Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Fall to Lambing


Hello All!
Hope you had an amazing Christmas!

I guess I've been holding out on posting for fair pictures but there have been many complications. Maybe I'll have some by next fair season. ;-)

We're only a month away from lambing, but the barn is pretty quiet right now. These are the lovely slow days. :-) Unfortunately most of our pastures are flooded and the sheep are spending the days indoors....getting very plump on hay. But their all healthy and chubby and we're looking forward to lambing.

We used four rams this year, which is a record for us.

AV Louis is our old standby. He's eight this year and we've had him since he was a yearling.

We don't have the paperwork on him, but he's from a wonderful Katahdin flock and really puts muscling on those babies. We've also been very pleased with out his daughters raise their young (milk supply, number, mothering). So even though we have two fully registered and one recorded ram this year, we used him anyways.

The only big issue I have with Louis is the fact that his lambs take awhile to mature. They don't reach full size until at least 18 months. Not something you really want when your raising sheep for lamb!
So I crossed him with Maggie, our dairy ewe. Her lambs had extremely quick growth this year. KRK Mercy was also crossed with Louis. I haven't worked with her line before and this is her first lambing. It will be exciting to see what we get!

DWB 14M Leipzig is the only ram lamb we kept around from 2010. He's out of triplets from Maggie crossed with KRK 977 Johann (both parents triplets as well). Maggie raised them well...very fat and healthy. I've only had two ewes that have had any question with their milking ability.
CKN 1104 Amelia just doesn't get quick growth on her lambs. I'm not sure how much of this is just Louis slow moving genetics or her bad milk supply but she always seems pretty empty. She also has an extremely nice shedding coat which should help out in those lambs 1/4 woolieness.
KRK 42 Rosalind could not support triplets last year. She's nearly eight so I'll cut her some slack, but I wanted to try this cross anyways to see if we could get some better milk in those babies.

KRK 977 Johann is amazing. He's a triplet and huge. Nearly all our 2010 lambs are from him and we've been extremely pleased.
We crossed him with DWB 10M Dotty, DWB 10P Hagar, 002 Ophelia, and VJ 4025 Athens. Except for Athens, who is six, all these are yearlings. It will be very interesting to see what we get.

KRK 1068 Judah Ben-Hur is our new 2010 KRK ram. He's also out of triplets and had an amazing weaning weight. We haven't been disappointed in him at all and we're really looking forward to his babies.
He was crossed with CKN 321 Aravis, DWB 10A Parsley, and 003 Juliet.

That's a total of eleven ewes with four yearlings (three of which are untried). We're very excited. With all the Christmas craze I hardly feel up to lambing. I have a month to sleep, right? :-)

Besides four rams and eleven ewes we have six growing ewe lambs and one doeling still around. I'm very happy with the lambs-- Florence, Paris, Venice, Vienna, Geneva, Texas, and Verona-- all Johann daughters.
It's good to have a goat still around too...but she is for sale, if you know anyone who needs one. ;-)

Hopefully I'll get some current pictures soon. You may at least be amused by our flooded pasture. :-P

Thanks for reading,
Drowsy Waters Farm

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Oregon State Fair, Fall, and New Look

Okay, so I've been waiting to post because I've been waiting for pictures. I didn't get any on my own camera, but two different people got some for me. Those will be posted when they arrive. :-)

The State Fair went extremely well. They Katahdin classes were very respectably sized and the judge was impressed with the quality. And of course, we all had an awesome time.

I'm very excited to post pictures and the official placings when all that comes in.

Moving on...
Fall is upon us! Just over the past week it has drastically changed here. It is fall. And the sheep know it.

We are using four rams this year (the most ever for us).

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of how everyone has grown and matured soon. I'll let you all know what we are expecting December-February in 2011.

I parted with my beloved black background in hopes that this blog would be an easier read. What do you think?

