Tour de Fleece on steroids!

This is the result of 2 full months of a dedication to spinning at least a bit every day.  I made it!   Most days, it was 30-45 minutes, with a few days of an hour or a bit more.  I think I will continue this into September and see if I can stay focused.   

Life membership in BLU

My thanks to  President Duckey Chute, Secretary Margaret VanCamp, and the rest of the BLU board for honoring me with this life membership award.   I served as the first BLU president; then after we retired from shepherding, served as an appointed secretary/treasurer until the end of 2021.  Chuck & I got our first BFL ram in 1990, and I have been a devoted admirer of the breed since then.  Lots of memories; meeting Anne Priest at MS&W, then Kelly Ward and the trip to Nova Scotia to buy David Firth's flock.  The search for suitable rams to import semen from, the establishment of the registry by Kelly, and finally the organization of a breed association with a board of supervisors.  Its been a ride, and I have met lots of wonderful people along the way.  Many thanks to all the members of BLU!

I will be a vendor!

 http://www.midohiofiberfair.com/

Look for Somerhill at this upcoming fiber event in historic downtown Newark, Ohio on June 11th.  I will have angora yarns, BFL yarn, locks, and luxury rovings.  

Natural colored yarns

Yarns samples from my latest angora blend rovings.  They are all natural - no dyes.
Look for the roving on my "FIBER AVAILABLE" page

RAM LAMB FOR SALE - registered BFL - UPDATED: SOLD TO KANSAS

FOR SALE:  SOLD!    A dear friend, Anne Bisdorf, has a registered Bluefaced Leicester ram lamb for sale. She is retiring and dispersing the flock, and has sold her adult ram and ewes. This handsome ram was born a twin on 4-3-20, recently weaned, and is growing very well. As you can see, he has a strong level back, good pasterns, and lovely, showy breed type with excellent blue skin. He is out of a natural colored ewe. And don't forget he has the wonderful, silky soft lustrous BFL locks. At $250 he priced well below average - yet is an above average quality ram. Please do not delay, as, for personal reasons, he needs to be sold in the next 2 weeks. They are in central OHIO.
You can reach Anne through me, or email her directly at abisdorf@hotmail.com

#217 ram lamb -TWIN - born 4-3-2020

His dam, WoolNWood 203

BFL ewe lambs for sale! (SOLD)

UPDATE:  SOLD within 3 hours of posting.  Their new owner is thrilled with their quality and muscling.

FOR SALE: A dear friend, Anne Bisdorf, has 3 registered BFL ewe lambs for sale. She is retiring and dispersing the flock, and has sold her adult ram and ewes. These 3 gorgeous girls are 2 months old, recently weaned, and are growing very well. As you can see, they have strong level backs, good pasterns, and lovely, showy breed type. All are twins. 2 are natural colored, and one is white with excellent blue skin. They are well muscled, and will make excellent breeding ewes. And don't forget they have those wonderful, silky soft lustrous BFL locks. At $250 each, they are priced well below average - yet they are above average quality ewes. If you have been considering them, please do not delay, as, for personal reasons, they need to be sold in the next 2 weeks. They are in central OHIO.
You can reach Anne through me, or email her directly at abisdorf@hotmail.com

Bayshore Noah

This is Noah, our very first BFL.  We bought him in Virginia in 1990. He started me on a lifelong quest and love-affair with the Bluefaced Leicester

BFL roving

I've been dyeing Bluefaced Leicester roving in preparation for the Great Lakes Fiber Show next weekend, May 26&27.  This is its 23rd year, held in Wooster, OH at the fairgrounds.  Each year it gets bigger and better.  Besides several buildings full of fibery goodness, there is a sheep show and sale, and an angora rabbit show. Besides the roving, sold in one ounce "flowers", I will also have handspun angora yarns.   Look for me in Building 39, just inside the door closest to the food court.  Oh, and don't miss having a roasted lamb sandwich.  Its worth attending just for that!   

My Pride and Joy

 Somerhill Arlais  5.5 month old natural colored Bluefaced Leicester ewe lamb

Arlais at 4 months

Arlais at 2 weeks

Somerhill Eilis and her newborn twins, Arlais (front) and Ashwood (rear)
Ashwood now lives in Kentucky with Chris and Abby Minks.
Eilis outdid herself this year with 2 of the best lambs we've produced.

What I've been up to lately

 Thre are LOTS of bunnies around this year.  They must be nearing the top of their cycle.  This one is right outside the kitchen window, munching on white clover.

What I've been doing lately in my spare time evenings and weekends.  This is my skirting routine; BFL fleece in center, basket on left for clean, skirted wool, basket on right for wool with VM or too much dirt/manure in it, and I sort out the really pretty individual locks to dye and sell.  Plus my bottle of Crystal Lite.  :^)     

I have 2 BIG boxes of fleece sorted and ready to mail to Stonehedge for them to spin into yarn, and several pounds of locks to wash and dye.  9 more fleeces to go, which will be used for 2 different rovings.  One I may dye orange and blend with hot pink alpaca and some yellow(dyed) angora.  The other, I'm thinking of dyeing "Teddy Bear" brown, and blending with some angora dyed in orange/yellow/olive.
But something else may pop into my head as I sit and skirt. 

