McTavish Farm Shetlands

When a tree falls in the forest...

2012-01-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

...does anybody hear? Apparently not. This huge old gal fell down last weekend; just pulled up from the roots. It happened down in our lower pasture. It was just over the fence in our neighbors back yard and it crashed down on our fence and laid down across our pasture. None of the neighbors close by heard it fall. Amazing. I estimate it to be about 6 feet around and 100 feet tall, maybe 300 years old. It is a black oak tree. We are in contact with Urban Lumbar Co and hope they can somehow cart it out when it dries out in the summer and then use the trunk for something special. I would guess it is beautiful wood. Meanwhile we have lots of work cutting up firewood and clearing the brush (not to mention fixing our fence). Lots of warmth there. Our neighbors' old handyman says wood warms you 3 times, once when you cut it up, once when you split it and a third time when you burn it.

I don't think our chainsaw can get through this

lots of firewood here

you can see our smashed fence

If we don't get it out I suppose it will be a great play structure for the sheep!

Feeding Time

2012-01-09T11:44:00.000-08:00

This time of year, with all it's darkness, it's hard to find things to get excited about. The cold fog, no snow for skiing, a bare vegetable garden....but then there is feeding time. Our little furry friends get very excited about these two times of day; I guess they are a lot like us in many ways. The sheep get a breakfast and a dinner, really they are the same food, just different times of day, but don't tell them. As much of a "chore" it is to put on the clothes and scuffle out there, I do enjoy it once I am there. Not only am I met with excited faces, but it is a great time to fondle the fleece! Shearing time is getting closer!

Here are a few shots from this mornings feeding.

Lots of room to eat but this feeder has the best hay!

Tom, the handy feeder builder, built these fine feeders. The sheep find them very agreeable.

The banties happy with the same ol' scratch

Pele, the guard llama, gets his portion.


Strudel looking silly with breakfast on her head

Growing Up

2011-12-12T15:58:00.000-08:00

Look, it's little Rikki. Isn't she getting big! Don't know if you remember, but she is our Gotland X sheep and was out of quads this past spring and was our first bottle baby. Hard to believe that less than a year ago she was bouncing around the house in diapers. I don't think she remembers those days but she is still as friendly as ever and even went chasing after Clancy dog the other day. Maybe she remembers sharing her bed with him. She is quite a sweetie along with her two other siblings. Those Gottie sheep are pretty dam sweet.

Here is Rikki next to Sushi and Tsunami, her two sisters. It is so amazing that we got those colors all out of one batch. Rikki is turning grey under those spots, but Sushi is still white and Tsunami a dark brown. It remains to be seen whether Tsunami and Sushi will remain that color or turn the typical Gotland grey like Rikki. I am hopeful the colors will remain as they are.

Here is Rikki next to the yarn I spun from her first shearing. I couldn't wait, her lamb fleece was so enticing I shore her early. It was a bit short but I beat the yarn plenty so it would felt a bit and not fall apart. It is a very soft, fuzzy yarn. As you can see, Rikki didn't think too much of it. Oh well, I like it.

Fall Leaves and Scaling Back

2011-10-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Had one nice day for a hike in the woods

Had to go to Vermont to realize fall is upon us; the weather here was too nice to notice. We spent a lovely 5 nights in that beautiful state, much too short for a trip that far. The weather was a bit wet but we did have one nice day for a little hike. We stayed at a wonderful inn, the Huntington House, in the little town of Rochester. Unfortunately the area was hit hard by hurricane Irene just weeks before and they were still in shock and still recovering. While there we learned how the town, cut off from the outside world for 5 days and without electricity, pooled their resources and worked together to do what needed to be done. Many of the towns folk we talked with told us a similar story of the whole village working together as a team. It was heartening. There were several families still living at the Inn as their homes had been destroyed. We did view lots of destruction as little creeks had turned into raging torrents.

In the town of Rochester, Vt.

We were in Vermont, not only for a bit of a vacation, but to also attend the NASSA AGM which was held in conjunction with the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. The AGM was put on by Linda and Tut Doane, the first to import the Shetland sheep into the US. I really wanted to go back there to get a better understanding of what the sheep were like, the sheep of the original importation. Linda put on a great presentation (as well as a wonderful meal). Many of her observations of the sheep over the years confirmed my understandings. Her concerns for their future also match mine. It was very Solidifying. And we did get to see some pictures of the original sheep. The big disappointment was that time did not allow us to visit their farm. I guess we will have to return.

Miss Katrina getting dolled up for her "man"

On our return trip we began planning what we had been procrastinating on, breeding. Not us, no the sheep! As Tom has begun his new career and is a busy beaver in the wood shop and I feel I have stepped into the full time roll of cook, house cleaner, farmer, grounds keeper and Shepperd as well as holding down my other job outside the home, we have decided to simplify whatever we can to make things around the farm a bit easier. So this year there will be a limited supply of McTavish Farm Shetland lambs. If you might be interested, we are breeding just 3 of our best ewes and rams. It is a big cut back from the 9 we bred last year. I am looking forward to a very easy and enjoyable lambing season this spring!

Oh and one other thing. While we were in Vermont we were able to personally deliver two of Tom's spinning wheels. It was a bit stressful, unpacking them, making sure they were in complete working order and getting them to their new owners at a "pouring down rain" sheep festival. But it all came together and the new owners seemed very pleased. Check out these blogs: http://thewoolenrabbit.typepad.com/ and http://etherknitter.typepad.com/ to read about their excitement. There are some very nice pictures and humorous accounts of the "delivery". This may be another reason we head east in the future.

What's Happening....

2011-09-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

Oh so much is happening that I really haven't had time to write. The garden exploding, the fruit trees dropping their precious cargo, sheep shows, future travel all keeping us running at full speed. So here is an attempt to catch up in a quick way.

