Drowsy Waters Farm

Lazy Rams

2011-05-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

KRK Johann (2), AV Louis (9), and KRK Ben-Hur (1)

2011 Youngest Lambs

2011-05-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

KRK Mercy lambed last this year with a set of gorgeous twins by AV Louis. This is her first lambing and she's doing a great job.

Her ram lamb, Gremio at one month old.

Every since I caught him for his three week shots, Gremio has a strange fascination with creeping up on me and bleating in my ear. Strange fellow.

Katherina...the first lamb with true black in a long time. A pretty ewe lamb all around.

Symphony

2011-05-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

DWB Symphony

Triplet yearling. Beautifully shed out. RR from AV lines.

The result of our first on-our-own c-section and well worth it. Love this gal.

What matters?

2011-05-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

DWB 0007
~Sylvius~

Sire: AV Louis (Katahdin. Twin. RR.)

Dam: Maggie (Dairy. Triplet. QR.)

DOB: February 13th

Triplet

Dairy/Katahdin - Unrecorded

Pictured at 3 months.

Love this ram lamb. He's really packing the meat and inherited the Katahdin coat. I can't wait to use him on my experiment dairy ewes.

I will be constantly kicking myself for not having papers on Louis so I could record this guy along with other Louis offspring. He's really beautiful and has a lot to offer.

He will be for sale in November after our primary breeding season.

Should I use a different ram lamb because I can have recording papers? I dunno. Sylvius is certainly the best dairy cross we've produced.

I have to keep reminding myself of the goal here. We brought dairy sheep into the flock to have a few to milk, but primarily to add to our Katahdin genetics and reinforce the beautiful, heavy milking, quick weight gain, and high birth rates.

Sylvius may be a detour on full registration on our project, but he's a great stepping stone to the look, confirmation, and lines I want. He also has the most color of any Katahdin/Dairy cross born here and a promising coat.

....Still some decisions to make, but for now, he's certainly staying on the farm.

Shedding Sheep and 2011 Lambs

2011-04-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

DWB Vienna
CKN Amelia x KRK Johann
Almost a yearling.

DWB Verona
Katahdin/Dairy cross yearling.

Sheep!

Aravis, Parsley, Juliet, Beatrice, and Touchstone.

DWB Parsley with her twin ram lambs, Jaques and Touchstone.

DWB Paris
Yearling ewe out of CKN Aravis and KRK Johann.

DWB Narissa
Triplet ewe lamb.

KRK Mercy
Three day old twins, Katherina and Gremio.

Louis
9 Years old.

DWB Katherina
Love the black speckles. We rarely get true black here. She's my only Louis daughter this year. A keeper for sure. :-)

DWB Florence
Love this triplet ewe. She's now officially one! :-)

VJ Athens and her ewe lamb, Beatrice.

KRK Ben-Hur
Now a yearling! He produced some excellent lambs this year.

CKN Aravis and one of her twins, Benedict.

DWB Troy :-)

Ewes for Sale 2011

2011-04-11T21:50:00.001-07:00

DWB 17M Viola
February 13th
Twin

Sire: KRK 1068 Judah Ben-Hur (Triplet. QQ.)
Dam: 0003 Juliet (Triplet. QQ.)
Full Katahdin. Recorded 50%.
Available July 1st
$125

This is a rather poor picture of Portia. She's the lamb facing away, but this gives you an idea of her markings. Better picture comings soon. :-)

DWB 21P Portia
February 21st
Twin
Sire: KRK 977 Johann (Triplet. RR.)
Dam: DWB 10P Hagar (Twin. ?)

Full Katahidin - 65.6% Recorded
Available June 1st
$175

Adult ewe
DWB 10M Dotty

January 29th 2009
Triplet - RR
Sire: AV Louis (Twin. RR.)
Dam: CKN 1104 Amelia (Twin. RR.)

Full Katahdin. Recorded 18.7%

Dotty has lambed twice producing and raising five healthy lambs.
She is a small ewe. Her mother was a good 250lbs, but Dotty was bred much younger and doesn't look as impressive. She's a good mom with excellent lines.

Available June 1st
$175

I know this is a bit of an unflattering view... Another picture coming. :-)

Adult Ewe
0004 Opehlia
March 2009
Triplet - QQ
Commercial Katahdin

Gave us twins this year.

Available June 1st
$150

Red ewe. All three lambs are her 2011 triplets.

Adult ewe
KRK 42 Rosalind
February 17th 2003

Twin - QR

Sire: NF 574

Dam: BSA 114
Registered Katahdin

I've had her for two lambings and she's given me six lambs. Excellent mother. Carries her babies very low. Real sweetie. Good home only. :-)

Available June 1st
$200

2011 Ram Lambs

2011-04-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken April 11th.

All the ram lambs are varying ages so please take into account their birth dates.

More pictures are available on each particular ram as well as on the sires and dams.

All rams will come with registration/recorded papers with KHSI.

We will have no yearling or adult rams available this year.

Feel free to ask questions!

DWB 16A Benedict

February 6th

Twin

Sire: KRK 1068 Ben-Hur (Triplet. QQ.)

Dam: CKN 321 Aravis (Twin. QR.)

Full Katahdin - 75% Recorded
Available October 1st
$250

DWB 19P Jaques

February 12th

Twin

Sire: KRK 1068 Ben-Hur (Triplet. QQ.)

Dam: DWB 10A Parsley (Triplet. At least QR.)

Full Katahidin - 62.5% Recorded

Available June 1st
$175

DWB 20P Touchstone

February 12th

Twin

Sire: KRK 1068 Ben-Hur (Triplet. QQ.)

Dam: DWB 10A Parsley (Triplet. At least QR.)

Full Katahidin - 62.5% Recorded
Available June 1st
$175

0007 Sylvius

February 13th

Triplet

Sire: AV Louis (Twin. RR.)

Dam: Maggie (Dairy. Triplet. QR.)

Dairy/Katahdin - Unrecorded
Not Available

Picture coming soon!
Grayish brown with white markings.
DWB 18M Orlando

February 19th

Twin

Sire: KRK 977 Johann (Triplet. RR.)

Dam: Ophelia (Triplet. QQ.)

Full Katahdin. 50% Recorded
Available June 1st
$150

DWB 22P Antonio

February 21st

Twin

Sire: KRK 977 Johann (Triplet. RR.)

Dam: DWB 10P Hagar (Twin. ?)

Full Katahidin - 65.6% Recorded
Available June 1st
$175

DWB 19M Gratiano

February 23rd

Triplet

Sire: KRK 977 Johann (Triplet. RR.)

Dam: DWB 10M Dotty (Triplet. RR.)

Full Katahidin - 59.8% Recorded

Available June 1st

Wether
$95

Picture coming soon!
White with brown spot on neck.
DWB 20M Bassanio

February 23rd

Triplet

Sire: KRK 977 Johann (Triplet. RR.)

Dam: DWB 10M Dotty (Triplet. RR.)

Full Katahidin - 59.8% Recorded
Available June 1st
Wether
$95

DWB 18A Chad

February 23rd

Triplet

Sire: DWB 14M Leipzig (Triplet. At least QR.)

Dam: KRK 42 Rosalind (Twin. QR.)

3/4 Katahdin and 1/4 Dairy - 75% Recorded
Available June 1st
$125

DWB 17A Troy

February 23rd

Triplet

Sire: DWB 14M Leipzig (Triplet. At least QR.)

Dam: KRK 42 Rosalind (Twin. QR.)

3/4 Katahdin and 1/4 Dairy - 75% Recorded
Available June 1st
$125

DWB 24P Gremio

April 8th

Twin

Sire: AV Louis (Twin. RR.)

Dam: KRK 983 (Twin. ?)

Full Katahdin - 50% Recorded
Available July 1st
$200

Lambing in Review

2011-02-24T12:40:00.001-08:00

The Rams (2011 only)

AV Louis

Bred to two ewes. still waiting on second ewe.

KRK 977 Johann

Bred to four ewes.
Eight lambs (1,2,2,3). Eight survivors. Three ewe lambs, five rams.

KRK 1068 Judah Ben-Hur

Bred to three ewes.
Six lambs (2,2,2). Four survivors. One ewe lamb, five rams.

DWB 14M Leipzig

Bred to one ewe.

Three lambs (3). Three survivors. One ewe, two rams.

The Ewes

CKN 321 Aravis
Birth Info: Twin 2/1/06

2008 - 3/3
2009 - 2/2

2010 - 2/2
2011 - 1/2
Five years old. Nine lambs. Eight successful.

DWB 10A Parsley

Birth Info: Triplet 1/9/08

2009 - 2/2
2008 - 1/1

2011 -2/2
Three years old. Five lambs. Five successful.

VJ 4025 Athens

Birth Info: Twin 3/2/04

2005-2008 Records unknown
2010 - 4/
2011 - 1/1
Seven years old. One year with us. One successful.

KRK 42 Rosalind

Birth Info: Twin 2/17/03

2004-2009 Records Unknown

2010 - 3/3
2011 - 3/3

Eight years old. Two years with us. Six successful.

DWB 10M Dotty

Birth Info: Triplet 2/29/09

2010 - 2/2

2011 -3/3
Two years old. Five lambs. Five successful.

DWB10P Hagar
Birth Info: Twin 4/25/09

2011 -2/2

Will be two years old. Two lambs. Two successful.

003 Juliet (Commercial Katahdin)
Birth Info: Triplet 3/09

2011 -1/2

Two years old. Two lambs. One successful.

002 Ophelia (Commercial Katahdin)
Birth Info: Triplet 3/09

2011 -2/2

Two years old. Two lambs. Two successful.

Maggie (Dairy)
Birth Info: Triplet 5/7/07

2010 (first lambing) - 3/3

2011 -1/3

Will be four years old. Six lambs. Four successful.

