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.  

I like Nickel Creek and all but....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xnF7WglVHo&feature=related

Great band.  Great song.  I saw them perform once at Interlochen.  One of my favorite concerts ever.  I mean really, the power went out, they had sound problems, disaster.  Not for Nickel Creek.  They pulled up to the edge of the stage, played an acoustic set, like really acoustic, and despite being "powerless" for those moments they made the night with their improv.  Talk about lemonade.

I do like Nickel Creek.  But NOW everytime I think of this song, I think of that dog gone fox that wreaked havoc on the chickens. And by fox I mean foxes, they tagged team the coop. And by havoc I mean ambushing the chickens while they were out in pasture.  When the feathers stopped flying, and the coop dust had finally settled, despite having only one chicken carried off for the fox pups, three more chickens lay dead around the coop, and one more serioulsy injured.  So goes the circle of life right?  But its an interesting situation when the same fox that I would love to come across out hiking in the woods, where I would take pictures and enjoy its presence; that same fox is now my enemy costing me money and resouces and claiming my chickens (can't really say pets here).  So what do I do? Shoot him? Trap and move him; away from the nearby pups which will then die without food? Ugh. Ethics. 

What did I do?  Well...  the chickens have been restricted to their fences in pen, which has now been reinforced and dirt walled up the base in an effort to keep pesky foxes from digging under.  And they are locked in the coop until they can be "supervised."  Poor chickens.  At least till fox rearing season is over.  Or I shoot him.  One or the other.

There is a lot of good news on the farm too.  Lambs have been sold, fleeces are selling.  Its nice to have the reinforcement of a customer assuring you the product is good.  What can I say, Im a sucker for reinforcement.  But its nice to be rewarded with peoples pleasure in a product you put a lot of hard work and effort into.  Lets be honest, Ill always have to teach to support my farm habit.  Ill never be able to sustain the farm on a sheep income alone.  That would be a baahhh'duh idea. 

Pasture C is coming along.  Pasture C because thats how analytical my mind works sometimes.  Sorry I cant be more creative with the pasture names, but at the least you can find solace in predicitng that if the new pasture is C, then there must already exist an A and a B.  Its also just in time as the "little" lambs are now eating right through the pasture.   With weaning time now at hand, the lambs can be shuffled to new pasture, thus giving the ewes a break from any danglers still feeding off momma's milk.  With the last of the 60 day weights just coming in, our two heaviest lambs are rambs of course, Abe and Ulysses.  Would you beleive both are in the 75 pound range at just 60 days old!  Abe is big and strong, but you wouldnt be off in callying ulysses a chunk.  Thats the bond influence in the breeding, more squat solid shorter lambs.  Great for cuts of meat (remember these are dual purpose sheep) but also the bond brings in that longer staple length for wool.

Where ya been?

Wow, was it really early April that I last wrote a blog entry?   And here we are second week in May...  I can't seem to grasp time these days.  It just keeps flying by.  When I think about how much has gone on in the past few months, from lambing and early morning deliveries, to vaccinations, cleaning stalls, spring shearing and then moving everyone out to pasture; it baffles me to think of managing all that.  Then you throw in teaching and maintaining a schedule there, home remodel project that leaves your bed, your closet clothes and your dresser in the basement, living room and attic closet... I may have signed up for too much here.

But then you make it through, those with heartbeats take priority on the list of things to do.  The daylight sticks around later into the evening, and the temperatures start to reach 50s, 60s even a few 70s.  And voila.  You become summer minded.  Who cares if I had to call the drywall guy 7 times to complete the work right?  The sheep drive you nuts for a couple weeks, and the moment I'm on the porch, watching the new lambs play out in the pasture and the sun laying down on the horizon behind them; it all becomes worth it.  Every part of it. I have plenty of those moments, where I realize I am truly blessed.  I mean how lucky?  Its my dream.  I come home to it every day.  

I mentioned shearing earlier.  It was our spring shearing, and I had the professional come out and do it as to not sacrifice quality in the cut of these amazing fleeces.  A few are rams, as they are on the spring shearing, but we have one Ewe off schedule, and don't tell the other girls, but I think its my favorite.  She is my only gray fleece.  Its this soft, unreal light gray color, that will just be amazing to spin and create with.

