Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Meet the New Babies!


Lambing is in full swing at Grace Valley Farms. Meet our new little ones!

 Belvedere delivered twin ewe lambs on Feb. 10th.

Gouda - 9 lbs. 4 oz.

Gilda - 10 lbs. 8 oz.
 

 Carrie's lamb was born on Feb. 11

Gary - 12 lbs. 14 oz

DonnaLisa delivered on Feb. 12th.

Georgia - 11 lbs. 14 oz.

 Clover had twin ram lambs on Feb. 12.

Gherkin - 13 lbs.

Ghost - 12 lbs. 3 oz.

 Bluebell delivered a handsome ram lamb on Feb. 14th.

Garfield - 10 lbs. 2 oz.

 Eliza Jane was a first-time mother on Feb. 16th.

George - 10 lbs. 6 oz.

Georgette - 9 lbs. 10 oz.

 Dora had a beautiful variegated ewe lamb on Feb. 17th.

Gloria - 14 lbs. 6 oz.

Darcy had a ewe lamb on Feb. 19.

Galena - 9 lbs 8 oz


Our First Lambs!

On February 8th, Daffodil delivered a beautiful set of ram lambs!


Gomer - 9 lbs. 6 oz. (gray variegated)

Goober - 11 lbs. 5 oz. (black)

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Fleece Skirting Update

We just finished the initial skirting of our freshly-shorn Romney fleeces!  We've been excited to see and sort through all the beautiful fleeces. Overall, this year's crop is the best to date! The fleece's soft handle, shimmering luster, and beautiful crimp combines to make outstanding wool!  Some fleeces have such a "wow factor", we have difficulty finding words to describe them! 

Below is a sampling of some of our freshly-shorn fleeces.

Deena

DonnaLisa

Floyd (variegated)

 Falcon

Fluffy

We are currently cataloging and organizing the fleeces for sale. They should be released for sale within the next couple weeks.

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Saturday, February 9, 2013

Shearing Days At Grace Valley Farms

Shearing days at the farm went very well this year. Since the number of our sheep has increased, shearing occurred over two days.We ended up shearing 91 sheep over two days! The fleeces are beautiful this year and there are many exceptional lamb fleeces.  In general, the sheep have produced more wool and of higher quality!

We started by shearing the white sheep on day #1. 

Here are some of the white ewes waiting their turn.

Caramel being shorn.  Robert and Doug look on.

Pat and Christina worked on recoating the sheep after they were shorn. This is Fiesta getting a new coat. Each sheep will normally drop between 2-4 coat sizes after shearing. 

The sheep wardrobe!  Emily and Christina did a nice job keeping them organized.

Our shearer, Karsten Kramer, once again did a fabulous shearing job!

The Skirting Team takes a break to watch one of the girls get shorn.  Some of our helpers came from as far away as Arkansas for the event.

After each sheep was shorn, he/she went to the other part of the barn to munch on tasty hay.

Diana waits her turn to be shorn. 

On shearing day #2, we sheared the colored sheep. There were almost 60 of them.

We had numerous, large colored ewes to shear!   

Mark and Ben worked hard to uncoat each sheep and guide them into the chute.

Fawn being shorn.  Eager hands stand by to help her up / get her new coat on and gather up the fleece to take it to the Skirting Team.

Robert tried on a stylish wool toupee. 
 
During one lunch break, our friend, Judy, showed the group her hand-knit sweater made from Dixie's fleece.  The sweater is beautiful and soft.  Lisa also demonstrated numerous handsome products made from Grace Valley Farms wool.

We enjoyed good food and fellowship during the "breaks in the action". 

One evening we celebrated Doug's birthday.

A big "thank you" to all our friends and farm workers who came from near and far to help us. We all worked together like a team and the process went smoothly. It is such a joy to have friends who take as good of care of our sheep as they would if they owned our flock.  Our customers will appreciate the fruits of their labor.

Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. (Proverbs 27: 23,26)

Barn Guest - Can you identify me?

One evening as we were setting up for shearing, a pretty little owl flew in our barn. 

We enjoyed watching and photographing the visitor.  He was about 8 inches high,  Mr. Owl seemed to enjoy watching us work.  We have not been able to identify his species.