A Big Emergency

Well. Macy was in labor all. day. long.

Here you can just barely see hooves poking out of her.

I waited patiently. After a long time I could see a little mouth and nose poking out too. Then I could see that Macy was getting very tired. So my Mr. grabbed her by the horns and I went in to get the lamb.

It was totally stuck! I pulled as hard as I could. Macy yelled at me. Loudly! I lubed up the baby with oil and pulled again! No movement at all! The baby was totally stuck. (Did I mention it was stuck?) I started to panic. I called the vet. I tried again. The vet didn't call back. I thought for sure that the lamb was dead. Suddenly the vet was there! He didn't call, he just came! I almost cried with relief!

So, we went to her. My Mr. held Macy by the horns and the Dr. pulled. And Pulled. AND PULLED! Out came the lamb! Alive! We were all surprised. A girl! She put her head up, tried to stand, and Macy started to clean her.

I paid the vet and named the lamb after his daughter. This is Macy and her new daughter, Emily.

All's well that ends well!

Lambing has Started

We bred 7 ewes last fall. Our rams were wildly successful it seems because they all fell pregnant quickly. Two of our ewes have already given birth and one other is in labor as I write.

Introductions. This is Kelly. She gave us one lamb on Saturday, April 14th. She was bred to our bad boy, Fudge. It's most common for sheep to have twins, but this was Kelly's first lambing and it's common for first-timers to have just one lamb. It's a girl! Which is fantastic since we're working on increasing our flock.

And here is Willow. She gave us a boy and a girl! She was in labor for awhile. That ram lamb has a big head! It was a very difficult birth. For me. Lots of angst. I'm still not over it. Willow, however, is just fine.

There are five ewes left to deliver. I'm not sleeping well. I wake every few hours thinking about sheep. Counting sheep is not conducive to sleep for me! I've gotten up early for the past few days, pulled my jeans on with my nightgown and wandered outside without even combing my hair. (It's okay. I live in the country.) I count the sheep. I look at their rears to see if anyone is in labor. Then I stumble back to the house to make coffee. Thank goodness for coffee!

This is Gabriel. He sired Willow's lambs. He looks tough, but he's really sweet.

Good Grief

Boys are nothing but trouble.  Don't ever let anyone tell you differently.  As a mother of four boys, I ought to know.  And sheep boys are the worst kind of boys of all.

This is Fudge.

Fudge is a gorgeous, five year old ram that was born on Tongue River Farm.  That's important because they breed for milkiness.  Most Icelandic breeders I've contacted are breeding solely for fleece quality.  We want good, milky sheep since we're planning on using our sheep as dairy sheep.  So even though Fudge is a bad boy, we want to keep him for his milky genetics.

How is Fudge a bad boy?  Well, he threatens to ram our hands if we try to pet him.  He stomps his feet if we make eye contact too long.  He picks fights with our other ram, Gabriel.

But worst of all.  He rams inanimate objects.  Presumably, this is how Fudge has fun.

Here's a picture of what Fudge has done to our barn.

Thankfully, that's not a structural wall and we were planning on removing that stall completely anyway.  Here you can also see Gabriel and Fudge admiring the destruction.

Oh... fudge.

Merry Christmas to Ewe (Horribly Late)

If you're very observant, you may have noticed that there has been a great gap in the posts so far:  the first in October and now a bunch here in February.  What can I say?  Such is my life.  And yours too sometimes I bet.

Here are some pictures of the sheep that were too cute to keep to myself.  We use a live tree at Christmas and after the season is ended, we feed it to the sheep!

Om nom nomnomnom...

They eat it completely away so that all that remains is this sorry stick with some side shoots.  They love their Christmas!

Rug Yarn Love

So I bought these two delicious bumps of rug yarn from Morning Star Fiber in Apple Creek, Ohio.  Apparently, you can now order it through their online store.  Awesome!

According to J.C. (the mill manager) one bump will make one 3x5 rug.  This is true if you weave your rug.  I don't weave, I crochet.  It took almost all of both bumps for the rug I made.  It's 2x3.

Crochet uses more yarn than weaving but it produces a thicker, plusher rug.  And, oh-my-goodness, is this rug ever plush!  It's divine!  You kind of sink into it...

Mmmm...

Where was I?

Oh, yes!  What did I do with the remaining bits of rug yarn?  I made sheep!  Icelandic sheep, of course.  Note the extreme cuteness of the spiral horns.

A Trip to Morning Star Fiber

Just before Thanksgiving our family took our wool to be processed at Morning Star Fiber in Apple Creek, Ohio.  We chose this mill because they also raise Icelandic sheep.  Icelandic wool is a primitive/exotic fiber so it's best to take it to someone that has lots of experience if you're not going to process it yourself.

We were led on a tour by J.C. Christensen.  That's him up there and down in the bottom right is my 2nd son, Alex.  We got to see all the (very loud!) machines and see all the great finished products that they offer.  Of course they make roving and all kinds of finished yarns, but they can also make huge sheets of felt and massive bumps of rug yarn.

I confess to falling madly in love with the rug yarn.

I mean, just look at the size of them!  They are huge!  That's my big size 11 foot next to them just so you can see the vast awesomeness of this rug yarn!

Ahem.  Anyway...

I allocated nearly half of the wool I took in for processing to be made into the wonderfully squishy stuff.  Obviously I couldn't wait for my own yarn to be finished so I had to buy the two bumps you see above to play with.  I'll show you what I did with them next post.

Welcome to Red Tartan Woolies...

A little over a month ago we, that is my husband, myself, and our four sons, welcomed our very first sheep home to our farm and Red Tartan Woolies was officially born.  We started our farm with things like sustainability, family life, legacy, and meaningful work in mind.

We are currently working on plans to become a state certified sheep dairy and creamery.  We look forward to being able to offer lots of different products originating with sheep to the public.  Current plans include fresh and aged cheese, milk soap,  meat, wool products, and maybe even ice cream.

Yesterday our sheep were sheared marking our first ever wool harvest.  Some of the fleece will be milled and some will be handspun.  When it's ready, we'll make it available to you.  Until then, enjoy these pictures of our sheep in some compromising positions :)