YORKSHIRE ROSE FARM

Pancake2

2012-02-22T11:54:00.001-08:00

Pancake2, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

Our first lamb of 2012, she is a little Tunis ewe lamb and we have called her pancake as in England yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, better known as pancake day. They are not like the American pancakes they are crepes. Rust (mum) had to have a helping hand,but mother and baby are both doing well.

Morning exercise and a little helper

2012-02-15T13:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I am one of those people who like to ease in to the morning, unlike this morning. Just after 6am, I was laid thinking about the day ahead and some of the jobs that need doing and what I may just enjoy doing today when I heard a noise and so did Giz (the dog) who started barking. Telling him to shut up and listen and the door bell rang which set him off again and I jumped out of bed to answer the door.
David our neighbor from across the road had come to tell us that we had sheep out on the road, I shouted at Dave and thanked our neighbor and we both scrabbled into our clothes. Dave shot down to the barn for a bucket of food (bribery works very well on our sheep) I shot off down our drive, as I neared the end I heard a vehicle coming up the hill and I waved my hands franticly still not know exactly where and how many sheep where out. He came to a slow halt and as I ran to his window he looked at me and said " got critters out" yes I replied and ran off as I spotted a movement further down the road next to our fence in the beam of his lights.

It was the Rams that had got out and I started calling Silver as I knew he would come to his name, they where a little scared and confused but started to slowly come to me, Then Dave arrived with the bucket and they turn and started moving away, scared by his movement. Slowly I said to Dave they are confused and scared. He then climbed over our fence so he could get round them while I shouted and rattled the bucket of corn, they started towards me and we headed back to the paddock, waving my thanks to the driver of the vehicle as we came near. Then made our way down the drive getting the escapes back to where they belong shutting the gate firmly behind them.

They obviously had liked there trip out as later in the morning the dogs started barking and I looked out to see 5 of them sniffing round the front of the house, What, How did they get out again! I grabbed my coat, boots and an empty bucket that I use for gardening and shot out, they trotted up to see what I had for them in the bucket and we walked back to the paddock, where we found little Ben bleating his head of as he had been left behind and sheep don't like being on there own. Once again back in the paddock I checked the gate lock, but found it secure when closed, I went and got some bail twine and fastened the gate. then went back to the house to get a padlock (get out now).

Little Helper
Dave was skeining up some yarn last night and he had a little helper.

DYEING TIME

2012-01-31T12:59:00.000-08:00

We have been busy skeining up the new yarn and I have been itching to see how it would dye, so Sunday I gathered up 10 skeins of wool and went to work.
The first thing is to wash the skeins, as they have the milling oils on them and the dye will not be successful if the oil is left in.

After the washing I put two skeins to dry in the natural color.

I went to work with the dye, I use Cushing Acid dyes.
With the weight of the skeins recorded in my dying diary, I decided to use the full amount of dye and on this batch of blue I got my calculations a little wrong and put extra dye in.
It is not the look I wanted, but I love the color and I don't think it would have come out as nice on pure white wool.

Now the green, the brain is still not in gear and I use the same amount of dye as before only this green is very pale so it has not over powered the color of the yarn as much as the blue and I can see some of the heather look that I was after.

Now I realize what I have been doing and drop the amount of dye to the right amount for the weight of wool the Rose color has come out very well and it is showing some of the heather color I want to see, but it still isn't quite what I was looking for.

Last batch and I decided to use the amount of dye that I would use on the plain white sports 2ply Romney and this is the look I was after you can still see the color of the original wool coming through the dye making that lovely heather color.
I can see that I have a little more experimenting to do but I think I am nearly there.
I now hope everyone will like it, these first skiens will be going up on the website soon.

New Yarn

2012-01-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

I am so excited, I have got my first batch of colored Romney yarn yesterday. I only have a few colored romneys and I have had to save the wool from a couple of shearing's. I sent the wash wool to the mill in July, I was hoping to have it back in November, but the mill had a few problems. I have done my first skeins, I am very pleased with it, now I want to dye some of it and see how it knits.
Keep you posted as I do the dying and knitting and when it will be available on the website.

Busy weekend

2012-01-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

We have had a very busy weekend, the Wisconsin weather has co operated and we have managed to get half way down the fence line cleared, 400ft. I am so pleased, but I think we will both need the rest of the week for our aching bodies to recover.

