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Barnyard Buddies:  All Things Sheep and Goats  |
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Cavalli Runner
True Blue Farmgirl
249 Posts
Brenda
Mercer
MO
USA
249 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 26 2010 : 05:21:18 AM
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Sarita, I don't know about Chillicothe. I didn't hear anybody mention it, anyway.
Ladies, I have a question. To comb, or not to comb? The lady I bought my sheep from had told me that the first year she had Icelandics, they did so much clean-up that their wool was basically "crap" (I don't like using that word, but that is what she said). So, I never thaough anything about it. Ours have had a few burrs from time-to-time, but they seem to have worked their way out. I said something to another lady who raises Icelandics and she said I'd be surprised how clean their wool was.
But recently, I read on one lady's blog that she combs her Icelandics. Then someone asked my husband if we comb ours. I wondered if we should do that, but they looked pretty good to me, so I didn't worry about it. Well, this week we put them in a new area to graze, and boy did they get into the burrs. Oh, my, I am just sick at how they look. The shearer is supposed to come in a few weeks, and I wanted some nice "before" and "after pics of them. I don't have a good set-up to hold them while I would comb them out, so I don't know quite what I should do. Wait and see if, like in the past, the burrs work themselves out? Try to hold them still and comb them out? Just wait until they are shorn and then pick the burrs out? Any advice ladies?
I'm kinda embarrassed for the shearer to see them like this! But, maybe it is normal?
Happy Farming!
Brenda Larson
You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.
http://cavallirunfarm.blogspot.com/ |
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Moonshines
True Blue Farmgirl
110 Posts
Lorrae
Craig
Co
USA
110 Posts |
Posted - Sep 26 2010 : 9:10:31 PM
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Hello everyone I am a new sister and found this and wanted to join in on the chatter. I am a goat owner I have dairy goats (oberhausli) is the breed that I milk. My son raised sheep and has a spinnning herd of cormos. I spin and knit so I love having such a wounderful fiber. I sell goat shares, and I currently milk 4 of my 10 goats I love to milk and I love drinking our milk and making kefir.
Moonshines #1649
Love to be a farmgirl |
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
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Cavalli Runner
True Blue Farmgirl
249 Posts
Brenda
Mercer
MO
USA
249 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2010 : 04:13:31 AM
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Hi Lorrae, welcome. This is a great place for chatting. Lot's of wonderful sheep and goat ladies. But we talk about all kinds of things. And I ask lots of questions! LOL! I am a newbie farmer, so I am still trying to figure everything out.
You'll have to tell us how you make kefir. I make my own yogurt (but not yet eith my Icelandics milk). I'd love to know how to make kefir.
Well, a new week begins. Off to spinning lesson number two today.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy Farming!
Brenda Larson
You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.
http://cavallirunfarm.blogspot.com/ |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2010 : 09:55:39 AM
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A BIG Colorado Welcome Lorrae - great to have you join in! Sounds like you have a great operation at your place and I am looking foreward to learning more about you and your critters.
Brenda, I am sure your shearer has seen it all but I know it is like our children we want them to make a good first impression. The only time someone brushes the wool is if they are doing a show and had not coated the fleece thru the year. You can do more damage to a fleece precombing then waiting till shorn. If you can pull the burrs out before shearing that is great but I would not comb. What I also do with all the animals including the Icelandic is run my hands over the fleeces and just kind of like you would your own hair fluff it up to get some of the VM out. Do not blow the fleece because you can drive the VM into the fleece and make it worse. I also do my own shearing and so I take the worst off first so it does not contaminate the rest - also cuts down time in skirting. Management is key so if you have burrs in a pasture try to get those under control before letting them out - I know harder to do then it sounds.
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.artfire.com
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lsarah
True Blue Farmgirl
256 Posts
Lori
Greenwood
Arkansas
USA
256 Posts |
Posted - Sep 28 2010 : 09:04:31 AM
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It is gloriously cool here in Arkansas! I love fall weather, and it has arrived!
