So far behind...!

You never realize just how busy you are until you get a chance to sit and do “nothing”. It’s fair time- my annual week of just that- sitting in the sheep barn, walking around the fairgrounds, visiting with friends and neighbors and just hanging out. The last pup has gone to its new home & the sheep have mostly been shorn. We’ve been busy at work with the database project and we’re ready to launch it in Canada next week.

Sydney showed her lambs and sheep for 4H; Ali entered some of her artwork in open class. Both did well! Next year Syd may move on to FFA- too many things going on for her as well as she enters her senior year. And now it’s time for her to make decisions about which college to attend. It’s going to be either UW-Madison, UM-Twin Cities, or Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.

As always, Sydney’s market lambs are too thin & small for the club lamb competition- but since they are mainly grassfed, they are slower growing but oh so tasty! Much better than the fat, yet always hungry club lambs. And the only market lamb with a well developed rumen! We also don’t use the same breeds as the club lambs (We use Targhee crosses compared to mainly Suffolk/Hampshire) so it’s like comparing apples & oranges.

She did well with the wool sheep: First Blue and Champion again with the mature Romney ewe; 2nd Blue and Reserve with her Cotswold ram lamb (pictured); First Blue & Reserve with her NC Jacob x Romney ewe. This year’s bottle baby, Mary, received a red as a commercial ewe. She is a Lincoln x Oxford cross. Every year we try to educate the kids that there are commercial wool breeds of sheep just like the commercial meat breeds. There is only one other youth who shows wool sheep sometimes- and this year he only showed one lamb. He took First Blue and Champion with his NC Rambouillet. So basically, until other kids get into wool breeds, she is her own competition.

Ali’s did great with her artwork. She’s so talented but shy; she hates to have the attention. She’s learned that it’s much different than entering 4H classes. There is a lot more competition and not everyone gets a ribbon. Her Airbrushed T-shirt took a 2nd, airbrushed landscape a 3rd, and her abstract Pen & Ink sketch a 4th. I’m hoping that she’ll plan on entering more for next year. She is her own harshest critic and I think some of the things she didn’t enter would have placed well.

Natural Born Charmers?

English Shepherds have a way of charming everyone they meet. While they may not be the first dog to run up and say hi, people are impressed with generally how well behaved they are or how they make themselves at home. I'm sitting in the customer lounge of my dealership waiting for an oil change with Brodie, one of Lola & Bubba's pups who is headed for his new home today. He knew something was up this morning when he was loaded into the car by himself.

Normally when we go for rides, we take a couple pups. But today was different and he knew it. "Mr Star Trek" (boldly go where no dog has gone before) became "Mr Wussdog". Sat on my lap the whole ride into Milwaukee. Clung to me for dear life when we got out at the dealership. And then, he settled down once we went for a brief walk. After about 10 minutes of telling me precisely how uncomfortable he was with the whole situation, he finally had to see a few other people in the lounge. And he's now calmly dozing under my chair.

It's nice to see how calmly the pups react in new situations. No hissy fit. No hysterics. A little quiet indignation, then calm.

Good dog!

Plank Road Summer

A couple of very good friends from "the early days" have been working on a historical novel about life in Wisconsin, and in particular, about life on the "Plank Road". Hilda & Emily are both gifted writers and have collaborated to write Plank Road Summer, a fictional book about life for two young friends whose families operate the toll-gate and an inn on the route.

http://plankroad.wordpress.com/

The book release is this weekend and they are holding an old-fashioned barn dance and farm events at the Yorkville Elementary School in Union Grove, WI. Sunday they will be in Racine at the Heritage Museum with family activities, which I've learned from my mom will include some wool carding. I may just have to take along a few bags of wool...

The Demuth family has always been close to ours. Hilda's mom Marg and my mom attended school together. Hilda was the one I envied; I really wanted her sheep! We didn't live on a farm- just near them all. So I lived vicariously through my friends that had livestock. Took a while, but now I have my own.

If you get a chance, take a look at their website. I'd love to go down on Saturday, but we have prior commitments (puppies heading out & lamb weigh-in). I'm hoping to make Sunday.

It's been a busy couple weeks. Pups are growing like crazy and getting BIG! The remaining older pups go in for their 2nd shots next week and I have a feeling Argyll and Aulay are over 25#. We're down to 14 with more leaving in the next week or so.

It's with mixed feelings that we send them on to their new homes. I completely understand the "it's time you leave" sentiment! But we sure do miss their personalities. Each one has touched us differently and made an impact. But, we can't keep them all (I'd be looking for a new home if I tried...!).

They are at the stage where anything can be a good toy. So when Aulay found a pop can, it was THE thing to have! The chase was on.

And the lambs are getting big. A couple of the bottle babies will hopefully be heading to their new home this weekend. Love them dearly and I wouldn't mind keeping them, but with my upcoming trip for work, I really need to reduce the chores around here. So DD will keep her fair lambs and we'll work on getting the flock numbers where we want them. Her Lincoln x Oxford ewe lamb is HUGE. We're up to almost 4 gallons of milk a day! She will make a great commercial ewe.

AWOL goose....

So the way our winter had been going with things dying, disappearing, etc- I got a little concerned when our Pilgrim goose went missing. The gander was still in the pasture, but she was no where to be found. The two of them had been wandering further in the pastures from their normal spots. I figured the coyotes had finally wandered close enough to nab her or a stray dog had found her- you know all the terrible things that go through your head...

So imagine my pleasant surprise when I was starting to clean up one of the winter shelters- to find her sitting on a nest and NONE too happy to see me!

We've come to an understanding- I bring her some corn and water and she doesn't bite too hard...

I figure she's been setting a week- so a couple more and we'll hopefully have some babies around.

Time to reinforce the perimeter fencing....

No words needed

New puppy pictures

As you can imagine- getting clear pictures of 21 puppies on any given day is a task all by itself! After taking almost 300 pictures with 3 different cameras this weekend, we got a few that are pretty much in focus! I haven't had a chance to ID the photos yet but their markings make them identifiable (at least to us!).

We set up a makeshift balance beam outside for them. After about 5 minutes of checking it out, it became one of THE things to do!

Our entire yard near the house is an obstacle course since we had some grading done last fall. The pups have plenty of things to explore, climb on/under/over, and have mastered the deck ramp. The braver pups are venturing out to try to hunt mice with the big dogs. They have met some of our poultry (turkeys are scary!) but they weren't phased by the goose.

They've also been getting the all important submission lesson from the big dogs! It's interesting to see how long it takes for some of the pups to get the message.

Some of the older pups will be heading to their new homes next week.

Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/asylumfarm/Pups04Apr09#



Goochland Acres English Shepherds