Ann's Journal
Hi,
I'm Ann.
I raise a small flock of sheep on the hills of the Palouse.
I love to write about sheep, but, with so many things
happening with our flock
from day
to
day, I doubt I'll ever have the time to do
a daily blog. So I've created a journal that lets me
jot down the highlights of our farm as I can and throw in a few
pictures. I'm afraid it's the only way it's gonna happen
around
here!
August 2010
This season has come and gone quickly. We've been extremely busy with a number of projects. Again, we've had a wonderful crop of lambs. One of the advances we made this year was with a new feeding system. Here's a picture of the flock with the new system.
We had a new adventure on our farm this spring with our dairy goats. Both of our does had twins and have been producing a lot of milk for us. My favorite picture so far this year is this one of the goat kids.
December 2009
This year has been wonderful. I've had a lot of terrific customers come to our farm for on-farm slaughter and were able to offer them some really nice lamb this year. All the lambs are gone now, but the ewes have been bred and we expect our first lambs in February. The cycle will begin again.
On November 22nd, we had a new addition to our farm: border collie puppies. We bred our dog, Jodie to Spring, a dog owned by Janice Willard and Eric Nilson. Spring is also a working dog from good working lines. Here's a picture of the pups at about one and a half weeks:
Summer 2009 - Mid August
This has been a wonderful year so far. The lambs have grown well. I haven't shown a picture of our dog, Jodie, before, so here she is. She's a real lifesaver sometimes. You can see her holding the wethers and the ram for me in this shot. Like most border collies, she just lives to work sheep.
The new ram has turned out to be an excellent sire. Here's a photo of him now that he's grown. He's got nice conformation and his lambs have grown well on grass. He also sheds well enough not to require shearing. I'm looking forward to seeing how his daughter's perform. I think I'm pretty happy with this guy.
Spring 2009- Early March
Springs almost here. Most of the lambs are on the ground and looking very good. The snow is melting and we're hopeful it will be a good year for growing grass.
Fall/Winter 2008-2009
This year, we added a really nice ram into the flock. We got him from Jim and Judy Mault's Lazy J Ranch in So. Idaho. He's a young guy...born just this spring, but a full blood dorper with great potential. I went down to Indian Springs to get him and saw his sire and dam. His genetics will add a lot to the flock. Here's a picture of them right before Christmas.
Unfortunately we also lost a wonderful llama right after the holidays. Concho was the subject of a lot of attention at our place. I try not to get too sentimental about livestock, but I admit that Concho was the exception. He is very much missed. This is a picture from the spring of 2008.
Spring: 2008
August 2010
This season has come and gone quickly. We've been extremely busy with a number of projects. Again, we've had a wonderful crop of lambs. One of the advances we made this year was with a new feeding system. Here's a picture of the flock with the new system.
We had a new adventure on our farm this spring with our dairy goats. Both of our does had twins and have been producing a lot of milk for us. My favorite picture so far this year is this one of the goat kids.
December 2009
This year has been wonderful. I've had a lot of terrific customers come to our farm for on-farm slaughter and were able to offer them some really nice lamb this year. All the lambs are gone now, but the ewes have been bred and we expect our first lambs in February. The cycle will begin again.
On November 22nd, we had a new addition to our farm: border collie puppies. We bred our dog, Jodie to Spring, a dog owned by Janice Willard and Eric Nilson. Spring is also a working dog from good working lines. Here's a picture of the pups at about one and a half weeks:
Summer 2009 - Mid August
This has been a wonderful year so far. The lambs have grown well. I haven't shown a picture of our dog, Jodie, before, so here she is. She's a real lifesaver sometimes. You can see her holding the wethers and the ram for me in this shot. Like most border collies, she just lives to work sheep.
The new ram has turned out to be an excellent sire. Here's a photo of him now that he's grown. He's got nice conformation and his lambs have grown well on grass. He also sheds well enough not to require shearing. I'm looking forward to seeing how his daughter's perform. I think I'm pretty happy with this guy.
Spring 2009- Early March
Springs almost here. Most of the lambs are on the ground and looking very good. The snow is melting and we're hopeful it will be a good year for growing grass.
Fall/Winter 2008-2009
This year, we added a really nice ram into the flock. We got him from Jim and Judy Mault's Lazy J Ranch in So. Idaho. He's a young guy...born just this spring, but a full blood dorper with great potential. I went down to Indian Springs to get him and saw his sire and dam. His genetics will add a lot to the flock. Here's a picture of them right before Christmas.
Unfortunately we also lost a wonderful llama right after the holidays. Concho was the subject of a lot of attention at our place. I try not to get too sentimental about livestock, but I admit that Concho was the exception. He is very much missed. This is a picture from the spring of 2008.
Spring: 2008
The
picture to the right shows the flock at the the beginning of February
in 2008.
We started our main lambing
season this year in the midst of a lot of cold weather and
snow.
Ann
Ann