Window of opportunity

2012-01-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

Hi and happy new year, sorry it has been a while since I blogged but his is the quite time for the ewes they are all hopefully pregnant and I have only had one health issue and that was with Spot one of the Rambouillet's last Saturday as I was filling the water butts I noticed that she had a mark on her butt that I had not seen before and the weekend before we had trimmed them out ready for lambing ( that means trimming away all the long wool from around there butts and back legs). I got Dave to help me catch her ( not hard she is one of the more friendliest ewes) and I found she had a large abscess, we cleaned it up gave her an antibiotic shot and I am pleased to report that she is doing well.
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
Today with the nice weather in Wisconsin (NO SNOW) Dave took the day of work so we could do some work on our 18 acre field, we need to clean out our fence lines so we can put in new fencing for the sheep. We don't want to take away all the tree's etc as this will take away the shade the ewes need in the summer but we do have to make a path through for the fence and take away any unwanted under growth like briers and low limbs on trees.

The first two pics are before we started and the one above is as we finished, you can see Dave at the end where the fence line will go. We didn't get as far as we wanted as we had a problem with the chain saw, Dave swooped the gas for the oil and the oil for the gas and chain saws don't run well on oil. Ha! well the day ended well the chain saw is up and running and tomorrow is another good day in Wisconsin.

3 Scarf, 3 different yarns, 3 different sheep

2011-12-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be good to share the 3 projects I have been working on for Christmas presents for 3 friends I have had a few difficulties getting them posted as I used my cell phone to take the pics and it has given me a few headaches on how to get them posted with a little explanation with each pic. I have managed it apart from one and Lambie's little write up did not appear.

Paris

2011-12-20T11:09:00.001-08:00

Paris, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

This is Paris she is a Rambouiilet, they have very soft wool and is good for knitting items that are going to be close to the skin. Paris will be nearly 3 yrs old and has had twins twice and we are hoping that she will give birth again in the next couple of months.

Scaf3

2011-12-20T11:03:00.001-08:00

Scaf3, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

His will be a cowl scarf as you can see I am still working on it. This is knitted out of Rambouillet wool, again I save up enough wool to send to the local mill and they spin it in to yarn for me. I then skein it and dye it, the is hand painted the color is called Regal.

Twinie

2011-12-20T10:58:00.001-08:00

Twinie, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

The ewe in the front of the picture is Twinie, with Boobie just behind her they are both Romneys. The wool from these white Romney's is sent to the mill to make yarn.
The Romney wool is a very hard wearing wool and makes excellent outer wear like hats, gloves, bags etc, example of it knitted is the blue scarf below.

Scarf1

2011-12-20T10:48:00.001-08:00

Scarf1, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

This scarf is knitted from Romney wool, I wash all my white Romney sheep's wool and then I send it to the local Woolen Mill, there they spin it in to yarn and ship it back to me on cones. I then skein it in to 200 yds and dye it, the colors I have use here are Royal blue, Copenhagen blue and Baby blue.

Lambie

2011-12-20T10:39:00.001-08:00

Lambie, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

Zcaf2

2011-12-20T10:38:00.001-08:00

Zcaf2, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

This is the shawl scarf, hand spun and knitted from the Tunis ewe Lambie

Lambie

2011-12-15T11:55:00.001-08:00

Lambie, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

Scaf3

2011-12-15T11:47:00.001-08:00

Scaf3, a photo by Shepherd_Carole on Flickr.

Quite week

2011-12-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

We have had a quite week, last Sunday we took Silver and Boras away from the ewes and ewe lambs and fastened them in the barn with Harry, Bro,Yorkie and little Ben (this years lamb which we are going to keep for breeding stock). When the Rams have been away from each other they have to spend a little bit of time getting to know each other and reestablishing hierarchy. They are now behaving and are ready to be let out in to the ram paddock for the winter.

This also means that I have an official date for the end of lambing which will be the 3rd May 20012 and the nice spring weather will be here.

I also have had a very sad dog (sam) he had to go to the vets to have his teeth cleaned, he had to have one back mouler removed and he is now taking antibiotics, but he is bouncing back and is arguing with gizmo about chew's.

Dave has also got the paypal working on the website and we have had our first order which is great,I am so pleased that it all working.

what did the wet felt make

2011-11-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

Remember the fluffy pile of wool that I was about to start wet felting, the above pic is that same pile of wool now felted. I made two pieces that day the other piece was slightly smaller and after a few ours in my work room it has turned in to 4 snowmen (I only have two finished).

They are make from a mason jar bottom wrapped with the wet felt, a needle felted head and either a needle felted hat or a knitted one, none of it is glued, it is all felted.

This idea was give to me by my mother who made them for us and filled the jar with little treats that she found throughout the year and they where put on the Christmas table instead of Christmas crackers.

