Shearing day

Today was shearing day. The weather co-operated and the sheep seemed happy to get their fleeces removed.

It's always so much fun to see how the sheep look underneath all that wool, and have a feel of the fleeces. I forget how small Shetlands actually are underneath that amazing coat.

Everything went very well with only one nick to Sunny on his ear when he put up some ram like resistance. Everyone else, even Isabella who had her first shearing experience behaved.

The four bred girls don't look due for a few weeks more at least. They are large and happy though so I can be patient because lambs will be here before I know it. Jewel looks the largest, but only because Amelia hides behind everyone else.

I know I haven't been blogging, it has been a hard month or so on all fronts. Ending the other day with the decision to send Griffin to market. I am also still considering how to decrease my flock and will have Sunny and several ewes for sale this year (as well as lambs) so it should be an interesting year.

More snow, and more sheep (photos)

Well we got another 10+ inches of snow here last night, and after several hours of digging we now have a driveway and some walkways to the barns and chickens again. If we get more snow we will have to think hard about where to put it! The snowbanks already reach the top of the deck in the backyard which is around 10ft and most snowbanks are over 5ft here.

Anyway as promised here is the wonderful Isabella who is certainly living up to her name. She is from Twin Springs and it's hard to tell with the coat on, but she is a grey katmoget. She's also a HST with white markings on her head, legs, and tail. I'm looking forward to skirting her fleece in March as it feels so soft, and very excited to see her lambs next year.

Griffin just wanted to show you how deep the snow is (even though I shoveled paths for the sheep).

It's about this deep.

I'm not sure Sabrina thinks a lot of all this snow :)

At least it's not bitterly cold right now too. I hope everyone is staying warm and thinking Spring-like thoughts :) Lambs will be here before we know it.

Snow day

To anyone that's reading this blog still Merry Christmas.

We have some snow today at Ridgeway Farm. In fact it is still coming down but so far hasn't amounted to more than a pretty covering. Perfect for some pictures though.

Isabella had never seen snow before. She was very curious.

And decided it looked rather tasty so proceeded to eat it from Sabrina's back.

I'm not sure Sabrina was impressed by her antics.

Griffin is another snow first timer. He also declared it quite yummy.

And if you look closely you can see his Santa Claus impression as he has snow stuck on his chin.

Jewel is very taken with Griffin and they are actually quite inseperable. Very cute.

Sunny loves the snow and in the past week has become the perfect gentleman again. He likes to look after his ladies is happier standing guard at night over them now we leave his door open. I think I will try and find him a new home where he can live outside. Come lambing I don't want to leave the barn open at night.

I'm actually going to cut down my small flock by a few sheep more, and think that I will sell Gypsy this year too. I'd like to go down to 3-4 ewes, a ram and a wether for company. We'll see though lol.

Have a wonderful holiday to all my sheepy (and non-sheepy) friends, and enjoy this festive season!

Is it November already?

Where did the time go? I've been very busy going to the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, then sick for quite a while, then better, then my first Hunter Pace, oh and midterms, term papers and general busyness (is that a word lol?) etc.

Anyway here's some flock pictures for the update. The single lady group is doing very well.

Isabella is becoming quite the beauty, it's fun to watch her grow up.

Jaqui and Cammie get along very well together, they seem to be doing very well too.

They are in Sunny's group.

Griffin is also growing up and looking very handsome. His fleece feels lovely and horns look good, and behavior is wonderful. I'm very happy with him and excited to see what he manages to produce in spring.

The two ewes in his group Amelia and Jewel and doing very well and seem to be charmed by him too.

Anyway sorry for the huge delay in posting. It really has been a crazy time for me, but hopefully things will calm down now and more we'll get back to our regular programing of frequent updates :)

Finally an update

It's been very busy here with lambs all leaving to go to their new homes and the flock finally getting back to normal. So of course I'm beginning to think of breeding groups.

This is Sunny he's a 2 year old ram and from Painted Knoll farm in New Hampshire.

He will be bred to Cammie a 2 year old ewe lamb who had twin ram lambs this year I'm hoping for twin ewe lambs this year lol.

And Jacqui this Fall. Jacqui is yearling and this is her first breeding.

Griffin is a April ram lamb from Windswept farm in Michigan and I am very excited to see what he produces this year.

He will be bred to Amelia a home bred 3 year old who had a single ewe lamb last year and a ewe and ram lamb the year before.

And Jewel a 3 year old from Bluff Country who had a single ram lamb and then twin ewe lambs. She had last year off as a break and I am looking forward to seeing this breeding combination.

Groups will be formed probably by the end of this month before I fly to Kentucky for the World Equestrian Games. Although I am hoping that lambs won't be born until March/April. Our back pasture was mowed yesterday and all of the flock are enjoying going back there to graze. We have had very little rain this summer so it's not as green here in Massachusetts as the sheep would like.

I did manage to grow 2 sunflowers this year. The tallest easily tops 10 feet! They are starting to form their seed heads now and droop but still look wonderful.

Hopefully it won't be so long between updates again.

Sheep Sunday

I spent a very productive morning cleaning out the chickens and then putting up some fencing for the lamb (and Jaqui) group. We have had such warm weather here that the grass is not happy. Luckily for us the past week has seen a few thunderstorms, and the rain has made for some better grass outside of the paddocks anyway.

Popular consensus is that grass is delicious.

Griffin and Isabella are doing great in their halter training and are very friendly now.

Sorry for not posting for a while. Life is busy. Hopefully it won't be so long between future posts. I hope everyone is having a great summer.

Another addition

Yesterday I drove a 650 mile round trip to pick up Twin Springs Dakotas Isabella, or just Isabella for short. It was a long, hot, and humid drive and I am glad it was the last long trip of the year for me.

She travelled very well, and is settling in with the lamb flock.

Griffin is also coming along very well. His halter lessons are going well and he comes over (respectfully) for attention now which is great.

Jaqui is a year old now, and is doing a wonderful job baby sitting the lambs. I need to work on some halter sessions with her as well before the fair in August.

Anyway that's all for now. I am still tired :) I hope everyone is staying cool we are in the 80's and 90's with around 70-80 percent humidity. Hope we get some rain soon.

Griffin update

Well Griffin is settling in very well.

He has just started going out with the moms and baby group. He dwarfs the other lambs and is a very big boy. The other lambs seem to like him a lot, following him around, and their moms were very curious smelling him too.

He is very curious of me. Doesn't run away but doesn't get too close either. I have managed to rub his head a few times. I am hoping to start halter training him now that the weather has cooled off for a few days in the hopes of showing him this summer. That should be some fun pictures!

In non-sheep related news Marcus is almost 5 months old :)

One week to go until there's another new addition at Ridgeway Farm. Now I need to go and cut down things growing up my fences.

A new addition

Today I drove over 500 miles to pick up my new ram. He actually had a much longer journey but a couple of people transported him a few places for me (thanks Tiff, and Sally). Unfortunately now I am too tired to get a picture of him here, but here are his baby pictures.

Introducing Windswept Griffin II

I think he's super handsome and the pictures don't actually do him justice.

Right now he's tucking into some hay and just chilling. Hopefully tomorrow I can put him in a paddock by himself and get some good pictures. Oh and just to tease, this is not the only trip I have to make this year. I have another equally long trip next week :)