The tortoise and the hare

That would be Broadway and Pony Jacobson, my last ewe to lamb and the shearer who was here Wednesday evening. One has been a watched pot for weeks; the other showed up early, worked quickly and efficiently, and was gone again before I would have managed to shear half of a sheep.

Shearing went like clockwork. The seven candidates were shut in for the day so they could be held off food and water (for comfort's sake). Just before Pony arrived I removed coats; while he was setting up in the barn aisle I caught and haltered the three boys so I could lead/drag them to the shearing station in turn without delay, followed by the girls. While he was shearing I wrote names on bags, then swapped a freshly shorn sheep for a woolly one. After Pony left I caught all seven again to put coats back on, so by the end I was pooped, but well satisfied with how quickly and smoothly it all went. Pony even brought his own help, although they weren't needed here. Here are the few photos I managed to take.

Helper #1

Helper #2 (the apprentice)

the three Musketeers, checking out their old coats

Thursday morning I turned out the girls, but Broadway hung around the gate and promptly went back into the fold by herself when I opened the gate for her. My ewes only do that when they are ready to deliver, so I was hopeful even though she still hadn't dropped through the flanks. But if I thought she'd get on with it so I could go to work and then agility class and a stop at Costco, I was soon corrected. I stayed close to home, checking in on my 'watched pot' every hour or two. She was where she wanted to be, but beyond that, not much happened. Eventually she laid down and pushed occasionally but without conviction, distress, or progress. I fretted; Broadway was, after all, my C-section lamb. When Rick finally got home well after dark, he gloved up (I was out of gloves at home) and checked to see if her cervix was dilated. It was (whew, so not ring womb then), so after a bit of discussion, we decided to give her an injection of the type of steroid lambs produce to stimulate birth when they are ready to be delivered. I checked on her one more time before falling into bed around 11:30, praying for the safety of my pretty ewe and her unborn babes.

I awoke around 2:15 and decided to check on Broadway again. She was busily cleaning up a dark lamb on the ground, with little hooves presenting under her tail. Relieved, I watched the miraculous process of newly minted mother bonding with a lamb that transformed before my eyes from helpless to teat-seeking quadruped. Not wanting to leave until lamb #2 was safely delivered and similarly transformed, I checked things out. The projecting hooves were upside down, no nose visible. I ran my fingers up the legs, feeling for knees or hocks. I found hocks – the lamb was coming hind legs first; time to intervene! I pulled gently but steadily, meeting significant resistance before getting the butt clear; the rest of the lamb came easily then. Given the amount of meconium staining, I was glad I acted when I did, but was concerned that I had done some damage because of the lamb's unstable hind limb joints. But even with them bending every which way, lamb #2 determinedly found its way to food, too. Two Ag grey ewe lambs and a very careful and attentive Broadway; wonderful answers to my prayers! I decided they needed Bible names, and after a few more hours of sleep and a little internet research, I settled on Bernice (darker) and Bethany (with the cloudy coat).

Sunday would have been 145 days from when I separated the breeding groups, so Broadway almost evaded getting bred – almost.

That's it for shearing and lambing this year at . . .

Weirdness

I've been trying to start a new post for days, but Blogger wasn't having it. Last night it decided to work; go figure.

Not that I was going to actually post again until Broadway lambed, but she continues to waddle around grazing with the rest of the girls, carrying her load high and wide with no sign of the drop of impending birth. Thursday night I thought (hoped) she was acting suspicious in spite of her looks, so Brian helped me fashion a dividing wall in the Sheep Sheraton so she could be safely sequestered. Bridget has been her frequent attendant (as she was with Boop) and I was concerned that she might try to steal a lamb(s) and precipitate confusion or rejection by Broadway. No dice, but at least things are ready.

Bridget 'attending' Broadway

Bridget 'attending' Brian

The two ewes with lambs are still sharing the divided barn stall at night; Blaise and Bitsy go out with the other girls during the day although they aren't that comfortable doing it and mostly stay off by themselves. Blossom and Bud are doing well in spite of Boop; she has not relaxed into the roll of motherhood yet. She definitely prefers Blossom, frequently butting Bud away. Sometimes I hold the witch Boop so Bud can nurse his fill, worried that he isn't getting enough; other times I see her letting both of them nurse. I'd love to get them outside to take better, updated photos, but I think Boop would be a poop....

an uncommonly integrated flock

this is more typical

Blossom

these three photos were taken Thursday

Bud

My research into improving my shearing situation next year brought unexpected results: a professional shearer is coming Wednesday evening to finish shearing my flock! If I am happy with the results, I will continue to use him; if not, I'll likely order an adjustable shearing stand to make shearing easier for me.