Busy weekend

2011-11-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy weekend getting some of the fall trees cut up and taken away and David wanted to get last years manure pile spread on the field that has all the corns stalks on it, to help fertilize it for our next years grass crop. This is the first time David has used the manure spreader since we bought it so I got quite a laugh as he engaged the spreader mechanism and it started to spread the manure which went in all directions including David's and not having a cab on our tractor everything got a dose of fertilizer, thank goodness for automatic washing machines.

As you can see the tractor got more that Dave, but I think he got his fair share too, he asked if I would like to try it out I declined rather quickly and made a run for it back to the house and started doing some wet felting.

The picture shows Romney wool, which I have layered in different directions and is now ready for the wetting process, then it will be rolled to felt it and finally washed and left to dry.

Sad boys

2011-11-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the day to remove the 3 yearling rams from there breeding groups and put all the ewes together, we left Silver my oldest Ram in with them, hopefully he will find anyone who has not been bred by the other rams. The 3 boys are now living in the barn, as we need to keep them in a smallish pen till they decide to become friends, which can take anything from 3 or 4 days to a couple of weeks. The photo left to right is Yorkie who we bought in July, Harry and Bro.

We left Borace with has ewe lambs, he looks to be doing a good job.

We are able to tell if a ram has bred with a ewe as we put harnesses on the rams that hold a colored block, this block sits between his front legs(which you can see in the photo of Borace) and when he mount the ewe to breed the color block leaves a mark. This method has been very successful in the past and the marker washes out of the fleece. There are other methods of marking, but they can be very messy and we have heard the some of the marker's don't wash out very well, that is ok if the fleece is going to the wool co op, but our fleeces are precious and we need them in good conditions to make our yarn.
Silver and all the ewes, should be eating breakfast, but instead they are being nosy watching what I am doing, which is tiring to take a good pic of them.

gone technical

2011-11-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

We I am now the proud owner of a smart phone, confused and feeling a little hopeless with it at the moment but I will master it like everything else. The reason for getting up to date with my phone is that we will now be able to take visa cards at the farmers markets etc, well as soon as the card reader bit arrives.

I have also been taking some photos of the 18 acre field, we have been renting it our to a local farmer but we have now decided to farm it our selves, more yummy grass for the girls. Like always we find our selves facing a up hill struggle to get it in to shape for sewing with grass seed, it's last crop was corn and we have all the stalks etc from the crop being harvested, we tried bailing it and broke the poor old bailer we have temporary fence part of it with electric fencing and put Silver and his girls in during the day to eat and trample some of it and we have given some of the girls staggers ( too many corn ears left on the ground) so they are not going back in there now , next option get the farmer down the road to come and till it for us.

catch up with all thats going on here

2011-11-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

Hey! it worked, the first blog I mean, so now I will try to catch you up with what has been going on here.

Starting in July we went for a road trip to New York State and bought a new pure white Ram from Anchorage Farm and we also went to a sheep sale and bought a new ewe lamb ( both Romneys) for Little Hooves Farm, we had the longest drive home, we tried to do it without stopping but we both gave up around 3 and stopped for an hours nap, we got home safe and after there 3wk quarantine they have entered the flock and are a friendly pair.

August 2nd we put our Rambouillet and one of our Tunis ewes with our colored Romney Ram (Silver)

September 24th we split all ewes into their breeding groups, 6 groups in total which is quite a task as the rams can see each other and keeping them to their own group was difficult and twice Harry decided he wanted to be with Yorkie's girls.

October 2nd we went to the UW Badger Sale and bought 2 Rambouillet ewe lambs, we put them in to quarantine but it only lasted a day and they jumped through a fence then an electric fence and joined Yorkie and his girls, they are still in that group they have calmed down a lot but they are like a pair of siemise twins they are never apart.

October 7th we bought a Tunis ram lamb and he is enjoying himself with our ewe lambs and Rusty who is a Tunis ewe.

October 10th we had 30 day old chicks delivered, they are red Star hens, we have some hens but they are now getting old and the few we have raised with the hens are not enough. We also are going to put these girls to work, we found that our Rams had less internal parasites this year and the only difference is that the hens have been able to get into there paddock. So we are going to make a chicken coup on wheels so we can pull it behind the ATV and the hens will follow the sheep around the paddocks, hopefully it will help reduce there internal parasite too.

First ever blog from Yorkshire Rose Farm

2011-11-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

I tried this the other day and something went wrong, so hopefully today I will achieve my first ever blog.
Unfortunately it is a bit of a sad one as we have just take our oldest Ram (Ray) to the sale barn. It is sad but I have to remember that he has had a good life here with us and we now have alot of his off spring running around.
This is where I close to see if this blog will work for me.