WIN17X and DJA107Y

WIN17X and DJA107Y (Big Show) have created some lovely ewe lambs together! You can see the long wavy hair coats that Big Show's lambs have a tendency to have. I find this rather amusing since Big Show has a short dense coat! Love the little black eye on the one little girl.

Random Lamb pic

Here are some of our lambs, we have some beautiful lambs this year. Lambing is well under way and we are about 60% done. We have some beautiful crosses as well as purebred Dorpers and Katahdins.

DJA41U Shorty's Twins

Shorty DJA41U has had her twins! A lovely Ewe lamb (with the red around her eye) weighed 10.8 lbs and a little white ram lamb weighed 8.4 lbs. Proud Papa is DJA107Y Big Show. I am seeing a pattern here with his lambs having long wavey hair. Did not see that coming since he has short dense hair. Beautiful lambs with nice sturdy legs.

Ebony's Twin Ram Lambs

Ebony has had her twins! Twin ram lambs. One Chocolate and one White with Chocolate marks. These little boys are 1/4 Dorper and 3/4 Katahdin. Dad is Big Show. Chocolate one weighed 7.8 lbs and the white with chocolate marks weighed 10 lbs even! Love these two and wish they were ewes!!!

Getting Big

Just a few pics of some of the girls that are waiting for their lambs to arrive.

Clair's Premies are doing great

Clair had her triplets very early and the smallest ewe lamb did not make it. The other little ewe lamb was the strongest. The ram lamb was born with no teeth erupted, eyes still sealed shut, could not stand, suck or regulate his body temp. Today he ventured outside for the first time! His eyes are bright, he loves his bottle and he has 2 teeth. He jumps around rather well follows me around. He is still wearing a little coat until I can be sure he is regulating his temp well and will not chill. Here he is hanging around with Mum and sister.

50/50 Ram Lamb

Here is picture of the one 50/50 Dorper Katahdin ram lamb that was retained to raise. He is turning out nice.

Cold weather water

Here is a look at our winter water situation. We haul water in on a tank put on the truck. We then deposit it into lots of water troughs for the sheep. This it the water for the main pen of bred ewes. Most days in the winter the ice on top of the water is broken a few times a day so they can drink. It is nice when the sun is out and keeps the water from freezing. We only filled 6 - 7 tubs for this group if it is very cold as they loose the water to ice. We just fill from scratch that much more often. When warmer we can fill the load and it will last them up to a week.

 

Stage One is Done!

Stage one of bringing in real power is finally done. The first picture was taken Feb 26th when they were preparing to install the poles. Lots of snow on the ground that day (my previous post of the ewes with very little snow had the picture taken just a couple of days before that). I took the pictures of the poles up just this morning and we are back to very little snow. However! We are under a winter storm watch so that may change yet again. Gotta love Alberta weather. We are looking forward to having full power but we will be using the "grid" to replace our generator. We still plan on using our wind and solar as our main power.

Ewes and Feeders

Here are a couple of updated photo's of the Ewe flock. They are enjoying the feeders that we put together this year. They are just made from pig panels that are cut and tied together with baler twine. We have enlarged 2 rows of holes for the bigger headed critters that alternate wires that have been removed. These feeders have cut down on the amount of waste. We have tried them wrapped around round bales and filled with small squares and they work great. The sheep just push the panels together as the hay goes down allowing them to clean it all up.

Our New Goat Bucks

Hi All, It has been too long since this blog was updated. I will try to do better in the future. There has been a couple of new additions over the last while. I would like to introduce to you our 2 new Dairy Goat bucks. First up is Casper, he is 3/4 Nubian and 1/4 Saanen. He is just a youngster and we are raising him to breed to our Dairy goat does in the future.

Below is another new Dairy buck, Lucifer. Lucifer is 7/8 Nubian and 1/8 Toggenburg. He is slated for this falls breeding to our Dairy Goat does. He does have a little bit of an attitude but that is due to his being raised as a spoiled bottle baby and then being kept in tact. I recommend that no ram lamb or buckling that is bottle fed be kept in tact. They don't tend to grow up with a healthy respect for their handlers and can develop some attitude issues or habits. He is getting better with his respect issues however and I expect he will put some lovely kids on the ground in 2014.

Nom Nom, They sure like snow

Nice to see how well the critters all get along. Here Duke is relaxing in with the lambs. The little fellows like snow snow much they eat it right off Duke's mane. They do have shelter but Duke is happy to snooze outside most of the time.

Jewel and Hanna

Here is little WIN60Y she sure has grown up! We call her Jewel, she is a registered Dorper. I can't wait to see what she puts on the ground this spring. She will be bred to the good Friar (BRO 70Z Friar Tuck) for spring lambing.

Remember WIN67Y Incredible Hanna? Pictured below, Hanna was born at 14.5 lbs. She has grown up into a lovely ewe. This girl looks every part the purebred Dorper. She is not a purebred, she is a cross. Her dam is WKW20R (75% Dorper / 25% Katahdin). Her sire is RAM H Strategy 541U (aka: Buster) a registered Dorper. This year Hanna will be bred to DJA107Y Big Show.

New Arrivals!

We were very pleased to bring home 3 new registered Dorper ewes to add to the flock. They have been home a few weeks and are settled in nicely. We have just been too busy to get good pictures of them any earlier. They are lovely girls that are welcome additions to the flock.

Big Show has arrived!!!

We are proud to announce the arrival of our newest herd sire BIG SHOW aka Mr. Big (DJA107Y). I can't wait to see the lambs this fellow puts on the ground this coming spring. The introductions started a brief half hour after his arrival. Here he is penned up with Odo WIN12X as they try to learn to get along. The pushing and shoving has commenced. The boys are confined to a small area so they can't hurt each other as they try to prove who is boss. In the first picture below we see Big Show at the front and Odo behind. In the second picture Big Show is on the left and Odo on the right. They can turn around but they can't really get any space between them. The do change positions, grumble at each other and do a lot of pushing and shoving.

For Sale!

Just a note that our "For Sale" page has been updated. There are a few ewes and ewe lambs on it. There will be some at least one cross ram lamb listed on it shortly too. Check out the link on the right hand side of this page.

September already.. how time flies.

It was a nice day and the ewes and youngest lambs (still on their mums) are heading out to pasture. Cassandra went for the walk to pet on her favourites.

Max the cat having a stretch on the barn door.

And The Tractor Got Stuck

The Chev got stuck and the Ford got stuck
Got the Chev unstuck when the Dodge showed up
But the Dodge got stuck in the tractor rut
Which eventually pulled out the Ford
And the Dodge...


Only in our case it was..
The John Deere got stuck and Kubota showed up,
Kubota got help from the bobcat but,
they just couldn't do it alone!
The Chev showed up and tried to help,
but that still didn't work.. Sooooo
The neighbor with the big machines had to haul it out in the morning. heh.

Raymond Fall Fair

We had a lovely time this past weekend at the Raymond and District Ag. Society Fall Fair. The Sheep were a hit so our display was busier than I thought it would be.

Twinkie enjoyed the fair too, complete with tummy rubs and lazing about.

She was one tired little dog buy the end of the day and just couldn't keep her little eyes opened any longer.

Wow What A Tail!

This has to be the longest tail I have seen on a lamb. WIN101Z is a purebred Katahdin. She is out of 29U and Odo. That tail is long and has a fluffy end on it. Very weird! Other wise she is a pretty little lamb that is doing well.