Oreo Operates on Her Own Schedule!

Having just done a post about how my ewes were due in 9 days, Oreo decided to take matters into her own hands (feet?) and basically give a little sneer at my famous calendar of due dates. She had 2 darling little ram lambs this morning, both white with black spots. Technically, they are black with white spots, but that's a genetics thing that I don't want to get into here, so you can just trust me on that one.

Being Sunday, we slept in a little later than usual and had a lazy morning, partly because we had been to an auction last night to benefit the Des Moines Area Community College's Culinary Arts program. We like the program and we enjoy the dinner series that they put on, so we are on the committee that does this auction fund raiser so that they can send students to France in their final year to do a study with a French chef. Then they bring the French chefs over in January for a couple of weeks here to work with all the students. It's a great opportunity for them. Here's how handsome Kelly looked as we headed out last evening. Aren't I a lucky gal! He's handsome, he's very handy, and he makes great pies and bread. What else is there?!

Anyway, we had a slow morning and when we finally went out to the sheep pen, there were two little lambs running around! Oreo must have had them early this morning. They weighed 8 lb 9 oz...
... and 6 lb 1 oz...
... so reasonably good weights. The smaller one was a little less active initially but seems to be fine now.

Kelly hasn't named them yet - he gets to name the boy animals and I name the girls, so we're waiting while he decides on names. Meanwhile I just love cuddling with them and touching their soft curly fleece. Welcome to our new boys, and thanks for being a good mom, Oreo!

The Ewes Are Getting Close!

I thought I'd blog today about my pregnant ewes. As Corinne of Crosswinds Farm says, sometimes you just want to go out there and squeeze them to see if that helps them along! Oreo and Clover are due on, or about, April 27. Kitkat is due on or about May 2.

All three of them were bred to "Thunder" and he is a hunk of ram love! Check him out!
What a handsome guy! Just look at that fleece! Dreamy!
Thunder lives on Hedge Apple Farm here in Iowa, which is where we bought Oreo, KitKat and Clover. We are pretty excited to see what fleece colors we get from Thunder's lambs!

Oreo looks like she might go first. She is already very milky. Her udder is very lopsided though. Poor girl!
I hope she will fill out on the other side enough to provide enough milk for her lambs. Last year she had quads! I just learned that yesterday from Lorraine, her former owner. I wonder what she will have this year. Here she is from the side.

KitKat is as big as a house, but she'll be the last to go because she has the later due date. Luna really enjoys hanging around with KitKat - I'm not sure why! Based on KitKat and Thunder's color, I suspect we will have some lovely moorit lambs if we are lucky! Moorit is the brown color that KitKat has.

Here's Kitkat with Lotus the Nigerian dwarf goat to her left, Coffee the mini-Nubian to her right, and Luna behind her. Everybody's enjoying the hay. You can really see how round KitKat's belly is in this picture!
Here's Clover, our dalmatian sheep! Well, she looks like one to me! She is looking pretty wide, and her udder is huge. Bianca's lambs, Calypso and Clipper, are happy to hang around with Clover too. Look at that lamb bump on her right side! Wow!
Here's Clover having a chat with Kelly! We had to put up some fine plastic mesh because the lambs and Luna were going through the cattle panel squares. Naughty girls!
I'll be sure to post with lamb pictures - hopefully in 9 days!

Thoughts Upon Turning Forty

Yes, today was my birthday, and I am now 40 years old. Is this bad? No, not really. I mean, it does have a certain ring to it, implying a certain level of maturity that I'm not sure I possess. Not because I am "immature" but, well, I just don't "feel" 40. Anyway, I had a good day, and I hope that my next 40 years bring as much joy as the first 40 have done!

So, what can I say about my birthday? Well, first of all, my parents bought a wonderful drum carder for me. I found it on eBay, and they gave me the money for it, because it would be difficult to send a drum carder from Canada. I have already tried it out and made a test batt, so I will be using it more in future, although not too much until this semester at school is finished.

My parents also made a wonderful set of 10 photo cards for me, each one with 4 pictures, showing me with animals through the years of my life, right up to today's photos with sheep and such. It was remarkable how many photographs they found of me with various critters, and here's one of my favourites - who knew one day I would have my own sheep?! In this picture, I'm in England with a bottle lamb on a farm near my grandfather's home. I think I was giving it some grain.
I named her Tanya, and her sister was Jemimah. I have no idea why I thought of those names. In any event, the next summer when we went for our visit, those sheep knew their names and came running out of the field to see me at the gate. It was the start of an addiction I didn't know I had!

My friend at work bought me a gift card for Earl May nursery, which is fabulous because I love to shop there and I will easily find any number of ways to spend it! I am thinking about a new decorative container for my front step. Of course, I might change my mind when I get there and see all the wonderful plants.

My friend in Calgary bought me an Amazon gift card and I'm excited about that because I have a lot of books on my "wish list" right now, so I can choose from those and have something new to read, even though I probably won't get to it until the summer.

I went on a birthday walk-in-the-woods today, just to see what was up and about in the woods. I found a male blue-winged teal duck on my pond, and then I found some beautiful trillium flowers (Trillium nivale).
I also found some interesting tree fungi.
I'm fairly glad that, at the age of 40, I have no visible fungus growing on me. Clearly I have not reached that age of antiquity yet.

