Corrigan - The Sire of Amelias' Lambs

 

Treble Cleft - Corrigans' Sire

Lana - Corrigans' Dam
 Corrigan is standing at right.

Amelia was bred last winter to Corrigan.

The ram is an important part of the breeding process in that 50% of the genetics the lambs receive will come from him.



The bloodlines of both Corrigans' dam and sire are very strong and long established lines, known for excellent maternal instincts, prolificacy, docile temperaments, among other traits.

Corrigans' sire carries for color and possibly spotting. His dam has yet to throw anything but white lambs, so I'm guessing she is genetically completely white.

What has me puzzled about Corrigan is a lone dark spot just above his shoulders on his neck. I often forget he has it, considering him to be a white sheep, but that spot says otherwise. Technically, it says he is a piebald ram, meaning spotted.

This is his first breeding and I chose Amelia for a few reasons, the least of which is the hope of bringing out any spotting Corrigan may possess. This could be the difference between whether he stays here a few more years, or is sold this spring.  His personality is very gentle and quiet, affectionate without being over bearing. Coupled with Amelias' similar personality perhaps the lambs from this pair will also have the same personalities.
Corrigan is on the heavier boned side, while Amelia is more refined with lighter bone structure. Personally I like both types, and so the lambs will be pleasing to me with either body type.

Fleece on Corrigan is a nice lock structure, with a staple length of 4 - 5 inches. His fleece is not consistent from head to toe, but has a range of long, wavy locks to finer, crimpier locks and I like that diversity.

Corrigan is a quadruplet, having two sisters and a brother. Amelia was a twin.

Amelia had a Badger Grey dam and a black sire. Her twin brother was Badger Grey. So far, she hasn't given me any Badger Grey lambs, and may not ever.

Corrigan - 2013

Freddie - Amelia's sire ( whom she favors a great deal )



Tipper - Amelias' Dam

Tipper is owned by Sweetland Hill Finnsheep in Chenango Forks, N.Y.


At this time I am beginning to get excited about the pending babies. It won't
be long before they are here, and as usual I have done and re-done the due date
several times. A few days ago I ran the calculations over in my head and in a panic thought
that I had given myself more time, calculating the due date as the 14th. Afraid that the lambs were actually due on the 9th I went into a frenzie of activity, then redid the calculations.
I discovered  that it is exactly the opposite and the lambs are due on the 18th, not the 14th so I have
an extra four days, God willing.  Even at that, its only 7 more days, and I'm praying for stable weather, day time lambing and being able to witness the lambs as they are born. Fingers crossed!

Regards,
Kathryn



 

 

Amelia

Amelia and her first lamb Barrett

Amelia and her twins Cady and Caden

 

 Amelia is taking it easy these days. Getting up mainly to eat, and then returning to her comfy spot to lie down and chew her cud.

I moved her and a companion - Lana - into their new digs for the next few weeks, so that come lambing time Amelia will have ample shelter from wind and rain and a good chance at keeping her lambs warm should I not be there when they arrive.

Amelia is a black Finnsheep, born in March of 2008. Often a black sheep looks brown, but they are indeed black which is very evident once the fleece is removed and you can see past the weathered tips of the wool locks.

Somewhere back in her lineage there was a brown ancestor, but I don't expect that color to manifest through her as it is a recessive gene and only likely to manifest if a brown ewe is bred to a brown ram.

Amelia carries for spotting which is a fun pattern in sheep. I hope for spotted lambs this year from her, but since the sire of the lambs is white, and its unknown if he carries for spotting himself, we'll see when the lambs arrive. White is dominant in sheep, and often over - rides the other colors, and even if the lambs are white it doesn't rule out the possibility that they themselves carry for spotting.

At six years old, Amelia has had 1/2/2/3/4  or a single lamb for her first lambing, twins the second time, triplets the third and quads the fourth.  In six years, she's had 12 lambs which isn't alot for a Finn ewe and an average of 2 lambs per year.

Lana, her companion at the moment, is 8 this year and came to me as a mature ewe having lambed before. She has had 3/4/3/3/2  and I know she had triplets the year prior to my purchasing her. I'm not sure what she had before that, but what I do know is that she's had 18 lambs at least.

At this time I have four daughters and a son from Amelia. All of her daughters will lamb this year, and it will be fun to see what traits get passed on. Amelias' oldest daughter is Caden who has lambed twice with 2/5. That is a good start. Seven lambs in two years is an average of 3.5 lambs per lambing, and that is a decent rate.

Having a Finn ewe that has a singleton is not the norm, though it is possible with first time dams. Most have twins and some have triplets and up for their first lambing.

Trying to predict how many lambs a ewe will have is tricky, but a fun time for me. It is complicated when they are in full wool, rather than shorn. And it depends on whether the lambs will be above average size or below at birth.
Based on how Amelia looks at the moment and knowing that she consistently has large lambs I suspect she will triplet this year unless for some reason she has little lambs.  What is certain is that anything is possible!


