Autumn Update
Ram lamb, Chaleco. Born 4/15/10
Manta’s ram lamb is a killer color/pattern combo: reverse badgerface with a cinnamon fleece. Of all the lambs we have for sale, Chaleco is the one I most hope to sell to a breeding farm. With Manta and Anisette being half sisters already, and the prospect of keeping Anisette’s brown ewe from this year, Chaleco is just too related to the rest of the flock for us to keep him for breeding. So we have at least 3 breed-quality ewe lambs and two ram lambs for sale. Please contact us with any questions or to set up a farm visit.
As the sheep grow and the pasture improves, we’ve continued to grow our little fiber business. One of the most important aspects of our Navajo-Churro conservation effort, I think, is the outreach that we do at various shows. This year we expanded from two shows to five: the Vermont History Expo, Art In the Park (benefiting the local Waldorf School) the Tunbridge World’s Fair, the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival, and the Dartmouth College Library Staff Association (DCLSA) Craft Fair. Each event has a different vibe and a different audience, but it’s always gratifying to chat with people about these amazing animals, their history, their unique character, and their future. Whether I’m talking to weavers and knitters about the fiber, to parents about agricultural education, or discussing small flock management with a potential shepherd the work is fun and rewarding.
Now it’s time for fall shearing. We shear our flock twice a year due to the outrageous fiber growth of an inch of wool per month. This gives us cleaner fleeces and the flexibility to either hand process or send the fiber out to be washed, carded, and spun into yarn at a local mill. We’ll post updated photos of the grown lambs this weekend, as well as a step-by-step guide to shearing day. We will also have 15 grease fleeces for sale in a wide variety of colors, including 9 very soft lamb fleeces.
Out like a lamb
Our first lamb - Zinnia's ewe born 3/31/10
After weeks of preparation, and what felt like eons of waiting, our first lamb arrived on March 31, 2010, in the wee small hours of the morning. We knew the lambs could be born anytime after March 25, but weren’t sure exactly when they would show up. Zinnia, one of our four “first-timers” delivered all by herself and her strong, healthy ewe lamb was dry, up and walking when we found them early in the morning. A few days passed, Zinnia and her baby bonded in the jug, and we kept trying to predict when the next ewe would go for it.
Aretha with her twin ewe lambs
Turns out, it was a family affair, with Aretha and Nina (a mother and her daughter from 2008) both delivering early this morning. Aretha gave birth to twin ewe lambs, a yin-yang pair in black and white. Nina had a single ram lamb, our first ram so far.
Mother and daughter are in their jugs with their lambs, bonding and resting after what must have been an exhausting morning. Tomorrow morning we’ll band the tails and put ear tags on these lambs and within another day or so they will rejoin the flock.
Nina with her ram lamb
It’s been interesting to note the color patterns that we’re seeing so far. Our flock sire this year is predominantly cream with a few spots of light brown. Three out of four of his offspring have been black with white spots on their heads and white tail tips. The double white spot is a fairly common marking in the Navajo-Churro breed, called “two gray hills”. The fourth lamb is the opposite, a solid white ewe. I’m hoping to cultivate some browns in our flock, and it’s possible that some of these black lambs will turn brown eventually, or they could go gray or silver. It is rare that a black lamb will stay solid jet black for more than a year; their fleece tends to bleach to a lighter color in the sun.
Meanwhile, we have three more pregnant ewes still waiting to deliver. I just hope all of their births are as easy as the others have been this year.
Dyeing it for myself
Dyed yarns dry in the sun
With no lambs on the ground and a serious case of spring fever in the air, yesterday I took off to Boulder Meadow Farm for a dyeing workshop. Our host, Lisa, very kindly opened her house to a dozen fiber artists. The day began with instruction from Melissa Johnson of Green Mountain Spinnery. After our teacher demonstrated a few different techniques, we were off and running: soaking fibers, mixing colors, and microwaving our way to a rainbow of creative results.
I was intrigued after Melissa demonstrated making a “painted” skein of yarn with many different colors, but for my first experience in dyeing I decided to mess around with a couple of colors to see how I did with consistency. Melissa had cautioned me that Navajo-Churro wool could be a little hesitant to absorb color. After my first attempt at “grass green” turned out a little muted, she suggested adding more than the usual teaspoon of citric acid to the mix, to help the dye bond with the fiber. Her suggestion worked and my second green skein came out more saturated and even. I then moved on to creating a burnt orange color, which ended up a bit more variegated than my green yarn, but in a very pleasing way. I didn’t make enough of either color to sell them, but these will make great samples at our booth for events coming up later in the year. Now instead of just talking about over-dyeing gray yarn, I can show what the results look like, and I can also incorporate accents of color into a few knitted items that I want to make for display.
Though I couldn’t attend the second day of Lisa’s first “fiber weekend” I learned a lot and enjoyed meeting fellow shepherds and fiber enthusiasts, several of whom I hope to see again at this year’s Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival. Meanwhile, I’ll be keeping my eye out for a free microwave that I can use exclusively for dyeing.
