetland/Gotland/Finn ewe.
She was bred to Fibre Works Indiana Jones (Grey Katmoget)
in hopes to bring out some of the Gotland (Grey) colour.

This is Willie, he's the new ram to our farm. He was
brought in not only for the UK genetics but to
increase the quality of our fleeces and to
breed out the iset in our black fleeces.

With Willie is Windy Grange Aedan, isn't he handsome??

This is Willow Garden Anu, she's new to our
farm. I fell in love with her the moment I
saw her picture on Bill's blog. She is the friendliest gal ever! She is a beauty!

This is Fibre Works Eureka. She is a bit standoffish, but she will
come up for a treat once and a while. She is a regal soul and her eyes just pull you in.

This is Fibre Works Fontane and is our most vocal ewe.
She is friendly and produced triplets for us last year. I LOVE her smile!

Our farm cats, Oliver and Twist. They came from my husband's aunts home
where she nursed them from certain death.
My how they have grown and do they love LOVE!
Can you believe they are brothers???

Last but certainly not least (I took almost 100 pictures today)
this is the southern view from our house.
Just past the trees is a dug out and a mound of earth/grass.
Apparently, this mound is where the coyotes are staying at night.
I hope they do not think my Shetlands will be an easy meal.
I have a county worker from the coyote program here trying to catch they bold buggers.
My dog is sad as there are some traps out so he is in the pens with the sheep.
Llamas are dispersed with the flocks in case the coyotes try to enter the pens.
So far, there is no trace of the coyotes by the pens, but they are bold!
They have sniffed the traps, but not taken the bait.
Once the weather clears they county will put a man out back
and call the coyotes in and shoot them. He feels there could be a problem.
I'm glad I called them in!! We could never catch them,
but this man has nearly 30 years experience.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

2009-01-08T11:10:00.010-07:00

Winter is here and has hit hard! Lots of snow! I hear it is supposed to be the snowiest winter we've seen in a long time. The temperatures are cold, and yet, I still love it here!!!

Here is two pictures, one taken yesterday afternoon after about 6 inches of snow fell. The poor dog isn't sure what to do with the white stuff, although he LOVES to roll in it!!

The second picture is what we woke up to this morning. Yikes!! The dog really looked forelorn, rolling in the white stuff results in disappearing into it.

By the look at these clouds, I think there is more on the way!

The weatherman is promising snow for the next week! Yay us! Temperatures have been cold, we hit -40c, but they have been huvering around -28c to -24c.

The Shetlands are mighty hearty. Other than some cold feet (I've removed snow from between many a toe the past month!) they almost thrive on it. They are still active and greet me every morning.

Now to get the snowblower to start, it's being difficult, doesn't want to come out into the cold I think!! For now, I've walked paths to the water in all the pens. Shoveling is out, for now that motion is a killer to my already aching tendons/muscles in my arm and neck. Only 3 or 4 more months of winter!

The last two breeding groups

2008-12-28T13:09:00.003-07:00

Today, the two groups that intermingled during the fence failure were finally put back into their respective breeding groups. The rams are busy doing what rams do, so I don't think the fence failure was so terrible detrimental after all! I'll cross my fingers and see what turns out during lambing season!!

Again, no pictures because I cannot get the blog picture upload to work.

2008-12-27T21:40:00.004-07:00

While two breeding groups have now been seperated, two others will be put together in the next day or so. Here's hoping that the mingling of these two breeding groups due to a fence failure did not result in any actual breeding. They were mingled for only a few hours, my husband (luckily) came home for lunch and caught the problem and seperated the rams from the ewes until I got home that evening.

I'm offically on the Scrapie Canada program now! Start date was marked as October 1 and I really haven 't had to change any of my record keeping. Now to get my premise ID, which is now required in Canada starting Januarly 1, 2009. Happy New Year!

We also sent of our lambs to visit "Uncle Bob" aka our local butcher. Although I will miss the lambs, I can say they are delicious!

I would have posted pictures in this entry, but for some odd reason the picture upload was not working. Oh, well, next time I'll post a few!

