Before and After

We just got back from a week in Tennessee, and until my brain decompresses and I finally get brave enough to sort through all the pictures and blog about it, I'll do a quick post about the sheep.

Our county fair is coming up in a few weeks and I've been thinking about getting the Barley and Bean (the ewe lambs) fitted and presentable. They're Romney/ Southdown crosses, which made it a little hard for me to decide how to fit them for the show. Southdowns are shown slick shorn, which is easy to do. Shear off all the wool, do some little fitting work on the face and leg wool, and you're done. Romneys are shown in fleece, but it takes a lot of fitting to make them look nice. It's been a while since I've shown, and I don't exactly have all the equipment needed to do a really nice fitting job.

I had to use the goat stand since I don't have a sheep fitting stand. I'd like to start saving money for one though. I put Barley on the stand and started trying to fit her. I then realized it was very hot out and it was going to take a lot of time and energy to fit her and her sister. So I decided to slick shear her.

She went from this:


to this:


Girlfriend needs to work on her abs.

She still needs some finishing touches, but it's a start. I just bought a pair of Oster A5 clippers on Ebay. They were used but came with 2 sets of blades. I tried to use them yesterday and realized both pairs of blades were so dull they probably wouldn't have even cut butter. I put them in the mail to Premier this morning and I'm really hoping they get back in a jiffy!

Halter Training Begins

I've got less than a month until the county fair and these girls have hardly ever even worn a halter. They've got to be halter broke and trained to stand still ASAP! Nothing like waiting until the last minute! I think Devin and Kylee will definitely be helping me out with this one, especially since one or both of them will be showing!


And the girls now have names! The little one (closest) is Bean (like Coffee Bean), and the big one is Barley!

Whoops!

This is my rabbit. I've had her a little over a month now. My homesteading friend I got her from put her in with a buck so I'd hopefully getting her as a bred doe. I've been waiting and watching and haven't seen any signs of her being pregnant. Today I caught a glimpse of something for the first time, and I can't believe I didn't see it before now. What did I see?


Testicles!!


No wonder there were no babies! She is a he! I almost burst out laughing when I saw them! Not sure what I'll do now...either keep him and find a doe or sell him to buy a doe.

And now you can at least say you know what rabbit testicles look like! :-)

Is It Fall Yet?

I thought I'd share a recent picture of Ida (left) and June. I have been pretty busy lately and have been neglecting my blog. Tonight I didn't get inside from my chores until 9. I was busy piddling around and getting things done that I've been putting off. I was drenched in sweat and felt so gross. It's been so hot and humid lately and tonight the low is 80*. It's nights like this I am thankful I'm not Amish. Seriously, I don't know how they do it.

I've been downsizing a bit around here and it feels pretty good. I sold my two ram lambs, gave Purl to some friends, and sold my guineas. I couldn't take their noise anymore (the guineas, that is). Plus they always chased the chickens and turkeys and I didn't want to put up with that rudeness around here. It's so quiet and peaceful now. I still have to sell Brutus, the buck kid. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. Oh yeah, and I just gave 10 leftover chicks to a friend of mine. Fewer mouths to feed and less time spent outside on these miserable days.

Hopefully I'll have something interesting to talk about soon, but until then enjoy the goat picture! :-)

Fuzzy Faces

The ewe lambs have been weaned for about a week now. I usually wean around 8 weeks but these girls were weaned somewhere around 10 weeks because I didn't want to put them in with my ram lambs. The ram lambs were sold on Sunday, so the pen was free. Today I vaccinated, eartagged, and dewormed them, but before I did that I took a few pictures.

I haven't named them yet, but I need to soon. I need to be able to call them something besides "the big girl" and "the little girl".

This is the big girl. She seems smart and alert and a little wary.


She is the one keeping her eye on me while her sister is busy eating.






And this adorable face belongs to the little girl. She has her mother's fluffy teddy bear-esque face. I love it.


I plan on showing them (or Devin will show them) at our county fair in August and the one drawback is that I'll have to shear them. I'll miss these adorable faces.


Big girl again.



So, any name ideas? Their mother is Darla, and their father was unnamed, so that's not much inspiration.

'Tude

She's spunky!

Purl's New Home

You may remember that Purl had a hard lambing this spring. She prolapsed, so she can't be bred again. As much as I loved her, I couldn't keep her because I just don't have the space on my small acreage for a ewe I can't breed. Sometimes being practical stinks, because I really like Purl and we especially bonded after this past spring.

We took a few photos together before we took her to her new home.


When she first came to live here about 2 years ago, she was pretty skittish and didn't want anything to do with me. Now she's pretty calm and loves to eat treats (her favorite is broccoli) out of my hand. She didn't mind the hugs and kisses too much. :-)



So we took Purl to her new home, where I know she'll be very happy and have a great life. How do I know? Because she went to live with the family where I got June!


She'll have a few goat buddies and another sheep. Do you recognize this ewe? If you think you see some family resemblance, you're right. She's Purl's ewe lamb from last year (see some lamb pictures here). Her name is Jane, and she has got some mega wool! Believe it or not she was sheared in August last year, so this isn't even a full year's fleece.


It didn't take long for Purl to settle in and start grazing.


The goats were not quite sure of their new friend. This wether here is Mammoth's son, born last year. He's looking for a pet home, if any readers are interested!


I'll miss Purl, but I know she's going to be well taken care of and loved. Plus, I can always go visit if I wanted. :-)