I have been spinning and dyeing lately. I did get Hannah's fleece all washed, but I crammed the lingere bags too full and I will have to rewash some of it. It is making a very soft roving, like clouds. I have two superwash rovings in the oven right now and red dye stains on the kitchen cabinet. I will have to dig out the comet and get rid of them before Stan gets home!
I got bit this morning! I treat the sheep to saltine crackers every once in a great while, and I had some stale ones in the pantry so I took some this morning when I let everyone out. Smokey the ram loves, I mean, really loves them. I was passing them out to the goats and hair sheep, when Snowball mistook my middle finger for the cracker. She just wouldn't let go, and I didn't want to rip my finger out of her mouth and peel back some skin, so I just went with her until she let go. It sure hurt at the time, but she didn't even manage to break the skin. Another first!
Welcome to the group Lorrae! Glad you are here!
Well, football tonight - my little boy got tackled really good for the first time in practice yesterday - the coach pulled him out and called Stan. They thought he might have broke his collar bone, but he didn't. The mama in me wanted to coddle him and talk him out of football, but I didn't. Sure is hard letting them grow up!
Monica ~ I hope the packing process and finishing up your new home is going well! How exciting for you!
Grace ~ I sent you an email. My computer has been cantankerous lately, so I wanted to make sure you got it.
~Lori
She works with eager hands...Proverbs 31:13
http://www.sarahkatefibers.etsy.com
www.sarahkatefibers.blogspot.com |
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
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Cavalli Runner
True Blue Farmgirl
249 Posts
Brenda
Mercer
MO
USA
249 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2010 : 2:06:18 PM
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So sorry about your loss, Monica. I know how sudden news like this just sends you realing. I'll definately pray about the situation. It is so sad.
Thank you Grace for your comments about the sheep. It made me feel so much better about not having combed them. My two other Icelandic advisors both said they've had it happen before, too...one of them this year...and they use the same shearer I'll be using...so I feel better about that, too.
I just ordered a dozen baby chicks (4 Easter Eggers, 4 Barred Plymouth Rock, and 4 Rhode Island Rds) and they are due to arrive just a couple days after my grandchildren from Germany will arrive (middle of October). They are gonna be so excited.
The weather has been gorgeous. I hope it stays this way all the way through my daughter's family's visit.
Going to see my son's new house tomorrow and have lunch with him and his wife and our youngest granddaughter in Sedalia.
Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Again, will be praying for you Monica.
Happy Farming!
Brenda Larson
You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.
http://cavallirunfarm.blogspot.com/ |
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Old Spirit
True Blue Farmgirl
1499 Posts
Rae
MN
1499 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2010 : 3:39:09 PM
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Hello all, I am still alive, barely.. I have a really rotten, icky, stinky, pew pew cold. Left work today at 12:30 as I started coughing and couldn't stop, all morning. Anyone feeling sorry for me yet 
No cows yet, now they will be ready next month I guess so we wait but that is ok. It is happening and that is what matters and sheep are staying as well at this point.
Trying to get things finished up here before the snow comes. In MN it is possible anytime now so... luckily it is suppose to be very nice for the next week, no rain!!! We don't have a lot but enough that it keeps us really busy when we get home from work. And work... well I won't get started on that but....come on parents lets take some responsibility and make their children do their homework and behave!!!
Ok enough, have missed you all!!
Sorry about your friend Monica you are in my prayers.
Rae
Farm Girl #647
...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles:...
Isaiah 40:31
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2010 : 5:14:44 PM
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Brenda and Rae, Thank you!
Rae, I am feeling sorry for you now!
