‘Tis the Season…for Romance

The television advertisements for Christmas have started earlier than ever.  Displays in stores have turned to red, green and tinsel.  Thoughts and conversation at home and work turn to the Holiday season with all it’s activities, family and friends, food, fun and stress…   At this time of year, I am not yet thinking of Christmas, or even Thanksgiving, which is one week away.  As a Shepherdess, I am preoccupied with breeding groups, hay, pen configuration, hay, how to move the animals, hay, and setting up winter water troughs with the electric heaters.  And, oh yes – hay.

Normally, in Minnesota, we may have had a few snowstorms by now.  But the last few weeks, we are enjoying a warm Fall season, an “Indian Summer,” as it is called.  It has been very enjoyable working outside in the barnyard this Fall.  And I was outside for HOURS everyday last week.  We had thirty round bales of hay delivered and placed in the barnyard.  We got 23 of grass hay and seven of grass/alfalfa mix.  It has taken some work to get cattle panels or fencing placed around the bales and most of the bales covered.  We are trying the round bales this year in an effort to cut down on hauling hay in the winter.  Thus begins the great hay experiment…

After dealing with the hay, we put the breeding groups together!  Yeah!  Let the romance begin!

Finnsheep

Finnsheep ram lamb Eino (brown) and ewe lambs Emmi (black) and Elina (white)

Finns enjoying their hay

Little Red Oak Eino is a sweet, mellow boy.  I absolutely LOVE the color, shine and crimp of his fiber.  He carries spotting genetics.  I am very pleased that he will be our foundation ram.

Ewe lambs Emmi and Elina are from Gale Woods Farm.  Emmi (black) was sheared so her fleece will be a bit of a surprise, but she feels soft, soft already and her fiber is staying black as it grows.  She is spotted, from brown and white parents.  Elina’s crimp appears a bit more open than what I want but she has a lot of lustrous wool, good conformation and a very sweet face!

They all have excellent lineage back to Wee Croft stock.  I am very pleased with the founding stock of our Finnsheep flock!

Shetlands

Little Red Oak Bella, Roundabout Acres Baab, and Little Red Oak Jellybean

Little Red Oak Lily(Moorit)

Yup, I know I said I wasn’t going to breed purebred Shetlands this year….  I changed my mind at the last minute.  I sold a starter flock of three black, spotted ewes and Baab.  The ewes have gone to their new home but his new Shepherdess does not want to breed the ewes until December.  He is the last ram on our farm from River Oaks Eli; I did not use Baab last year and really DID want to breed him.  He has nice conformation and a very lovely fleece that I am happy to breed into the flock.  He carries spots and modified genetics.  (Why, oh why, did I sell him????)  As you can see, he has two spotted girls to work on this year.  I still have one more Shetland ewe to put in with a ram.  Little Red Oak Lily (moorit) will soon be added to this group.

Bluefaced Leicester F1 Crosses (Mulesheep)

BFL Beechtree Dougal is lying down next to Mule Maliah. In the foreground is Mule Sasha and to the right is Roundabout Acres Lulu, a Shetland yearling ewe who has not bred before.

 

Shetland Nugget is in the foreground with North Country Cheviot ewe Molly in the back.

BFL Dougal covered Lulu within the first few minutes.  I saw Nugget get covered yesterday.  They are daughter and mother; each one has a beautifully soft, crimpy, dense fleece.  I will get two 3/4 BFL ewes from the Mules; the resulting lambs will not be F1 crosses but I am curious to see how closely the fiber resembles BFL.   Also, I have high hopes for another beautiful lamb from Molly.  I am quite impressed with the BFL x NC Cheviot lambs.  they have a dense fleece, and a sturdy confirmation.  I may add one or two NC Cheviot ewes to the flock in the future.

Did you notice that RA Lamb Chop is not included in the breeding groups?  Since I kept Baab to breed, I could not figure out who to put with Lamb Chop.  I can envision him with a few of the Mule ewe lambs next year.  I do not want to breed them this year as the only ewe lambs I am breeding are the Finns.  So lamb chop is sharing a pen with bottle baby whether Duncan.  Lamb Chop doesn’t seem to mind that he has no girls.  When not breeding, I do prefer three rams together instead of just two.  It seems to make for a calmer ram pen.

Lamb Chop's fleece - he is 1/2 BFL, 1/4 Shetland, 1/4 Cheviot

Silent Sunday

 

 

 

 

Meet the New Girls…Finns!!