KRK Mercy

Birth Info: Twin 7/10/09
Still waiting. :-)

2011
Current total: 9 ewes, 20 lambs. 16 surviving lambs.

Ram Lambs: 11
Ewe Lambs: 5

Posts on various lambing adventures when time permits. We were so blessed yesterday to get two sets of lively triplets! Everyone on the ground is doing well and we hope the ewes raise them all healthy through weaning.

Thanks for reading,

Drowsy Waters Farm

Various Pictures and Lambing Updates

2011-02-23T13:05:00.000-08:00

DWB Sylvius
Ram - Triplet - 10 days old
AV Louis x Maggie
Diary/Katahdin Cross

DWB Touchstone
Ram - Twin - 11 days old
KRK 1068 Ben-Hur x DWB 10A Parsley

DWB Benedict
Ram - Twin - 17 days old
KRK 1068 Ben-Hur x CKN 321 Aravis

KRK Rosalind
Still waiting...

DWB Portia
Ewe - Twin - 2 days old
KRK 977 Johann x DWB Hagar

Ophelia...

DWB Oliver
Ram - Twin - 4 days old
KRK 977 Johann x Ophelia

Rather unorthodox cuteness... But Ophelia is being a good first time mama and raising twins nicely.

DWB Narissa
Ewe - Triplet - 1 hour old!
KRK 977 Johann x DWB Dotty

KRK Mercy
Still waiting...

DWB Parsley with Jaques, one of her twin ram lambs.

Maggie...still alive, robust and healthy 10 days after we had to deal with our first prolapse.

DWB Gratiano
Ewe - Triplet - 1 hour old!
KRK 977 Johann x DWB Dotty

VJ 4025 Athens

Athens and here 18 day old ewe lamb by KRK 977 Johann.

DWB Antonio
Ewe - Twin - 2 days old
KRK 977 Johann x DWB Hagar

Antonio and Hagar who is proving herself to be an excellent mama!

Some Lambs from 2011

2011-02-16T10:18:00.000-08:00

DWB Benedict

10 days old - Twin
KRK 1068 Ben-Hur x CKN 321 Aravis

Benedict
This was my first lamb from Ben-Hur. I must say, he's quite handsome. :-)

Athens and her ewe lamb, Beatrice.
My very first lamb of the year.

DWB Beatrice
11 days old - Single
KRK 977 Johann x VJ 4025 Athens

DWB Viola

3 days old - Twin
KRK 1068 Ben-Hur x 003 Juliet

DWB Sylvius
3 days old - Triplet
AV Louis x Maggie (Dairy)

Sylvius
I've never seen this many spots on a dairy cross. What a cutie.

003 Juliet
Just because she's pretty. She reminds me a lot of one of our first ewes back in 1999.

DWB Touchstone
4 days old - Twin
KRK 1068 Ben-Hur x DWB 10A Parsley

DWB Jaques

4 days old - Twin

KRK 1068 Ben-Hur x DWB 10A Parsley

Jaques again.
His markings are just so cute! I love the look of the muscling on him too.

I'll catch up with the news when I can. We still have half of our ewes to lamb.

Thanks for reading,
Drowsy Waters Farm

Fall to Lambing

2010-12-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

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

Oregon State Fair, Fall, and New Look

2010-09-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

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

Washington County Fair

2010-08-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

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

Summer Chaos

2010-06-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

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

Hollands!

2010-06-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

BB's Miss Molli

BB's Miss Molli
For Sale

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

DeNazzo

Boriack's Chestnut Sr Doe
1 GC Leg
For Sale

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

Those Photos I Promised

2010-06-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Gene Check, Inc Results

2010-06-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

Wonder

2010-05-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

Annual Testing

2010-05-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

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

Meet KRK 1068 "Judah Ben-Hur"

2010-05-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

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

Drowsy Waters Farm

Pics and Updates

2010-05-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

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

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

Summer Grass

2010-05-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

Pictures of Paris

2010-05-20T19:18:00.001-07:00

Who is here to stay?

2010-05-19T10:27:00.001-07:00

All lambing and kidding is over and I've almost finished weaning the last lambs. Symphony (a bottle baby) is still happy on the bottle. I won't worry about weaning her until the beginning of June or so.

We currently have a whole pen and pasture devoted to the lambs! They are so cute running around together. I would get some good pictures, but there are just a few to many bottle babies (including a very bothersome Boer doeling who doesn't feel at home with that goats). I can't hod a camera steady with all those jumping critters! Hopefully they are learning some manners. :-P

So, the big question was who's here to stay? I had so many ewe lambs this year it was a hard choice.

I'm just going to write a quick squib on the lambs that are staying.
I picked out some pictures from the past, so all the lambs are at varying ages...Not very good for comparing, but at least you can see what they look like. :-)

~DWB 12P~ Florence
1/30/10 - Triplet - Brown and White
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: DWB 11A (Rue)
This was a no brainer because Florence will replace mom. She's not quit as big as some of the younger lambs, but she's long, deep, and sturdy. She's also the only lamb that was born in January that I was considering and I want a "Fall Lamb" for the state fair. :-)

~DWB 14A~ Paris
2/2/10 - Twin - Honey brown and white tummy and tail markings
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: CKN 321 (Aravis)
Just another proof that Aravis is an awesome ewe! Both Paris and her twin Sicily were probably some of my nicest lambs this year. The hard choice was between the sisters. I didn't feel like I should keep both since I already have a bigillion Aravis related sheep (but there is a reason for that).
Sicily seemed bigger to start with, but I just kept observing. In the end I came to the conclusion that part of Sicily's bigness was leg, while Paris seemed to pack it all in the important parts. Yes, she was shorter, but her "pig shape" spoke to me. LOL
So, yeah, Paris is here to stay.

~DWB 11M~ Vienna
2/4/10 - Single - Honey brown with a little bit of white
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: CKN 1104 (Amelia)
So this is my more questionable choice. :-) I haven't got any singles before, and I'm keeping two this year. Parsley I can forgive, but Amelia is a big caliber ewe. She should be able to put out a lot more then this. Last year was her first lambing and she gave me triplets, so I'm hoping this was just due to my epic flushing failure.
Vienna isn't huge for a single, but she's nicely built. If she turns out looking like mom (but no singles please) she will be well worth keeping.
I was going back and forth on her so much I decided I would either keep her or Tamar. Tamar is a yearling who was also on the smaller side. I already had her twin, so I didn't exactly need her. I had a customer come out who was interested in Tamar and not Vienna, so I thought...okay, that was decided for me. :-) Thanks Sue!

~DWB 14P~ Texas
2/8/10 - Single - Dark brown with white markings
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: DWB 10A (Parsley)
Another single...But if I was going to pick a favorite lamb this year it would be Texas. She's big (huge, really) and stocky. She grew out of baby fat cuteness quickly and really looks like a market animal. She'd be perfect at this point if she had a few siblings. :-)
Besides all that, Texas is a sweetie pie and has the prettiest eyes and face! I never try to pick my keepers on their looks or personalities (unless they are nervous or aggressive), but there's no harm in admiring those qualities on a ewe I've already decided to keep. ;-)

~DWB 15P~ Venice
2/12/10 - Triplet - Brown
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: KRK 42 (Rosalind)
A lovely triplet, Venice was an easy choice over her siblings as far as size. (She had a better head start with her own placenta while the other gals shared.)
The most striking quality about Venice is her length. She should have plenty of room to produce triplets herself!

~DWB 13M~ Verona
3/12/10 - Triplet - White
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: Maggie (A woolie dairy ewe)
Verona beats her sister in size, but not on color. Genoa has the most adorable black markings on her nose! Anyways, Verona is the gal that's staying for her overall size and build. I hope for great things from these dairy/Katahdin crosses. I haven't been disappointed yet!

~DWB 18P~ Lisbon
3/18/10 - Triplet - White with black face markings and gray spot
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: Dolly (A woolie dairy ewe)
Lisbon beat her siblings on Katahdininess. Lisbon is my only dairy cross that looks like a Katahdin. She has a much different coat and I'm hoping it will shed. She's also long, deep, and big! She'll be replacing mom.

~DWB ?~ Symphony
4/3/10 - Triplet - Red
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: AV 0155 (Celia)
Symphony is replacing mom. She's to little to say a lot about yet, but she's growing well and quickly. I would have liked to see a higher birth weight to start, but as a triplet from an 8 year old, I'm not to worried about it. Bigness is easier to breed in then the correctness that Symphony exhibits. :-)

And then their is Leipzig, the only ram I'll be keeping.

~DWB 14M~ Leipzig
3/12/10 - Triplet - White
Sire: KRK 977 (Johann)
Dam: Maggie (A woolie dairy ewe)
Leipzig beats all my other lambs in BIGNESS! He is such a chunk. Really built for meat and muscle. I had decided on keeping him for breeding on select ewes in the fall and then using him as are lamb meat in the winter. I still think he could add a lot to a couple of my ewes (more crossing with that extra milk in there too) but I'm still considering. He looks like he might be developing some scurs, and I don't know if it's worth it to breed those in. No matter what though, he's certainly something handsome to look at. :-)

That's nine lambs to stay, eight ewes and one market.

That leaves me with 10 lambs to sell. 5 have already found their new homes, so I have 5, all ewe lambs, left to advertise!

I currently have 5 mature ewes and 5 yearlings (one of which lambed this year). I had 9 ewes lamb this year with 21 lambs. Right now next year I will have 10 ewes, 4 being newbies.
I would like to be expanding more then one more ewe, but we'll see. I might look for a couple more mature ewes. Lord willing, the following year I will have at least 18 ewes lamb! My goal at this point is to stay around 20 ewes and 3-4 rams. I would like to be able to offer starting breeding flocks and have plenty of unrelated stock.