Fence Failure

2008-12-07T12:11:00.006-07:00

Well, the breeding groups were moved and two days later we had a fence failure. Heavy winds did damage to a portable fence that we used to seperate a large pen into two. With the help of the rams, the groups intermingled and that was that. The rams were penned, the ewes moved to their own pen, the fence is now fixed and we wait.

I certainly hope there was no time for breeding, with the rams fighting each other over "their" girls, but there is no way to know until lambing season.

Rex and Indiana (above) are impatiently waiting to be put back into their breeding groups.
We wait 3 weeks and start over. Here's hoping .... even though I know one ewe was receptive to her ram as soon as we put them together. I see DNA testing in our future!!!

Gearing up for breeding season 2008-2009 ...

2008-11-22T00:47:00.010-07:00

The rams are becoming impatient! The ewes are becoming little tarts. If I can only hold them off one more week - just one!! Tomorrow I section off the large pen, making two secure breeding pens. I have four in total, should be a busy lambing season if all goes well. I'm excited to see the possibilities that will be produced with my two mature and two yearling rams. The rams I presented in my last post. Now, I present the breeding ewes: (with a few changes from the originial post!)

"Willie's" breeding line up:

Fibre Works Falerno (in the foreground)

Fibre Works Fiat

Fibre Works Easter

Fibre Works Highwood

Rex's breeding line up:

This girl is a Shetland/Finn/Gotland Mix
(a slight change in the breedeing groups!)

Milehaus Britta

Fibre Works ISP "Issy"

Indiana Jone's breeding line up:

Mtn. Niche Heidi

Milehaus Beatrix
(This gal was in Rex's group, but I felt the need to breed her with Indiana)

Nier Lakes 315405977 AI "Baker"

Isidor's Breeding line up:

Milehaus lamb

Fibre Works Fonteyn

Fibre Works Eureka
(slight change for this gal, she was with Indiana's group but for some reason I felt the need to more her to Isidor's group.)

With 3 changes in the breeding groups, it was a good thing I had one week until moving them!!

I wasn't going to breed any lamb ewes this year, but this girl and the Shetland/Finn/Gotland mix ewe are plenty large enough and I cannot wait to see what they produce.

Snow + freezing rain = winter!

2008-11-20T21:29:00.009-07:00

Yes, that's right, winter is here to stay. This photo was taking out of my garden doors facing south. It was a beautiful site to wake up to! The sky was much pinker than the photo actually shows.

Oh, that I guess that means breeding season for the Shetlands too!! The Shetlands go into their breeding pens next weekend. Of course, I still have 4 larger, all wooden fence panels to make so I can section off another breeding pen. It's cold up in the Great White North, and we don't want to lamb too early. If all goes well, lambing will begin the very end of April or beginning of May. That's just a week later than this year, which worked well, but we were hit with one last freeze after 2/3rd of our lambing was done. Actually, it happened the day after our twins were born!!

Here are pictures of our Flock Sires for this year:

"Willie" Whistlestop 0531 AI (F1)
Whistlestop 0104 X Drum Ram 31903

Fibre Works Indiana Jones
Fibre Works Daisy X Fibre Works Fandango

WillowGarden Rex Harrison
SheltrgPines Safiye X SheltrgPines Jacob Two Too

Fibre Works Isidor (seen with Rex & Indiana)
Fibre Works Signy X Fibre Works Finis

Couldn't get Isidor, our white ram, to leave the rest of the boys, so here is in the back ground. They sure can get stubborn, can't they??

Thanks to advice from Linda Wendelboe at the Fibre Works Farm, I have created new feeders. They are movable low line fence feeders. Not difficult to make and they are working out well.
Here you see my ewe lambs enjoying their meal!! I'm not sure how I was lucky enough to have them line up in order, but I couldn't be happier that they cooperated!! ;0)

We are also on the hunt for some guard dogs. The coyotes are getting a little too brave this year!! We have had two already come in close and try to lure the dog away from the fence line. Poor Bear needs some help keeping the predators away.
Maybe he needs help keeping the ewes away! :0) Here Bear, a Pyrenees/Lab/Husky mix, is giving me that, "mom, I need your help here" look!! The ewes adore Bear and he is not always sure he can reciprocate that feeling.

