Apr
2009
New ram is here!
April 1st, 2009 at 08:20 pm by Shari Thomas in SheepYesterday we brought “Tom”, a Suffolk ram from the neighbor’s to our girls. He’s the one that we all believe bred all of the neighbor’s ewes, not the fancy-dancy dud Merino from the big sheep ranch.
He did some “pickin’ and grinnin’” while the girls peed for him. All they really did was tease the living daylights out of him.
We’ve been having pretty cold, brisk northeast winds, so the ewes prefer to lay around when they’re not eating, conserving heat, as if they could possibly be cold under their very full fleeces.
Our girls our very friendly as long as we’re on the other side of the fence. They love to have their chins scratched, their ears rubbed, and if you’re lucky, you can bury your and into the fleece on the top of their back.
I’m hoping Tom settles in to start working tomorrow. I froze my butt out there for about 30 minutes observing the flock today. Not a single ewe was willing to stand for him.
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Mar
2009
We think that ram was a dud… and here’s why
March 30th, 2009 at 06:59 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, SheepAfter very careful thought, and looking back at a lot of clues… we think the ram was a dud. Not a dude… a dud. Further, if the guy who supposedly went to a breeder and bought that ram gets the same results we’re getting… he’s gonna be on unhappy sheep rancher.
read more clues
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Jul
2008
Uh-oh… fleece issues, with no expertise available
July 7th, 2008 at 02:49 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, SheepEver since we sheared the sheep, and I put up the “Our Fleeces” page, we’ve been struggling with negative feedback regarding the staple length. What’s a girl to do, ‘cept more research!
I called folks all over Utah, and finally found some nice “sheep people” in both Oregon and California who were able to provide detailed information on what kind of sheep we have, and what we’ll need to do to improve our little flock.
Now, I’m the one who is most adamant about our “hobbies” providing some kind of return whenever possible.
The chickens provide us eggs, which we sometimes sell. Of course, since that’s Mom’s hobby, she gets to keep any egg money for her own use.
The horses are strictly for our own enjoyment. Besides, I’ve met few horses that ever paid for their own keep, let alone their own feed.
The sheep, though… they’re a “cash crop” in my eyes. We breed them. They produce lambs to both increase our flock size and to sell for meat. I also expect them to provide some wool to sell… and that’s where we’re having an issue.
These sheep were represented as black “Merino” sheep by the person who sold them to us. I believe her as she was led to believe they were “Merino”. Only one small problem… their fleece isn’t as “fine feeling” as the Polypay, and that’s not right.
Shortly after I got here (Dec 2006) we bought a ram, who was represented as 3/4 Merino x 1/4 Suffolk. He’s a big boy and over the past winter, developed a rather nasty attitude.
After much searching around, I believe what we really have are a type (not sure of the breed) of sheep called “marker sheep”. They are the one’s large sheep stations use to help them count their sheep. By maintaining about 1 black sheep per 100 white ones, they can easily count the black one’s and know if they have the whole flock in sight.
What’s all this mean?
Well, it means the fleeces we have for sale, are no longer for sale to spinners, as there’s no way they can meet the quality standards. It also means the ram we have is not the right ram for us. He can’t improve the fleece, and with his attitude, he’s really too dangerous for we women.
Now, this has caused a bit of consternation around here, as I pretty much did the research, presented the “bad news”, and set forth to make corrections without much input from anyone else… not the best decision I’ve ever made.
I am making the fleece available for alternative uses.
For example, we use it to line our chicken nests. The girls love it! They snuggle down in it and when they lay eggs, they are so nice and clean. With the cost of straw, our fleece is very cost effective.
You can also use fleece (wool) as insulation, or even as a permanent mulch as it will “felt” in time.
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Jun
2008
Our Fleeces
June 13th, 2008 at 01:24 pm by Shari Thomas in Uncategorized~~Notice~~
After receiving considerable feedback, and doing extensive research, we are no longer offering these fleeces for sale to hand spinners.
What we believed were Merino appear not be so, and we don’t care or want to misrepresent a product.
That said, I have approximately 150 lbs of fleece (ranging from white Polypay to our black “feels more like Suffolk”) which is available for $0.50 per lb plus shipping.
This fleece has been lightly skirted. That means I have removed manure tags, sweat tags, and obvious large pieces of debris (vegetative matter).
Suggested uses:
- Chicken nest liners
- Rabbit nest liners (when your doe doesn’t pull enough fur)
- Permanent mulch in garden paths
- Insulation between walls (won’t provide a high”r factor” but is an alternative to fiberglass) in “barn areas”.
To order fleece send an email to fleece2008 @ gmail.com. I’m sure you can see I’ve left spaces that you need to close for the address to work. That generally fools the “spam bots”.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