I currently have 2 mature rams. KRK 977 Johann (fully registered) and Louis (no paperwork, but worth it). I will be keeping 1 recorded ram lamb, Leipzig, but we will be using him for meat after breeding season.
However, we are bringing and addition to our flock! We are planning on introducing another KRK ram lamb to our flock this summer!

So..there is just some sheep rambles. :-) It might not have been that interesting for you, but it sure helps me think through things. I'm hoping to update our website soon!

Miss Pickwickian

Drowsy Waters Farm

Barn Photos

2010-05-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

Parsley

Vienna

Toffy...looking grumpy

Texas

Symphony

Sophie

Scarlett

Parsley finishing her shed

Paris

Ophelia...lol

Miss Lonely

Mercy and Juliet

Marsellies

Maggie

Louis

Little Dorrit

Broken Squirrel Doe
Three successful Holland litters this week!
Anyways...back to the actual barn animals....

Georgia

Genoa

Ewes taking a break

Ewes going back out to graze. :-)
Juliet, Amelia, Hagar, Aravis, and Ophelia.
I just love, love, love the way Hagar (the spotty yearling) is turning out!

Brunswick

Atlanta

Amelia

Alexandra

Bo
Love the sky and the green

No Place Prettier then Home

2010-05-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Routine Again and Hard Choices

2010-05-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

Life is busy! My sister and I recently got back from a trip to Mexico and ran strait into a brother's graduation and another brother's wedding! Life is good! When it's crazy and when it slows back down again.... I am hoping for some quite days ahead...

Part of life being busy is our goats. Recently I have been just a bit to busy and the barn has been just a bit to crowded. I've also being dealing with some very nasty pain in my hands while milking. I really can't keep it up.
Through a lot of different issues and all the things going on in my life we've decided to sell out of goats. It was a very hard decisions, but I am confident it is the best one for my life right now. We will miss them! We bought our first girls in Jan 1999. Eleven years... Yes, we will miss, miss, miss them!

Thank you to those of you who have already given our goats excellent homes! We do have several left and I'm posting the list here.

Thank you to all of those who have sold us goats or bought goats and milk from us!

I'll be posting some new pictures soon. We are certainly having picture perfect weather here.
Thanks,
Miss Pickwickian

Meat and milk production stock available! $75-$350. Detailed list below. All CAE and CL tested.

We want them all to find good homes. We will give discounts on the purchase of 3 or more.

If you have any questions about our stock or how they are raised feel free to contact us by phone or email. I can be reached at 503-476-4575.

Our stock is raised on hay, alfalfa, free choice minerals, minimal grain, and pasture.

Detailed list below. Pictures available on all stock. Thank you!

~Oberhasli and Nubian Milk Goats Available~

Bucks and Wethers

*Drowsy Waters Sweet Potato Pie*
February 10th 2010 - Quadruplet - Brown
Nubian/Oberhasli grade wether. Excellent pet or meat goat.
$75

The Does

*Drowsy Waters Bristol*
February 10th 2010 - Quadruplet - Brown with some black markings
Grade Nubian/Oberhasli doeling. Excellent milk lines. Out Drowsy Waters Ella and Drowsy Waters Rudi.
$100

*Drowsy Waters Alexandria*
February 10th 2010 - Quadruplet - Brown with some black markings
Grade Nubian/Oberhasli doeling. Excellent milk lines. Out Drowsy Waters Ella and Drowsy Waters Rudi.
$100

*Drowsy Waters Atlanta*
February 5th 2010 - Single - Brown with black markings
Nubian grade. Lovely, lovely milk doeling. Long, deep...all dairy. Out of Cove Orchard's Penelope (an excellent purebred milker) and our grade buck out of top production lines. Really promises to be an excellent combination. Would love to keep her but don't have the room.
$150 with grade registration or $125 unregistered.

*Drowsy Waters Georgia*
February 14th 2010 - Twin -Black with white markings and ears
Nubian grade. Out of amazing milking lines! Should do very well. Mom is a lovely doe from RR Resources. Her sire is out of a all milk doe that gives over 3 gallons of milk a day! Has both amazing show lines and production lines in there. Her weak point is her ears are a bit goofy.
$150 as registered grade $125 unregistered.

*Drowsy Waters Ella*
February 15th 2003 - Brown with black markings
Nubian/Oberhasli grade. Excellent producer. Has given us 17 kids in 6 kidding seasons. Excellent mom. Produces past 3 gallons a day at peak. Currently milking. Freshened in February.
$200

*RR Resources Virginia Grace*
April 1st 2008 - Quadruplet - Black and white
American Nubian. This is her first year and she gave us a lovely set of twins and is milking very, very nicely. Out of B* T&L March's Ranch Wickedwinner and 3*M RR Resources Valveeta. Some of the best lines you can find.
$325

~Boer Meat Goats Available~

The Bucks

*Parker's Gormet Bocephues*
July 15th 2009 - Traditonal/Correct
Beautiful buck. Very stocky and showy. Out of TST1 Windyu Acres Bo Diddley and Parker's Gourmet Just Kinky. Excellent sire for your meat operation.
$225 no papers $275 with ABGA paperwork.

*Drowsy Waters Hillbilly Bone~
February 14th 2010 - Twin - Tan
Lovely honey colored buckling out of great lines. Dad is commercial and mom is a fullblood out of Elite Ennobled and Ennobled show and meat stock. Very stocky. Excellent for breeding or for meat.
$125

The Does

*Goat Palace T Sophie Cornflower*
March 20th 2008 - Single - Traditional markings
Excellent fullblood doe. Gave us twins this year (her first kidding season) and has raised them very well. Very stocky and meaty. Out of Elite Ennobled KTM Tuck and Goat Palace T. Diva. Wonderful lines. Registered with USBGA.
$200

*Drowsy Waters Scarlett*
February 14th 2010 - Twin - Brown cap with some non traditional markings
Very nice doeling. Very long. Should do well in any breeding program. Commercial dad. Mom is Goat Palace T Sophie Corflower (see above).
$125 or $150 registered at 50% with USBGA.

*Drowsy Waters Miss Lonely*
February 8th 2010 - Single - Brown and white...very cute markings.
Lovely doeling that should do well. Out of commercial Boer parents.
$125

Counting Sheep...

2010-04-08T17:41:00.001-07:00

Vienna and Texas

Sicily

Paris and Marseilles

Paris

Paris again...my little pig. :-)

Guess who?

Miss Lonely

And Miss Lonely

Marseilles and mom, KRK 42 (Rosalind)
One of Maggie's Katahdin cross lambs in the background.

Marseilles again...
She's a real clown and very friendly. :-)

Maggie and lambs

So far I am thrilled with these dairy crosses.

Maggie, Verona, Leipzig, and Genoa

Florence and Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit and Florence
First lambs for 2010

And this is my gal, Lisbon.
She's the Katahdin dairy cross that looks the most Katahdiny. She has a Katahdin coat, Katahdin eyes, Katahdin personality, Katahdin build, and so on....
The other 5 lambs could pass as all dairy I think. This one really got the Katahdin gene.

Just so you can see how Hermen is growing!
Hermen the cow and Verona the Katahdin/Dairy cross.

Genoa

Florence! Goof ball! Why are bottle babies such wackos?

Florence and Little Dorrit again....

My girl, Florence. :-)

And this is Emily, Lisbon's triplet.

All wooly...

But very nicely built!

Can you see why I'm having a hard time deciding who to keep on the farm? I was so blessed this year, I can't possibly keep them all!

Final lamb count...
9 ewes - 21 lambs (5 sets of triplets)
17 ewe lambs - 4 ram lambs

Young Lambs First Day in the Pasture

2010-03-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Maggie's triplets.

The half dairy babies are looking very nice.

Run

So cute!

You only can run around like crazy so long....

Elaine
One of Dotty's twins.

Dotty, Glennie, and Elaine.

And them all again....

Maggie tries to keep track of her bouncy triplets.

No post is complete without a picture of Vienna

The triplets torment another (but older) triplet, Venice

Venice again...

Texas

And Parsley being a goofball!

Spring Day

2010-03-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Scarlett and Brunswick

Lisbon

KRK Ram lamb "Westlock"

Lisbon and Emily
Now officially bottle babies since mom was to tired to ever notice them.
Dolly's doing better now, which means she's feeling good enough to knock around these odd little creatures running around in her pen.

Some goats!

More Lambs...and finally some pictures!

2010-03-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Well...I said I couldn't wait until Dolly had her lambs!

I checked on her early. By the way she looked last night I really thought I should have some lambs down there. I should have got up during the night to check. :-P

She had one head out and I could feel one more head and only one leg.... I tried, but couldn't get anything to move anywhere. We'd already lost the first lamb and I was worried about the one right behind. It didn't respond when I stuck my finger in the it's mouth.

The vet could not get here fast enough!

It was a mess, but they got untangled and amazingly the other two lambs made it!!!!
So much for her not being as big as her sister, Maggie. These lambs are good sized, too. Dolly is very worn out. Poor girl. She must have been trying all night. I hope she pulls through healthy. She's has proved herself and her determination.

You know that point when you get the shoulders and head and the rest just slips out? Well, the two first lambs wouldn't do that! They both had to be put all the way back in and then their back legs unfolded before the backend would come through.
And then...to top it off, number 3 was breach!

The vet didn't think she'd have more problems next time. He actually remarked at how much room she had in there. She'll get another year to prove she can do it easy. I'll watch her more carefully next time. Sorry girl!

She's to tired and weak to stand for very long but thankfully she has enough milk that the babies can easily nurse well she's laying down. I hope she gains her strength quickly and I don't have to deal with prolapse!

I learned a lot by this vet visit. This position was a lot like Ella's. I'm hoping I can deal with this sort of thing better next time. This position was complex enough, I'm so glad I didn't wait to call the vet.
Thank you so much Dr. Fischer of Newberg Veterinary Hospital for pulling them through!