We have two new Finnsheep ewes on the farm.  They are both from Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista, MN.  So we officially have the start of our Finn flock at Roundabout Acres.  We have almost all the Finnsheep colors represented – black, white, brown and spotting (piebald.)  We do not have grey.

I have decided to name the white ewe Elina which means “torch” or “bright light.”  The extremely friendly black ewe is named Emmi, which means “friendly, soft, emmulating.”  Emmi was sheared a few weeks ago but her fleece feels super soft already.  After I picked the names, I realized that our Finn flock names all begin with “E” -  Eino, Emmi, and Elina!

The new girls have fit right in and weren’t frightened of the llamas at all.

Finn ewe lamb Elina. What a pretty face!

Elina's fleece. I know it's not a great shot...I promise to get a better one soon!

Finn ewe lamb Emmi. She carries spots; she has a spot on her lip and one lower leg. She stayed in this position until the Shepherdess gave her plenty of chin scratching!

Tim, the Farm Manager at Gale Woods weighed the ewes before they went into my vehicle. I didn't write down the numbers but as near as I remember, Emmi weighs 86 lb. and Elina weighs 78 lb.

I like this photo because it shows the difference in size between the Finns and Shetlands. Shetland ewe lamb Glory is following behind the Finn ewes. Glory was born about six weeks later than the Finns. (As a side note, you can see the grey tail and grey on Glory's neck. She is Shaela under the black!)

Meet the Boys (Again)

It’s that time of year when we Shepherds post pictures of our breeding groups.  I am still working on my groups.  I do know which rams I will use but still haven’t finalized which ewes will be bred.   As I consider the possibilities, I have hope; there will be something to look forward to as the icy, frigid days of winter are waning.  Spring will arrive with colorful lambs running and hopping through the green grass.  Sigh…

What I know so far…

I will not be breeding any purebred Shetlands this year.  Our Shetland rams are sold; the last one – RA Baab leaves with his group of ewes on Saturday.  I will breed a few Shetland ewes to Bluefaced Leicester ram Dougal for Mulesheep lambs. I am very pleased with the Mule fiber and this year’s lambs have lovely fleeces.  I hope to repeat those results.   And I will breed a few Shetland ewes to Finnsheep ram lamb Eino.  I have  read the resulting cross makes for a very nice fiber.

I will breed Eino to our new Finn ewes also.  Hopefully, 2010 will see the first Finnsheep lambs on our farm!

I have also included a few photos of our other boys on the farm.  I hope you enjoy them.

Finnsheep ram lamb Eino and Bluefaced Leicester Dougal

Finn ram lamb Eino with BFL-Cheviot-Shetland ram lamb Lamb Chop

He has a fine, dense, lustrous, crimpy fleece which is quite soft. He was headed for the butcher; I pulled him off the trailer at the last minute and decided to breed him. His fleece has the combination of qualities I am looking for in my crosses.

Border Collie Gus waits patiently for the Shepherdess to finish chores in the barnyard. He is probably the best dog I have ever had. He was given to us last year by a woman who loved him dearly but didn't have a farm on which he could work. Now that we have had him for a year, I can imagine how difficult it was for his previous owner to give him up. He is a sweet, sweet boy who is intense when he works and plays, but mellow while in the house. He is intact and we are giving some thought to breeding him. His genes are just too good NOT to pass on.

Barn cat Spike enjoys a nap in the pole barn.

Meet our new Llamas

I know I said I would post vacation photos in my next post… But we have new llamas to show off to the world!

She’s So Blue

Our first llama pictured is Shady Ridge Tangled Up in Blue.  We were able to purchase this pretty girl at a very reasonable price from Sheila and Britt Fugina at Shady Ridge Farm in New Richmond, Wisconsin.  They have the most beautiful fiber llamas.  She is 1/2 Argentine and has the same sire as Karma and Nessa.  Look at her fiber!!  She has crimp down to the skin, which is unusual for a llama; and the judge at Llama Magic said that Blue’s fiber “spins itself.”   We will most likely breed her next year at the same time that Karma and Nessa are bred.  However, we will not register her offspring with the International Llama Registry.  We bought Blue with the understanding that while she has fabulous fiber, her conformation is not-so-fabulous.  She can’t help that her time in the womb was spent developing luscious fiber instead of long legs!

Tangled Up in Blue

You can see in the profile picture that Blue has short legs and neck in proportion to her body size.  Sheila said her head is also a bit small for her size.  We are raising for fiber, not the show ring, so it doesn’t matter to us.  And an additional bonus is that Blue spent the summer with a 4-H youth.  She has been handled quite a bit, showing in the obstacle course; consequently she is very easy to manage.  We anticipate taking some walks with our new group of llamas!

