February 15th:
It’s a beautiful day! It’s sunny and not too cold (in the sunshine anyway). The cherry tree is blooming, the croci are out and the daffodils are almost out. The birds are singing and it seem like spring is here- except that they are predicting more snow.
Today I sheared 5 sheep, cleaned the house, cleaned, filled and warmed our wood fired hot tub, and did the animal chores. Basically a nice day.
I’m selling the Shetland fleeces faster than I have before and have reserved 5 Nigerian goat kids already. Things are looking good for our little farm!
February 19th-
Today it was 19 degree out this morning- again! We had to break up about 3 inches of ice off the water tubes and then unthaw hoses to fill them up. The faucet by the barn was frozen for the first time so we had to run hoses from the pump-house. It took a fair amount of time this morning. Then I sheared 6 more sheep. I now have 17 done- slightly over half the flock but then I’ll have 4 goats to shear also. The fleeces are looking really nice.
February 25th:
Today we had two more goat kids born. Angie- our grey Angora doe- gave birth to twin male kids. There’s a black one with a light spot on his side and a chocolate brown one (shown in the photo nursing). They are both doing well although were a little slow at learning how to stand and nurse (at least compared to our Nigerian Dwarf kids). We had a family over visiting the farm and bringing over two ewes to try an out of season breeding when she went into labor and gave birth. So she had quite an audience for the delivery.
I sheared 4 sheep today. I started with our ram Jocko because I had to catch and move him anyway to get him ready for the ewes. I also figured shearing him would help with his breeding. He was a little butt-head though- usually he’s very respectful. Anyway- he’s happy now with the 2 ewes. I also sheared our California Red wether, our CVM ewe and Spike (from the “Story of Spike” fame). All the fleeces look quite nice and now I’ve taken a long hot bath and feel and smell clean again.
All’s well that ends well today. And four more does and 6 ewes left to deliver.
February 22nd:
Kidding has begun on Schoonover Farm! We had two bucklings born last evening. They are both doing just great. Their mother is Ravencrest Maybellene and this is her first kidding. She’s taking excellent care of them. I was a little concerned because it was fairly cold last night. I placed a heating pad designed for dog kennels in the pen for them and they slept on that last night and stayed toasty warm.
Today I did the usually animal chores and then sheared 4 goats. I sheared our grey Angora doe whose quite pregnant, our white Pygora doe who makes cashmere fiber and can’t get pregnant, our black cashmere wether, and our Nigerian buck who makes a fair amount of cashmere fiber and is mahogany in color. It had been raining a little here so I didn’t want to shear the sheep today but the goats are so scared of rain I knew they wouldn’t be wet.
March First:
I’ve been sick for a couple of days with the flu. Yesterday I couldn’t finish feeding the animals so Tom had to do it after work. Today I managed to. I also cleaned the rabbit pen and hutches and moved some rabbits to make way for the lambs who will soon be born, I hope. I have 6 ewes pregnant but only three are showing any signs of it. The other three are first time mothers though so may only be carrying single lambs.
I’ve been very successful at selling fleeces this year. I’ve sold thirteen. Usually I sell a few and the rest I have made into rovings and sell those. It doesn’t look like I’ll have any rovings made this year.
Today was a goat day. We’ve had 5 does kid so far with 11 kids in all.
Today I did the usual animal chores and then trimmed the hooves on all the goats, weighed, and wormed them all. The vet came over in the afternoon and drew CAE tests. He also sedated the three kids that aren’t naturally polled and disbudded them. We then banded all of the goats destined to be wethers- 7 of them. The sedated kids are now in the laundry room sleeping it off. Quite a traumatic day for them.
There’s one more doe to kid and 6 ewes. Hopefully we start seeing some lambs soon!
March eleventh:
It’s been cold recently, and we have periodic sleet, snow, cold rain, and wind. I keep worrying about the critters staying warm, but they seem to do just fine.
Today was a busy day. We got up and did animal chores, sprucing up the barn a little and adding some extra straw bedding. Then we had 4 families visit to look at our animals. We were only expecting two so it was quite a surprise. We took deposits on 3 goat kids and sold a year old ram. I then sheared the rams and did their twice yearly shots and hoof trimming. Now I’m tired.
March 15th-
I have been working way too hard at work- the last 2 days I was up most of 40 straight hours. So today I slept in, then I did the animal chores. I then took a friend to the hospital to have a procedure done. I came back to the farm and put up some electric net fencing along the back fence line. I saw a coyote on the fence line Monday just before I left for work- pretty scary. Tom fixed a breach in our perimeter fence and now I have an extra fence line with electricity. There’s also an alley between the back fence and the electric fence for our dogs to prowl. All of this should keep the coyotes at bay.
Then I went to pick up my friend, ran some errands and came home. I did some weaving and then a woman brought a doe over to be bred by Cody. Now I’m tired and can rest.