Triplet girls again! That makes 18 lambs with only 2 ram lambs.

I finally got pictures!
Enjoy,
Miss Pickwickian

RR Resources Virginia Grace
Babies Hillbilly Bone and Georgia.

DWB Vienna

DWB Texas

DWB Sicily
So meek and sweet, just like mom. :-)

Drowsy Waters Scarlett

Miss Lonely
The clown

Our first Dairy lambs!
This is one of Maggie's six day old triplets. They are half Katahdin and half dairy.

Another girl...

One of Dotty's week old girls.

Scarlett and Georgia fighting

Georgia

DWB Florence
Spoiled favorite

Ella's babies
Bristol, Alexandria and Sweet Potato Pie

Ella girl

DWB Glennifer (Glennie)
One of Dotty's one week old ewe lambs

DWB Elaine
Dotty's other ewe lamb

And the young, yet capable, Dotty herself

My last ewe to lamb
Big enough yet?

Drowsy Waters Brunswick

The bottle babies
Have to love that smile!

The bottle babies again...
Miss Lonely, Florence, and Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit, Florence, and Miss Lonely

Atlanta, my prettiest, sweetest doe kid this year. :-)

Atlanta again...

Maggie and Dolly the Dairy Girls

2010-03-17T13:37:00.001-07:00

Last fall we added the first dairy sheep to our farm (and our first wool sheep). I'm not planning on making the dairy sheep a big deal, but I would like to mix some of them in with the Katahdins to help keep good milking lines in there. So far I am more impressed then I thought I'd be.

Our two ewes (thank you Colleen!) where born 5/07 and this is their first lambing season. I was mildly concerned because they were older, but they've done great.

Maggie, the biggest ewe, gave me lovely, adorable triplets on Friday. Two ewes and a ram. I can't believe I don't have names for them yet. :-) Maybe because that makes 25 babies for us this year! That feels like a lot of names.
The babies are very, very plump and frisky. She is feeding them very well and still has milk leftover. I think this dairy sheep thing was a good idea. :-)

Dolly has dropped her babies and we are just waiting to see what she gives us. She's not near as plump as sister so I'm hoping our last Katahdin will hurry and have her lambs at the same time. Maybe I can foster one over. Our last Katahdin ewe, Celia, is massive. I'm not sure if I want her to raise triplets since she is older and doesn't have a huge udder. This is her first lambing here and I just don't know what to expect. If Dolly only has a single, or even if she has twins, I'm probably going to have to milk her out some. She looks like a real producer.

Those are our last two ewes! It would be nice if we got twins and triplets and that would put me up to 20 lambs even with a total of 30 goats and sheep born here this year.

We'll see. :-)

Lambing total right now is 7 ewes for 15 lambs with 13 ewe lambs and 2 ram lambs! We have been so blessed this year!

Thanks for reading. I'll post pictures soon.
Miss Pickwickian

Sketches of Spring

2010-03-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

I would have a host of pictures, but I have been so busy (and to lazy) to format them for the blog. They shall come....

There was an attempted snow yesterday, but we've had some wonderfully warm days. The orchard is blossoming and daffodils are everywhere. Unfortunately it's been chilling back up just in time for my last ewes to lamb.

Instead of pictures here are some written snap shots of the farm.

~This time of the year the Katahdins spend nearly 24/7 out in the pasture. (If there is rain, clouds, or darkness the goats and dairy sheep stay indoors.) The lambs spend most of the day running from the barn to the pasture and back. So cute!

~Nine baby goats in one pen is as entertaining as TV.

~One of our neighbors (the ones who raised the huge caboodle of Boers) sold all their stock on Sunday. All except one....They very graciously gave back the doe we sold them when they first got started! I came home from church to find a mini Ella in one of my quarantine pens. She's a real blessing and will save me two years on raising a different Ella baby to start milking.

I'm currently working her (formally known here as Nobby and now Capri) milk back up after she weaned her kids. It's going much better then I expected. She is just as relaxed and sweet and all around dairish as her mom. Hopefully she won't follow in her mom's foot steps of being a big ol' boss. I'll just have to wait for her blood tests results to see how she does with them all.

~We had our first Boers go the way Boer's were intended to go. :-P We'll see it if was all worth it.

~Whenever I come down to early or to late for normal chores the critters are out in the pasture. The sheep are easy to get in, and if they weren't it wouldn't matter to much. I don't have to milk them.
The goats? Not so much.
I'm separating Ella and Ginny at night so their easy. The other day I'd finished the inbarn goats and I was ready for the pasture girls. They were not ready. I chugged out to the pasture and called for them. Penny made some half hearted steps back to the barn, but got distracted. I went back into the barn thinking they would surely come back in after the saw me. Nope.
I ran the milk I'd already milked up to the house to start chilling and put Ella and Ginny back with the gang.
Ella, of course, tromped out the pasture with her triplets, told everybody what was what and turned right back around and led them all in. How can they all fear her so much but be incapable of make the simple decision to return to the barn without her?

~Miss Lonely is now the happiest, fattest growing baby on the farm but still considers it her duty to wail hoarsely whenever she sees a human.

~We had our first surprise lambs in 11 years.
Our power was out from about 3-10pm yesterday. When it looked like I wasn't going to have power for chores I hurried down to try and get the five goats milked before the milk room was completely dark. I'd gotten through goat four when I went out to feed the ewe lambs and dairy mom's. Darkness can do funny things, but there really was two itty-bitty lambs in there!
Dotty had delivered two ewe lambs no problem. They were fat, happy, and frisking!

I would have loved to let her grow that full year. She is a gorgeous ewe and hopefully will still grow some more. Lambing early always cuts their growth short.
She was one of my main candidates for a yearling at the state fair. She did well last year and if she's anything like her mom she should be a lovely big yearling by September. We'll see. She's out of Amelia's triplets last year and is my biggest and oldest ewe lamb.

This puts her with babies at 13 months. It could be worse. She doesn't have a lot of milk yet, but it should come in. Two ewe lambs (no matter how tiny) are always a blessing. ;-) Dotty still looks as prosperous as ever. It certainly doesn't seem to have affected her too much weight wise. She's still filled out. Just tiny babies. We'll see how she does next year.

But then there is the big question. How did this happen? Well, the only ram that has been near her is Westlock and back in October at three months. Katahdins do mature early...but that is very early. Do I need to start weaning my ram lambs even earlier?

I think I need to trust my instincts a bit more with the critters. A few days ago I was just remarking to one of the family, "Wow, Dotty has a mature udder for a yearling. Maybe it's just cause she's fat everywhere." Ding, ding, ding. I feel very stupid.

I think that's enough for one day.... Back to the action.
Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Drowsy Waters Farm

Portraits

2010-02-22T11:14:00.001-08:00

Here are the pictures the photographer, Rhoda Peacher, took for an example of the Katahdin breed.
You can see her website at here at R Photographs.

Please respect her copyright.

Rosalind and her triplets

Rosalind with her Marselli, Venice, and Emily

Johann on his 1st birthday!

He was a little to intent on checking out the camera instead of posing.

2009 Ewe Lambs

Aravis and her twins, Sicily and Paris

Ewes and lambs

Parsley and Texas

Amelia and Vienna

Ol' Louis and a July ram lamb from KRK Katahdins

Louis

Amelia

Amelia and Vienna

Amelia and Vienna along with Sicily

Ewes and lambs

Ophelia

© Rhoda Peacher

Kidding Season Stuff

2010-02-19T15:57:00.000-08:00

I always buy my pre-kidding season stuff in the fall when I'm selling lambs and kids. This insures that I have the money for it, as well that I'll have it when I need it. It's worked much better for me then the old method. :-)

There are several products we have found invaluable over the years, and I thought I'd just list a few. I would be really happy to hear what works for you guys. Breeders' experience is often the best. :-)

Nutra Drench-
We buy the sheep and goat drench in bulk. This is an awesome product and helps me feel much safer when I can't get colostrum in a baby quickly or a mama's gotten beat from a hard labor. As a rule I use it on all new born babies and moms just once after as soon as possible.

Bova Sera-
A newer discovery, Bova Sera has really been an amazing product. We used to use Hoegger's Goat Serum for our kids, but it's one quick way to drain your funds. Bova-Sera covers a wider variety of problems and can be used on sheep too. One reason I use it on every mama and baby after delivery is it's power over enertoximia, a problem we all face at one time or another. (CD&T can not be absorbed by kids until at least 2 weeks!) It is also very good for animals that are about to be moved or undergo some sort of unavoidable stress. Highly recommend this product and it is considerably cheaper then Serum!

Omega-3 Drech-
I've used this for four years now on new kids and moms. It really gives an energy boost. I like to use it on kids that won't be getting a lot of colostrum or have to be away from mom for a time. Excellent for bottle babies.

Of course we give Bo-Se to every mom and kid after delivery as well. In our area, selenium is a big thing to watch.

We have found a baby feeding tube a life saver in many situations. It's very easy to use and can give those cold or tired babies the extra boost they need that they just aren't strong enough to get any other way. Extremely affordable! You should really have one of these in your stash. $5 might save the life of one of your babies someday.

Pen-G-
Is another thing to have in your fridge. Helps prevent infection after you assist with a delivery or after a mom tares or retains her afterbirth. Well worth it...

We always keep products on hand for milk fever (even though we've never had a case in the past 11 years), meds for pregnancy toxemia, B Complex for low moms, J Lube, plastic gloves, lots of clean rags, iodine, and more....

One thing I realized we didn't have this year that we probably should is a leg snare. I've never had much faith in them because I just don't see how they could work in the situations I would use them in. They must, though, because people use them! It would sure be nice to get a leg when my hands just can't.
I of course would like an ultrasound machine and a bottle of oxytocin...we all have dreams. ;-)

Of course for you....You need an alarm clock that works and is hard to turn off in your sleep, coffee, lots of clothes to go through, and some time somewhere where you can get some sleep!