Getting back to guard dogs, we are thinking Maremma's and I have some leads on some puppies. I just wasn't expecting to get them now! It's winter for heaven's sake, but I found them and the price is right. I just have to get them transported 1400 km to my farm. Since there are no breeders in the area, it may just be another thing we can do at our farm.

I'm looking forward to working with the remainder of my Shetland fleeces. I haven't tried spinning one yet and am itching to do so. Tis the season to spin!!

Fall is full on!

2008-10-23T23:04:00.004-06:00

Fall has hit and I fear winter isn't far! I haven't had a chance to post in a while, way too much going on.

The animals, all 29 of them, have been vaccinated, toes trimmed and are getting ready for a cold winter. Pictured here are some of the ewes waiting for their turn!

The fleeces on the Shetlands are dense, soft and going to be very yummy!! Fall chores are taking place, although the weather may not hold off long enough to get everything done. We're crossing our fingers.

Last Friday we had our veterinarian visit the farm for an inventory for the entire flock so that we can get onto the Scrapie Canada program. All went well, the application and necessary paperwork is in the mail and now we wait to hear from the program coordinator. The vet., I might add, fell in love with the Shetlands. They were little darlings and the vet. was impressed with the variety of colours.

The weekend was busy with us hauling the hay we needed to get us through the winter. As we've been feeding hay, first as a suppliment starting in July and then as the only means of food in August, due to a drought. I'm hoping next year is easier on us and that the pastures are rich and green.

Only one new pictures of our newest additions to our flock. This is Heidi and her twin ewes (they are a Finn/Gotland/Shetland mix). We brought Heidi and one of her daughters home to live at our farm. In addition to Heidi and her lamb, we have one beautiful black ram with UK genetics two white ewes, and a Shaela ewe. I'll be able to get pictures of the rest of the new additions this weekend and post them then.

Anhow, I think all we have left to do is make some low fence line feeders and find some shelters for those nasty cold wintery days we get up here in the Great White North.

Rain and now fall?!!?!

2008-08-29T09:16:00.006-06:00

Wow! We finally got rain. It rained for days, which made most folks cranky but those of us with livestock were happy indeed! Unfortunately, the hot weather has left us. Actually, the warm weather has left too!!

Our landscaper finished all the gardens around the house before the rain and they are looking pretty without all the weeds. Too bad it's kinda late to plant flowers, next year! I'm looking forward to an array of colourful flowers instead of all the nasty weeds that took over the past two years.

The lovely lambs are growing like weeds! They are adorable. I am going to start halter training some of them in the next week. This outta be fun! Pictures to follow!

We had the most lovely sunset the other night. I just had to take pictures of it. So, I'll sign off with the loveliest sight I've seen in a long time.

Dry, dry, dry ...

2008-07-26T00:06:00.009-06:00

We've barely have had rain since the lovely few May showers.

Then some on June 9th (two hours worth)
and after that June 27th (half a day worth).

Other than that, some rain showers and that is all. A total of 3/10ths of an inch since May!!

This is what some of our paddocks look like.

This is even with us watering them daily!! I'm afraid our Shetlands will be on hay by next week. There are a few areas of grass that we have Electronet fenced so that they can have as much fresh grass as possible.

On another note, I've decided that we will be breeding for two different fleece types. The beautiful intermediate fleece that everyone dearly loves AND the longer primitive fleece.

Welcome Fibre Works Fiat and Eureka to our farm!!

They both have a more primitive fleece. I want to keep to the breed standard of a soft handling wool, but keep breeding for the longer double coat that still has some crimp. Now to find a ram that fits the same qualities that these girls do. I've been talking to Kathy at Nier Lakes and she may have just what I'm looking for!

The lambs are growing like weeds.

Here's Windy Grange Apollo our White Yuglet/Ilget. He's our first born
lamb to our farm!

The new lambs wanting out of their Q pen. Monday babies, on Monday you can go play with the other lambs.

Rain Please!

2008-07-14T22:41:00.003-06:00

It hasn't rained in three weeks and although it was supposed to rain (70% chance perception), it's mainly drizzled on and off (mostly off) for the day. At least it's not windy for a change. We are praying for rain. If we don't get it, we will not have enough pasture after the next 2 weeks (if that if it gets hot 32c again). I may be purchasing more hay then I originally expected. I'm praying for rain!