Regards,
Kathryn

January 22, 2014 There are days..........

Horse Drawn Mower Waiting for Spring

There are days in the life of a shepherd that are beyond glorious, when all is well with the world and you know that God is in control.

Then there are the other days.

Don't get me wrong, nothing catastrophic has happened, no lost livestock or any unexpected problems to deal with. The flock is well even though the temp this morning was -13, and we are well.

It is just that in the middle of these long, dark, cold, overcast weeks of winter, I find myself slowly feeling discouraged.

I like winter as a rule, as long as I know the critters are handling it well, I don't mind the twice a day feeding/ checking up on animals and chores, and surprisingly I've come to realize that without those forced outings in all weather, I'd have missed some pretty amazing sights, sounds and moments that you cannot recapture.

Often, looking outside from the warmth of the cottage, its easy to dread stepping out, but most of the time I find once I am outside that it really is quite nice and end up staying outside doing more than I had originally intended because of it.

What I've observed personally is that the doldrums of winter are relieved not by warmer temps or less snow, but simply by sunshine. My spirits are enlivened again and my energy renewed by sunshine.

I don't miss the heat of summer, in fact I dread that more than the cold because it is impossible to escape it and the bulk of the work has to be done at this time. But the sunshine is always a welcome sight coming over the treetops lighting up the day.

The good news is, January will be behind us in 9 days. February in 28 after that. Then comes March and no matter what wacky weather it holds, I know we're on the upswing and the days will get longer, the sun will shine more, and eventually the greenery will return along with bouncing lambs, freshly shorn fleeces and all the warmth I can stand!

So for now, I occupy myself with spinning, weaving, making herbal salves and creams, shoveling and staying warm along with the usual routine chores.

And daydreaming - 83 more days until lambs!

Regards,
Kathryn

 

Winter Storm Hercules

First storm of 2014

So, the first snow storm of the new year was okay. Not nearly as awful as it might have been, but long ago I've learned to be prepared for the worst.
Snow here is a non-event. We are used to it, and cold temps as well. You learn how to manage your life and the lives of your critters so that the snow isn't much of an issue, and given my "druthers", I'd ruther have snow than blistering, humid heat any day. So would the sheep!

Aside from winter we have Spring which I've come to refer to as "mud" season. Yuck. Between the melting snow and the April showers which start in March, we spend a good six weeks if we're lucky ( 8 weeks if not ) up to our knees in some sort of dirty, slimy, boot sucking mud which leaves everything looking wretched. Best case is a short "mud" season, God willing.

At any rate, things are moving along a bit here. Ewes are bred and due to lamb in April. I am spinning like crazy, felting soaps, and weaving with pure Finnsheep wool from the 2013 clip, whilst looking forward to shearing 31 animals this year with a lot of lustrous, soft fleece of many colors. Can't wait!

The sheep hardly noticed the conditions and came through just fine!

Regards,
Kathryn

More on Ram Aggression

Here is an excellent and well written, thought provoking article on ram aggression.



http://www.plfkarakuls.com/art-ram.html

Sheltering a Flock

Our first year with sheep was a good learning experience.


The sheep arrived on Halloween, we had or rather, my spouse had, spent time at Tractor Supply getting step in posts, polywire electric rope, fence battery and making the necessary calculations to provide the enclosure that would contain the sheep throughout the winter.

I contrived to devise a shelter which ( no laughing, and no...I am NOT blonde ) the sheep promptly ate within a week.

It was a hay bale construction and I thought since the hay used wasn't really of good quality, the sheep would turn their noses up at it in favor of the better quality hay offered. In my ignorance I didn't realize the sheep would eat everything, no selective bones in their bodies.

So, with impending snow, freezing temps and sheep who needed a shelter I took into account all the raw materials at hand and my lack of knowledge/skill with tools, and proceeded to create one experiment after another none of which stood longer than two days.

I even spent an entire day making blocks from wet snow, stacking them into a square ice house and while pleased with the effort and could see the possibilities, watched it slowly slide downhill because I failed to take into consideration the slight, almost imperceptable slant to the ground. Okay, scratch off ...ice house shelter.

What we settled on, and have used ever since are versions of "hoop houses". These consist very simply of cattle panels 16 ft in length, 4 ft in width, and EMT tubing covered with tarps. Done right, they provide waterproof and wind resistant shelters all winter long, though I do tend to fortify the base with hay bales. The floor is heavily bedded to create a manure pack which we remove with a skid steer in the spring.

They are inexpensive, easy to construct, offer shade protection in the summer time, and allow for relocating without much effort or time spent.

I'd much rather have a big old dairy barn to be sure. I'm a fan of having the right tools for any job, but since we didn't decide on a homestead with such a barn, and have no plans for building one, that's probably not going to happen.

Below is an early version of hoop house. The cattle panel is covered by a blue tarp. The white in the middle is a PVC pipe which is used to hold the roof up under the snow load. We no longer use wood shavings as bedding, but prefer straw or hay.