I actually went through all of kidding and bottle babying this year without any caffeine! Oh I wanted to, but I didn't. :-) Certainly a first. :-)

Please share what helps you through kidding and lambing season!
Miss Pickwickian

Photographs to Come...

2010-02-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

Today a photographer came out to take pictures of our Katahdins for some examples of the breed. I'm really looking forward to the end product, and I'm sure you'll see quit a few here. :-)

We disbudded half of the goat kids this morning. So glad that is done!!! Only five kids to go.

The ewe I was afraid wasn't pregnant is now filling up and is in the stage of "eating everything in sight 24/7". Very excited about that. That will be my last Katahdin ewe.

Anyways, that's the news. :-)
Tomorrow I'm hoping to do a post on the invaluable things that we had during this kidding season. :-)
(#1 Should be time budgeted for sleep! Yeah right....)

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Kidding is Over for 2010!

2010-02-15T12:38:00.001-08:00

Virginia Grace gave us a Valentine's present of twin, black Nubians.

They are doing great, but I'm still waiting for Virginia's afterbirth...hopefully all goes well! She's been a great mom.

So kidding is over for 2010! We had four new time moms this year. Three did great, but Sally didn't take at all. That was a bummer, but we've been very blessed with all our other babies!

Final Kid count-
5 does - 10 kids (3 bucks and 7 does)

We have a lot to be thankful for!
We have one more Katahdin ewe due and then a wait until the two dairy ewes sometime around March 15th. Wow!

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Rosalind with two of her triplet ewes!
2 days old

KRK 42
Rosalind

Venice wants to know what's happening next door.

Venice again....

And the whole bunch....
Venice, Emily, and Marsellie
2 days old

KRK 977
My Johann
Now one whole year old and the papa to ten lambs (9 ewe babies!).

Johann again...
I had to snap these shots very sneakily before he saw me and ran to the fence.

And introducing....Virginia's doeling!!!
(I can't believe she doesn't have a name yet. It must be a record for us.)

Virginia's big buck
Not the greatest picture...he's stretching...
It was tricky between Virginia's curious nose, Toffy (barn kitty) jumping on my back, bad lightening, and crazy frisky babies!

The proud mama
RR Resources Virginia Grace

Brunswick
Sophie's buck 1 week old

DWB Bradey
One of Rue's 2009 twins
10 month old ram

Hermen watches bouncing lambs in the pasture.
"Ah, the old days when I was as light as a feather. I was once like them."

Hermen decides to take a closer look.

2010 Ewe Lambs
Texas is the ewe looking at you. Have you ever seen a sweeter face?

2010 Ewe lambs

Rosalind

2010-02-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

Rosalind finally lambed this morning (I've been watching her for a week now. She carries her weight sort of low so I keep thinking she's dropped :-).

She gave me three gorgeous brown ewe lambs!!!!!!!!!!!! Venice, Marseille, and Emily. These babies parents are both KRK and they will be 100% provable Katahdin!

Wow. How exciting!

I'll get pictures up one of these busy days. :-)

Current Baby Count

5 ewes - 10 lambs (9 ewes and 1 ram!)
4 does - 8 kids (6 does and 2 bucks)

Thanks for reading.
Miss Pickwickian

Ella the Great and a Host of Pictures!

2010-02-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well...Ella tried to make up for all my singles.

Ella is my main stay. She's almost the perfect goat.

I love the fact that-

-She's big and healthy

-Her babies are big and healthy

-She gives me lots of kids

-She gives me 3 gallons plus a day!

-She'll stay in milk as heavy as I want as long as I want

-She's sweet and easy to handle

What I do not like about Ella-

-Ella is sweet to people, but bossy to the other goats and will try to make the Boers stay outside in the rain. What a meanie!

-Sometimes her babies are just a bit to big

-And for the last two years she's tried delivering two 10lb+ kids at once! What's with that?

So, last year she had triplets and we lost one in delivery (the plain, big ol' boys made it and the spotty doe didn't, of course). She had two heads and only one leg and I couldn't sort it out. Sorry girl!

I was nervous about her delivery this year because of last year and because I'd had to have a vet out because she'd retained the afterbirth... I forgive her from all that extra trauma in her labor.

So...Anyways....

Last night she was in mild labor at about 7pm. I kept coming down and checking on her and it looked like things were progressing nicely. When pushing came to shoving, she delivered a whole new kid (unrelated to the water sack already out). A wobbly, but huge boy.

The other water sack should have given me enough red lights to investigate, but I didn't. I really don't like to go in there when I don't have too. I'm just so afraid of messing things up and introducing infection.

Well, she pushed out a head...no legs. She was continue to push, and with last year (two kids at once) I knew there was enough room for her to get the body out without those legs lined up. Well, my mistake. Pretty soon there was another head without legs!

Now I went in. Baby, baby everywhere! I couldn't find anything but long necks and legs where still to far down and there wasn't enough room for my hand. I could tell the bottom baby was getting crushed, so things were getting pretty frantic at this point. (I love Boers! They don't get bred for crazy long, slender necks. Legs are just a little closer.)

Well, she pushed and tried, but just couldn't get anywhere. I really didn't want to tear anything. We lost the bottom baby. Even without worrying about hurting the baby, I couldn't move anything.Things just got worse. The top baby was starting to fade. Oh Ella, I'm sorry! But I went as fare as I could and pushed and pulled that poor baby, until I finally was just barely able to find a front leg.

What relief! (Especially for Ella!)

The rest was pretty easy. All three does came out fairly well, but none with any legs positioned correctly. Poor Ella, just trying to bump my average back up to twins this year. :-) She's always picking up the slack. She's raised abut almost all my bottle babies on her milk alone.

We lost one doe, but she now has two exhausted (probably bruised) does and one very happy-go-lucky buck! They are so big!!! They dwarf all the other kids born in the last 10 days.

Ella is still alive and she didn't tare!!!!!! She's on Pen-G right now and hopefully she won't scar or get an infection.

The babies are less active then her normal kids, but they've been through a lot. We gave them their shots and got warm milk in their tummies. I crawled back into bed at about 2am so I could get back to check on them all at 5:30am and then get on to feeding the bottle babies and milking. What fun. I'm going to need a nap today.

We have one more try for us both next year, Ella, and if it doesn't work out your going to have to go in retirement. Poor girl.

Lesson learned-

You see an unrelated water sack - go in while you still can and push that baby down there! You get two heads and your stuck; no going back in there! When you think you have triplets or quadruplets in there and you don't see feet in the right spot, investigate.

It's always better to fix things before you're in danger of seriously damaging the doe or your working on a stress time frame well your losing a baby.

Be clean and treat for infection. It's better then this sort of situation.

Thank you God! A healthy Ella with a bonus of three babies is a huge blessing!

Here's Ella's track record-

2005 - Twins (does)

2006 - Twins (does)

2007 - Triplets (2 bucks, 1 doe)

2008 - Triplets (3 does)

2009 - Triplets (2 bucks, 1 doe)

2010 - Quadruplets (3 does, 1 buck)

That's a total of 17 babies for a seven year old doe that didn't start until she was two! And a 14:3 doe: buck ratio! You rock Ella!

Current Baby Count
4 ewes - 7 lambs (6 ewe lambs and 1 ram)
4 does - 8 kids (6 does and 2 buck)

Besides the loss of that doe kid and the ware and tare on Ella, it has been an amazing year.

We are so blessed!

Thank you for reading,

Miss Pickwickian

Sorry about the blurry pictures. The lighting isn't so great in our barns, but I wanted to show some of the critters.

So you can see how big they are!

Alexandra, Bristol, and Sweet Potato Pie
(Ella/Monkey)

Alexandra, Bristol, and Sweet Potato Pie

Bristol...the doe that had to come out over the other poor girl.

Aravis twins, Sicily and Paris.
9 days old (Aravis/Johann)

Paris and Sicily

Vienna

Scarlett (Sophie/Monkey)
3 days old
This was the only pic I could get except blurry ones of her bouncing off the walls. She is quit the lively little girl. What a sweetie!

Brunswick...I couldn't get a picture of him without him eating!
3 days old (Sophie/Monkey)

Brunswick
Love his markings!

Celia
Is she pregnant or not?

Texas (Parsley/Johann)
3 days old

Parsley and her ewe lamb, Texas

Two of my favorite ewe lambs from 2009
Spotty DWB 10P Hagar (One of Parsley's twins from last year). I love how long she is.
And KRK Mercy, a white July twin.

Have you ever seen anything so cute in your life?
Miss Lonely (Gwenie/Monkey)
3 days old

Bottle babies are impossible to take pictures of!
Little Dorrit, Miss Lonely, and Florence

Atlanta (Penny/Monkey)
5 days old
This is blurry, but it shows how lovely and totally dairy Penny's baby is!

Atlanta

Vienna, Sicily, and Paris
"Run!"

Vienna, Paris, and Sicily
"Wait. What's that?"

Babies Everywhere!

2010-02-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

So yesterday....

Sophie (Fullblood Boer) had twins, Brunswick and Scarlett.

Gwenie (Commercial Boer) gave us a big girl...Miss Lonely. And yeah, she deserves the name, because Gwenie will have nothing to do with her and I couldn't get anyone to foster her. So much for no bottle babies this year.

Parsley (Katahdin) finally gave birth to one gigantic ewe lamb, Texas.

I don't have pictures of the new babies yet, but will get some soon.

I'm forgiving the singles because they are gals and because of the flushing failure in the fall. This next year year we are using experienced bucks and rams.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Vienna comes to meet Sicily and Paris

Amelia and Vienna at 4 days old

Another pic of Amelia and Vienna at 4 days old

Miss Lonely a few minutes after birth

Aravis and her twin ewe lambs, Paris and Sicily
6 days old

First Boers of the Year

2010-02-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

Today my kidding and lambing pens maxed out...