Ahgosa's is the chocolate brown color, a real consistent tight crimp.  The kind of crimp so prominent that it can reflect the light and be noticed from a distance, its that good.  And the color is rich too.  It's a superior fleece.  Johnny gave us the big dependable creamy white Corriedale fleece, and Doherty finished off his lamb fleece with another 6 months of growth; leaving it a shorter staple, but brilliant white and fine crimp.  Please check our fleece page for pictures and pricing.  http://www.windyknobfarms.com/2010fleeces.htm

Ahgosa's Fleece

Here we go gang, summer is just around the corner.  Its time to finish up those spring projects, there is far too much greatness in Northern Michigan to be stuck in last season's "to do" list.  The sheep seem to get this better than I do.  To watch them, is to see peace and what its like to sit and relax enjoying nature.  That is until the Ewe gets bombarded by her now 60 pound, 2 month old lambs that are looking for a third playmate.  I can almost hear them begging... isn't it weaning time yet?  Almost girls, almost.   

George and Ulysses Enjoying Fresh Pasture

70s Green Breakout

The lambs are all doing well.  Have no fears.  I'll throw in some "cuteness" at the end, I'm certain that is what many of you tune in here for.  However, have I got a story for you!  The moment it happened, I instantly thought of the blog.  Is my life that boring, or that exciting, I'm still not sure.

The title says it all.    70s.  Green.  Breakout. 

70s: After the lambing season closed, and everyone seemed to be doing fine and dandy, I turned my attention back on the house.  Part of the draw for this property was the chance to restore a 1930's Bungalow.   I am able to do most of the work myself which helps the teacher budget in terms of remodeling.  This time I turned my attention to the dining room which was last done in the 70's.  And when I say 70s, think floor to ceiling paneling and heavy dark stained trim and ceiling beams. 

Green:

My appreciation for nature/stewardship of the earth, Biology Teacher meets construction worker- brings me to the "Green" part of the story.  Green remodeling.  You hear alot about green remodeling, and there are some who think shipping bamboo clear across the world equates to a 5 star environmental remodel.  For me, when you can take the old and find another use for it (and keep it out of a big hole in the ground) then you have found the epidimy of green remodel.  So, after removing the heavy dark trim, I then built a hay feeder for the rams who have now been moved out onto pasture (early due to the unseasonably warm temperature. 

Breakout:

Interesting, maybe creative and all but lets get some juice here, where's the good part of the story?  Here we go.  So after I so proudly built this hay feeder out of 100% post consumer goods, I then flipped it upside down and dragged it down the hill from the barn out to pasture.  Picture this, you are dragging this heavy feeder down the hill with your back to the pasture, and suddenly you hear these sounds, so sudden, so quickly you have no time to react.  Instead you just turn and are jawdropped.  The sounds... lets see how do I describe them?  They were like... hmmm... okay you remember playing with a slinky, and things are going smoothly down the stairs, one at a time and suddenly it all goes haywire and the slinky skips 6 steps and the metal spool of cheapness all come crashing together as it hits the ground and its just shear metal madness and noise.  Yeah, like that.  Only when I quickly turned, I saw Ahgosa halfway through the 6 wire fence heading south, big Johnny half way through heading due north, and little dougherty frantically running circles and indecisive of what or where to go for that matter.  I suppose this 70s retro green hay feeder somehow being dragged ominously towards them seemed like enough of a threat to throw themselves through the 6 line electric fence.  And now there is a happy ending here, but for a moment they were stuck and Im sure it didnt tickle.  The best part, was when Dougherty committed to going into the white termporary electric net, and when head over heels ( I mean hooves) and what a site!   Watching him flip over it, and 4 little hooves kicking in the air, he did manage to land on his feet after the summersault and was off and running; which I thought was an admirable athletic move.   Back to the story, so what happened???  Well Johnny broke through, but only into the next fenced in pasture.  Dougherty too, just ended up in a different pasture, however Ahgosa was the only one to break through the open side of the fencing out into freedom.   This is where I was shocked, I haven't had a loose sheep yet, let alone my squirreliest ram.  To make a long story longer, I grabbed some grain, opened the gate, and stared down Johnny, to keep him from running out the same gate opening that I was luring Ahgosa back into.  Lucky for me sheep just want food and to be together, and at that point I had both for Ahgosa. And within a few minutes he was back eating inside the fencing.