Well, we stopped over at the house and I hate to say it, but the guys finishing it are doing a cruddiest job! Right now the inside is painted with the same pale yellow flat paint that they used for the outside. I am praying that they just used it as a primer because flat paint is the worst to clean off and I desperately don't want yellow inside! They also did this texture on the ceiling and the walls and it wasn't done good at all especially on the ceiling where Gary had to patch so it sticks out like a sore thumb! On top of all that they got big glops of yellow paint all over the utility room wall that I worked so hard to get really nice and the wall is blue! I just about could cry and for some dumb reason Steve won't let Gary finish it! I don't even want to move in anymore! I know it will be better than here, but why doesn't anyone have any work ethic any more and the guy working on it is smoking in the house!!!!! I don't even smoke in my house and I don't want that stink soaking into the walls! Sorry to rant, but we have spent so much time working on it only to have it all screwed up in the end! I am so ready to move out of Arizona!!!!!!!!
Monica
farmgirls rule!
www.justducky48.etsy.com
www.justducky48.blogspot.com
www.heroesandink.blogspot.com
www.duckystreasurechest.etsy.com |
Edited by - oldfashioned girl on Sep 29 2010 6:18:20 PM |
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Cavalli Runner
True Blue Farmgirl
249 Posts
Brenda
Mercer
MO
USA
249 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2010 : 7:06:43 PM
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Oh, Monica, I'm so sorry it is not going well. I know where you can buy 20 acres of farm land cheap! You could raise sheep! You'd just have to build another house!
Hope your week turns around. Hugs.
Happy Farming!
Brenda Larson
You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.
http://cavallirunfarm.blogspot.com/ |
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
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Sheep Mom 2
True Blue Farmgirl
1534 Posts
Sheri
Elk
WA
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - Sep 30 2010 : 09:02:32 AM
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Morning all. Monica it sounds like you have had a heck of a week so far. I am so sorry for your loss of your friend. Her husband must be devestated. How strange that they would use exterior paint on the inside of the house - he must have got a heck of a deal on the paint. You must be so disappointed. It sure has been an up and down proposition for you all. Can you just repaint inside after you move in?
I have been super busy the past few days and haven't had a chance to read back on all the posts. I have been dyeing wool and working in the garden and cleaning carpets with our little warm up temp wise. My friend will be here in a few short weeks to winter with me so I have been cleaning out the room she will be staying in so it will be all spiffy for her when she arrives.
I hope you will be on the mend soon, Rae. I was wondering what is up with you as you haven't posted for awhile.
Gotta run - hopefully will get back to catch up on everyone later today. Have a great day everyone.
Blessings, Sheri
"Work is Love made visible" -Kahlil Gibran |
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
Posted - Sep 30 2010 : 09:59:56 AM
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Sheri, So far the rest of the week has been relatively quiet! Jerry is really lost right now with losing Robin. Unfortunately I think one thing that contributed was that they lost their house to fire at the beginning of the month and they were staying in a little trailer, but they only had a small generator so they went back and forth between running the fridge and her oxygen machine and I think all of it got to be too much for her! It breaks my heart that I couldn't do more!
I think Steve already had the paint from his place. The inside was supposed to be white and Gary and Steve even talked about it a while ago, but that's the way it goes with Steve! We can fix things up when we move in, but we are not going to because then we would have to pay for it! It think the biggest problem is that Steve wants to slap stuff together and call it good and Gary gets under his skin because Gary does quality work. We have rent covered for 2 years from all of the work so we are working on a 2 year plan that if something doesn't turn around here we are going to be fully prepared to move! The most disappointing thing was the wall with paint glops all over it! I am really praying that at the end of 2 years we will be set up to go and get our own place and get out from under other people! It is so hard to live at the mercy of someone else's whims and we have been doing that for 6 years now! I know in the end that everything will work out!
Monica
farmgirls rule!
www.justducky48.etsy.com
www.justducky48.blogspot.com
www.heroesandink.blogspot.com
www.duckystreasurechest.etsy.com |
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
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Old Spirit
True Blue Farmgirl
1499 Posts
Rae
MN
1499 Posts |
Posted - Oct 01 2010 : 03:19:09 AM
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Monica I love it!!!