Spring Shearing 2010
Caramel gets a haircut
With lambing around the corner, we had our shearer out last weekend. Spring is the most common time to shear, for several reasons. The sheep are less likely to suffer from overheating in summer, and for pregnant ewes its convenient to shear them before birth to keep the fleece clean.
As a long-wool breed, Navajo-Churro sheep grow their wool about one inch per month. With this rapid rate, we shear twice per year so that the fiber can be commercially processed into roving and yarn. A 6-inch staple length is about the maximum that most carding and spinning machines can handle, and its a length that also works for hand spinners.
Many visitors to the farm ask what we do with the wool. Last year, we took our clip and combined it with wool from a neighbor who also raises Navajo-Churros. We sent off two batches to Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, VT to be processed into beautiful yarns for weaving and knitting. This year we decided to send the fall and spring clips to Boulder Meadow Farm to be processed into roving (washed and carded fiber ready for spinning or felting). We expect to have this fiber available for sale sometime in May. Meanwhile, check out more photos of spring shearing.
Lambing Preparations: Part 3
Pregnant ewes beg for bagels
As lambing time draws ever closer, we feel good about the steps we have taken to get ready. Our shearing date is booked and the supplies are ordered. The last step is to construct lambing jugs.
A “jug” is a small pen that you put the newborn lambs and ewe into for the first 24-72 hours after birth. Closed quarters help the ewe bond with her lambs, provide shelter from cold and weather, and also protect the newborns from being kicked or stepped on by other members of the flock while they are learning to stand and walk. The jug also ensures that the ewe’s udder is within easy reach at all times.
As I mentioned in Part 2, you can buy jug panels from your local farm supply or a national store, or you can build your own out of scrap wood. We opted to build our own jugs both to save money and build to the exact dimensions that work in our barn. The design is for a two-sided panel that can be fitted into a corner of the barn, in our case the corner between the hay feeder and the back wall. The feeder acts as one wall of the jug and also allows us to provide hay to the ewe without setting up a special feeder for her. The back of the barn acts as the second wall, and the two walls of the jug complete the 4×4 foot enclosure. (Jug sizes typically range from 4×4 feet to 6×6 feet, depending on the size of the breed, likelihood of multiple births, and available space.)
These instructions can be modified to fit your preferred jug size and placement. For example, if you can not attach your jug to your hay feeder, you can use a corner of the barn as two walls of the enclosure. Or build a 3-sided jug and attach it to one wall of the barn.
Step 1: Attach Hinges
This design folds flat for easy storage in the off-season, and is small enough that one person can lift and carry it. We built two sets of jug panels to accommodate two ewes birthing at the same time. You should build one additional jug for every 8 ewes in your flock.
Materials
- Two 4-foot x 8-foot 5/8″ plywood sheets, or comparable product of similar weight and strength
- Six 4-inch strap hinges with wood screws
- Eight 3-inch hook-and-eye latches
Directions
Step 2: Mark latch location
1. Cut the two sheets of plywood in half to make four 4×4-foot panels. Lay two panels on a flat work surface so that the edges abut. Secure three hinges spaced equally along the common edge.
2. Place the jug in the barn at the desired location, and mark locations for the hooks and eyes for the latches. For added stability and security, place two latches on each side, at the top and bottom of each jug panel.
3. Affix the hooks to the jug panels and the eyes to the barn wall or feeder. Repeat the process using the remaining panels and hardware to build a second jug.
You must also make feed and water available to the ewe while she is in the jug with her lambs. Because we use our feeder as one side of the pen, delivering hay is easy. How you set up the water is very important. You want it easily accessible to the ewe, so that she will drink enough to produce a steady milk supply.
Step 3: Install latches
However, you don’t want the water too low, or the lambs could climb into the container and drown. A high-sided bucket is one option, although there is a risk that the ewe could knock it over accidentally. We decided to purchase some inexpensive bucket holders from an online livestock supplier, in order to hang the smaller buckets that we get for free from a local business.
To accommodate the hanger, we cut a slit in one wall of the pen and slid the hanger through the opening. There are other options for watering that may be better suited to your setup.
A few days before your first possible lambing date, clean the barn thoroughly and set up one of the jugs. This will keep the inside of the pen clean, so that the space is ready to go as soon as the first lambs are born.
Completed jug with feeder and water bucket
Allow the ewe to complete her labor outside of the pen, and wait until all of the lambs are born. Then move the ewe and her newborn(s) into the pen and lock them in. Add a little molasses to the ewe’s water to entice her to drink it, and make sure she has a constant supply of hay available. Leave the new family in the jug for at least 24 hours, or longer for a first-time mom, or lambs that seem to be on the weaker side. If it is very cold, you can suspend a heat lamp over one corner of the jug to help the lambs stay warm.