I then soon remembered that I had forgotten to tighten up the fence wire lines from the winter.  You have to loosen them for the cold temps out in the pasture and then oh yeah, tighten them when you put the sheep back out in the spring. It's the details you know?

And without any further delay, here is your cuteness.   This is one of the true Corriedale lambs who will be registered with the American Corriedale Association.  Despite being the second youngest of the group, he is head and shoulders above the others.  It isn't that the others are small by any stretch.  This here is President Lincoln was the tallest president, and thereby this ram lamb has earned the name Abe.  He is available for breeding stock, along with several others, so please check the website for more information.  http://www.windyknobfarms.com/

Invasion of the little ones.

Indeed they have arrived; all within a two week window. Lisa had her twins and five days later Artemesia had hers; within a day Nez Perce, then Vera Lyn a couple hours after that. I'm sure at this point the ladies are all talking amongst themselves saying "whew - we made it through his rookie year- glad thats over with." And you know what I didn't do so bad.
There were the perfect births, where everything went to plan. Ewe shows signs of early labor and a few hours later she is licking and cleaning and feeding. There were a few that didn't go as smoothly, but that is to be expected. I learned from that and about assisting in deliveries on top of all the other learning experiences like 2am barn checks, getting home from work and heading right into the barn (shirt/tie and all) to look for surprises (aka new lambs). I learned how to tag and dock tails, then I learned how to do it efficiently. I also learned about how amazing a new life is, and to watch it all unfold right before your eyes is an experience I will never take for granted. As I look to finish my first full year as a new shepherd, I am amazed at everything that has come my way, and now lambing is another expreience I can say, yup, done that.

There is quite the variety of lambs running around the paddock now. Out of the 11 lambs, 7 of them are ram lambs. Not exactly your 50/50, but the quality is amazing. It's quite the melting pot of grays, moorits and whites; the color varies quite a bit, even for a smaller flock of 10 errrr I mean 21. The science teacher in me follows the genetics closely. Some matings were easy to predict, a recessive Moorit with a recessive Moorit is going to give me a (you guessed it) recessive Morrit. Other pairings were to maintain the registered Corriedale line where White is the color and larger, taller lambs will prevail. Still a few were going to leave a 25% of something, where going to the barn is like Christmas 'cause I wasn't sure what I was going to get (potentially gray, brown or white, male or female- all from one mating). Still even when I think I have it figured out, there was one real surprise. Alaina is our black ewe, and she was bred to Ahgosa our moorit. The black was something I knew was a possibility; on the other hand, white came out of no where and by white I mean black and white on the same lamb! This is a genetic variance a shepherd doesn't exactly wish for, and it is that of an unexpected "chance" mutation. However, what went from a puzzling disappointment, quickly become a crowd favorite. This black and white little guy has the personality of a charmer and no doubt will become the ambassador of someone's farm. His wool quality is still top notch, and will spin black and white together to create a natural colored tweed and suddenly this odd ball becomes quite unique and desireable. He surely is the first thing people notice when they visit. A farm jester is born.

Some of the other highlights include Rutherford, our new gray ram lamb and Rosalyn our beautiful Morrit ewe lamb seen playing in the hay feeder here, (her twin is Abagail). Then there is Abraham (tallest president) our Corriedale ram lamb who was born weighting 18.5 pounds! That's heavier than the lambs that were already a week old. Despite being the youngest he is already head and shoulders above his peers; he is one big boy. So the first lambing season, and we all lived to tell about it. The chickens had a few births of there own while all this was going on. Not to be out done, the chickens laid and raised their own 7 peepers. Windy Knob eggs continue to sell out every week, the wool was sold out in just a few weeks, and now begins the next stage of developing the Windy Knob Farm label for lambs and breeding stock. Please contact us with any questions, as these lambs will make a great addition of new genetics to your flock, perhaps giving you that natural color that you have been trying to incorporate into your flock, or even if you are looking to start a new flock of your own. Look for more information and details in mid April at http://www.windyknobfarms.com/.