Rae
Farm Girl #647
...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles:...
Isaiah 40:31
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lsarah
True Blue Farmgirl
256 Posts
Lori
Greenwood
Arkansas
USA
256 Posts |
Posted - Oct 01 2010 : 05:14:42 AM
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Wow, Monica - your website is sure something to be proud of! You are so talented! We rented for the first 7 years of our marriage. I had lived in apartments for 4 years before that while in college. I hate renting. The last house we lived in was owned by a distant family member. It was over 100 years old and quite charming. We loved that little house, and had hopes of one day buying it and living there again. She wouldn't sell. Some of my fondest memories were of living there, but the house needed some serious attention with it being so old. Once we moved here, it took me a long time to get out of the rent house mentality. I wouldn't hang things on the wall, and kept the mindset of "this isn't ours". Isn't that strange?
~Lori
She works with eager hands...Proverbs 31:13
http://www.sarahkatefibers.etsy.com
www.sarahkatefibers.blogspot.com |
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
Posted - Oct 01 2010 : 09:56:42 AM
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Rae and Lori, Thank you both!
Lori, I am so hoping that someday we can get a place of our own! I would love to get enough space to have a garden and animals! Here are some pics of a house I found in Ohio! It only has 1 1/2 acres with it, but the neighbors have barns and tractors so that is a very good sign! Check out the view from the front yard! I only need to save up another $114,500 and it's all mine!
Monica
farmgirls rule!
www.justducky48.etsy.com
www.justducky48.blogspot.com
www.heroesandink.blogspot.com
www.duckystreasurechest.etsy.com |
Edited by - oldfashioned girl on Oct 01 2010 09:58:15 AM |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
Posted - Oct 01 2010 : 1:35:46 PM
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WOW Monica - GREAT JOB! I finally got to sit down and check it out - great job.... I also thank you so much for including your kind words about me and my sweet one's with their fiber... I feel so blessed. I will surely get the word out and when I have a minute (like that is going to happen) I will look into that sight builder again. I am just so far behind on things that I try to not get upset and just press on.
Ladies I hope you had a great week and will be back soon. Chicks are growing and still have all of them - way excited about that...
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.artfire.com
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oldfashioned girl
True Blue Farmgirl
2391 Posts
monica
oatman
az
USA
2391 Posts |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
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lsarah
True Blue Farmgirl
256 Posts
Lori
Greenwood
Arkansas
USA
256 Posts |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
Posted - Oct 02 2010 : 08:43:22 AM
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Hi Lori
I have not but since my computer has gotten back I am still trying to get things back to normal. My computer guy changed things around so much that I am still trying to get my bearings. So if you could resend anything you sent me I will hope it gets to the right setting. Sorry for the extra work.
Life is at warp speed here and too many speed bumbs - hope to get caught up this weekend. Still trying to get a picture of the chicks - they are growing and flying. Miss Hen got in with them this morning and she was scaring them even thou she did not touch them. I hope to paint the coop today but I am still struggling with a headache that I have had since Thursday. Oh well, no whinning - I am still standing and that is what matters.
Baked some pie pumpkins to put in the freezer since we are to have no canned pumpkin again this year. Not that I eat that much but I was having a desire for pumpkin/goat cheese rav's this winter. Had a huge crock pot of chicken stock cooking thru the night for the freeze and this morning tuck it all away in the freezer. Made about a dozen different chicken meals also for the freezer and today I will make eggplant parm - you got it also for the freezer. I love getting ahead of the cooking so I can still eat well without running to the store during the hairy driving season. What are some of your freezer meals??? Looking for new ideas...
Have a great day ladies - outside to work if the wind would calm down.
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.artfire.com
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Barnyard Buddies: All Things Sheep and Goats |
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All Things Sheep and Goats