One of our little hen chickens finally found a very special place to hatch out a bunch of chicks. A place out of the way of the farmer who searches out eggs to keep this very event from happening. She disappeared for a few weeks; we thought she had been eaten. But no. I got a call from hubby while I was at work. He was in a desperate panic as to what to do with all these babies that were spreading around the pasture as the sheep were all trying to get a better look at these little bitty beings. He was successful at chicken rounding and now they have a safe corner of the barn and are growing....all 13 of them!!!!

Momma trying to hide her little ones from me.

Let me know if you need any chickens.

Check out the nice little ditty done by Michele Ranard about McTavish Farm on her blog Hello Lovely.
http://hellolovelyinc.blogspot.com/ It's very sweet.

Also if you missed it, Natalie Kilkenny did a great job interviewing us a few weeks ago about sheep and wheels. Scroll down to episode 32 to hear about us. http://nkilkenny.libsyn.com/ You have to download the podcast to hear it.

This past weekend was the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. We were originally not going to bring any sheep, but then at the last minute decided we should bring just three, an abbreviated McTavish Farm Sheep team. It turned out to be very busy, lots of people to talk to and lots to see. The sheep, Ninkasi, Miso and Rudy had a good time training passerbys to pet them in just the right place.
Of course I need to toot my own horn a bit. I entered my felt vest in the fiber arts show. I have never had a piece worthy enough to win an award so I wasn't expecting much. But hey, I got a Judge's Choice award for best felted item and she wanted me to make one for her! They unfortunately forgot to put my champion ribbon on the vest during the show, so I was a bit disappointed others didn't see. So to make up for it, here is the finished vest with ribbon and all.

vest with "champion" ribbon

close up of horn button

So now we are madly packing for our Vermont trip. Heading to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. Will have more to write about that on our return.

Fences again.....

2011-08-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

     It seems we are always redoing fences or mostly just adding to them. Just when you think you have the perfect set up there can always be a better way. In looking at our ram area we could see some potential pitfalls including one length of funky electric netting super entangled in weeds. Not so secure if the electricity goes out and some ram gets smart.  In hopes of making our trip this fall (a.k.a. breeding season) and leaving the farm to our sitter, we thought we should look close at our ram area and this particular length of fence. See, they sense when you are away. They will make escape plans and break out just as you are the farthest away from the farm. They would love to break in with the girls and have a big ol' party. So to thrwart their plans we decided we needed to replace this section of fence.
     Most Shetland breeders we know, us included, house rams in separate quarters from the ewes for a couple reasons.  Firstly in order to register lambs with NASSA (North American Shetland Sheepbreeders Assoc.), we need to know who the sire is. Secondly, as we like to spend time with our babes and ewes, petting and the like, having a ram in with them can be a bit dangerous; just look at those horns! So our rams are kept at opposite ends of the property, with many fences between them. So far we've only had one escape (of course while we were away; you can get the full story from our neighbors) but no reprocussions (that would be lambs).   We'd like to keep it at that.
    Once we decided we needed another fence (or maybe it was just me) the question was, who will build it. Tom, the fiscally prudent one of the family as well as the talented builder/fix-it/handy dandy repair man, usually does the deed. I had some hope in my mind that he might decline this job, as much as I like his fences, he just doesn't have the time lately to actually finish something like that. Tom, on the other hand, is Mr. optomist and, not really being all that in touch with his calendar, is usually inclined to say yes. So when I broached the subject with him, my fingers and toes crossed, I was pleasantly surprized to hear "how about Greenhill Fence Co.". YES!

I called them and within in a week they had a new ram fence built and ready for use. Now our rams are happily (at least in our opinion) contained in their ram area. They can loaf around on the hillside and look out yonder in the far distance at the girls. If they try to escape, they will have to really work at it. And this Fall we will leave the farm to our sitter with no worries and no middle of the night phone calls. Cross you fingers!

Our boys behind their new fence "girl watching" from afar.

Another learning experience......

2011-07-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

Chalk it up to education, my mother always says when things don't go as planned. Seems we are always learning new things around here. Just when you think you have it all worked out on the farm mother nature throws you another curve ball. This year I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about internal parasites related to sheep.

We have always done the traditional parasite treatments and more recently have tried to use the dewormers a bit more sparingly, using more of the FAMACHA system on the adult sheep. This helps avoid your worms becoming resistant to the dewormers. I am also aware of the explosion of worms around the time of lambing so try to treat accordingly. But this year things, for various reasons some which I will explain, seem to have gotten a bit away from us. First off we had more lambs than in past years, 16 in total. Secondly, as you may have noticed if you live in the Pacific NW, we have had an unusually wet spring/summer. Moisture, combined with warmth, is a perfect environment for the hatching of parasites. Sheep are generally susceptible to worms. They were meant to graze vast areas of land, not the same little paddock week after week. They graze close to the ground where those little wormies like to hang out. Another happening fact, like other organisms in our life, they are becoming resistant to our treatments. Many areas around the country, particularly the south, these parasites have become resistant to the conventional dewormers we typically use on sheep. From my talks with other shepherds around these parts I believe it is starting to happen here as well. Anyway, this year we were able to see first hand how destructive these buggers can be on little lambs. Although we have not lost any lambs, most of ours have developed varying degrees of anemia, and, in spite of our rich feedings, are not putting on the usual weight. We've also had a few cases of lamb pneumonia and plenty of coughing lambs. As the weather is drying we now finally getting a handle on it. We have done some strategic dewormings and are monitoring the anemia closely, although that will take a bit of time for them to recover from.
So from the lessons of this year we will make a few changes for next year. We will have less lambs for sure, that has many added benefits including more time with each lamb so in the end they will all be more friendly. We have less animals in total, lower stocking rate equals less parasites. We will put newly weaned lambs on "clean" pasture, that is a different paddock than the moms were on and hopefully not as contaminated. We may also have our lambing a bit later in the season so the pastures are dryer, something mother nature will have to help us with too. And we will monitor very closely. Certainly I will always have more to learn, but isn't that one of the joys of life!

