Our Homestead animals and poultry.
Our Sheep
Once upon a time we had a flock of sheep, but after some problems with
them over the years the final straw was not being able to find a
shearer. Now sheep aren't the friendliest or smartest of creatures,
if an unshorn ewe lambs in winter, she doesn't figure out that it's
cold and often drops her lambs right onto frozen ground or snow...
I've found too many lambsicles over the years, so two years ago I
decided that the sheep could all go... all except for one ewe who we
call Bev [after the lady who gave her to us]. Bev was a yearling when
she came to live with us, but in the summer she went to a retirement
home along with a couple of kids and some hens, this happened for
three summers. Bev was a hopeless mother and never had any lambs to
take along with her. The people there loved their mini-farm but some
busy body called the authorities and they were no longer allowed farm
animals in their courtyard.
After three summers of being spoiled Bev became quite unsheeplike, she
likes human company and even played tag with our collie Tessa, taking
turns in chasing each other. During the coldest nights this winter I
saw Bev and Tessa curled up asleep together a couple of times.
Three years ago we managed to keep her lamb alive, we had to tie her
to let it feed, because she was so obsessed with licking it the poor
thing couldn't get to the udder... the puzzle as to why her lambs
never survived was solved. Her last lamb was delivered by my daughter
two years ago, she had been laboring for a while when we found her
distressed and the lamb was dead... "ship her too" Dick said
when we sold off the sheep, but I couldn't do that, she was Bev!
Two weeks ago Dick told me that Bev's udder was filling up. I
was so excited, we had her with an Icelandic ram last year and had
hoped that she would have lambs, now it was obvious that they had a
romantic liaison last fall. As is usual on the Funny Farm we brought
her into the heated, attached garage [hey it's better than the
basement because it has windows] and locked her in a quickly put
together 8 X 5 pen. She was not happy, but it was cold and the
coyotes have been howling lately. I didn't want lambsicles and I
didn't want a ewe or lambs killed if she decided to go off into the
woods to have her lambs.
Tonight she delivered twins, her first non-single birth [you can tell
we are really serious farmers keeping a ewe who only has single
lambs], and guess what, one can feed while she licks the other one!
These are her first lambs who didn't require assistance to feed.
We have named her white ewe lamb Patricia, Paddy for short and the ram
lamb [he's a pinto] is named Patrick, Breakfast Pattie for short.
Paddy already seems to have her mother's temperament and comes to
people to be petted!
Our Goats - pictures coming soon
We have four does, Dona, Spooky, Robby and Iris and a doeling Ivory, the last of our herd of goats.
My daughters started milking goats at age ten, seven and five. They each milk their own
goat and have over the years raised Jersey heifers on the milk and kept the family supplied
with milk through the warmer months. When Madeleine and Stephanie were small their goats
Dona and Spooky were their riding goats and they entertained many passing motorists when
they were out in the field.
Our Future Milk Cow - pictures coming soon
As they got bigger the girls graduated to riding their Jerseys and again this was a
source of entertainment for the neighbors.
When we became interested in breeding horses the girls parted with all of their Jersies except
for their favorite one Blossom. This was to assist in purchasing good breeding stock to hopefully
make a small income for us. Blossom had presented us with a little bull calf when she was two
and then a sweet little heifer Daisy a year later. Unfortunately Blossom died of "Hardware Disease"
a few months after we moved to Missouri.
Her heifer calf Daisy was sired by Sandy Hill Farm Sydney, a Milking Devon bull living with a friend of mine in Wisconsin.
He was the last of my herd of Devons. Daisy is a pretty little heifer, shaped like a Jersey, with big Jersey
eyes but colored a deep red of a Devon. In time she will be our house cow, she is bred her to a Milking
Devon bull and would be delighted to get a heifer from her.
Our Poultry - pictures coming soon
We have two rare breeds of ducks, Cayugas and Welsh Harlequin and hopefully we will have purebred eggs from each of these breeds for sale this year.
We also have a rare breed of goose, the American Buff goose, decended from the wild Greylag goose. They are one of the best
natured of domestic goose breeds. We will have a few fertile eggs available very soon.
Most of our chickens are cross bred laying hens, they are great for supplying us with eggs and each year a few sneak off and make a nest where they
can hide their eggs from predators [including us] and often manage to hatch them out. The best hatch so far was nineteen chicks from one hen.
This year we wish to start over again with Seramas, Silkies, Mille d'fleur, Porcelain d'Uccles and Partridge Cochin Bantams and hope to have fertile eggs
from each breed available in 2009.
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