We have our 4 sheep from Ontario in quarantine along with three others. Two ewes with a more primitive fleece (double coated and long) but still remains in the breed standard. The other is a lamb ram which is just staying with us until I deliver him to his home in 100 Mile House later this summer. I was headed there then to look at a few other ewes to add to my flock.

Being a new Shetland breeder has it's ups and downs. Mostly ups I might add, but being new means not much exposure and so far we haven't sold any of our lambs, but we've had some inquiries. I am still hopeful!

It's weaning time and it's been a wee bit noisy. They lambs were mostly weaned by their moms, but being seperated has caused some stress. It's quieter today, so everyone is getting used to the seperation. I know the moms are more than pleased, they check in once and a while, but it's the lambs that are bleating the most!

Haven't had time for new pictures except these from at least 3 weeks ago.

This is Apollo, our first born lamb. He broke his left horn a month ago.

This is Aedan, our second born lamb. He's quite the looker
and is lighter moorit than what shows in this photo.

Last, but never least, our gelded Llama. He is skittish, but friendly.
He comes for oats, but will mainly stay away from us humans.
He is the best guard llama you could ask for. He even trains
the young llamas, and is doing an amazing job at it!!

I have to say, between our black lab and the llamas, we've yet to have any preditors come near to the fencing. The coyotes are close, but they stay far enough away. Good boys (and mom llama), keep up the good work!!

New ewe lambs coming from the East

2008-06-25T18:00:00.005-06:00

Thanks to Bill at Willow Garden, I have four new ewe lambs to add to my flock! Beautiful colours & genetics which I'm sure will be a great addition and next step for this new shepherd.

A spotted gulmoget ewe.

A beautiful fawn Katmoget ewe.

A sweet white ewe.

HST, Yuglet/flecket ewe. She carries a moorit gene too!

Their arrive is going to be a week before I had actually planned them, so arrangements are being made so that I can pick them up after my visit back home (Western New York) with my daughter before she is deployed mid July.

June happenings

2008-06-15T21:29:00.004-06:00

It's been busy around the farm as of late. Lambs to look after, ewes that are endlessly eating. The rams are happily lazing around, enjoying the good days and just hiding away in their shelter during the rain storms.

The ever ending "to do" list is, just that, never ending. We have had another section of pasture fenced and planted to meet the demand of a growing flock of Shetlands. They are addicting!!

Two of my rams, Fibre Works Indiana Jones and
Fibre Works Isidor, enjoy clearing out some of our
overgrown woods.

I've been waiting since January for our Electranet fencing to arrive. In the meantime, I've been stringing up portable wire electic fencing. I am happy to say that they shipped the Electranet fence out yesterday, so we should see it in the next day or so!

This is our farms very first lamb,
Windy Grange Apollo, a white Ilget/slight Yulget.
He is absolutely beautiful!
He's got great confirmation, a fleece as soft as corn starch,
great tail and horns. He's definitely a keeper.

That's his mom, Fibre Works ISP (Issy), a black Flecket, in the background.

The strange weather, scattered showers with thunder/lightening storms, we've been having lately certainly puts a halt on outside work. No matter, I've been working on bringing in new ewes with new genetics into my flock. It takes a lot of research, but with the help of Dennis & Beth from Milehaus Farms, I'll have new ewes next month from Ontario. It seems there was some already coming at that time from Willow Gardens. Bill has been a huge help! We're looking at a few from Ewenique Farms and Nathalie has been so quick at answering questions and such. With three of us bringing in sheep the freight should be a little less. Lets cross our fingers on that since the cost of fuel has sky rocketed. Pictures of the new gals once my final decision has been made.

Well, time to do inside work so that the house is presentable to friends and family, and my husband!

April Showers bring May flowers, but June brings ...

2008-06-04T00:39:00.005-06:00

June brings long green grass for the sheep to graze upon. So far, all it going GREAT! I love my Shetlands and their lambs. I try to spend lots of time with them, so they are used to me being around which makes working with them so much easier. Highwood and Falerno love their scratches, and Issy always needs to join in! She hates missing anything that inquisitive ewe.

The lambs are getting used to me being around and love gathering around to nibble on a shoe or a finger. A few have found the love of scratches!! Even the rams come to the gate for a few scratches.