Messy Sheep

2011-07-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Seems like it is always something. You want the grass to grow, and then it does, but then it goes to seed. Some of those nasty seedheads stick to soft, fine fleeces and then you have a mess. Nobody wants to spin a fleece with prickly seeds in it. So much for fine, soft fleeces with low micron counts! It is a difficult problem to deal with. The tiny black burrs grow against the woven wire fence and the little ones like to reach through the fence (remember grass is always greener....) then the seeds stick to their fine neck fleece. No fun to pluck out. This year also seems particularly bad for those foxtails. They are the ones that can ruin your socks with one run through the pasture. We have mowed them, bagged them and tried to get rid of the seed heads for a few years now and they seem to get worse every year. Short of field burning I am not sure what else to do. And of course the sheep don't like to eat them so the problem continues. I guess we'll be resigned to sitting in the pastures and picking fleeces, on the sheep of course. And for some reason, my sheep seem to love that attention. Maybe they bring it on themselves???

Back from the Black Sheep Gathering. Every year I think how lucky we are to have such a fine fiber fair in our own town, just minutes from our house. It was busy this year, showing sheep, fleeces, fiber creations and participating in the spinners' lead. Tom also presented his first "handcrafted by Tom" spinning wheel! He has been apprenticing with Magnus Drudik, driving to Salem once a week for the past 6 months. And now he has something to show for all that work. It created quite a stir at the show and we spent lots of time retelling the story. At one point, as my sentences no longer were making any sense, I suggested that he just put that wheel back in the car.

Ninki and Rudy getting lots of attention
People are asking how we "did" at the show. Well I can say our sheep placed middle of the road in a class of a lot of very fine Shetlands. Competition is tough and I guess the judge didn't find anything we had particularly exceptional (of course I beg to differ!). But we did do well in the wool show, placing 2nd and 3rd in the mature Shetland. Julia and Strudel came through for us. I got a blue ribbon on my felted vest and lots of positive feedback from my strut through the spinners' lead.

Weaning Time

2011-06-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Rikki was the first in line for weaning. She was 10 weeks old and the milk bag was empty. Her parents were darn tired of remembering to bring out the bottle every 8 hours. Of course Rikki wasn't too keen on the idea, even though her belly looked plenty full just from the grass, and at times she just couldn't finish that big bottle of milk. How much can you cram into a little sheep belly? The thought of all that grass topped with a little milk, yuck! So Rikki was the first lamb of the season to go vegan. She still gives us the complete body search when she sees us, just to make sure we aren't hiding a bottle of milk in there somewhere.
The other lambs had there mommies taken away at a little over 11 weeks of age. The moms seemed ready, some looked like a bag of bones, the babes were sucking the life right out of them. So last week we moved the moms into the lower paddocks and put in the earplugs. Fortunately the weather was a bit cooler, less stress on the babies and more likely that the neighbors have their windows closed. Oh and there was yelling. We did get one neighbor calling about whether or not we had purchased a special noise permit from the county. No, but they were just kidding, thank god. All our neighbors are saints in that way.
So now everyone looks pretty settled. The moms are quiet and drying up. The babes are happy with the special foods they are getting and having the run of the barn. All is quiet on McTavish Farm, except for the sound of the grass growing!

Little Kiki, a young ewe lady now!

Felting Fun

2011-04-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided I needed to give myself a bit of a break and just "play". It was a holiday after all. I had been planning for sometime to try to felt a 3-d project and picked a vest as that seemed doable. About 3 years ago we had a yearling that got sick and then just never got her health back to snuff; a failure to thrive. We ended up having to put her down; a sad decision, but the right one. Sometime before we did the deed I had sheared her. As she had been sick and I did not want her to get cold, I did not shear her in February with the rest of the gang but waited until later that spring when she had begun to shed it. By that time is was well matted and I was able to cut it off her in one piece, almost like a pelt. I held onto this partially felted piece as it was lovely with lots of luster and softness, and I had memories of her. My aspirations were to actually do something with this fiber.

Well yesterday I actually had the energy to act on what had been fermenting in the back of my brain all that time. I had been thinking about using Mandi's fleece to incorporate it into a felted vest. I consulted my felting books and came up with a plan to do the seams in one piece rather than do a flat piece and sew it together later. I had some very fine, soft Shetland wool, fawn color, from a ram we had (he had also since died, really, most of our sheep are healthy!). To save time I ran some of it through my picker and a bit through the carder. I had also died some of it a orange red. To add a bit of contrast I carded up a bit of very dark brown fleece as well. So in total I had 3 oz of fawn from the picker, 3 oz of fawn in carded batts, 1 oz of fawn overdyed red/orange, .3 oz black and 10 oz of Mandi's partially felted fleece.

Red and fawn fiber laid out, the carded batt not yet added.

I laid out a sheet of plastic on my fiber room floor then a big old white sheet. I drew out a rectangle measuring 3 ft by 6 ft to allow for shrinkage. I put down layers of the fiber starting with the red, then fawn, then some tufts of black, then cut up the Mandi fleece in chunks and laid it out as evenly as I could.

Close up of all the layers ready to be felted together.

Working on the side seams

I put some screening over it and wet it down with soapy water. Then I put on some rockin music and danced around on it for awhile, leaving the sides dry and undisturbed. I rolled it around my big PVC pipe and rocked it back and forth on the countertop. When it was holding together enough I unrolled it and "glued" together the seams. I used some sheeting between the layers and feathered the sides together. Then wrapped it more around the tube for more rolling.

When it was held together fairly well, but still quite large, I unrolled it and cut the front opening, neck and arm openings. At that point I moved upstairs to the bathtub. I used some bubble wrap and my hands, more hot water and soap and rubbed it all over to firm it up. At that point I began to realize it was very close in time to our proposed dinner date with our neighbors! Not wanting to leave it unfinished, I bit my lip and threw it in our front loading washing machine.

As we were getting ready to go out the door the wash was finished and I pulled it out. It looked a bit like a child's size but I pinned down hubby and made him put it on so we could stretch the begeezes out of it. And it worked! Now I have my new vest I'll name "Wild Thing". My sheep won't recognize me!