Tangled Up in Blue's profile

Running With The Boys

The next photo shows our two new Rescue llamas.  They are both a dark brown and are wearing halters in the photo.  Ben is a proven guard llama gelding with a coarser fleece.  He is on the right in the photo.  Let’s Roll (Roller) is the second from the right.  He has a lovely, soft, dark, chocolate brown fleece.  He was used as a herd sire in his previous home.  He is now gelded.  We offered to re-home these boys as their previous owner has become ill.  This photo was taken the first time they came out to the pasture.

Greeting party for Roller and Ben

It didn’t take long to discover that Ben and Roller love to run.  Our cria Primo was ecstatic to have someone to run with!  In the photo below, Ben leads the way.  You can see how excited Primo is to be running along!

Ben leads the way, Roller is in the rear

We are up to nine llamas now.  That will be enough for us, except for the planned breedings next spring.  All but two of our llamas have wonderful fiber!  The other two have a more coarse type of llama fiber, excellent for felting and crafts.

Rescue Llamas

I would like to add that if you or anyone you know is interested in learning about llamas that need to be re-homed, anywhere in the US, please email me at terri at roundabout acres dot com (remove the spaces.)

Prices Reduced!

Check out our For Sale page to see the reduced prices on our flock.  We also have lamb that is available NOW to go into the freezer, just in time for the upcoming Holiday Season!  Email with questions or for pictures; details are on the For Sale page.

We have fiber whethers for $75…

Unregistered black Shetland ewes as low as $50.

Two ONE very nice Shetland Ram…

A gentle, respectful Bluefaced Leicester X NC Cheviot ram.  He is an excellent crossing ram with very nice fiber.

Registered Shetland ewes who are excellent mothers, with lovely fleece.

In colors of white, musket, black, brown.

Ewes could be bred to a ram before departing the farm, however this would have to be arranged ASAP.

These are excellent stock, not culls.  We just don’t have the space and I am refining my breeding goals.  All must go.  Farm or freezer.  That IS the reality of being a shepherdess.

We have committed to adopting several more llamas who are in need of a new home.  We pick them up this weekend.  And we are purchasing two Finn ewes to breed to Eino, our brown Finn ram.  I plan on crossbreeding Eino with some of the Shetlands also.  One just has to look back at any picture of our barn and it is evident that we have a tiny barn and limited space.  And hay is not cheap.

So – please feel free to make any offer of sale or trade.  As a fiber person, I would much rather see the little darlins’ supplying lovely fiber and keeping the lawn mowed for you.  Having said that…they are delicious to eat!

And because I LOVE to include pictures on my blog, I leave with you with a photo taken on our recent vacation out west.  I will post more about the trip in the next post.

The view of Elk Mountain from Coyote Ridge

Coyote Ridge 2009

Pretty, pretty fiber and yummy, yummy Shish-ka-bobs

Good Morning everyone!  Thank you to everyone who responded to my last post.  I checked out some new websites and really feel blessed to be part of the fiber and farm community!

It is a lovely gray Autumn day here on our little farm.  Cool gray is okay, because it has been unusually warm for September.  After our chilly summer we finally have some heat!  I prefer the cool because I am planting trees and shrubs which I bought at 50% off in July.  When we moved to our farm three years ago, the landscape was a blank slate.  Aside from the obligatory weed-filled tractor tire planter, there was minimal landscaping.  I have a passion for gardening!  My g-genes have been screaming to get some plants in the ground but the animals have taken priority.  Well, this year those genes got the best of me.  I still have a few dozen perennials, shrubs and trees to plant.  And I would like to move our little fruit tree orchard to a better spot.  Take heed, all of you new and wanna-be farmers!  As well as you think you have things planned out – you must be prepared to rethink the options.  The spot we thought was GREAT for the orchard turns out the be in the middle of a good grazing pen.  We are tired of having to fence the trees off with electronet…  In any case, I’m sure the ground will be completely frozen before I get the last plant in.  (Hopefully not…)

Fiber Pics

I have set up an album on Photoshop.com under the name Roundabout Acres.  You may click on this link to get there: RoundaboutAcres Fiber I will also put a link on the “Fiber” page.  Please email for prices and availability.  I have Shetland and BFL X fiber  in white, moorit, black, and musket.  I am working on getting an Etsy page set up.  But in the meantime, we are set up to take Paypal.

