September fun

A delay again, thanks to restarting college, an injured horse, and a sick father. Busy.

Fall is upon us. Almost.

The pigs are growing so fast. They are a lot of fun and I will miss them when they leave in just over a week. This is a venture we have so far really enjoyed, and we are hoping to get a good product out of it, and repeat the process next year. Pigs are really fun!

Edward our cotswold wether is also growing well, and looking super duper handsome. I'm looking forward to micron testing fleeces in fall and his in particular to compare to my shetlands.

Who are also doing very well. The cattle panel fencing is working well for us so we have a large project to do in fall and early spring.

Baby chickens are almost all grown up. They are just finishing their first molt and we are expecting their first eggs soon. They were out enjoying the little bit of heat around this afternoon with a nice dirt bath.

we seem to be feeding a mini flock of sparrows. They like to gather around the chicken coops, although I have also caught them on the pig grain trough...brave little rascals. There are at least 20 more not in this picture!

Miss Sugar one of the barn cats was also enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Lily the Jack Russell puppy however was just enjoying seeing me, this made me laugh as I managed to get a series of shots of her airborne, this was my favorite one.

Breeding season is rapidly approaching, not that I have anything special to do for it this year. I am still hoping to sell our ram Horseradish around December. He is from Windswept, his parents are Titanium and Zinc, and he won champion shetland ram at the Bolton fair as a ram lamb. He is turning two next year, very nice guy manners wise. Fleece micron tested in the mid to low 20's as a lamb. Email me at Puff614@me.com if interested.

What have I been up to?

Well not blogging, as is evident by my extreme lack of updates. That doesn't mean that I haven't been very busy though. It has been horribly hot and dry (until Friday anyway lol) in New England this summer. This has caused issues with our electric fence.

And because Isabella can jump the electric fence now - she has awesome form and I wish my horse had her jump!

And Edward is big so he just falls over the net fencing after Bella...yes ironic

We have been installing cattle panels to try for fencing. So far so good and the small flock is happy being out. Isis is particularly enjoying getting burrs around her face unfortunately.

Harvest Moon is just enjoying sunshine.

And as you can see by Horseradishes belly he is enjoying grass! I am planning to sell him this winter after he has bred my ewes, and bring in a ram lamb in spring next year. If anyone is looking for a lovely two year old ram that is so far very well behaved please let me know! He has good horns, conformation, and a very nice fleece that micron tested in the mid 20's last year.

The baby chickens are growing up fast and I love the variety we have now. I'm sure that their first eggs are just around the corner as well. Exciting times.

And just to show that we haven't really been slacking off we have also ventured out this summer and now own two piglets that we are raising organically for meat.

This is a new venture for us as we haven't raised an animal for meat before. They have been with us almost two months so far, and have another 7 weeks with us. They have so far been a lot of fun, and seem to really be enjoying their life now. They love being hosed down in on the hotter days in the evening, lying in front of the fan in their stable, eating grass and hard boiled eggs, and rotting around in the earth. We are thinking if it all goes well we might get 3 piglets next year to do this again.

Anyway summer is racing by, it has been hot and humid for most of it. I am hoping to get my hay in soon for fall, and look forward to the cooler weather and breeding season for the sheep. I am also hoping that my horse Muppet is finally getting over the lameness issues that have plagued him on and off since mid-May.

How has everyone else's summer gone?

On the move

Well we have been very busy here the past few weeks. Let me try to catch you up, starting with yesterday when 3 beautiful new sheep joined the flock after a lovely 650 mile drive.

This is Edward. He is a Costwold, and is our new fiber wether. I think he is adorable, and he reminds me of a giant teddy bear.

He also showed me that he can shake it out like a dog too!

This is Whispering Pines Isis. Not the best picture of her, sorry. She's a yearling and I am very excited to have such a rich black color, with such a fine fleece joining us.

And Whispering Pines Harvest Moon. Another yearling with a wonderful fine fleece. I am so excited to see next years lambs already!

They all settled in well, and are enjoying the hay and grass.

We spent the weekend finishing the retirement coop for our older chickens. They are really enjoying it, and are already laying eggs in the new nest boxes.

The baby chicks are at the rather ugly stage, but are excited to be out in the coop near the house. I'm looking forward to watching them grow, and produce their first eggs eventually. It is lovely to be able to get so much variety in a flock that is still quite small.

Vladamir, Eliza, Usher, and Jewel all left for their new home last week. They have settled in well. Ulric and Uther will be leaving at the end of the month as soon as they are old enough and are weaned.

My horse Muppet moves to his new barn on Friday. It is much closer to home, and I am excited to have him so close to me again.

Oh and the swallows are feeding their babies in the sheep barn, I managed to photograph them having a well deserved rest though.

That's all. I hope you are all well!

Baby chicks

All 8 female chicks arrived safe and sound in the post today. Very impressed at how fast they arrived, last time they didn't get here till the Thursday. Anyway they are all in the brooder, drinking, eating, pooping, peeping and sleeping. Ah the life of a chick!

We went for 8 different varieties with only a repeat of another Buff Orpington as we love Rosalie so much. They are Austalorp, Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Columbian Wyandotte, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red and a Speckled Sussex.

Finally the rain has stopped

We have had a whole lot of rain here in here in Massachusetts, although I was lucky enough to get a reasonably nicer day for my show last weekend, and today it was nice enough for everyone to be in the larger pasture again.

Ulric and Uther and growing up very nicely. I will start halter training in a few weeks now that I have finished college for the summer.

Ulric is the bigger of the two and has much more impressive horn buds for his age.

He also really takes after his sire in his facial markings. This is Horseradish, and Vladamir our wether who has actually been sold. We are brining in a new wether who I am very excited about. More on him at a later date.

Uther is the shyer of the two, although he is small there is something about him that is special. His horn buds are almost non-existent right now. He should make a nice flock sire if he keeps heading in this direction.

This made me chuckle.

Eliza was asleep in the hole that the lambs normally play in! Silly sheep.

And here is Muppet and I at our first show of the year. It went pretty well with for the first show, lots to work on though. It is nice that he is growing up, he will be 10 years old at the start of next month.

Baby chicks are coming next week. I must start on the new coop this weekend. Hopefully the rain stays away for a bit longer. Lots of change going on in the flock this year. Looking forward to hopefully selling some sheep and brining some new ones in.

Seeing spots

Well Isabella finally had her lambs Monday evening. Very adorable and flashy twin rams. They are both moorit, although the patches on their backs look dark enough to be almost black. Mom and babies are both doing wonderfully. Today was my first chance to get pictures because the weather in Massachusetts has been horrible for the last few days.

This is the only slightly older of the boys. His name is Ulric (to continue our U theme) he weighed in at 6lbs.

Uther arrived only minutes after his brother, also weighing in at 6lbs.

I was sort of hoping for a ewe lamb out of Isabella as I would have liked to keep it, maybe next year? But who could be unhappy with these two cuties, although they are both going to be for sale.

Faina and Usher are growing fast, and both thriving under their mothers care.

Usher even showed off how he could scratch his growing horn buds.

The chickens enjoyed their first chance in days to get out and scratch up anything to eat. In a few weeks I will start work on making them a new coop, as we have baby chicks arriving soon.

I am happy with the conclusion of our tiny lambing season. 4 lambs. 2 sets of twins. 3 rams and 1 ewe.