New felted vest, just needs some sort of button closure.

More Lamb Pics

2011-03-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

Rahab and her girl Roslyn

Scarlet and her ewe lamb

Katie's kids enjoying a fleeing bit of sunshine

3 black lambs playing in the mud!

Kiki and Zora, the 2 girls out of a triplet set. Rudy, their look alike brother is playing in the mud!

Lambing Completed

2011-03-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hurray! We have finished and can now rest through the night, well except for the feeding of little Rikki (but she is so cute it's hardly a bother). We ended the season with 10 ewe lambs and 6 ram lambs (compared to last year where we had 4 ewe lambs and 11 ram lambs). All are healthy and bouncing off the walls. We only had to assist with one birthing. That was with Aurora who had triplets and unfortunately one of the lambs had died and was trying to be delivered shoulder first. Lambs generally do assist in their own birth but when they are dead that makes it more difficult. Tom and I were pleased to be able to right the situation and get out the other two quickly, no vet calls (yes!). She had a girl and a boy. All are doing well.

This is Aurora's boy "Nomad"

A nice feature of this lambing is that we did not have any middle of the night issues. All lambed at reasonable hours. The early morning ones, around 4 am, did it all by themselves and had babies fed by the time we made our barn check at 6 am. That included Strudel who had triplets!

Strudel with her "Kiki" and "Zora". Her ram lamb is hidden behind her, sleeping.

Tom working on "lamb socialization"

Little "Rikki" not sure if she likes it here in the barn, the house is better.

Well I guess it's ok, if I can sleep in the hay.

Spoiled Sheep

2011-03-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

So little Rikki now has a new, doting mother. That would me none other than my mother. It is the grandchild she will never have. Rikki now wears diapers and is tromping around her house. Mom's cats think she has lost her mind. Rikki is doing well with the bottle and traveling in the car in a cat bed. Yes a very spoiled little sheep. My only stipulation is that she is brought back to the farm on a daily basis and given supervised playtime with the other lambs in the barn (sin diapers). I do not want her to forget she is a sheep!

Meet Rikki

2011-03-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

So Miss Rory had her 4 lambs but decided this one cried too much so guess who gets to take care of her. She was 3#6oz at birth (her brother and sisters were around twice that much). She has taken well to the bottle and now weighs more like 4 #. She follows me around very closely, and yes she is now coming in the house! Wait until Tom gets home.

This is our very first bummer lamb in the 10 or so years we have been doing this. Since we still have a few ewes to lamb I am hopeful one might adopt her. We shall see. In the meantime she is getting lots of love and sleeps in my lap as I write this.

Rory has a Party

2011-03-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

At day 145 Rory decides to go into labor conveniently in the late afternoon, shortly before I am heading home from work. Tom was in charge that Friday. By the time I got home she had just delivered her 2nd lamb and was busy cleaning it up. But then another came. Three on the ground, we are scrambling to get them nursing then another water bag appeared. OMG a 4th on it's way. The first three were girls, the last a boy. It was a challenge making sure they all had there first drink of milk and knew where to find it. There were lambs everywhere, hard to keep them all straight. But they are a nice variety of colors, don't you think? Now to figure out how to take care of all them.
This is the first time we have ever had a "litter" of this size. Singles and twins are the norm, at least once a year we have a set of triplets. But this is insane. There is definately a little supplementing of food that will have to happen.

This is a picture of Rory taken two days before.

Wide Load

2011-02-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

As you can see by the pictures we are getting closer to lambing. The nine ewes we bred are all looking bigger, some look like they are going to twin, some just a single, and then the other, namely Rory, looks like she will have a triplets or maybe more! Of course Rory (see above) is our 50% Gotland, 25% Shetland and 25% Finn so is a bit bigger already than the rest of those in the flock. Apparently Finn sheep are quite prolific so I wouldn't be surprized if she didn't pop out 4 of them. I wonder if at this point they sense what is coming?

Shearing our own.....

2011-01-31T16:52:00.000-08:00

About 5 years ago my hubby Tom and I decided to learn to shear.   Our motivation to take this on was the losing our dear shearer to retirement, how could she do this to us? We tried out a few others after her but they just weren't the same, leaving our sheep with multiple band aids and fleeces full of 2nd cuts. We thought we could do better. So that spring we picked out our victim, poor little Alliette sheep.   She was a smaller sheep, friendly and mellow. Perfect for practice. Our intentions were to learn how to do it like the professionals, that is roll the sheep around on the floor, bend over them with the shears and get the fleece off in one piece. I had copied about 10 pages of pictures of the various positions for clipping from a Kevin Fords Hand Shearing book and set Tom up with sheep in hand. I thought it would be natural for the "man" of the house to do the shearing and on that first attempt I would look at the pictures and instruct him.
It was two hours later that we finally finished up poor, patient Alliette. I think the whole fiasco just about broke up our marriage. I would watch, try to instruct, show him the pictures but then end up grabbing the sheep and doing it myself. What became apparent was that I was a bit more adept at the process than Tom. Perhaps I had been observing the shearers more than he and could remember the positions better. Anyway that is how it evolved.
So for that past two years we have done all the shearing of our sheep, usually around 25.   We are still not to the professional level yet, and I say "we" because we have developed a "two person" technique where by I hold the electric shears, get the sheep between my legs and roll them around like the pro's but then Tom is my helper, grabbing head or legs as needed or he responds to my "grab the sheep" before the sheep pops up and runs off. We have become quite a team and at best can get a fleece off with minimum of sheep cuts and 2nd cuts in about 10 min. Lots of improvement since the original two hours. (Just for a fun fact a real pro can shear a sheep in about 3 minutes.) Our record for sheep shorn in one day now sits at 9, last year we could only do 4 before my back felt like it was breaking. Not bad for an ol' gal!
Presently we have finished our ewes and will move onto the rams this next weekend. Fortunately there are only 4 to do. Piece of cake!