I had two does and one ewe that looked like they could let loose today, so I bumped Aravis and Amelia with their lambs to the group pen and pasture. I normally would be dandy with this, but since we've got plenty of mud right now, I'm not so pleased.

I freed up one entire pen and moved a close ewe to the other barn. I came back up, took a two hour nap and came back down.

More kids! Sophie had given birth to twins, on big red buck inside all cleaned up and one traditional Boer doeling outside, all muddy. Poor girl. But it wasn't long before they were fat and happy, and I'll give Sophie some slack since it's her first kidding and she was with the other goats. :-) This is my first Fullblood Boer doe to kid! She's crossed with a "Monkey" who is a Nubian/Oberhasli grade. This babies are going to be hardy, stocky, and milk power houses. Exactly what I want!!!!! I'm so excited!

They are the cutest things!

Baby Count
3 ewes - 6 babies
2 does - 3 babies

And a 7:2 girl:boy ratio. I'll forgive the singles this year with my flushing failure... Everyone seems happy and healthy at the moment...and I don't think the day is over!
I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Introducing Vienna

2010-02-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

Amelia gave us a lovely ewe lamb this morning! Our first single in three years!

How lambing has been going....

2010-02-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

(Note...if you just stop by to check out the pictures, don't leave! Scroll down. There's plenty below the lambing squib. :-)

Well, after the Rue ordeal, I was happy to go down to the barn to check on Aravis and find two huge, very healthy, very cute ewe lambs! Welcome Sicily and Paris! And congrats Aravis, you are a great ewe! :-)

So, this is how it's all been going....

Last year Rue (as a yearling having her first babies) didn't dilate all the way so we had to take her in. She had two lovely twin boys who she raised excellently! This year she didn't dilate either, so I did my best at what they explained to do last year, but didn't get anywhere. I started getting worried about the babies and called the vet out. Apparently, she had scarred over last year and there was no way anything was coming through.
So, yes, I'd been on the right track and I hadn't messed up, but we were in a pickle.

We did what was best for Rue and put her down. No more of that pain! But we are going to miss her! What a horrible thing to happen to such a pretty, sweet ewe.

Thank you Dr. Jacklyn Aschim for getting those babies out on time! Rue had a lovely set of triplets, two spotted ewes and one white ram (8.2, 7, and 8 lbs). My first Johann babies. I'm bottle feeding the two ewe lambs and the ram lamb is now happy at his new home (thank you Anna).
I hope one of my goats kids pretty soon so I can have some more real milk. It didn't take these guys long to drink up the milk I'd put in the freezer. And I really don't like using milk replacer and I really don't like how much it costs! It's been years since I've had to buy any. Ouch!

To make up for it all....the perfect ewe...Aravis.
Yesterday it looked like she'd dropped so I moved her to a lambing pen in the other barn. She spent most of the day in the grass yard looking out at the other sheep in pasture. I was pretty sure she'd have them in the evening or late night.
I came down at 8 to check on her and...yep...two lovely, huge ewe lambs already fat and happy.

This is how Aravis is...Her first lambing I stuck her in a pen in the morning and came back after a day out to well fed triplets. Last year I thought she was close, came back down in the next morning and two well fed twin rams. I hope it continues this way for her.

I've kept her two ewe lambs from the triplets. Rue...you know about her...but she did give me 5 babies before she'd turned two! And Parsley who had twins last year when I was gone and nobody noticed until they saw lambs grazing in the pasture with the moms! Still waiting to see what she gives me this year. She doesn't look to plump, so maybe a single, maybe twins. We'll see.

Current 2010 Baby Count
2 ewes - 5 lambs

Thanks for reading,
Drowsy Waters Farm

Enjoy the pictures!

Rosalind

Watching Aravis' new lambs play.

Can't wait for this girl to lamb. She's my plumpest ewe and my best bet for another set of triplets....but it will probably be twins.

Introducing!
Paris and Sicily

They were not interested in posing at all! The light isn't good with all this rain and overcast weather and they just wanted to move! They are very energetic. I think they were born two weeks old. :-)

Paris and Sicily

Sicily thinks mom is great for climbing.
Look at how big she is!!!!!

And papa Johann.
He's just turned one!

Mercy
A July 2009 ewe lamb

Maggie
One of my dairy ewes!
Poor girl's a bit dirty. I guess wool doesn't clean up so nice as Katahdin hair....

And Dolly, Maggie's sister.
Another dairy ewe.
These girls are both due in March.

Some 2009 ewe lambs
Tamar, Hagar, Dotty, Ophelia, and Juliet

Herman might still look like a calf, but he's to big now!
This is a good sized ram lamb grazing with him.

Herman and the three remaining ram lambs.

Parsley
Due sometime this month.

Amelia
Also due this month...

Celia, my oldest ewe, and can you tell?
Due to lamb soon!

Lambs are here!

2010-02-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

Introducing Drowsy Waters' first 2010 babies!
Rue's Triplets
Florence, Little Dorrit, and Arthur
More on their story coming when time allows...

Arthur, Florence, and Little Dorrit

Florence, Little Dorrit, and Arthur

Little Dorrit
Looking thoughtful

Arthur watching the camera

Ella

Gweny :-)

Ginny
Twins?

Chuckie...watching the proceedings

Rosalind

Amelia

Aravis! The next ewe to watch.
I believe she dropped her babies this morning!

Count Down to Lambing!

2010-01-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

Rain, rain, rain....Mud, mud, mud.... Hopefully we get some dry, sunny days in before lambing begins. Expecting them any day now. Rue and Rosiland look the closest. Can't wait!!!! Except for the fact that I'm not supposed to be doing anything right now because I hurt myself hauling stuff around down at the barn. :-(

We are praying for a good easy baby year!
Miss Pickwickian

Merry Christmas

2009-12-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas All!

I keep waiting to post (waiting and waiting!) because I want to post with pictures. Weather and schedule have not been lining up, so here is a pictureless post....

All is well at Drowsy Waters with only three weeks to go until lambing begins! Yes!!!!!! Hopefully we get a nice warm dry spell. :-)

I have eight ewes due this year. Four due starting on January 10th, two due starting Feb 1st, and two due in March. (The gals due in March are my new dairy sheep which didn't get situated in time here to be bred with the other ewes. That's just fine because I won't have to milk yet during our annual church camp.)

My goats are due sometime after January 10th too....but I'm thinking its quit a way after...probably mid February at the earliest. I was seeing does going into heat later in the season. I have three Boer does and three dairy does this year. Can't wait until kids!

Ideally I would have a few goats kid before our sheep so I have surplus milk encase of bottle babies, but that is just the way it worked out this year.... Hopefully all goes well. I did put some milk away in the freezer.

Anyways....that's a quick update.

Hope you all have a very wonderful Christmas!

Bethany

Updated Website!

2009-09-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to update the website. I am still waiting for some one to be available to help me take pictures..so it looks a little bare, but its progress! I will need new pictures of all the goats, especially the yearling does, the Hollands, the ewes, and I'll need to get those pictures of Johann at the fair for his page.

You can see it here.

Thanks for reading,

Bethany

KHSI Expo and Sheep Pics!

2009-09-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the KHSI Expo in Corvallis! It was amazing and I learned so much. Thank you so much to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen.

I will be posting a much better update later, but am still waiting for pictures and my brain...

Here are farm pics I took last week.

Thanks for reading,

Bethany

Parsley and Rue

Yearling Triplets that both gave me twins this year.

KRK Mercy

July Ewe Lamb

Johann and his ewes coming in for grain!

Another pic of Johann with ewes

Hagar

One of Parsley's late April lambs

Hagar again...

Love her and she's a nice big ewe lamb for her age.

The ewe lambs coming in for grain! Love Dotty's look on the far right.

Westlock

Another July lamb from KRK

Westlock again...

The ewe lambs. Left to right- Ophelia, DWB Hagar, Juliet, DWB Tamar, and DWB Dotty.

Really like this batch of ewes I'm keeping along with the younger KRK ewe lamb, Mercy.

Dotty

One of Amelia's late January triplets.

Celia

We took the bars out of the creep feeder until lambing...and they all enjoy it.

Celia again...

Westlock and Mercy coming in for their bottles!

Aravis

One of my foundation ewes.

Oregon State Fair

2009-09-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

The Oregon State Fair went wonderful! All my Katahdins placed well and I was thrilled with it all.
Johann (KRK 977) took Reserve Grand Champion Ram!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I currently don't have any of the pictures yet, except this one. I will be posting more pics when I can get them...sometime after we get home from our beach trip this weekend!

Johann looking so thrilled about placing so well.... What a cutie. Thank you KRK Katahdins for this very nice, and very sweet ram!

Katahdin Expo starts in one week! I'm so excited! Its amazing that it could be in Corvallis this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

We have three litters of Holland Lops due in about 10 days as well. I'm sure you'll hear more updates about them. :-)

All the goats are doing well. I think I finally have some kids on the way.

My last two unbred ewes were put out to pasture with our ram a couple of days ago, so breeding season is almost over for us this year. I'm looking forward to spring! Kids and lambs everywhere, Lord willing.

I'll be posting fair pictures.

Thanks for reading,

Bethany

Clackamas County Fair

2009-08-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

The Clackamas County Fair went well. Johann behaved himself, surprisingly. :-) There was a very good representation of Katahdins for the size of the sheep show. It was good to ease into it with just Johann...hopefully I'll get my registrations before the State Fair this Thursday! I'm still waiting!

I hope to do the Clackamas Fair again next year with some more sheep.

Can't wait until this Thursday when, Lord willing, will be bring in five sheep. (I think that's all we can fit in our mini van...We need a pickup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I'll be sure to do a good post with plenty of pics after the fair.

Thanks for reading,

Bethany

Johann and Me...not exactly standing nicely, is he?

