Friday, April 30, 2010

Carolyn's 2010 Coated Romney-Cross Fleece

 
Carolyn is one of our sweetest ewes. She is very affectionate and loves to be around us. This trait was passed down to her from her mother, Heather, who is also very friendly and lovable.

Carolyn is one of our Romney-Hampshire cross ewes. She produced this beautiful 2010 fleece as a lamb. Her father is Edison and her mother is Heather. She has inherited wool qualities from both of her parents: the 4-5 inch staple length and natural color reminds us of Romney wool while the softness and crimp reminds us of Hampshire.

The outside tips are heather and gray.

Here is the fleece on the skirting table displaying the bulk color: light gray to medium gray and gives an impression of a lavender hue in bright light.

This sample displays the high-frequency crimp.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Weekend Projects

This past weekend was a busy one for the Meyer Family! With spring in full swing, we have lots of projects awaiting us!

Our hay field is greening up and the grass is really starting to grow!

Ruger, our 6 month-old Lab puppy, came with us as we did our projects.

We loaded our supplies and tools on our 4-wheelers and drove out to our work sites.

One of our big irrigation ditches needed to be dug out by hand. We use this ditch to water our fields during the summer months. Doug and Ben made good progress on the ditch digging!

Ruger took a nap on the cool soil that had just been dug out of the ditch!
Ben takes a break from digging to pet his dog, Bullet.


Fixing an electric fence gate that was in disrepair.

Coming soon... The Meyer Family starts their own apple orchard!



Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Who needs a lawnmower?

Last Saturday we decided that the grass along our driveway was getting a little long. To remedy the problem, we employed our able flock of sheep (aka. lawnmowers) to graze along the driveway!

The mamas and babies did a nice job of eating down the grass and other plants.

We are grateful for our crew of 89 lawnmowers!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Farewell, Dooley

On April 13th, Dooley left our farm and went to his new home at the Rettig Ranch. Dooley will be there for several weeks while he is weaned. Then he will be purchased by a youngster in 4-H.

Before Dooley left our farm, we had to weigh him one last time and get pictures. He wasn't too happy about being caught!

Dooley weighed a whopping 90 pounds!

So long, Dooley!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Annie's 2010 Coated Romney Fleece

Annie produced another stunning fleece at this year's shearing. Her fleece is dense and lustrous with an even crimp! Annie's wool ranges in color from charcoal around the edges of her fleece to silver-white in the center.

Annie's wool staple reached almost 8 inches in some places! Her final skirted fleece weighed in at 7.75 pounds. Annie's fleece is one of our best from the 2010 shearing.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ben and Daniel

Ben and Daniel (aka Fuzz)

Daniel is a very adorable lamb! His little body is covered with long, beautiful wool! As you can see from the picture, Daniel has a very fuzzy face! We nicknamed him, Fuzz" and that seems to be an excellent fit!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Sheep Update!

Dove

Duncan and Dakota

Dudley

Dwight

Blossom

Dilly

Dixon

Carolyn loves to get  massages from her shepherds. She enjoys being with us, leaning on us, and getting hugs too! Carolyn is one of our most affectionate sheep!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Katelin's 2010 Coated Romney Fleece

Katelin's creamy-white fleece weighed in at 5 pounds after the final skirting! The locks in her fleece have a beautiful wavy crimp, as evident in the above photo.

The staple length of Katelin's fleece is fairly uniform at 5-6.5 inches.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Cute, Little Lambs !

Dora

Dixie

Autumn with Dove and Donovan

Daniel (aka. Fuzz)

Duncan

Darla

Brooke with Dasiy and Daffodil
(aka. The Flowers)

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Recent Visitors!

Grace Valley Farms had visitors, recently! This flock of wild turkeys came strolling down our driveway early one morning; they decided not to join us for breakfast, however! We were content to see them through our windows and take pictures of them. The flock has 20+ members, including this fancy Tom. They've been residing in our neighborhood for over a year now, and can be seen routinely in the surrounding pastures and wooded areas. We enjoy the variety of wild animals with which God has blessed our area.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Carrie's 2010 Coated Romney Fleece

Carrie

Carrie grew a beautiful charcoal-gray fleece last year.

Her staple length is 4-6 inches, which was longer than we had predicted! The final weight of her fleece was 4.5 pounds.

Ben and Dove

Friday, April 2, 2010

Introducing the "2010 Cutest Lamb Contest"

Each year at our farm, we select the cutest lamb! The lamb maintains the title for that specific year. In previous years, our family has selected the winner; however, this year we would like to allow our readers to vote on the cutest lamb! The contest will run through April 30. It's okay to involve your friends and family in this contest for the cutest lamb!

When the winner has been selected, we will announce him/her and we'll also post the winners from the previous years.

The five nominees for the 2010 Cutest Lamb Contest are listed below.
Dilly

Donard

DonnaLisa

Dooley

Dora