Everyone needs a haircut.........

2011-01-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

....it seems this time of year. First off it is the trees. They need pruning; the fruit bearing ones that is. We have some very old, well established apple and pear trees. This past couple years we have had quite a haul of fruit from these trees. Just this last week we ate our last fresh pear. They preserved quite well just sitting in the dark in the back of our carport, slowly ripening. I dried quite a few as well, and we continue to enjoy them. So back to the pruning, I feel obligated to continue this yearly tradition, in spite of all the work. There are the rewards.

Then there are the sheep, who are quite the hairballs at the moment. At feeding time I find myself "oogling" the lovely fleeces of the ones who allow me. I ponder the relative softness, luster and color of each, and wonder what they might look and feel like in a final project. Of course I cannot, repeat CANNOT keep them all! My first priority is their sales. I have plenty in my fiber closet at present, plenty of potential projects. So please, if you want to help me limit my fiber accumulation let me know which type, color of fleece you might want and I can put your name on it. Come shearing, which is just around the corner, you will have a lovely, soft pile of someone's winter coat ready for your own project. Haircut time is near!

This is Runa.

She wants to be first on the shearing list.

The Sheep are Growing Feathers!

2010-12-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

This fall we acquired some new additions to the farm, some young Japanese Bantam chickens. So far they have settled right in and are doing the job I intended for them. I thought having a few chickens pecking around the pasture might be a good thing to help decrease the parasites which affect the other beasts here. The problem was keeping them away from the predators. My friends who have chickens lock them up at night in fortresses to keep them safe from the wild creatures, namely raccoons and skunks. Being a bit lazy, I was not ready to invest the time and energy into that plus adding another chore to the day's list. Then I learned about these little bantams. Several of our friends have them and have had a hard time keeping them from madly multiplying despite treating them as feral. I was then fortunate to get some, maybe my good fortune as well as my friend's.

When I got the little critters I wanted to imprint them to the barn. My first attempt, leaving their cage on the floor of the ewe barn for a couple days, resulted in failure. They did not return to the barn to roost, preferring the trees near the pasture. One by one they disappeared (chickens can't see at night and I suspect the raccoons were picking them off). From my chicken friend I was gladly given a few more . This time I placed the cage up a bit higher off the ground in the barn for their imprinting. Wasn't sure what would happened when I let them out but they seemed to get the idea. In affect they are basically free roaming chickens, all the time. They roam and scratch around the pastures during the day (who told them to stay out of the vegetable garden?) and return to the barn to roost at night. Perfect! Now all I do is throw some scratch out for them and they are on their own. The pictures here show them in the rafters above the sleeping sheep. On cold nights the sheep help keep them warm. So for now the only problem seems to be that the sheep are now wearing feathers! And of course, the question will be, what to do in the spring when they start laying eggs. Oh well, we will deal with that problem later.

Rams or Hams

2010-11-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

This time of year as we approach breeding season I begin to look more closely at our rams. Their fleeces are soft and long and they seem to like to strut their stuff. Presently we have 4 adult rams and 2 ram lambs. As we don't breed that many ewes, 10 at max, we try not to accumulate that many boys. The rams we have kept are the "good boys", that is they have some special redeeming quality AND they are "good". Good meaning they don't bash fences, they don't fight with the other boys (well not much anyway) and, most importantly, they don't ram us! These pictures were taken about a month ago. I believe the girls were in view to them so they were showing their best sides. What hams!

McTavish JASPER

McMeadows ROWAN

McTavish APOLLO

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The 3 in conference

Sherman and the Show

2010-10-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we spent at The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. We had an interesting experience there which revealed to me what a great group of folks we have that are involved with the Shetland Sheep. Shows are always a bit stressful; the getting ready and getting there, the feeling of over-stimulation with people and activity going on all around, and then the question of your sheep health. We do not make a practice of taking sick sheep to a show, but sometimes it does happen that they come down with some crud while at the show. Well that happened to us at the OFFF this year. We arrived on Friday afternoon to the Canby Fairgrounds with a full load of seemly very healthy sheep. Friday night was uneventful, feeding and checking on them in their respective pens before heading off to sleep. Early the next morning, I went in to feed and ready sheep before our show at 9 am. As I came into the barn I noticed the pen with our 3 rams had a bunch of "yuck" dribbled about, a sort of yellow, brown runny stuff in the water bucket, along the pen rails, in the straw. My first thought was someone had the scours. After checking the outlets of the 3 it did not seem to be coming from any of them or they had gotten over it quickly. But then I noticed little Sherman, a ram lamb, was drooling the stuff all over his front. Yuck, and so soon before the show! After finding his temp normal and a brief consultation with a couple other sheep breeders, we decided he had most likely choked and lost his lovely cud all over the pen. We cleaned him up and off to the show ring to compete against our fellow Shetland breeders. After the show and through the rest of the day, all was fairly normal. But by around 5 pm, as the festival was winding down, I noticed little Sherman just did not look good. Droopy ears, drooling again, and his fellow pen mates were bopping on him, taking advantage of him at a low point, as rams will do. I pulled him out of the pen and took a temp. Humm, low. Eye color was very very pale. I called over a fellow shepherd, a previous vet tech and another, a nurse, both I figure were the ones with the biggest first aid kits and had them take a look. Other breeders came around and no one was quite sure what could be going on. Maybe he got bopped hard and had a concussion. Could be. About the time we were getting stuff ready to poke him with the little guy began to go down fast. He was having seizures and it was all I could do to hold him safe. He looked so bad, I seriously doubted he would survive this. Just then another sheep person offered her services to simply put him out of his misery. Really? I declined thinking he would probably take care of that himself, just give him a few minutes. As he was continuing to seize and more and more of our little Shetland sheep breeder community people began to show up offering drugs, advice and assistance. With their help we shot him with high powered drugs and got a tube down his throat, putting a quart of electrolytes back into the system. I think there were 5 people all working on the little guy with another 5 observing. After a few minutes though things began to look up and he seemed a bit more stable. We made a call to our vet, but knew he could only offer advice as we were a bit out of his local area. We got reassurance from him that we had done the right things and what to continue with. What a great vet! After a brief period of "throwing up", Sherman did continued to improve. I sat with him into the night and was amazed at all the people who came by before bed and talked, expressed their concern and offered their support. I laid in his pen until the wee morning then off to bed as I could see I wasn't doing much for him and we both needed rest. He seemed like he was probably out of the danger zone. Early that morning I checked on him, poking him to see if he was dead but delighted to find that he wasn't. Throughout the next and last day of the show I was warmed by all the people who came by to check on him to see how he was doing. Such concern for one little sheep. It was really sweet. I must say one of the nicest things about having Shetlands is the great community of friends we have. Not sure if other parts of the country have it as good as we do here in Oregon. Of course I am bragging, maybe other folks in other areas do have this too, but ours feels really special and an event like this clearly points it out. We can be out in the show ring competing against each other, but then in the after hours we can pool together and really help each other out. Very sweet! And thank you to all of those that showed they care and support. Sherman would say thanks but he is too busy eating! Oh and all I can deduce from conversations with the vet was that he may have eaten a bad mushroom.

