Of course now a horse.

Horse?  Yes, and I'll get to him in a minute.  But first a run through of the previous two weeks.
Rain.  Down pours.  Like take out the driveway kind of rain, throw a liferaft to the tomato plants rain, ring out the sheep kind of... you get the point.

Bats. I had to "hay" for the new addition, but the hay goes in my neighbors hay loft which is full of bats! I have never heard so many.  It during the day of course, which is why I couldn't see any of the nocturnals flying around; just the creepy feeling that you know you are being watched by a "few."  But not only in their loft, I found this bugger who had curled up in light outside of the chicken coop.  It must have been like ponderosa in the base of the bulb for him, and he gorged himself to the point he was too fat to get back out.  Ha! Can you imagine eating so much and thinking you are in heaven, and then you go to leave and you no longer fit out the doors?  That was him. 

The lambs were finally weaned from the ewes. I say finally, because it wasn’t that we were late in removing them, it was just relief to now have these 80-90 pound babies off them.  When nursing they were lifting the moms up off the ground while trying to suckle. The ewes now quietly enjoy eachothers company, and strike poses for the camera like this one.

Speaking of sheep, after last week’s Ahgosa introduction… guess whose fleece sold later that week? Yup. Ahgosa’s. Amazing what a little publicity can do right?

Have I told you about my lambs yet…?

As for the lambs.  They are getting use to life on their own.  They have matured a bit and aren't climbing all over eachother as much as they once were.  They like to lay in the pasture under the shade of the tall poplar trees, and every once in a while one or two of them give drogo a run for his money and harrass him. 
 

Chickens. I'll keep it short.  Doing well after the fox melay.  No signs of momma fox. Chickens are back out ranging.  Our road side stand is now set up on Friday and Saturday mornings, come buy some eggs!  And our two broody moms are still broody, although we had two delawares hatch the other day.  Those of you who know your chickens you're lookin at momma thinking... that isnt a delaware?  You are right, she is a surrogate.  Delawares (at least ours) arent good mom's, where as our Buff's are.  Hence the surrogate. 

 Whew...  you still with me?  Okay horse.  Gunnar.  Gunnar rocks by the way just in case you were wondering.    He arrived Sunday and met his new pasture mate named Danny.  Danny use to seem like a decent size horse to me, and truly he is.  However, I soon realized just how big Gunnar really is.  No, its not father and son in the pasture, or a young colt next to a full grown draft.  That's Danny who is almost 15 hands himself, and is 26 years old!  Yeah.  That's my Gunnar.  A three year old Clydesdale.  Beautiful blaze (thats the stripe down his face) and four white sox with feathering; the term to describe the hair around his feet.                                                                                                   Being three, he tests me a bit, but we have found some understandings already.  On the second day, I went out to say goodnight to him (yes I did, you got a problem with that???) and I practiced a little calling and coming with him.  And by gosh, he did, he would come to me and follow me around the pasture already, and I didn't even have treats!  I just praised him and petted him everytime.  He will be my biggest dog yet, watch and see. 

Ahgosa won't do facebook, so...

Ahgosa is one of our founding rams here at Windy Knob Farms.  I thought I could do a blog summer series about the various sheep and their personalities, and  include some stories about them.  A chance for people to get to know each of these unquie and curious animals and to gain a little insight about life on the farm with them.  It was either I take the time to tell you a bit about them here, or have each of them start a facebook page.  The sheep and I talked it over, and decided that I would just do it here.

Ahgosa (Ah  GO  sah): Named to reflect the land of the farm, once known as Ahgosatown.  You see, back in the mid 1850's a tribe of Ottawa Indians settled here on this land under the leadership of Chief Ahgosa.  Chief Ahgosa worked very closely with Rev. Peter Doherty, helping to establish this area (now known as Omena).  Chief Ahgosa was quite the character known for wearing a Top Hat, something he once saw the president wearing in a photo and decided the look would be grand for him too. 

Ahgosa the ram is a beautiful Moorit Ram who is now two years old.  He has an amazing crimp that sets him fleece apart due to the consistency of the tight waves found throughout the staple.  He has a unique rich and dark brown color that stays true due to the jacket he wears year round that protects against the bleaching UV rays.  Because of his Bond breeding background, he has a wider snout, squat in body build but most importantly a longer staple length reaching 5 to 6 inches in places.  Its really quite the fleece.  His Spring shearing is available, please check our fleece page for more information.  http://www.windyknobfarms.com/2010fleeces.htm

His personality... I'll say spitfire.  He is the only one that has actually flipped me over out in pasture! And being the size that I am, imagine my surprise when I had him by the head and thought I had control yet soon found myself upside down and on my back in just the flick of his strong head and neck.   I remember laying there on the ground laughing watching him trot off with the others. 

He is curious and cautious, not the biggest in the bunch but its tough to compete with the size of Johnny our True Corriedale Ram.  Ahgosa was used in breeding two ewes this year, those being Alaina and Ella.  One of his offspring in Chester, pictured below.  Chester is available as breeding stock and being Homozygous for the Moorit gene and an excellent fleece, he would be a wonderful addition to any flock.

One of the much appreciated comments we received was from our friend Lindy in Arizona (congrats on the retirement by the way Lindy).  Her question was about any whethers (a castrated ram) that are available.  And while any ram can become a whether, its best when done during the first few days of the ram lambs life.  One of our ram lambs this year came out looking like a cow with a piebald black and white wool mixed throughout his body.  This is Ike, and he is for sale and would make a wonderful farm pet (still producing a fine fleece every year) or a great companion buddy for a pasture pet such as a horse.  Whethers are great because they are easy keepers.  You can use them as lawn mowers, pasture pets, companions, ewe teasers, etc.  And with a whether like this one, he is sure to be a conversation starter for all your farm visitors.