Yesterday morning I had a good session with Stella. We warmed up and schooled in the arena, and then headed into the woods in search of my favorite spring flower, wild iris. When we got back I rinsed the sweat off her and turned both horses out for a timed grazing period.

beauty underneath and all around

How this tulip end up along a track in the woods among nettles?

lots of yellow; Oregon grape and Scotch broom

no iris yet, but there was a big patch of this blue flowering plant

Finally, my quest was rewarded! Couldn't get closer because of poison oak.

these were growing in the middle of our path

That's it for now from . . .

Blossom and Bud

'feral' cherry

one of the last daffodils of the season

part of our home orchard

pieris in flower and new growth

this tree is always a highlight of the season

Eek, another week has zoomed by! Until today, it has been rather uneventful except for a miserable bout of vertigo(?) that kept me in bed and unproductive from nausea most of Sunday, and threatened again on Monday. That made me leery of trying to shear anyone because of all the movement that shearing on my short stand requires. So I've spent more time researching options (equipment vs. professionals) for next year than shearing this year's fleeces since my last post; c'est la vie.

Of course I've been keeping my eye on Boop and Broadway, above. Sure glad that I didn't separate my breeding groups any earlier as they were obviously bred in the very last days of 'togetherness.' This fall I plan to wait until mid-November to put my breeding group(s) together so that next spring I can go to our church's women's retreat; I'm tired of missing out and my ewes don't reliably cycle in October anyway. Bridget mystifies me. Even though she is clearly not pregnant, she has been acting late term – slow to leave the fold in the morning, the last one into the fold in the evening, and often staying off to herself in the pasture. This morning Boop was acting suspicious, and Bridget was staying close. My ewes often ask to go back into the fold by themselves when they are nearing delivery and Boop did that this morning; it was tricky letting her through the gate and not Bridget, who then proceeded to call for her.

Boop's coat was on the loose side after shearing, so it needed to come off. I gave her some time to settle, and then managed to catch her without much drama (she is my wildest sheep) and remove it. Then I left her to it for awhile, checking in discreetly from the upper window to keep disturbance to a minimum.

Oops; she spotted me!

When I saw a water bag, I settled in to wait and occasionally watch. In between peeks, this happened!

It didn't take long to see that another lamb was presenting, but Boop was too busy reacting to the first strange new creature lamb to  settle down and push. Eventually, I decided to intervene, finding only one front leg and a nose. I felt around for the other front leg, then managed to ease #2 out using just the one leg. Lamb #1 took advantage of Boop's interest in #2 to get its first meal:

So you might be thinking I buried the lead, but after checking for plumbing I named these two . . . Blossom and Bud. 😊

Both are strong and vigorous and have nursed multiple times. I divided the barn stall with the chain-link panels Rick refurbished for me, and moved Boop and her lambs in next to Blaise and Bitsy. Blossom (lamb #1, a ewe) looks black with HST spotting (HST stands for white on Head, Socks, and Tail), but will turn gray. Bud (lamb #2, a ram) is black with the gulmoget pattern. Because Sanson, their sire is a gray (Ag) gulmoget, all his lambs will be either gray or gulmoget.

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Today I finished the second rug on the black warp. The first one will be short (I ran out of the darker pink); this one will make up for it by being extra-long. I did identify a couple threading errors which I'll fix before using the remainder as a dummy warp. My next warp will be a variegated cotton thread with a natural wool weft; I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Rug #2 above the beam; reverse side of rug #1 winding on below

Rug #2 finished

My crafting room has gotten more cluttered because I'm putted bagged fleeces there as I shear them, but I am still focused on my One Big Thing of 2024. What I've already accomplished has made room for my drum carder; I'm much more likely to use it if it is easily accessible (it's currently closeted in a storage space off the crafting room). I have assorted old fleeces, mine and others, that I can then prep and spin, and already have spaces where I can crank out the yarn with my Louet or miniSpinner. Decluttering by tossing is much faster, but decluttering by utilizing is so much more satisfying!

That's it until the last lamb(s) drops at . . .