Bridget The Ever-Milker

     "Tuffy"; Uber-Milker; "Our Lady of Perpetual Lactation"........

These are a few of the nicknames Bridget earned over the past 10 years with us.

Bridget was born at our Washington place in '03, on St Patrick's day.
She earned the name of our favorite Irish Saint, Bridget, who is patron of dairies and shepherdesses.
Bridget was the first lamb of Venus and Hank--our black ram, and first foray into natural colored dairy sheep.
Venus decided to reject her little black lamb. We raised the darling, black Bridget in the house, in diapers. She enjoyed old Marx brother's movies, the cats, the kitchen, the couch....you name it.  She made the most of her hard beginning!!
Bridget's first lamb was a premie and born dead. Another set-back.
Learning to get on the milk-stand was a trauma as Bridget seemed inclined to slip off....but she perserveared (and so did we) as she was an excellent milker.


Soon, the first commercial sheep dairy in Washington state, Black Sheep Creamery, was started by our friends, Meg and Brad Gregory. A jaunty drawing of Bridget became their logo. 
Bridget's next lambs were a set of 3 black  beauties.

The next year's lambing, she endured a bad bout with ketosis requiring 2 vet visits and expert lamb pulling. Triplets again. But.....as the vet said.... "she's a Tuffy".
Another set of lambs the following year and her abundant udder lost its ligature pinning and became pendulous. We decided against breeding her again.
This is when her career as "uber-milker" began.
We tried in vain to dry her off that fall. She kept making milk--enough that we could not ignore it.
Next spring she upped her production to match the ewes who had lambed. Amazing! Rob says, "Her "on switch" just got stuck!"

For the following 6 years she continued to lactate whether we wanted her to or not.
We became accustomed to, and grateful for her fresh creamy milk in the winters, when all else were dry.
We thought, surely moving her to Montana would "shut off the switch". But no.
As the oldest sheep we moved, we worried about her making climate transition and the trip. She did go down in the trailer part way here. We were unsure whether she'd make it.
But "Tuffy Bridget" sprang up and out of the trailer as soon as the door opened. She endured the first Montana winter in the drafty rented cow barn and came into glorious milk on the lush green grass here over the past 2 summers.
But, this fall Bridget lost condition rapidly in spite of our various attempts to keep her well. We knew she should not face another winter.
So did she. Two days ago she stopped eating, and the fight was gone from her eyes. It was time for her to leave us.
We will certainly miss her fresh winter milk. And her silvery fleeces. And her "flock-boss" presence in the barn.
Over 10 years of life, and 7 of it in continuous milk production, Bridget gave us 100's of pounds of milk and cheese and dozens of lbs of lovely wool.
It is fitting that the likeness of this "Ever Milker Ewe", who gave so very much to us, should grace countless sheep milk products from Black Sheep Creamery.
Rest in Peace Bridget

Winter Woolies

 Our first snow fell last week. Rob was pictured on the front page of the Great Falls Tribune carrying the mail in the 7 inches that fell that day there. He was wearing wool socks and long underwear top to bottom. A pet peeve of ours is that the US Postal Service does not have ANY wool clothing available from their official  uniform suppliers. And the 1000's of USPS employees are required to wear official uniforms ---at least on the outside! Wool outperforms synthetics in average conditions, let alone extreme ones! Synthetics get colder when they are wet; they do not breath when a person in sub-freezing temps works up a sweat; they chafe skin to an unbearable degree when wet or cold. Wouldn't it be great if our USPS supported US wool producers AND kept their employees better equipped? Ok......Enough of the "peeves".

**If you need handspun yarns for your holiday projects check out my sale pages. I have new yarn blends all the time, or can custom spin for you.
I have 2 pretty new rovings for you spinners.
And cute sheepy tree ornaments which also make good nativity scene figures.

The term "smallholding" is used in England to describe small farms. In this land of really BIG holdings--like our friends who farm many 1000's of acres--"small holding" seems to fit what we do on our modest 4 acres.
SO on our smallholding, we have been winterizing for weeks. We made the final "animal addition" to our place with the arrival of our new ram-lamb from Tucker Family Farms in Victor MT. Tyler Tucker's uncle, who lives near us, found the time to haul our sweet ewe lamb, Twinkie, over the Rockies on the 4 hour trip to Victor. He then brought home our new little ram, affectionately named, Tucker.  Tyler and his wife have been busy developing their organic, self-contained farm....and having their first baby! So life there has been hectic. We are grateful to know this delightful family! Other activities here include reducing the animal census, drying off the milkers, setting up heated watertanks and heat lamps, worming, hoof-trimming etc. I even got a new snowshovel!

The Montana Farmer's Union conference was a happy success! Five MT wool businesses showcased their products in a booth we organized. Area spinning guild members staffed the colorful booth and delighted people with their spinning and weaving skills. Our grandson, Toby, helped me set up the Fiber Market as well as my Heifer International booth.


As you do your Holiday shopping, Heifer International offers a unique approach to gift-giving which you may enjoy. They seek to end world hunger through gifts of agricultural development, so people in various parts of the world can become self-reliant. Check out their website at www.heifer.org  for "honor gifts" of animals, trees, water and more.

Blessings on your Thanksgiving!