BFL Lamb Chops

The beginnings of dinner last night. Natural colored BFL lambchops, saute'd in garlic butter with baked potatoes and whole green beans. I wanted to have steamed asparagus, but it got dark before I got a chance to pick any. So tonight will be our first asparagus meal of the season.
The chops were mild, delicious, and unbelievably tender!

More lambs

Iden had twin rams yesterday afternoon. They are exceptionally handsome, I think, and nice sized - 12# each. Unfortunately, I forgot to take their picture until after we let them out this morning, so I'll get a picture this evening after work & the BLU board meeting teleconference.

I had to run a lamb to the vet last night because we had a new baby that was not walking on his rear leg. Doc says its not broken, but there is nerve damage due to being stepped on. He got a steroid shot and we have to give antibiotic for 2 more days, but Doc thinks he will recover. Luckily, he is able to get up and about and nurse, and even plays a bit with his sister. We set up a big pen for them so mom has more room and the lambs can play, but he won't have to walk so far following her to and from the pasture. So I got home from the vet last night at 9PM......we had eggs for dinner. :^) I think he looked a little better this morning - we'll see.

So the score is 14 ewes, 14 rams, with 2 more ewes to lamb.

What's with all these legs?

Hey, what are all these legs????

Rowan has triplets! 2 rams and 1 ewe(Larue), all english blue, with 2 of them really black, and one of the rams is smokey charcoal grey. I've never had anything but really dark patterned lambs before, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the lighter one looks like as a yearling.

Busy Day!

Jillian had twin girls early this afternoon. When I checked on the flock about 4 pm, I heard little voices in the back of the barn. Hmmmm - who do these belong to? Jill came to the door, saw me, and left. I went out and gently eased her back toward the barn, and when she heard the little voices, she went in. Heck - what did she know, these are her first. She thought you just had them, cleaned them up, and then off you go grazing..... what? I need to feed them? Well, why didn't anyone tell me that? Obviously, they've worked things out this evening, and both girls look full to bursting. They are Paisley and Paige. Paige is the little one.
These are Bess' twins. She had just had the ram when I walked into the barn, and was cleaning him. Since I saw little feet sticking out, I knew his twin was still to come. While I was getting Jill and the girls settled into their pen, I heard a loud, long bellow. By the time I checked Bess 5 minutes later, the ewe lamb was on her knees, and within 10, she was up and going for a meal. Her name is Encore. These are Bess' first lambs, too.

Yesterday's lamb

This is Adagio's ram lamb from yesterday's post. He weighs 11.5#. She and he are out in the pasture together today, and he trots right along behind mama. He is a candidate for a clean-up ram for this fall based on his genetics.

A happy ending

Wynne was in labor this morning when I checked the barn. After nearly an hour, she still just had toes showing, so Chuck and I decided to check her. The lamb's head was wedged in tightly. I worked the feet free, but the head was wedged into her pelvis. Chuck lifted her rear off the ground, and tugged and pried and wiggled and finally popped the head free, and out slid the lamb. She was kicking and convulsing so hard I was afraid something was wrong, but soon raised her head and looked around. Mama started licking and nickering to her right away, so we stepped away and left them to bond. Within 10 minutes, the lamb was up, but Wynne licked her so hard she fell down again. I gave Wynne 1cc of banamine and a shot of antibiotic, and left them alone. The lamb was soon nursing, and in 2 hours, already hopping around the pen. Mama Wynne has passed her placenta, so all is well with both of them now.
Smile, Marisol! Happy Easter!

Dodgie's little guy

...who is not that little! He's 11.5#, and was born early this evening. As you can see, they are getting along just fine together. We put them in a pen so he did not get trampled during rush hour at feeding time. I'll let them out in the morning after the barn clears out. We may get rain overnight, so having less sheep in the main barn is good. Still have 7 more ewes to lamb.

Good morning, twins

These are Ballad's twins - one of each. The ewe lamb (Valley) is in front, at her feet. They were born early this AM, and mama was about to take them out into the pasture with her for her morning graze. I grabbed them and penned them up until I gave them shots, and banded tails and put in ear tags. Now they can go out and play in the sunshine.

New Fleeces

I have 6 fleeces skirted and readied for sale. 3 are spoken for - and if you have not yet been contacted, and have told me in the past you'd like one, please contact me now - I've not been good about keeping a waiting list. :^(

They range from 2.5 - 3.5#, and are $12 per pound.

Monday news

Turkeys strutting at about 8:45 this morning.
Jack and his "friend" Sophie.
Tibbie and Tabbie. No new lambs yet today.