Here some of the lambs are enjoying my chair! They nibble on my backside until I get up so they can play with their toy!!

Selling them breaks my heart, but it must be done! I've posted all sale lambs on a new blog made especially for that purpose. You can find it here: http://windygrangebreedstocksales.blogspot.com/

I've been waiting for a promised thunder storm, it's been disappointing because I've seen two flashes of lightening. Well, time for sleep, morning comes way too early!

First seasons Lambs!!

2008-05-25T11:56:00.007-06:00

9 lambs; 5 rams and 4 ewes. I originally had thought I would have bred for lighter coloured lambs with some having markings similar to the rams, but I ended up with a lot of black and brown lambs. I love them all and they each have their own unique qualities. The best part is they are all healthy and growing like weeds.

This is Windy Grange Arlo, one of the triplets. He has turned into a lovely dark brown ram.

This is his sister, Windy Grange Almira. She remained black with a bit of white on her head (black krunet?).

This is Windy Grange Arabica. She's a beautiful moorit.

This is Windy Grange Aedan. He is brown and white (moorit yuglet/flecket?).

This is Windy Grange Augustus. He also remained black, although you can see a small wisp of white on the top of his head.

He was the last to name because we wanted a fitting name for this survivor. He was one of the triplets, but mom rejected him a day and a half after his birth. But this boy is no bottle lamb!! We had Fibre Works Highwood adopt him. She wasn't sure but let him nurse immediately. It was a rocky 3 days, but after we let them out with the rest of the flock her maternal instincts raced in and she protected him from the other ewes.

This is Windy Grange Apollo. He's our first born and is growing like a weed!! He has four black spots on his upper torso and one on the end of each ear. He also has black around his left eye (not seen in this photo). (Yuglet/Ilget??)

The two black ewes are twins, Windy Grange Annika and Windy Grange Annya. They are jet black - I have seen no signs of white in their wool!! The moorit is Windy Grange Arabica.

Here we see Windy Grange Ainvar (front and back views). He is hard to name colour wise. His head and legs are snow white, except around his nose and mouth. On the back of his neck he has a fawn coloured spot and his body is the lightest fawn, almost white. He has a small brown spot near his two front knees. Any ideas of his colouring? Let me know.

Thus closes our first lambing season

2008-05-07T19:32:00.003-06:00

Welcome another ewe. She's chocolate brown and weighed in at 2 1/2 pounds! What small lambs we have had this year!

Sire Fibre Works Indiana Jones, dam Fibre Works Highwood. Highwood is a new mom, but is doing fine.

Last but never least, TRIPLETS!! Who'd have thought that Fonteyn was going to have triplets?!!! Really, her milk bag was huge, but I guess I am still new at this. Two rams (2.5 and 3 pounds) and a ewe (3 pounds). Mom was having trouble keeping the three active darlings together while she was cleaning them, and the littlest ram went wandering. One of the other moms knocked him head over tea kettle, so into the barn for the night so they can bond. The firstborn was acting a bit wobbly, so I milked mom and drenched him with her colustrum. They are all doing fine now!!

Sire Fibre Works Indiana Jones, dam Fibre Works Fonteyn.

Thus concludes lambing season at the Windy Grange. Total count - 5 rams - 4 ewes.

TWINS!!

2008-04-29T19:27:00.004-06:00

We had our first twins!! Falerno, who we thought would have had triplets because she was so huge gave us beautiful black ewes!! They weighed in at 3 and 2 pounds! Mom and twin ewes are doing well and love being out in the community shelter.

Dam is Fibre Works Falerno, Sire is Fibre Works Isidor.

2/3 done lambing, 3 rams lambs, 2 ewes lambs and 2 ewes left to lamb!

Waiting for the last three to lamb

2008-04-27T20:47:00.006-06:00

These are my three left to lamb. The two black ewes are 4 year olds and the mioget/flecket is a yearling and a first timer.

Now you would think this gal had mastitis, but, other than looks, she has no other signs or symptoms of it. She sure looks uncomfortable, but she hasn't changed anything in her normal routine.

This gal looks uncomfortable too! She sure has a rough time getting off the ground. My friends have bets on how many she'll actually deliver. There was some grunting coming from her during the afternoon, but nothing else has changed in her routine.