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Drowsy Waters Farm

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Washington County Fair


Okay!
The Washington County Fair went well. The poor camera got left at home so all I have are some rather poor ones from a cell phone. Still, its better then nothing. They aren't perfect of the sheep and their worse of me...anyways....Yeah.
So, our competition didn't show up so we had the any other meet breed all to ourselves. At least everyone placed exactly how I thought they would. A good learning experience.



Yearling Ram
KRK 977 Johann

And again....

And again....
He's perfect on a halter but a big ol' brat when you try to make him move without one. Hopefully he'll handle himself better at State.

And again...
The judge liked him.

Yeah, so he's my baby...

Champion Ram
KRK Johann and KRK Ben-Hur
Champion and Reserve

DWB Hagar

And this is the same ram picture as above. For some reason when ever I try to delete it Google is like "oh snap" and kills everything. Time to give up. You just get to see that pic again. ;-)


Champion Ewe Line Up
DWB Hagar, KRK Mercy, DWB Paris, and DWB Texas
Hagar took Champion and Paris Reserve

And this is the Flock and still waiting for my rams.
Thank you to the people who stepped in to help! That was awesome.

Over All Champion Ewe line up with Hagar.

Over All Champion Ram line up with Johann

So, yes it was a good fair!
Our sheep are down at the State fair now. We will show on Monday the 30th. Be sure to stop by the sheep barn (the Forster building) to see the Katahdins!

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Monday, June 28, 2010

Summer Chaos


This summer promises to be a busy one!

We are now officially entered in our county fair (Washington County). That's the last week of July. It was a pretty hard decision on who to take, especially on the lambs. I ended up deciding on Johann, Ben-Hur, Hagar, Mercy, Texas, and Paris. We'll see how they do...

Because of all the other insane things we are attempting this summer we are not going to do the Canby or Clark fairs. (Although I will be at Clark helping show.) We will only be at State and Washington county.

With everything going on I'm really trying to move out anything for sale.

We currently still have three February doelings. Two Nubian grade milk line girls and one commercial Boer. We also have an two year old American Nubian doe in milk.

All of our sheep that we wish to sell have been sold or reserved. Yeah!

We have two adult Holland Lop does available and 9 babies which will be weaned in two weeks.

Please inquire or pass on the info if you hear of interest.
Thanks so much,

Miss Pickwickian

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Hollands!


BB's Miss Molli

BB's Miss Molli
For Sale

BB's DeNazzo
(Grandson of GC L&R Sedgwick)

DeNazzo

DeNazzo

DeNazzo

Boriack's Chestnut Sr Doe
1 GC Leg
For Sale

BB's DeNazzo x DW's Isabel baby
CUTE!

Those Photos I Promised

So...these are the pictures I sized down a month ago or so...

Louis

Pig or sheep?
Aravis

How handsome is my Louis?

Leipzig
Katahdin/Dairy Cross

Leipzig again.
Meaty!

The Senior Ewes in Pasture

Run for your lives!

Our two of our oldest ewes...Aravis and the new gal, Athens.

Dotty...the yearling that raised twins.

Cool pic

And this is the new gal from KRK that came from Montana.
She's just weaned off her lambs, so she's a bit thin, but she's gained some weight and lost some of that scraggly hair since this picture. She raised triplets this year and quads last!
Now officially the oldest sheep on site, besides Louis.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Gene Check, Inc Results


Today we got our blood test results back! All our sheep were OPP negative. We started testing three years ago and so far have always been negative. Yeah! Thank you, God!

I had 7 sheep Scrapie resistants tested as well.

CKN Amelia- RR
CKN Aravis- QR
002 57 Juliet- QQ
003 54 Ophelia- QQ
Maggie- QR
Geneva- QR
DWB 18P Lisbon- RR

So yes...so, so results. I knew Aravis, Amelia, and Lisbon were at least QR. I, obviously wish that Aravis was RR (and then I would know the status of a bunch of my sheep since they come from her), but QR is certainly not bad. :-)

So here is what I know now....