Shawn Sheep

2010-07-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so things are winding down a bit after summer has come and the rain has stopped. Gives me time to finally sit down; a reason to come indoors from the blistering heat. Also gives me time to ponder this next breeding season. As I go through the list of ewes, one ewe always ends up on the breeding list dispite our rule of breeding them every other year (this is to breed a bit less and to give the ewe a year off). That poor sheep is Shawn. It is interesting that she is one of 4 original lambs born on our farm. She had a sister which we sold. The other two were rams and they both found trouble in some way and did not even make it to breeding season. It was a learning year for us! Anyway, I kept Shawn, not because she was the friendliest; she is not, certainly not like her "pocket sheep " sister. I guess I kept her because of her color. She was very, very black. As she grew her fleece became more stunning. It is funny that of all the years I have had her, she is now 7, I have never worked with her fleece. After shearing, and folks come to view the fleeces, it is the first to sell, and I am really bad about turning down a sale. Over the years she has gradually greyed but that too is stunning. Two years ago I finally got smart and held her fleece to show at Black Sheep Gathering under Judith MacKenzie and the fleece got a blue ribbon! I guess people know a good thing.

Four years ago we bred Shawn to Sizemore Sylvester and we ended up with McTavish Jasper (see above). He a a gorgeous fellow and has won many ribbons back in his show days. He is lighter in color than Shawn, but his fleece is silky soft, and it too, in spite of the smell (rams have a very distinctive smell), always sells. His lambs are super cute, fine boned and too have lovely soft fleeces. Jasper is one of our main breeding rams now. So in thinking back it is funny how one ewe can then become the foundation of you breeding program. So I guess since we are breeding Jasper we can afford to give Shawn a year off....or maybe not.

lambs growing up

2010-05-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

So as you can see it is no longer possible to sit in the pasture, wine in hand and enjoy the lambs. They are no longer enjoyable! They are too big and bordering on obnoxious! The girls, there are only 4 of them, are still super cute and fun to pet. But all these boys! They paw you with their sharp hooves, step on you and climb up your back as if you are some sort of mountain to scale. They chew on your hair try to drink your favorite beverage which ultimately gets spilled. We usually have our boys under strict rules, no stepping on us, no head butting, but this year we have found it impossible to enforce them. They are OUT OF CONTROL! Last time we were out there I could only stand about 10 minutes before wanting to seek refuge. Guess we don't have to worry about our lambs not being friendly.

This is little Ninki, actually her name is Ninkasi. She was named after the great brewery in town, it actually means goddess of fermentation. I thought it was a perfectly appropriate name for a sheep as that is what they do all day. So until she grows up she is referred to as "dinky Ninki".

Do you see any sheep in this photo? They are there. If they don't get to eating they will be burried in food! We have begun mowing like mad as the grass goes to seed so fast and then looses much of it nutritional value. We have noticed too, if you can mow it at the right time, hopefully before a good rain shower, it will grow back with more leafy good stuff. Of course once the rain stops for the summer it dries up to nothingness and we are left with having to feed hay. Unless one has irrigation, it is a short growing season around here.

As we only had 4 ewes lambs this year we only have one left to sell. That is beautiful Margo, who you can see at the top. She will be our little show girl at the Black Sheep Gathering coming up here in a few weeks. We do have lots of ram lambs left, however, and always the possibility of a wether. Hurry they are going fast! :-)

Catching sheep

2010-05-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

It has taken us awhile, let's see, about 10 years but we now have evolved to the point where we have a wonderful system for catching the sheep. I hate rodeos, especially where my sheep are involved, but it seems that is how it has been up until this year. Yes, periodically you do need to catch the buggers; to shear, to worm, to trim hooves. And yes you need to catch ALL of them, not just the super friendly ones. One thing about sheep is that they have an innate sense of when you want to do this and suddenly they scatter, wanting no part of you. Our dog, with some border collie genetics, is no good; after being pummeled by one of our precocious ewes he no longer likes the sheep and avoids them at all cost. So it is up to us humans to find a way to catch the sheep and preferable not in rodeo style.

Things I have learned about sheep. Sheep easily go uphill; it is much easier to coax them to go up rather than down. It is easier to get sheep from a big space into progressively smaller spaces rather than going from a big space to a very small space; they just don't like it and will scatter in many directions no matter how many helpers you have. Sheep like to follow fence lines and like to go around blind corners. I have no idea why, but it is quite easy to herd them to a wall that they can go around and then be out of site.