Clackamas County Jr Ram Lamb Line Up

My Own Rodeo

2009-08-10T11:16:00.001-07:00

This morning I finally had to get down to it and figure out who goes where for breeding season! It might sound simple, but it wasn't...to find a good pasture with a good sized pen for the right group of animals and to keep the goats and sheep separate and everything..bleh...

Well I ended up taking all the ewe lambs, Aravis, and Parsley and putting them in with our two does that are still milking, Penny and Ella, and our market wether, Joash. I'll have to put Penny and Ella in small pens at night. Ella's such a boss that she rarely will let anyone eat. I have two mangers for these guys, but there isn't room for all the ewes at one well Ella hogs the other.

Penny is waiting to be put with the buck until she puts some more fat on her and Ella is waiting so that my yearlings can eat all they want well they are in with Mr. Monkey. Aravis and Parsley are waiting until the first week of September to visit the ram so I at least have a chance of having some Jr. ewes for the fair next year. All the lambs will be waiting until 2010 sometime to be bred.

One of the annoying things about this pen is that it will be harder to catch ewe lambs in to try and get them halter ready for fair. Although both of my yearlings are pretty rescind, especially Parsley who walks very well by color, halter, or my hand around her head, I've only been able to work with one of the ewe lambs I'm taking and she is bucking bronco!

Louis, our seven year old Katahdin patriarch, and the ram lambs got banished from their lush pasture to a smaller paddock were I'm going to have to supplement them with hay and alfalfa. I won't be using Louis this year and I'm just waiting for the ram lambs to get big enough to butcher.

All the yearling does- Virginia, Gweny, Sophie, and Sally, are now with Rhudi (aka Mr. Monkey) in our biggest pen and pasture. Rhudi is seven months old now so hopefully he will get interested in the girls soon. So fare all they are interested in is quarreling over food! :-)

Johann, our new KRK, seven month old ram, is now with our other ewes- Amelia, Celia, Rosalind, and Rue. I also have our little Boer buckling in there that I'm trying to sell. They have the nicest pasture and two mangers...one in the creep feeder and one in the barn. Unfortunately Johann won't stand up to the ewes yet so he just sat in the paddock balling. He'll get over it. He's just a bit spoiled...

Thank you to the ewes ingenuity the creep feeder is not accessible to all parties. They've broken of three of the mettle bars! And then they took out the wood gate type thing and we found it in the pasture. They are so big and will do anything for more alfalfa!

All my homegrown ewes know the ropes, but Celia and Rosalind are quite the trouble makers. (This is were the rodeo part comes in.) It took quite a bit of shuffling and time to get the ewes and last lambs separated. I finally got all the little ones in an inside pen...now all I needed to do is put all the ewes back were they came from. First Celia took them all speeding up the gravel hill. After a lot of sneaking I was able to bring them back, but this time they headed the other direction on our road...towards the highway!!! For a moment I thought they really were going to go strait onto it, but they hesitated we finally got them back...only for them to get around the trailer and jump over the hitch between the trailer and the van!!! AND THEN go charging towards the highway again! We finally got them back and into their pen. They should be tired today. We really need to fence in our barn. :-P

I'll be posting some pictures on Wednesday...

Thanks for reading,

Bethany

Sheep Inventory

2009-08-05T18:23:00.001-07:00

These are the two new, orphan lambs. Unfortunately the light was dying, so the picture isn't to wonderful. One lovely ewe and ram, Westlock and Mercy. Thank you Karen of KRK!

Some of our lambs. The two larger ones in front are our new lambs, Ophelia and Juliet. They are out of March triplets.

And this is dear Johann. :-) Our ram lamb from KRK.

And this is my sweet late April girl, Hagar. She really is gorgeous. Very long and deep and CUTE!

And these are two of the Boer girls...just had to stick some goats in the post.

This is Dotty, my only January lamb left on the farm. We will be keeping her for our breeding program. I wish she was a little longer, but she's a nice big girl and I love her markings! She'll be going to the state fair with us.

And this is two of my older girls. Celia, the one standing is our new 7 year old ewe and Aravis, my matriarch is the ewe sitting. They certainly have the spots! I'm still trying to get Celia to hold her weight better, but she's improving.

This is Parsley, an Aravis yearling. She had lovely little Hagar and Tamar in April.

This is my new 6 year old KRK ewe, Rosalind.

And these are some of the gals. Front to back- Juliet, Hagar, Tamar, and Ophelia, with a two year old in the background, Amelia.

Rue, another Aravis yearling, sniffs noses with papa.

My light was fading in these pictures, so I'll try to get some nice ones in the sunshine sometime soon, but that gives some pictures of my new gals!

Thanks for reading,

Bethany

Test Results

2009-08-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

We sent in blood work several days ago on all the goats and sheep. Everyone came back OPP and CAE negative! Praise God! Also just received a fax from Gene Check on my two rams for their Scrapie Resistance tests. Both came out RR! Another wonderful report! I couldn't be more pleased with it all.

I'll be getting new pictures up soon of our new ewes. I have to lovely older girls (six and seven) from KRK. One was actually originally bred and owned by the breeder of our spotted ram Louis, who we purchased seven years ago. I thought that was kind of fun, because I didn't even know it when I purchased her. She's a very pretty girl, mostly white with dark brown spots. The other is a KRK ewe and is golden brown with very similar markings as my big ewe, Amelia. We are calling them Celia and Rosalind. They've settled in very nicely.

I also have to lovely March ewe lambs from Louise in Dufur Oregon. They are not registered, but very nice, big gals. I'm very pleased with them. They are both red, one very light and one dark and are full sisters from triplets. They have been named Juliet and Ophelia.

We have our fair entries in! We will only be taking Johann, our KRK ram lamb to the Clackamas county fair because of the pinch of getting our registrations back. For the state fair I will be showing five, Johann, two yearling ewes, Rue and Parsley, a Sr. ewe lamb, Dotty, and a ewe lamb, Hagar. I'm pretty excited!

Anyways...that's just a bit of the news. I'll be posting pictures soon. I hope you are all staying cool! We have had a long hot spell here!
Bethany

Flushing- Why, How, and When

2009-07-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

Flushing is the term used when a special feeding program is used on your animals before breeding in hope that you will get more babies per mom when the time comes.

Some breeders purposely do not flush. (This is especially common in Katahdins since they are so productive already. We didn't flush last fall and we didn't get any singles.) Some mothers are capable of producing several more babies

then they are able to feed. So if you're against bottle feeding, think before you flush your ewes/does.

I am all for flushing and getting as many babies out of my girls once a year, since I don't really like breeding them less then 12 months apart. Since I raise dairy goats, I don't have to fork out money for milk replacer, which is a huge blessing. Most of my animals have been am

azing mothers, I really have nothing to worry about.

So, why flush is easy. More productivity. In addition you want your girls in good shape before going through pregnancy, anyways.

How is trickier. First you want to be sure your girls aren't over weight before you begin to flush. You pretty much want them on their lowest healthy weight, so they don't get fat through the process. :-) Flushing will also make a bigger difference this way. (I'm not saying to starve them, keep them healthy.)

From personal experience and word of mouth I have found that a good quality of alfalfa or alfalfa pellets is very satisfactory. I have used this any years I have flushed. Sometimes I feed a specific grain as well, but those tend to be higher in fat. (Through research done in cattle, it was concluded that high fat intake before breeding significantly increased the amount of bull calves born. So, I stay away from to much fat and go for proteins and fiber, which alfalfa is perfect for.)

Lush grass also plays a huge role in flushing. It is a wonderful idea to put a pasture aside until it is really green and yummy and then turn your ewes/does into it.

Your girl should also be up to date on hoof trimming, worming, and any other vaccinations you do. I always give their booster Convexin 8 when I start flushing along with Bo-se and a long lasting dewormer.

When to start flushing. It is best to have your girl on your flush feeding about 17 days before you plan on breeding. Do not take her off the day after she gets bred. Keep her on the same feeding and gradually move her back down. (A doe or ewe should be fed the same as she was when dry for at least the first two months of pregnancy, or your going to end up with a fatty girl or over sized babies.)

If any one else has ideas or comments about flushing, please pass them on. I'm still learning a lot here.

The Rabbits

2009-07-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Isabel and Omnibus' lovely litter of five is nearing weaning age. Yesterday we took them all out and did our big evaluation. :-)

Suzy wrote all her placements and then I wrote all mine and we compared. Unfortunately there was only one doe, who is still awaiting her name.

Out of the four bucks, little Bailey won. He's a very wide, typey guy and I'm looking forward to seeing how he turns out.

We currently have several Hollands available as well as a very nice pair of Siamese Smoke Pearl Netherland Dwarf bunnies, with 3 (on for RBIS) and 2 legs apiece.

We are hopefully going to pick up some new does from Brandi's Bunnies sometime pretty soon to add to our rabbitry, which is exciting!
Next project is updating the website!

Thanks for reading,
Bethany

DW's Lemon Grass

For Sale

Preparing for Next Year

2009-07-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Less then a month until our planned breeding season! Today we were able to get every one vaccinated, dewormed, moved to new pastures, and hoof trimmed. It feels wonderful.

I now only have 4 lambs to wean of their moms, follow up hoof trimming, and the second dose of Bo-Se to bucks before I begin to flush everyone. Meanwhile, I have a couple ewes and does that need to lose a few pounds first. :-) Also...it might be nice if I weaned my 6 month old ram lamb from the bottle before I start using him this year...

Thank goodness its cooled off! We have had two lovely overcast days now. Perfect for outside work and for pictures...

Bunnies are growing!

Sydney- Boer buckling.

Introducing Hermen, our new bottle baby calf.

The does out in pasture.

I love the colors.