~Rams~

KRK 977 Johann- RR
Louis- RR
KRK Judah Ben-Hur- QQ
DWB Leipzig- at least QR by genetics...triplet is RR

~Mature Ewes~

CKN Amelia- RR
CKN Aravis- QR
DWB Parsley- at least QR by genetics
KRK Rosalind- QR
Athens (new Montana ewe....don't have numbers yet)- Unknown...checking with KRK to see if she'd been tested.
Maggie- QR

~Yearling Ewes~

DWB Hagar-
unknown
Ophelia- QQ
Juliet- QQ
DWB Dotty- RR
KRK Mercy- Unknown at this point. Checking with KRK.

~Ewe Lambs~

DWB Texas
- at least QR by genetics
DWB Symphony- RR
DWB Venice- at least QR by genetics
DWB Paris- at least QR by genetics
DWB Lisbon- RR
DWB Verona- at least QR by genetics
DWB Genoa- at least QR by genetics
DWB Vienna- RR
Geneva- QR

Obviously I'd like to know everyone's exact status, but this is getting closer. Juliet and Ophelia are commercial ewes that were traded for a ram lamb last year. I was a little disappointed that they were QQ, but since they are unrelated to my RR rams, it is much better. I just won't be breeding them with Ben-Hur.

Anyways...all in all I was pretty pleased. :-)

Also got my lamb registrations right, although some got returned all wrong and transfers didn't get completed. Ah well...KHSI registry has moved and things are all new and different. We all need some slack. The new look is very nice. :-)

I have a bunch of photos I took several weeks ago, that I need to post sometime...

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Wonder


Annual Testing


Today we did one of my least favorite thing related to our critters...drawing blood.
Thankfully we have a very nice friend who is willing to do it for me so I just have to hold the sheep. I can deal with about anything, but not blood so much....

We did our OPP testing plus some genetic testing for Scrapie resistance. All my rams to this point have been RR, but our new ram is QQ, so I'd like to know more what my ewes are like. All of the ewes I have are at least QR and a couple are confirmed RR, but I'm looking forward to these results.

Normally for OPP and CL testing we use WADDL, but for the DNA testing we use Gene Check, Inc. We sent everything in to Gene Check this time, which was actually cheaper too. I guess it is good to get a test from a different lab anyways.

Sorry no pictures for this post...not my favorite thing to take pictures of...

I'll be posting the results!
Miss Pickwickian

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Meet KRK 1068 "Judah Ben-Hur"


Born January 19th 2010
~ Triplet ~ QQ ~
Out of Napolyn (an AV ram owned by KRK) and a ewe from Montana.
60 day adjusted weight, 71 lbs
Weaning weight 97 lbs
Dam weaned 300lbs of lamb!



Johann and Ben-Hur
Don't look to closely in this picture...Johann shed out his main and it hasn't come back yet. He's very embarrassed.


Current ram line up.
Louis, Johann, Leipzig, and Ben-Hur

8 year old Louis and 4 month old Ben-Hur


Thank you so much KRK Katahdins for this amazing young ram! We really look forward to what he puts in our flock.

You can meet Ben-Hur at the Washington County or State Fair this year! :-)

More on the ewes that came home later...

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Pics and Updates


The sheep section of our website is now updated!
Drowsy Waters Farm Site

But it will need more updates soon because we brought home our new KRK ram, a adult ewe, and a dairy lamb today! We are very excited. Pictures to come!


One of my yearlings that I am the happiest with!
Looking forward to this gal performing in our breeding program.


Hagar seems to not like me as much as I like her...

Texas

Texas

Amelia

Aravis and Ophelia

Love this shot....
Rosalind thinks she's the mama to all our lambs and kids and weaning has been a little harder for her. During the chaos Dotty, ever alert, looks on.

Hagar, Aravis, Amelia (fatty!), and Mercy

Florence
My only January ewe lamb that's staying.

A row of keepers...
Texas, Venice, Paris, and Florence

Hagar again...because she's my favorite (one of them ;-)

Yeah...you know who

Venice

Ophelia