Our fleece is now wool!
Wednesday 27 August, 2008
Well, a little bit of it is! It smells lovely, it's a glorious colour and I'm chuffed to bits with it. I'll be sending off more to be spun this week. Now that he's seen it spun, Dan's decided he'd like a sweater, too. So does his Dad! I can see I might get bed socks if I'm lucky!
Fleece
Tuesday 26 August, 2008
I have sent a sample of fleece to murmuringwheel to be spun. I should get it back in teh next couple of days. I'm quite excited! A colleague of mine has offered to knit it up for me - she's a beautiful knitter.
Roll on winter!
Shearing
Saturday 28 June, 2008
Our three sheep were sheared for the first time today. I was a bit anxious - not by the shearing itaself, but in getting someone to come for three. It's been quite hot and they were obviously feeling it. Anyway, we managed to get an awful nice man called Robert Bell, who has been shearing fro 50 years (sure keeps you young!).
We brought the girls into the garage yesterday lunchtime so that they would be dry. The weather's been a bit unpredictable here for the last week with some heavy showers.
Worming sheep
Sunday 22 June, 2008
Since we got the sheep, it has been our intention to use as few chemicals as possible. They were wormed immediately before we got them and were turned on to clean land that hadn't had sheep on it since about 2003, when we fenced our land. We started using Verm-X, a herbal wormer - we also use this for the hens.
However, I decided to get a worm test done by Westgate Laboratories. Essentially, it is an equine service but they are happy to do other species, too. Our sample came back as <50 eggs per gram and no eggs were seen. On that basis, I have decided to worm on a "need to" basis, based on worm egg counts. I'll have another test done before tupping, so that I can worm if required.
The big breakout!
Saturday 21 June, 2008
Yesterday evening, I glanced through our (as always) open back door to see big brown wooly thing. Juno, accompanied by Jinx, had escaped from the top of the orchard! In true Ryeland form, they had stopped at the back door to check for any grub and were spotted. Jura, meantime, was going nuts in the orchard.
Encouraged by a small bowl of sheep mix, the two escapees were tempted back to the orchard and reunited with Jura.
I think a certain collie called Tess may have had a paw in "encouraging" the escape - she does tend to herd the hens into the kitchen, so maybe she thought we needed different company. Fortunately, there's no harm done, but all the intermadiate gates are now closed.
Fly strike
Saturday 14 June, 2008
Since we got the sheep in September, I've been waiting for something to go wrong. And this week it did. I had been meaning to get some "Crovect" to treat ectoparasite - flies, ticks, lice etc. but just hadn't got round to it. On Wednesday, Jura was fine - in Thursday, she was obviously distressed, wet backend, not eating, kicking at herself. Even without examining her, I was pretty sure that it would be fly strike so Dan went off to get "Crovect" and four 6 foot sheep hurdles.
After work, we caught the three sheep. Jura's the least tame but they all get anxious if Dan and I go into the field - they're fine if we go alone! We trimmed Jinx and Juno's feet (Jinx's grow much faster than the other two) and sprayed them with "Crovect". Then it was Jura's turn. Actually, it wasn't as bad as I expected - the maggots were numerous but small (I had endured some remarks about "bush tucker" from my boss earlier in the day), so I cut away as much fleece as I could and sprayed the area with "Crovect". Fortunately, her skin seemed to be undamaged. When we let them out, she immediately started grazing and looked much easier. A check today showed that all the maggots were dead - so we applied "Maggot Oil" to sooth the skin and prevent further problems. She now looks fine and is eating and cudding normally.
Farmrite - top service
Wednesday 14 November, 2007
Yesterday lunchtime I ordered a pair of hoof shears for the sheep from Farmrite. The website was easy to use, and it had a little box to fill in to say what to do if we weren't in to take the delivery (leave it in the greenhouse). This morning at 9am they dropped through the letterbox in a jiffy bag.
The price was extremely keen, the delivery charge reasonable, and they put a little sticker on the front with the instructions I'd put on the form.
First pedicure
Monday 12 November, 2007
We trimmed our sheeps' feet for the first time yesterday. It wasn't as traumatic as I expected - for anyone!
Ian, husband of Jane, who bred our shhep, came down to lend us the clippers and offer advice. He also brought the "purple spray" in case we got carried away. However, Jane and I had discussed this on the phone and agreed that we'd rather be cautious and trim more often than risk cutting too far.
Ear tags
Sunday 4 November, 2007
Jinx has lost her ear tag - well, technically it's not lost - it's on top of the key cupboard in the scullery. But it's not in her ear, where it should be. And she now resembles some kind of punk sheep with her ear cut in two. It's a hell of a wound to have been made by a plastic tag. I think her show days are over before they even started!
We were checking them over today and immediately noticed that her ear was bleeding and the tag was gone. She must have caught it in the hay net - so no more hay nets. I've sprayed the wound with iodine and it stopped bleeding - fortunately, it's past the time for flies. Other than that, I'll leave well alone.
Rosedean Flock of Pedigree Ryelands
Saturday 3 November, 2007
Finally, the Ryeland Flock Book Society has sent me a form to upgrade my membership to "flock-owning". So Juno, Jura and Jinx are now the foundation stock of the Rosedean flock of pedigree Ryelands. I don't think they are awfully impressed, though.
It's funny how their personalities are showing through now they've settled in. Jinx was really shy and skittish when we got them but she's now the boldest and the most vocal. She also has a very distinctive voice - actually, I think I can recognise all three now.