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Post by oliverman on Feb 15, 2015 0:15:13 GMT -5
Thought perhaps I should start a sheep thread here too. Soon there will be more new lambs. Hopefully it warms up a bit first. Here my daughter and I are befriending the group of yearlings. They will be having their first lambs in March. Below are the fall lambs that we are keeping. They sure grow fast.
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Post by brownrexx on Feb 15, 2015 8:36:31 GMT -5
This will be fun. I know absolutely NOTHING about sheep so it will be fun seeing yours.
I live in a rural area so I occasionally SEE sheep but I have never gotten close to one except at the farm show. In my area farmers mainly have dairy cattle and many people have horses and sometimes I see goats. Chickens are popular of course.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Feb 15, 2015 9:53:35 GMT -5
We raised just a few sheep for 5 or 6 years. If I remember right lambing should start any minute.
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Post by gakaren on Feb 15, 2015 10:09:42 GMT -5
We raised a few when I was a kid, but other than putting some new lambs in our old wood cook stove oven (door open) I don't remember a lot about them either. We did have roasted lamb at one of our FFA fund raiser gatherings (they did a hog too & sold dinners) and I know I enjoyed the meat at those. These were back in the early 80's in Monticello, Ill. (between Decatur & Champaign).
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Post by binnylou on Feb 15, 2015 10:43:01 GMT -5
Oliverman,
I can almost smell the fragrance of the fresh straw.
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Post by breezygardener on Feb 15, 2015 11:38:05 GMT -5
Beautiful colors!!! What breed(s) are they? Do you raise them for wool, meat, or both?
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Post by ncgarden on Feb 15, 2015 12:12:40 GMT -5
Oh so many discussions distracting me from garden chat - bees, chickens, and now sheep! Oliverman - I love those blackfaces!! We are strictly wool here - they are very disgruntled about the lack of grazing, and are pretty sure they are starving to death (they are not). Ada, Will and Tobias (Skylar is busy making a break for it behind me) Things I do in my sparetime with the wools
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Post by OregonRed on Feb 15, 2015 12:44:59 GMT -5
way cool NC! I knit and crochet :~D hats, scarves socks slippers afghan........
only the slippers are in wool - due to shrinkage
how do they make wool that doesn't shrink?? "washable wool", I have some of that...
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 15, 2015 12:55:27 GMT -5
That picture (at the wheel) just made me go ahhhh.
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Post by binnylou on Feb 15, 2015 12:57:43 GMT -5
I had to make a stop at the local hospital a few days ago. I was surprised to see that they still had a Christmas tree up in the hallway. When we got closer to it, I saw that it was loaded with hand knitted mittens and scarves. The sign said to take what you needed. They were beautiful. I could get into donating yarn to the kind souls who are doing the knitting
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Feb 15, 2015 17:38:59 GMT -5
NCGarden, do you shear your sheep, clean the wool and then spin it? It's been years since I've seen someone spinning wool, if that is a spinner. Do you have to "card" the wool first? I've seen carding by hand with devices that look like brushes with very long "teeth". Sorry if I don't know the right terminology :(.
I recall that there's some terminology for sheered fleece that has been cleaned of debris and another term for fleece that hasn't. "Roving" fleece comes to mind.
Looks like you also have a booth at some type of exhibition or fair - This is fascinating! Please tell me more.
Also, what kind of sheep are you each raising? The only kind I've seen has been at a fall arts and crafts festival. I believe they were Romney Marsh sheep.
Oliverman, the sheep on the far right in the second photo has such a beautiful mottled coat. What kind of sheep is it? Do you have a barn especially for the sheep? How do you feed them, or do they graze in a pasture during decent weather?
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Post by oliverman on Feb 15, 2015 20:21:06 GMT -5
NC, the brown one and solid white one in the first picture are Katahdins. The remainder are Katahdin/Dorper crosses. Both Katahdins and Dorpers are hair sheep, so they are exclusively a meat producing animal. Dorpers are solid white with a black head and neck. There is hardly a color that a Katahdin can't be. What breed are your sheep? They sure are woolier than ours.
SpringRain, the sheep have their own barn, though a section of it has the chicken coop built in. The mottled lambs are Katahdin/Dorper crosses. Their dams (mothers) were both black. Their sire (father) was white with a black head and white strip down the front of his face. They graze from April through November. If we have good weather, sometimes I can manage to graze into December. During the winter, they get free choice access to hay. We feed some grain to supplement ewes during lactation when feeding hay. Lambs also get grain during the non-grazing season. Currently we have enough odd small quantities of grain that are not marketable, so using sheep to give it value works well. Mostly this comes from buffer areas between organic crops and neighbors conventional fields, or what is leftover that does not fit on a full semi-load going to an organic market. This is not a problem, since I have not yet found a market where a premium price is paid for organic lamb.
Some sheep will only conceive during shortening days (months ending with an r). Most hair sheep will breed year round. Currently we are breeding to get a crop of lambs every 8 months. February and September lambs one year, then May lambs the next. This requires better (and therefore more costly feed during winter), but results in 50% more lambs per year. If we were to go to exclusively forage feeding, it would no longer be as profitable to do so and we would switch to lambs every spring and that is all. Since May lambs will be grass fed, while September lambs will not, I will be able to compare the two feeding methods fairly well.
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Post by ncgarden on Feb 16, 2015 16:57:41 GMT -5
The photo is indeed spinning. I do a couple of events - we have an old restored plantation in our area that does field trips and is open for tours. I go in and set up a wool display showing how the wool leaves the sheep, gets cleaned and carded and turned into roving, I spin, and display some knitted items from wool. And then once a year I do a similar display for a Grist Mill that does old-timey things.
I love to spin, and do the rest to support that habit! I occasionally shear the sheep, wash and card my own fleeces just to prove that I can, but usually I send the fleeces to a mill to be processed, so I get to work with nice clean roving. I do a bit of loom knitting and weaving, mostly do do something about the bins of yarn I produce! Sometimes I dye it, sometimes I donate it, sometimes I sell it. Mostly, like my livestock, I just like to be in the same room with it!!
This year, I made all natural wool dryer balls as an eco-friendly alternative to dryer sheets. My family and friends like seeing what new product comes out of the farm every year - I don't think I could ever make it a go as a business, but it is a marvelous lifestyle and hobby!
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Post by oliverman on Feb 28, 2015 15:18:14 GMT -5
Well, the long awaited lambs have arrived. Four days overdue. I had to do some obstetrical work, as both were trying to be born at the same time. Of course they were born when it was-12 degrees, so they came in to be blow dried. Now they are back with mother, and the handy heating barrel.
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 28, 2015 15:41:40 GMT -5
Aww nothing like new life.
-12 yikes. Hope you're thawing out too!
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