It's the Start of Lambing Season

Tammy with Annie

Tammy with Annie

It's the start of lambing season and to start it off Tammy decided to go a few days early. We weren't officially supposed to start lambing until March 26, but she dared to be different and had her baby on March 23. Given the size of the lamb I can understand why!

Tammy is one of Tilly's daughter and is a Katahdin-Dorper cross. She is an experienced mother. She was bred to our new black-headed dorper ram and presented us with this awesome ewe lamb. I am completely loving this ewe lamb and we will be keeping her for our herd.

Annie - gorgeous ewe lamb

Billy resting

Reba - Suffolk ewe

Billy looking for his mom

In an unexpected twist, Reba had her lamb on March 26 (and of course, the ewe we were expecting has done nothing!! - she is so big that if she coughs she is going to pop it out!). Anyway, Reba is a Suffolk ewe and we purchased her from a 4H family. This is her first-time being a mom and so far she seems to be handling it well. The first day she really wasn't sure about the whole thing and wasn't keeping the baby with her as much as we like, but she has gotten better over the past two days, so we are feeling much better about it. Reba had a boy lamb, we have named him Billy. Billy will be going into our meat herd when he is much older, but for now he is enjoying exploring.

Father and son - Billy has a lot of growing to go.

What I find really fascinating is that although the moms are completely different breeds and colouring, both the kids look very similar. That is the influence of a strong ram and one of the reasons I like the Dorpers. Strong genetic traits that carry through. Billy is still only hours old in these pictures so in a few days he will start to fill out and look stronger. I can hardly wait to see the next few lambs to see what kind of colouring we carry through; we should get some variety as well as all-white or all-black, so we will see.

Pig Moving Day!

I am really pleased about how the pigs have turned out. Our first batch of pigs went to the abattoir today and I must say, they looked good. Yes, I am a little biased, but they really did! So I spent the weekend getting ready to move them today. Yesterday I built about 60 feet of temporary fencing using wood pallets and tieing them together with 2x4's. I did them in 12 foot sections to make them easier to move.

When my great neighbours came by today we (they) moved them into place, we opened the gates and tried calling the pigs. They looked up and then ignored us - obviously more interested in what they were doing then leaving. One was sunning himself, one was checking out a log and one was repositioning in the mud. After a few tries they were convinced to head down the lovely corridor we made and they toddled into the trailer. Start to finish it took 1 hour to load.

Now I just need to finish my costing, doublecheck which products these will be and look forward to some great bacon. Days like this I love being a rancher!

Say it with me - Barbados Blackbelly

Just saying the name makes me think of far off places! But in this case I am definitely talking sheep. That's right - our flock has now increased by 6 Barbados Blackbelly ewes and their 10 lambs, all between the ages of 1 and 3 months. They were bred to a pure Blackbelly ram so the kids are all 100% and I have a feeling that all the ewes have been bred back as they were running with the ram and my ram has shown no interest in them at all - which would definitely not be the case if any of them were open.

Travelled to Bridge Lake on Saturday to pick up the trailer load from Karen & Rusty - really nice family. Chased them around a bit until we were tired enough to think clearly about how to load them. Once we got them penned up, loading went smooth and they travelled home in style.

We have kept them in a separate pen - another couple days and we will open the gate. We've been letting the two groups get to know each other over the fence. We also weren't sure how they would respond to rooming with llamas. So the extra time let's us make sure they are healthy and gives them time to get to know one another and figure out what the rhythm of our ranch is like.

So far I am really impressed with their mothering - the lambs are all doing well. Nice and solid. The kids are about 60/40 split on ram lambs and ewe lambs, so that gives us something to work with. Anyway, a picture says a thousand words, so here's a few pictures of these really nice sheep. PS: I will be bringing some of these for showing at the Earth & Agriculture event on May 6th.

Pics of the Lampacas

Getting Ready for Spring

I absolutely love this time of year - it's the time when anything is possible. The time before you actually have to start working to make the possible into reality.

We've been working on growing our flocks and herds. I've been talking to different poultry suppliers about what kinds of heritage breeds are being stocked this year - trying to decide to go with chicks or older for laying stock. Also trying to figure out when to order my broilers. I have a license to produce 2,000 broilers for 2012 and it's a matter of organization and when to book slaughter dates.

Also drove down to Armstrong this weekend and picked up 8 "llampacas" - cross-breeds between llamas and alpacas. Some of them may join our breeding herd and some will be used for meat - we'll have to see how they behave over the next few days.

We've also had some interest from more commercial buyers for our pork - hope to make that big announcement at the end of March.

Looking forward to attending the Farmers Market conference in March and counting down the weeks before the market actually starts. I've also registered to participate in the Eat!Vancouver trade show again this year, so I will be bringing some of our llama products to sell during the trade show.

Welcome Baby Avalon!

A few weeks ago we were surprised with a winter arrival of a baby llama! We don't normally breed for winter babies for llamas - they are small, like deer and don't do well in winter. As llamas are pregnant for almost one year, the mom would have gotten pregnant early in the new year of 2011. At the time our herd sire was separated from the girls, so we're not quite sure what happened - but he obviously found a way!

Anyway, we have been carefully watching the new one but she has been doing well, so we are cautiously optimistic. Still a lot of winter left and she is still young, so anything could happen. Baby llamas for the first six months are, not fragile, but not hardy either. Which is why we much prefer to have our llama babies in the spring. Anyway, she is absolutely gorgeous! A real looker and great movement! As she is the first born on our new place we are starting at the beginning of the alphabet, so her name is Avalon. Pictures below:


Avalon - front view - they
are very slender


 

Close up of Avalon's fibre. I LOVE the blend of
colours that she has - absolutely gorgeous!





Avalon from the side - so cute and inquisitive!




Another great pose - Avalon sees the
camera and comes running over




Avalon with Snow White. Avalon
is trying to nuzzle Snow a bit.



Unfortunate News

As the chicks were getting bigger we placed them in the barn with the other chickens. They were doing quite well for the first couple weeks. Unfortunately we had a very cold spell for a number of days and they caught a cold and weren't able to shake it off. So the chicks didn't make it. We were very disheartened and sad after the work we had put into them, but on a ranch these things do happen occasionally.