What do you think???

Ram Lamb number THREE!

2008-04-25T22:17:00.005-06:00

I decided to put this ewe in a lambing jug last night because she just looked like she may be getting ready to lamb. I'm so happy I did because this morning I found her with a 3 pound ram lamb who was happily nursing!!

"Granny" hasn't lambed yet and went every where she could to find the new lad. I wonder if this is a normal thing or just isolated? It will be a glad day when she lambs herself.

Dam is Milehaus Britta and Sire is Willow Garden Rex Harrison.

Now to figure out the markings, afterall I'm new at this!!

I'm extremely happy that I've had no problems with the lambing yet. Is it always this easy?? Oops ... I probably just jinxed myself!!

100%, all rams (and singles), 1/2 done with lambing!!

Another Ram Lamb

2008-04-24T21:42:00.004-06:00

Our second ram lamb was born this afternoon.

He was 2 pounds and is cute as can be. I'm not going to comment on his colour yet because, although he looks white with brown spots, I see a fawn patch that may or may not come out.

Dam is Milehaus Beatrix and Sire is Fibre Works Isidor. What a surprise, we weren't expecting her to lamb this soon!!

So we are at 100%, all rams and 1/3 done lambing!!

Our first lamb of the season

2008-04-23T11:22:00.005-06:00

Our first lambing season and our first lamb.

A beautiful 4 pound lamb ram born this morning. Dam is Fibre Works ISP (nicknamed Issy) and Sire is Willow Garden Rex Harrison.

As you can see he's white with a few black spots, black around his ~~eyes~~ left eye and at the tip of his ears. (Yuglet, Ilget?)

Another mature ewe was trying to granny him at birth, but first time mom and lamb are in a jug bonding. The mature ewe is still looking & calling for him, so I think she'll be the next to lamb!

A little "boost" for the lamb and he seems to be doing fine. He's a little slow at finding the teat and she, being a new mom, is a little unsure. All in all, he is warm and his tummy feels full. I'll keep checking and see how it goes.

And still waiting for lambs

2008-04-18T08:49:00.002-06:00

It's cold again and trying its hardest to snow. Still no lambs, but how much do you want to bet they will start coming during this little cold snap? I'm ready, more than impatient .... Perhaps later I'll be posting pictures. Oh, well, they will come when they are ready.

Carry on .....

Waiting for lambing gives one time for pondering things ..

2008-04-12T09:59:00.000-06:00

We have had our flock since September 2007 and as I sit and wait for lambing to begin, I ponder what's next? What would I do differently? What should I keep the same?!

We are going to be fencing & planting more pasture for our Shetlands so we can have a larger amount of space for rotational grazing and to sustain a increasing flock.

Getting through our first shearing was fun, yet we now know what we need to do differently to make things easier for our flock as well as for our shearer. Good thing we only have a flock of 9 AND a wonderfully understanding shearer who is open to our lack of experience and is a great teacher.

I have to get some more portable panels put together, do some more fencing so we have a better handling system (that will save us time and the flock some stress).

We realize it is all a learning experience, but I wouldn't change a thing. I love my Shetland flock!! They are amazing little critters!

Carry on ...

April 9th - Shearing Day

2008-04-10T21:12:00.000-06:00

This is the first time we've ever been through shearing, wow!! Not only a HUGE learning experience, but our shearer was superb! He's been doing this since he was 10 and really, shearing a flock of 9 doesn't take a large amount of his time, but he made quick work of it all. He taught us a lot and next year shearing will be easier on us all.

Now on to lambing, which should be starting in the next week or so.

Finally, a blog for the Farm

2008-04-08T09:46:00.000-06:00

We started our Windy Grange last September 2007 by purchasing a starter flock of registered Shetland sheep. The group consisted of 1 lamb ewe, 1 yearling ewe, 2 mature ewes and 2 lamb rams.

In November, we purchased an additional 2 lamb ewes and 1 mature ram.

December brought us our first llama and to him we added 3 more this past March.

It's been nearly a year with tons of learning and plans for making things better and easier, but we wouldn't change our decision to start raising these magnificent little sheep.

Now on to shearing and lambing.