You know what they say about March...

In like a lamb... out like a lion. But seriously, in like a lamb? Is that what that meant all along... lambing season, "that" time of year. How did I become it, before I ever knew it. Is that where the saying comes from?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Windy Knob Farms has reached a milestone - its first lambs. Lisa went into labor late Thursday night, and by 12am Friday the first lamb was born. She went right to work licking and cleaning and drying and checking and licking... I mean I wasn't about to get in her way, the lady knew what she was doing and I was better off just observing and learning myself. But a quick glance revealed that as she was cleaning she had another two little hooves waiting to come out! At that point I needed some sleep before I might as well just curled up next to her or something; so back to the house for an hour I went until my alarm went off (ever set an alarm for 2am? me neither) and with my boots untied, jacket unzipped and hat askew I stumbled back to the barn. Of course she was on her second lamb already and the cleaning was well underway. My first lambing experience - and I might as well stayed in bed. Okay not really, but could have been for all the matter. The ewe had it all under control, she knew what she had to do and delivered two healthy lambs. Women, you all know this already, you're thinking yeah... story of our lives, men only get in the way at this point in delivery. I did wipe off the lambs, weighed them, made sure they were getting milk when nursed, and I sterilized and trimmed their umbilical cords. But make no mistake, Lisa was the hero in this one.

Lisa was important, she was bred to another ram from another farm. I was really hoping for twins, it's like stock in a set of genetics that you won't have access to ever again. When I saw she had twins, it was perfect! Then as they came out I realized I had one ram and one ewe. Even better! Pictured below are the twins. The ewe lamb is in the foreground, while the ram lamb is in the back (also note the cool "racing stripes" on the sides of his face). It's early at this point, but it is looking like they are gray badger face; which means their pattern is variegated, or multi colored. The gray is really unique and a gene that is hard to find and control. And I got twins.

Names? Well lets see, 1001 and 1002. The "10" is for 2010. The 01 and 02, yeah first and second born. Once everyone is born, they will all receive their formal names. Windy Knob will always have a theme, a way to recognize the year that sheep was born (along with the tag number of course). This year's theme is Presidents and First Ladies. My favorite names will be given to the ram and ewes I plan on keeping. Yes some will be for sale for breeding stock, and I will choose according to colors, size and genetics. Some of these sheep are homozygous resistant for codon 271. That's a big deal, it means they are not succeptible to foot rot. Others are at least carriers for the gene. Then you include "moorits" "grays" and the "registered Corriedales" and there is a lot to be found here in adding to or starting one's own dual purpose flock of sheep.

Good ol Nez Perce. Nez quite possibly has the single best fleece in the bunch (she competes with Alaina and Ahgosa for top honors). The crimp, the quality, the luster and the staple length (she is part "bond" - not James, but a special type of Corriedale) all make her the stand out of an already impressive group.

She is also a rookie to lambing so wish her luck. She will be due later this week and she was bred to Dougherty - it's his first lambing too. We shall see how these lambs turn out, but of course I expect nothing short of some serious awesomeness. But really it's her demeanor. There's something about Nez, she is laid back but regal at the same time. She isn't the biggest, she isn't the bossiest and she isn't the loudest of the flock; but she has her way of standing out to me. You take that and the fact that when I looked at Lisa she bah'd at me around 4:30 on Thursday, which then led me to placing her in the stall to prep for lambing which came 8 hours later... I'm beginning to think I speak sheep or something (first sign I need to get away from the farm more). I'm not ready to be labeled as the sheep whisperer or anything but hanging around these guys, it's amazing. I never realized how much personality they have and how I have really picked up on their traits. When I walk my dogs the sheep follow along the fence line and they will call out (wanting food, it's not like they beckon me by name or anything) but really I could pick each noise out and tell you which sheep it was. Months ago, they all sounded the same.

Maybe I am the sheep whisperer.