With all these factors put to good use we have finally come up with a system for enticing our crafty little sheep into the barn and putting them on lock down. We start with a little food, sweet cob is always good. The sheep go in the barn to eat. I carefully sneak around the side, close up the corral outside the barn. At this point a few nervous Nellies come running out of the barn to investigate, usually scaring the lot of them into doing the same. I calmly continue to step closer. To avoid me they go uphill into the fence, around the solid barn door, around a set of feeders, and meanwhile I close the barn door and, what do you know, all sheep are now safely locked intside. I can now singlehandedly get ALL the sheep trapped in the barn ALL by myself in about 3 minutes flat, and no rodeo!

Beside The Sheep......

2010-05-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

We have some other members of McTavish Farm you should meet. To the left is our llama Pele. He was hired to protect the sheep from predators like dogs and coyotes, which we know are around here. Llamas probably aren't a match for cougars or bears. So far Pele has done an outstanding job as we have not had any attacks.

This is Clancy. As you can see he brings humor to the whole operation. Over the past few days however he has been an asset to the lane as his barking is keeping a visiting bear at bay. Our neighbors on either side have lost their bee hives to the bear with a sweet tooth. We put Clancy out in the evening and he has been running in the neighborhood and barking, hopefully keeping the bear out of the nearby chicken houses. Let's hope the bear finds a new home soon. Keep barking Clancy!

These are our ducks. I know you see a faint resemblance to a bowling pin, but no, these are ducks, Indian Runner Ducks. They do not fly but motor around on two legs. They move together as a group, or as a friend says "as one big duck". They are very social. The ducks were brought on board to eat the slugs and snails and have done a fantastic job. Not only do snails feast in our garden, but they are a host to the liver fluke worm that affects sheep. So the ducks are multi purpose, they make our garden grow better, keep the sheep healthy, lay yummy egss and, on a gloomy rainy day, they make you smile.

Last but certainly not least is Sasha. She is our oldest member at 12. She was a rescue dog and has been great. She doesn't really have a job per se, but is a great companion, for both human and for Clancy. She is great with everyone, kids included. She is espescially warm to anyone with food. She is one dog that could find food where others thought there was none. Her favorite "move" is to tadpole on her belly though the grass.

Great Things Come From Sheep

2010-04-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

So cleaning out the barn is not my favorite farm activity but there is one consolation...yummy compost. Sheep make a great soil amendment, not the sheep themselves but what they make. All that excrement that accumulates in their sleep quarters combined with straw (adds carbon for a good C/N ratio) helps the garden grow. We pile all the barn waste for the year into a big pile and let it sit for a year or two. No turning, no fuss, the rain, bugs and worms do a terrific job breaking it all down into some super soil. We either spread it on the pasture to help the grass grow for the sheep; complete cycle. Or we use it on the vegetable garden. Sheep manure is one of the best. This year I did some sheet composting and even spread layers of discarded wool (from my skirting of fleeces) under the added compost. Wool breaks down slow but it does release nitrogen (just don't get it tangled in the weed eater!). As you can see our garden is flourishing this spring. The picture of the two piles show how much it breaks down and becomes smaller. Breaking it down first lets all the bugs have their way with it

before putting it around your tender plants. If it is not broken down first, I have found the bugs begin to eat the tender seedlings. Also before spreading it back on the pasture, the sheep parasites will die and I won't be giving them back to the sheep. They are happy for that. So as I am shoveling and hauling, I try to think about all the great things that will come from cleaning out the barn, and it isn't so bad.

Sheep Are Dumb....and more about pasture management

2010-04-17T08:58:00.001-07:00

Ok whoever coined this phrase must not have had Shetland sheep as I find this NOT to be the case. Take this morning for example. I had great plans to have the moms and lambs eat down this small, seemingly yummy patch of grass on a fairly small piece of real estate. I basically wanted them to "mow" it. So I put them on it first thing this morning thinking they would be hungry. Well for some reason or other the moms did not like it. They were yelling all sorts of obscenities at me. Things like "this grass has been walked on by ducks", "this grass it too close to the compost heap", oh and other things I probably shouldn't repeat. To avoid the excessive noise I escaped and went inside. My thought was they would shut up if I wasn't there to yell at; I really didn't want to get the neighbors mad too. Well they did quiet down but they still weren't going to eat the grass either, instead many of them stuck there head though the fence, apparently the greenery on the other side was much better. One of the lambs even squirted through the fence to eat my new shoots of raspberries! OMG what a fiasco this was. In hopes of mending my relationship with my neighbors I decided to put these "mad as hell" moms to a different paddock to shut them up. They had won!
In transitioning them to this new paddock, the sheep had to be shushed back into the "waste area", through a "u" turn in the barn and then out the just opened door to fresh grass. The moms new the maze and were out there in no time flat. The lambs however were not so easy. They took a detour to play on their favorite gym equipment and run around the waste area. This waste area is a paddock we put the sheep on when we want them off the pasture so it can rest. A place where we can put them to keep our paddocks from being overgrazed. Well it happens to be directly across the fence from where the moms were now grazing. My thought was these lambs aren't going to be able to figure out the maze when they can see mom directly on the other side of the fence. It had been a week or so since many of them had been there. To avoid upset lambs, I unbungied a part of the fence to open up a temporary "gate". I shushed them along toward it but in doing so they they got a spooked by my funny shushing vioce, and in a great mass went running right past the opening, up through the barn and out the other side, right to their moms. They knew the way! Who was the dummy here?

Pasture Management and Ninki's First day

2010-04-13T17:06:00.001-07:00

Yesterday it seems the grass finally started growing. Time to get the sheep on it and eating. Up until now the sheep were a bit restricted from the pasture, eating hay instead. We usually have to feed during the late summer (too dry, no grass growth) and winter (too dark, too cold). So right now, YIPEEE time for fresh, green grass.

