Lambing in Review

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

Oregon State Fair, Fall, and New Look

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Drowsy Waters Farm

Washington County Fair

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

Yearling Ram
KRK 977 Johann

And again....

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

And again...
The judge liked him.

Yeah, so he's my baby...

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

DWB Hagar

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

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

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

Over All Champion Ewe line up with Hagar.

Over All Champion Ram line up with Johann

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

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Those Photos I Promised

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

Louis

Pig or sheep?
Aravis

How handsome is my Louis?

Leipzig
Katahdin/Dairy Cross

Leipzig again.
Meaty!

The Senior Ewes in Pasture

Run for your lives!

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

Dotty...the yearling that raised twins.

Cool pic

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

Annual Testing

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

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

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

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

I'll be posting the results!
Miss Pickwickian