The yearlings

Louis and Mr Venus wait to go to their new pasture

The ewe lambs we are keeping this year

Hagar and Tamar (April twins) and Dotty (January triplet

Big Toff, barn kitty

Our Rebel, watchdog

Aravis and Amelia- Two ewes wait to be put out to their new pasture

Drowsy Waters Farm

Pictures...

2009-06-29T18:43:00.001-07:00

Drowsy Waters Mr. Venus

Sydney

Fresh Start Farm's Sydney

Our new Boer buckling

Drowsy Waters Rue

King Louis and Mr. Venus

KRK Johann

Our new ram

The garden

More of the garden

Drowsy Waters Ella

Ella, again

Our new meat chicks

Drowsy Waters Dotty

More chicks

New baby bunnies

One of Isabel's litter

Peeking

Drowsy Waters Bradey

Bradey and thistles

The blueberries

Dixie

Summer!

2009-06-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it really feels like summer here! Several days in up to 90 degrees! And fields of cut hay and red clover everywhere.

Life has been busy as usual.

Shya, our last Toggenburg, has moved on to her

new home! (Thank you Tammi!) And

the new addition to Drowsy Waters, is Sydney, our n

ew Boer buckling! Pictures will be

coming soon.

All the goats have been doing wonderful. Ella and Penny are still milking amazingly! This fall we should have our three Boer does and three milk does as well as Ruddi, Joash, and Sydney, our bucks and market wether.

We finally had a litter of Holland Lops! Isabell, our Sable Point doe, had a lovely litter of five Torts! Way to go girl. :-)

Parsley and Rue have proved to be amazing mamas. I am so pleased with Parsley's twin ewes. I think they are some of the very best lambs we've had here. They are both very large, long, and wide. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Dotty, Amelia's ewe from her triplets, is also doing very well. She's a nice big gal and very friendly and sweet. At first I was worried that she would be mean to all the month old lambs with her (I don't normally keep different age lambs in pasture together). But she frolics and goofs off with them all, just like a baby herself. She's pretty much the baby sitter. Its pretty cute.

So we have three new ewe lambs this year. In late July I am also picking up two older ewes from KRK Katahdins. Thank you Karen! I am really looking forward to owning this girls. This fall, Lord willing, our flock will consist of two rams, Louis and KRK Johann, nine ewes, and our two market ram lambs. We have been very blessed!

We currently have one Katahdin left available for sale. A four month old ram lamb for $125.
My sister also still has a couple sheep a

vailable. Con tact me for details.

I've officially planned our lambs and kids for late January and early February 2010. That's not to fare away! We should have six ewes and six does kidding, if all goes well. EXCITING!

My next project is updating the website! That will be a job.

Thanks for reading,
Bethany

Drowsy Waters Farm

2010

2009-05-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

With kidding and lambing ended, I've been thinking more about what we'll be doing next year. When to breed? Who to breed to who? Do I have the stock I'll want to feed over the fall/winter? What can I do better this year? What should I do the same? And on and on....

The big question at the moment that I need to decide...so I can plan around is..."When do I want to lamb/kid?" I had all January/early February babies this year except my younger ewes, and I kind of liked it.

What have you all found to be the best? Ove the last ten years we've done December-July, and I see several pros and cons to winter, spring, and summer.

Anyways...more on that later. For now I need to post these pictures and then get back to work.
Here are some more pictures of CK Katahdins for sale, as promised.

Xerxes
Ram Lamb $125 Sinai
Ram Lamb $125
Mordecai with Mom
$125 Jehospaphat
Ram Lamb $125
Ishbosheth
Ram Lamb Hadassah
Ewe Lamb $125

Contact

~C.K. Katahdins For Sale~

2009-05-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

This is just a post about sheep... My sister lives in the Albany area and has several ewes and rams for sale. Most our lines are very similar (all of mine come out of hers except Johann, of course).

Their Katahdins are raised on mostly pasture and lamb in pasture. All her 2009 lambs are from January and February and are ready to go to their new homes!

She has six ram lambs available-

1/20/09 Jehoshaphat – dark brown, white tail, single ram lamb $125

1/21/09 Xerxes – lighter brown twin ram lamb, $125

1/24/09 Elijah – very dark brown, single ram lamb, $125

1/31/09 Mordecai – white single ram lamb, $125

2/8/09 – Ishbosheth – lighter brown, twin ram lamb, $125

2/8/09 – Sinai – reddish brown, twin ram lamb, $125

And three yearling ewes all exposed to her red ram and one young ewe lamb-

1/19/08 Abigail – white yearling ewe $100

2/18/08 Shiloh – dark brown w/white face and leg markings yearling ewe, $175

2/19/08 Tirzah – white yearling ewe, $175

(All these ewes would be due somewhere between Sept 9th-30th)

1/21/09 Haddasah - lighter brown twin ewe lamb, $125

I don't have any current pictures of the boys, but here are May pictures of the yearling ewes. Contact me if you'd like some current pics of the rams.

She may have some proven ewes available later as well.

C.K. Tirzah
Possibly pregnant yearling
$175

Abigial
Possibly pregnant yearling
(Out of KHSI registered parents)
$100

C.K. Shiloh
Possibly pregant yearling
$175

Contact

Just More Pictures

2009-05-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Drowsy Waters' Tate
Out of Drowsy Waters Rue
10 Days old and enjoying the pasture and sunshine
Drowsy Waters' Mr. Venus
January ram lamb. Available any time $125
Last lamb of the season!
The Boys
Drowsy Waters Hue- for sale $125
Copper Creek Farm's Joash- 2009 market wether
KRK Johann- Up and coming ram for our flock!
Drowsy Waters Tate and Brady
Rue's 10 day old twins
2009 Market Lambs
Tate again! So cute!
Goat Palace Sophie
One of our three yearling Boer does
Goat Palace Sally Blue Eyes
75% Boer and half sister to Sophie
Both out of Elite Ennobled Tuck!
Drowsy Waters Hagar and Tamar
Parsley's twin ewe lambs
Both staying for future breeding stock at Drowsy Waters
Drowsy Waters Ruddi (aka Chunky Monkey)
We will be using this guy as a buck for some of our does this year.
He has all the hardiness of a cross even though he is nearly all Nubian,
and he is HUGE and very long in body. His mom is an amazing milker.
KRK Johann
Growing well!
Gwendolyn, another yearling Boer doe.
Can't wait to see her as a mom in 2010.
R R Resources Virginia Grace
Lovely yearling doe!
Drowsy Water Ella
Our Nubian/Oberhasli milk cow :-)
Papa Louis
CK Amelia and one of her January lambs,
Drowsy Waters Dotty, a wonderful girl that will be staying here!

New Babies and a Lazy Warm Day

2009-05-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

Drowsy Waters Tamar
Born on April 24th
Drowsy Waters January Ram Lambs
Mr. Boffin, Mr Venus, and Mr. Brooke
Ready to go to new homes! $125 eachParsley and her twin ewe lambs!
Tamar and Hagar
Mr. Brooke
Drowsy Waters Bradey
Born April 30th
Bradey again...with tired mom
Rue had a long labor and is a bit tuckered out in this picture.
She gave us wonderful ram lambs, Tate and Bradey.
Aravis three month old ram lambs.
Mr. Boffin and Mr. Venus

Busy Spring

2009-04-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

So...everything has been very busy! My apologies for such a late post.

All the kids have been doing well and most have found new homes. We are still raising three bottle babies and have four lambs and one buck still on their moms. Its time to wean those ram lambs soon!

A new addition, now one of our bottle babies, is KRK Johann. He is an amazing ram! Thank you so much Karen!!!!!! I will try and get pictures of him up soon. He just hit two months and is already larger then our four month old market wether that is boarded with him.

My two 15 month old ewes are due on Monday! Then we will really be done until next January.

The pasture is growing quickly. My favorite time of year. Alfalfa rations are low and milk is high. :-)

No pictures for this post (I'm currently up in Washington), but I'll try and post again soon!

Thanks for looking,
Bethany

Kidding and Lambing Season

2009-02-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

Kidding and lambing season are over for us...until May, that is.

We did get some lovely kids and lambs. We are very pleased!

Below are pictures of some of our new additions and those that will be for sale. Contact me with questions! Thanks for looking!

AdaDrowsy Waters Ada Claire
50% Grade Doe
Sire: R R Resources Mannasah (Grade buck from top ten milking lines)
Dam: Cove Orchard Penelope (Purebred doe from show and milking lines)
$150 as bottle babyDrowsy Waters Caddy Turveydrop
50% Grade Doe
Sire: R R Resources Mannasah (Grade buck from top ten milking lines)
Dam: Cove Orchard Penelope (Purebred doe from show and milking lines)
Staying at Drowsy Waters!HughHughDrowsy Waters Hugh
Grade
Sire: R R Resources Mannasah (Grade buck from top ten milking lines)
Dam: Drowsy Waters Ella (Nubian Oberhasli Experimental from show and milking lines)
$100 buck/ $65 wether as a bottle babyDrowsy Waters Rhudi
GradeSire: R R Resources Mannasah (Grade buck from top ten milking lines)
Dam: Drowsy Waters Ella (Nubian Oberhasli Experimental from show and milking lines)
$150 buck/ $100 wether when weaned (raised on dam)JoashCopper Creek Joash
Drowsy Waters Market WetherR R Resources Mannasah
Grade Buck
Available at the end of February
$175
Read more about him hereDrowsy Waters Mr. Boffin and Mr. Venus
Drowsy Waters Market LambsAmelia and BrookeBrooke and DottyAmelia and BrookeAmelia and twinsDrowsy Waters Brooke Burgess
25% KHSI Katahdin
Sire: King Louis
Dam: C.K. Amelia
$175 Ram Lamb at weaning or $125 as Market LambDotty

Drowsy Waters Dotty
25% KHSI Katahdin
Sire: King LouisDam:
C.K. Amelia
Staying at Drowsy Waters

Drowsy Waters Farm