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!

Triple the fun

Sabrina had triplets last night 2 rams and a ewe.

Here's Winston the largest of the three weighing in at 5lbs.

This is Wilbur who was just around 4lbs soaking wet. He already loves attention and I think I caught him mid-stretch so he is blurry.

And last but not least this is Dixie. She also weighed in at 4lbs but is having the hardest time feeding. I supplemented her with a bottle this morning and that seemed to give her a little more of a clue on how to nurse.

Hopefully all three will be bouncing around by this afternoon. This is the first set of triplets we have had here so it is a little nerve wracking. Only Gypsy left to lamb and I am crossing fingers and hoping for girls! This year I will have a lot of rams to sell lol contact me if you are interested in anyone you see, all lambs are for sale :) Everyone else is doing well and Marcus (the puppy) is only waking us up twice a night to go outside.

Who, what, and when? Competition.

So the remaining girls due to lamb this year were sheared on Monday too. I managed to get side and front shots of almost all 3 of them yesterday. To enter to win the prize (more about that at the bottom of the post) you need to guess the order they are going to lamb and what they are going to have example Sabrina first twins both rams and then the next sheep. Easy right? :)

This is Sabrina. 3 year old ewe who has had twins on each previous lambing.

Back view of Sabrina.

This is Gypsy. 2 year old ewe who last year had twins.

Back view of Gypsy.

And finally this is a back/side view of Cammie. 1 year old who is having her first lamb/s this year.

The most accurate guess will win a copy of the wonderfully comical sheep detective story called 'Three bags full' by Leonie Swann, it's written from the sheep's perspective and is a fun read.

Closing date is Sunday at 5pm. Obviously I won't know the winner till the lambs arrive but I am hoping that won't be long. I am happy to mail the book internationally as well.

Sheepy post

The girls are all doing very well. Hopefully in a few months or even weeks lambs will be on the ground.

Sabrina is getting to be an old hand at this being my oldest sheep in the flock. She's just happy that she gets animal crackers every other night when I sit with the girls as Daisy Mae eats.

Amelia is becoming a lot like her mom Hermione and comes over for attention now instead of trying to run away.

The single girls are doing well too. Daisy Mae has put on another 2lbs, and although she still looks smaller than Jacqui she is continuing to grow nicely. Any ideas on how to put extra weight on her though would be good.

Dreamer just wanted to make sure I paid attention to him to, he's such an attention seeker and loves it all.

I go back to college this week. But I need to spend some time coming up soon pulling hay out of everyone's fleeces and trimming hooves. Almost time to contact the sheep shearer :)

Catching up

It's been a weird sort of month so far. First of all thank you everyone for the condolences for Mighty Mouse. The following Sunday our son lost one of his guinea pigs which was very sad too, and ou yard now looks like the start of pet cemetery.

Then I attended Equine Affaire in Springfield with my friend Alex, it is a huge horse event and we had a blast shopping, watching a clinic and collecting freebies. The next day I had a medical conference in Boston which was also good and I got even more free things. My son (been a bad month for him) also had H1N1, but so far everyone else in the house is well. He is better now and back at school thankfully. Oh and somewhere in that week I had time to break a finger and hyperflex a thumb on the same hand lol. However life is finally getting back to normal and I am looking forward to catching up on all the blogs I follow. So here are some pictures for you all.

A glorious sunrise from the start of November.

Christina the very broody silkie.

The brown breeding group of Sunnys. For some reason they all grouped into the shade.

Cammie looking like she is about the burst out of her sheep coat.

Sabrina taking in the sun.

Jacqui also enjoying the rare sunshine.

And the best picture I could get of Jewel who is sad not to be in a breeding group, and now insists on trying to be a close as possible to me.

Thanks again for your patience, I will try and update sometime soon. My daughters birthday party is the weekend and I have too bake a cake tomorrow for it before I take her to see "New Moon'.

Finally sheep

I know I promised a sheep post a week or more ago but life went rather busy on me. Anyway it is a lovely day today, so I spent some time with the girls' in one of the small paddocks as the boys' enjoyed the pasture. 

Can you spot the sheep?

There she is.

This paddock needs mowing as the weeds are taking over the grass. Not that Sabrina is complaining.

Or Jewel.

Or any of the other girls' for that matter.

All of the girls' are doing great. I need to change a few coats for the next size up. I'd also like to get hooves trimmed this month. It's not long before I start breeding groups, which is always a fun time (trying to keep girls' away if they are not breeding). Oh and don't tell the sheep, but we have our first easter egger eggs this week. Aren't they pretty? Rosalie is still laying about 6 eggs a week too.

Have a great weekend everyone :)

What a nice day

The weather is lovely here in Massachusetts today. Not hot or humid, and not cold or rainy. If I was Goldilocks I would think it was just right. The geese are migrating, and in the evening they fly over the house calling each other.

The chickens run to the front of their pen every morning (or time I walk past) to see what I will drop in for them.

Miss Kitty (one of the barn cats) caught me a mouse today and then sat in the shade after she had eaten it...she was kind enough to leave the head on the barn floor. 

The sheep are happy enjoying the grass. After all the rain we had last month everything sort of exploded and grew. Amelia is mid-ear wag.

Daisy Mae is doing well and growing. She still feels thin but is getting better.

Jacqui is also growing very well, and has settled in great.

I don't have pictures but I have been riding again. I had my third ride back today and worked on getting Muppet in front of my leg. So far he has been super, and we are both having a good time getting back into work. Unfortunately college starts back on Friday so my summer vacation is over. I hope everyone had a great summer though.