Sheep-ka-bobs

We have an appointment to bring some of the sheep to the butcher on October 14th. If you are interested in any of the sale sheep, please contact me ASAP because some of those sheep will be sent in.  I am flexible and all offers will be considered.  I do not want to feed sheep that I don’t plan on keeping,  so everyone must go!  I am hoping to bring in two Finn ewes to breed to Eino yet this fall.  And I have some different breeding/flock goals which I am still formulating, including hopes to bring a different Heritage Breed to the farm.  But I will save details on that for a later post!  Regardless, I will be breeding less purebred Shetlands in the future.  Don’t misunderstand – I love the Shetlands but I am less intimidated by sheep now than I was as a complete newbie Sheperdess.  Now, I want a slightly larger sheep and I really like the fiber from the BFL cross and Finn sheep.  So, we will have some very tasty lambs available.  Whole or half lambs are available; a whole lamb will yield 15 – 35 lbs. of meat.  I will bring the lamb to the butcher, you will specify what cuts you would like.  Delivery can be arranged, within a reasonable distance.  The cost is far less than retail grocery store prices.  Please email me for details.

A Recipe

A few weekends ago, we had the family over for a nice afternoon.  I wrote about it in the last post.  What I didn’t include was a photo of lamb on the grill.  It is a joint effort.  I trim any “white stuff” off the lamb then marinade it overnight.  TH grills it to perfection.  So far, the lamb and the marinade have been a big success with all who have eaten the combo.  I have used the marinade on chops, roast, and stew meat.

Lamb on the grill

So here is my marinade recipe.  I put the meat in a ziploc and cover with marinade.  If I remember, I turn it over several times but usually it just sits in the fridge overnight.  Depending on the quantity of lamb, I have had enough marinade left over for another meal.  I freeze the remaining marinade until the next time it’s needed.

Terri’s Lamb Marinade

1 bottle of any Raspberry Viniagrette Salad Dressing

Red Wine Vinegar – a few good glugs

Worchestershire Sauce – a few good glugs

Chopped Garlic – two tablespoons

Cracked pepper

Sliced Onion (optional)

I ask that you comment on your favorite lamb or meat marinade.  It’s always nice to gather new recipes!

Thank you… but… Who are you???

I cannot believe I have over 1,300 hits on my blog!  What I would like to know is….WHO ARE YOU out there??  Readers of the blogosphere…  please leave a message!  I would love to know who is checking in and what you are interested in hearing about.  My son actually just read this blog for the first time yesterday.  He was complimentaryto his mother, and added that it looked like a lot of work.  I agreed that it is time consuming but very enjoyable.  And if nothing else, it is an online diary of our adventures as new shepherds and farm owners!

Our blog host, Wordpres, provides statistics information; I see that readers are looking at the pages which remain untouched…  Blank, sad pages…  These are  the pages that are still waiting for the Shepherdess to add some information.  As anyone with a blog, farm, job and family knows…time IS stretched and things don’t get completed as quickly as we would like.  If there is some piece of info. you are looking for, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  Or, leave a comment!

Family and Farm Life

We moved to this farm after our children left to start their own adult lives.  When my daughter Amanda stayed with us for three weeks last summer, she noted that she was glad she didn’t grow up so far away from the city.  But she came to appreciate the peacefulness and beauty that is our farm.  She is a city girl who thrives on living in large cities.  She loved her life in Seoul, South Korea and now enjoys living in the Washington, DC area.  On the other hand, our son loves being the country, and the outdoors.  I do wish we would have been able to have this life when our children were still living at home.  But it was not to be.  We raised our children on a 1/8 acre city lot near the airport.  That is why it is such a joy for my husband and I to host family gatherings, and also watch our grandchildren play and enjoy our little farm!

On that note, I leave you with a few family pictures to enjoy.  Have a great holiday!

Looking at the llamas

Grandson Liam just loves chasing the sheep!

Granddaughter Reese is not sure what to think of bottle baby Duncan. Of course, he thought she was wonderful!

SHEEP FOR SALE and a Monday dose of llama fun.

I haven’t posted in a month or so.  Our son, his wife and two grandchildren (both under 2 1/2 years old) are living with us temporarily while my son is on vacation and between duty stations.  He is a Sargent in the Marine Corp.  We are fortunate to be able to spend this time with our grandbabies as we had previously not been able to spend more than a few days with them at a time.  So we have been busy with family events and activities like the Renaissance Festival.  And I am getting in my share of watching (bonding) with grandchildren!