We practice a modified "management intensive grazing" at our place. We have broken up our approx. 6 acre pasture into a series of smaller paddocks using a nauseating system of electric wires. This is suppose to keep the sheep in where we want them and off other paddocks so they can recover and grow. The sheep are suppose to know this. Well this is the first experience with electric fences for many of the lambs. What we hope for is that they touch the wire with their wet nose (I know it sounds mean), they get a powerful ZAP, and there they have learned the lesson for life, that is, stay on your side of the wire. If they do not learn it that way then we have a few problems. In reality, a sheep with a full coat of fleece, could easily bolt through the fence and feel nothing at all as long as they move fast enough (please don't tell my sheep). If they learn it as described above, we will have a nice working relationship for years to come. Having been witness yesterday, I believe most have learned it. Let's cross our fingers to be sure.

"Life is Good"

2010-04-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

Roonie turns out to be quite the camera ham.

Lambing conclusion... Easter Sunday!

2010-04-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Before bed I went out to check Runa, not really expecting anything, but lo and behold: a waterbag! Runa easily slipped the little girl out at around 10:30. She was not gulmoget but is a beautiful rich red brown. Runa was a bit clueless about letting the lamb nurse so we worked on that and after about an hour we felt that she'd likely just have a single, but after 8 straight boys we were elated! Back in to get a good nights rest.

Just a check before bed...

2010-04-05T12:51:00.001-07:00

Tracy thought I should just go make a quick check on Runa since she was already comfortably nestled into bed and we couldn't see Runa on the LambCam. Well, I go down there and what do you know Runa had another little girl! This one the spitting image of Runa herself, very defined Gulmoget markings! What a nice Easter finish to this years lambing season.

This is for Ashley

2010-04-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

What an interesting stump!

2010-04-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Olivia is just sooo cute!

2010-03-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

Shawn gives birth

2010-03-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Shawn had a boy. No surprise there, but he's very nice and as yet unnamed. God do I love boys!

Rahab and Trooper

2010-03-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

Ok things are moving along, however slowly and stressful. Ended up packing Rahab in the truck and off to the vet for the 3rd time about 8 this morning, but this time with cervix open and a tangled stiff mess inside. She never did go into labor, had to manually dilate her to be able to get my hand in there. Had an upside down lamb with 3 legs. I tried but was unsuccessful at getting anything in order much less pull it out. Jeff had a bit of a struggle as well, so I didn't feel so bad. He crammed a bunch of slime in there before pulling a 2 nd time and that seemed to do the trick. 1/2 out he was quite surprised to find out the little guy was still alive, a ram of course! After a 2nd dive in, he pulled out another ram, this one not so lucky. Probably the reason for the strange Rahab behaviors the days before. The new little guy was a bit weak, we tubed him and have had to warm him a few times. He just finally got the idea of sucking the nipple, so I am hoping we are home free. Rahab will be in pain, but with the help of drugs and some alfalfa, she seems to be progressing. The new little guy is white with black spots and a mask and his name is Trooper.

Now waiting on Shawn, she is exhibiting her prebirthing behavior. Cross your fingers for easy birth and GIRLS!

Olivia

2010-03-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Just a gratuitous picture of Tracy's favorite.

Lambs so far...

2010-03-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well the good news is all the lambs so far are healthy and beautiful with consistently great conformation. The bad news is we now have 8 boys and just 2 girls with three more ewes to deliver. And from our Gotland experiment, of course... 2 boys. Julia is the latest to give birth and though all the lambs appear to have very nice fleeces this guy is "Oh my god!" soft. Despite being a boy still a very exciting little lamb.

03/22/10

2010-03-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

The latest is little Melvyn and Miracle's babies. Two boys! The boys are winning 5-2 now and I'm really talking to the last five ewes. These guys are really wonderful though, and all the lambs healthy and doing well.

About 8 AM Aurora gave birth our first Gotland cross. A very nice black boy. Where is the little girl that was supposed to be there as well? She wasn't, just one big boy. A disappointment as that Misty line is usually prolific. He's big and healthy though.

Three deliveries so far today. At about 2 AM Strudel had a beautiful boy and girl. She did it all on her own.

Aurora meets Obsidian

2010-03-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

I think Aurora has a bit of her mother Misty in her. Misty was a renouned baby stealer. Aurora.. wait your turn!

9 lbs. 10 oz. !

2010-03-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well it was a long night at McTavish farm. Neon's water broke at around 1 AM, she really wasn't making any progress so Tracy went in to see what was up. There was a lamb so we decided to give her more time as she didn't really seem that stressed. After some time went by we decided we have to take a more active role, so in we go... Well, there's a leg, there's a nose, but where's that other dang leg? Boy, that's a long leg! After some manipulating and pulling, one leg's out and a head but, where's that other dang leg!? More time has gone by than is comfortable, like a ticking time bomb, stress is starting to rise. It's now about 2 AM. After some delicate twisting and some not so delicate yanking he finally flopped out at about 2:55. Strained but healthy and big... very, very big. Neon decided laying down was the appropriate way to attend to him and we certainly weren't about to disagree with her. He started nursing right away and both mother and son and the shepherds were at peace. Now 5:00 and back to bed. We'll see what the rest of the day brings...

Callie is interested in the lambs.

2010-03-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

Almost a day old

2010-03-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

Obsidian is hungry and Olivia is curious.

3 hours old

2010-03-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Mother and lambs doing great.

Katrina gives birth

2010-03-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well there they are. The first lambs of the season and boy did Katrina do an amazing job. First time mother, she slid them right out and was patient and attentive. Much to my relief as Tracy was at work today. A boy and a girl, both strong and healthy.

2010-03-16T08:00:00.001-07:00

First night check still no lambs...

2010-03-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well, the first day of watching for the lambs and nothing happened, as usual. Started our middle of the night checks last night so I guess we're getting serious now.

2010-03-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

It seems like spring, the tulip tree is in full bloom, but it sure is cold.

Shower finally

2010-03-09T09:00:00.001-08:00

After 2 years and some plumbing issues I think even Tracy would say the bathroom remodel is done. Phew..

2010-03-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Shebaa is wondering when her new friends will arrive.

2010-03-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here's Clancy w/ his favorite frisbee. He's hoping we'll stop work and do something really valuable... like play.