I looked at my garden coming along and saw spring's promise in the daffodils.
I spent time playing with Calypso and Clipper, and also with Luna.
I watched my little Jacob lambs (they're more timid) and played "bleating" games with them.
I chatted with my feathered friends and hummed at the llamas. I looked at my pregnant Icelandic sheep and wondered about how many lambs I have on the way.
I collected 14 eggs and laughed at the ducks in the wading pool as they did their daily cleaning routines.
I watched my new pair of Muscovy ducks (Valdez and Latté) exploring their new home.
As I did all of those things, I felt like I was exactly where I am supposed to be, and I was filled with the happiness that life has brought my way, and I decided that being 40 is a good thing.

Snowball's Ancestry...

The question has been posed by one of my colleagues....who exactly were Snowball's parents?

Snowball

Tribble
(you have to have some Star Trek knowledge to get this...)

Snowball's Snowy Day

First, an apology to all the blogs I usually read. I have not been reading much. It has been a very busy time here, and I just don't seem to find the time lately to keep up with reading my favorite blogs. Rest assured, I will get back to it soon! I have a lot of deadlines at the moment, but they will soon pass.

In the meantime, I wanted to write a quick blog about my white silkie rooster, Snowball. It's kind of a girly name, isn't it.....well, that's OK, because Snowball is a very unusual rooster. I have heard him crow once or twice, but generally, he's very quiet. He also loves to be picked up and cuddled, which is nothing like most of my other roosters. So, his name suits him. After today, in chicken terms, we might also say that he's a few eggs short of a dozen.

Snowball decided that on this very chilly April day, in which we had significant snowfall and sleet, that he would just hang around outside. Most of the chickens went into their respective coops for most of the day, venturing out only for short eating binges or nest box forays. Snowball, on the other hand, was behaving like it might be midsummer. So, when I went out to do an egg check in the late afternoon, there he was....the most bedraggled and sad looking roo I ever saw!

I brought him inside. Really, I couldn't stand leaving him out there. He'd been hanging out with the ducks, who had been treading the snow into the mud and making a mess. He was filthy, wet, and shivering.

I first gave him a little warm bath in the sink. He just kind of lay there, pathetically, while I gave him a bath. I washed him carefully all over and tried to get him cleaned up.

Then, I had to blow dry him. It takes a very long time to blow dry a silkie.

Even after the blow-drying (during which he acted like he might die at any minute, just laying there limply), he didn't have much energy.

I wrapped him in a fleece blanket and took him upstairs. I sat with him on my lap for a while. He drooped his head and looked miserable.

I went to the kitchen and fixed him some of my favorite chicken treat - cottage cheese, warmed, with a little grain (usually quinoa) and some oatmeal and some "kickin' chicken" oil blend for energy. I brought it to him. He very half-heartedly stuck his beak in it and nibbled, but didn't really put much effort in. I thought he might be "on his way out" so to speak. I tried to make him comfortable.

So, he stayed wrapped in his blankie for a couple of hours in a basket, occasionally making odd little purring noises, and then becoming silent. I was working on writing a paper and was concentrating, so eventually, when he made a squawking noise, I'd nearly forgotten he was there. I asked him if he wanted more cottage cheese mix, and he said he did. He hungrily ate the entire rest of the dish.

He's now sleeping comfortably, not shivering, having perched himself on the edge of the basket, looking clean, dry, and warm.

Silly chicken. I bet he'd do it all over again tomorrow if I let him. I think he'll stay inside for another day until our weather warms up again.

Sheep Obstetrics Department Report!

The Sheep Obstetrics Department at Whispering Acres is pleased to announce the birth of twin ewe lambs Calypso and Clipper, born to Bianca this morning, April 2. Both girls are well and have nursed heartily already. Bianca is also doing well and eating like she might starve otherwise!

Clipper is slightly larger and is a lovely white ewe lamb.

Calypso looks yellowish but that's just mecomium so she is white also but if you look closely, she appears to be wearing "eyeliner" on both eyes! I'm not sure how unusual this is.

Both lambs are active and moving around with relative ease. Here is Calpyso checking out Bianca's horns and thinking that she should probably be a good girl so that Mum won't have to use those horns!We have moved them inside the barn for now and I will take more pictures later when they are drier and fluffier.
We are just so excited and pleased that our first lambs arrived without incident, and that they both appear to be healthy.

Um....help! Sheep! Pregnancy! Help!!!

When the shearer was here on Monday, he said that Bianca was pregnant, likely with twins. He said he can pretty much tell because he's been in the sheep business for about 30 years. I asked him if she would lamb before the others who are due on April 27, and he said "Yes." Her udder, when she was sheared, was nicely rounded, but not "big" in any way.

Today, I came home to this:

The shearer also said that her vulva would become much brighter pink than it was on Monday. Well, it is a LOT brighter pink than it was on Monday.


I felt for ligaments, now that I know where they are from the experience with Stuffin. If sheep have ligaments like goats, then she has none that I can feel. Here is her back angle at the moment.

Can anybody tell me when you think she might be ready to lamb? Is this close? A week? A day? Any help? Please???

By the way, he also said KitKat has triplets.


I would guess he might be right!