Needless to say, I have had little time for blog entries, taking and editing pictures and writing sales information.  I really don’t care for this part of being a Shepherd.  I want to breed and raise sheep with a fine, soft, crimpy fleece that is a joy to spin.  I want to spin and dye that fleece.  I breed sheep to get the quality of wool I want.  I do enjoy putting together breeding groups toward the purpose of achieving the quality of wool I want to work with.   The FOR SALE sheet is a result of the pairings.  We end up with too many sheep to sustainably keep.  The boys that aren’t breeding quality will be sold for fiber pets or grass-fed, hormone free lamb.  I have been asked, “How I can eat or sell to be eaten, sheep that I have raised?”  I answer with a question of my own.  “What is better than eating a creature who has enjoyed a very good life on our own farm?  I know what has gone into that animal. No hormones, no antibiotics (unless necessary), very little (if any) stress, open sky, shelter, fresh water, friendly shepherds, green grass, leaves and clover… .”  If that doesn’t at least give the questioner a reason to ponder, I reply that “I do not want to become the crazy sheep hoarder on the six-o’clock news!”

At some point (and it may be the upcoming breeding season) the breeding groups will become smaller.  I have only had two seasons of breeding, but I am already beginning to narrow my focus.  And this is the first year we got a number of lovely ewes!  Last year was a ram year, this year was 50/50.  But each ewe is fabulous so I couldn’t be more pleased.  I will post ewe lamb photos in an upcoming post.  For today, please check out the Sales Page.  (We don’t have any bad rams either!)

As a result of being a fairly new Shepherd with a full-time job…I haven’t had any time to play with my fleece.  What!   Egads!  How pitiful!  Yup.  You fibergals with sheep know exactly what I am talking about.  We dream of the day we can get our own flock…and then when we do…we have no time to do exactly what we love!  This spring and summer have been a time of introspection on what I want to accomplish with my flock as well as the artistic side of myself.  DH and I are also discussing the direction and focus of our farm.  I guess all I can say is I am, and the farm and flock are, a work-in-progress.

I listed more sheep for sale than I anticipate selling.  There are several that I DO NOT WANT to sell.  They will have to be torn out of my hands.  But….sigh……I can’t keep them all.  I will most likely incorporate any unsold lighter colored sheep back into the flock.  I DO know I like the majority of my sheep to be white or musket.  Modified and moorit are nice also.  I am happy I got a gray ewe lamb this year as I have no gray.  Actually, the whole process of poring over photos, writing a “sales promo” on each sheep and ruminating (sorry, I couldn’t help it…) on what my goals are for farm and flock has been a good exercise.  I came to realize that I am proud of what I have accomplished in the few short years we have had our flock.  As frustrated and exhausted as I am at times, I have made some decent choices.  And I have learned from my mistakes.  I am happy to say that today, I have a Sales Sheet that makes me proud!

I leave you with a few fun photos of our llamas.

Rudy relaxing on a hot day

Llamas love dust baths and their afternoon siesta. The llama rolling in the dust (on the left) is four month old cria Primo (not for sale.)

Shetland Ram Lambs

Today, I have uploaded photos to my computer so the Sales Page can be updated.  However, the sale page is still a  UFO; for all you non-knitters, UFO stands for unfinished object.   It should be finished by this weekend.  Please check back in a day or two.

This is our third year with Shetlands and I have achieved some of my initial breeding goals.  I also have reached my “magic number” of ewes this year.  Although I haven’t done the final tally, we ended our lambing with 50/50 ewe lambs to ram lambs.  I plan on selling off some of my mature ewes to make room for the six ewe lambs I will be keeping.  I am not keeping any Shetland boys with the exception of Roundabout Acres Clyde.  If he doesn’t sell, I may just whether him and keep him on the farm.  He is so sweet and his fiber incredibly crimpy.  I just can’t see putting him in the freezer.  EVERY SHEEP FOR SALE MUST GO!  If you don’t like the price posted, I will consider any reasonable offer.  Questions?  I can be reached at: roundaboutacresATgmailDOTcom.

Roundabout Acres Clyde has such a cute face and the crimpiest, soft, soft fiber!

Modified, Ag Musket twin (RA Costello X Twin Brook Nugget) He has perfect form, tiny tail, and although this photo doesn’t show it, his horns are coming in WIDE.  He will be very light in color.  His dam passes her larger frame size on to her lambs.  There are newborn pics of Clyde and twin Bonnie in an earlier post.

RA Clyde w/twin Bonnie and dam Nugget

Twin lamb (RA Costello X RA JoAnn) This spunky boy will be grey when his spots fade. If you want spots, this boy has them! His horns are pointing out nicely.

Single ram lamb black krunet with what appears to be brown/taupe on his face?? At first I thought it was dirt...but it is his actual coloring. Any ideas??