All 8 lambs grew fast and furious.
They had SOOOOOO much fun sliding down the "buffalo jump" cliff in our pasture and romping through the cotton wood grove.
My folks visited from WA state and enjoyed their antics.
The neighbors called to say how much they enjoyed their antics too. Alas....it all has to end too soon!
Our barn gets full real fast when 8 new sheep start growing. This spring, sheep flock grew from 6 to 14 and the barn was getting swampy! We shut all in at night as predator control, so..... healthy barn space is important! Plus at 5 weeks, it was time to start milking the maiden ewes. After weeks of slowly teaching the ewes to get on a stand, endure headgates, and listen to a compressor hum....it was time to wean some babies.
Thankfully Tyler Tucker of Tucker Family farms in Victor MT(near Missoula) is building his milking flock. He bought all 4 ewe lambs. Our friend, Lynda Henning in Great Falls wanted new spinning fleeces in her "spinners flock" so the black boys: Chrome and Zorro went to her ranch.
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| Chrome and Zorro |
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| sheep in a jeep |
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| Tyler Tucker and creamery foundation |
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| Tucker Family Farms |
Last week was a whirlwind of concerts with our kids, rain, lamb placements and milking stressed ewes. My new "school mowing job" was supposed to start.....but rain put that on hold long enough for us to haul 4 sad lambs in the back of the jeep to Victor.
A long(and noisy!) day of 11 hours of driving. But....seeing Tyler's new creamery and milk parlor going up and his flock of 100 dairy sheep gave us great delight! He should be licensed to make and sell cheese by summer's end. Look for artisan sheep cheese under the Tucker Family Farm label from their website or Missoula and Hamilton shops.
Sheep dairying is taking off in Montana! We are so excited! A couple months back the first sheep dairy was licensed at Poor Orphan Creamery near Bozeman. Lark Smothermon milks Icelandics in a portable, open air parlor and sells cheese and fabulous fleeces through her website.Check out the youtube video of her parlor.
I digress.......So our pasture is less eventful than it was for those fast 6 weeks of lamb races. But the barn smells better and is less crowded. And milking is progressing.
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| Haynes' Merinos |
MAWS was a great success and loads of fun. I especially enjoyed meeting new fiber folks in this region. And everyone enjoyed the tour at Beaverslide Drygoods as we met sheep ranchers Leanne and John Haynes of Dupuyer. They have made raising Delaine Merino sheep for fiber, and turning it into excellent yarn, their ranch focus. All for the love of sheep. Happy Summer!
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| Beaverslide drygoods |
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| Haynes Merinos |
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| milkers deserve their clover patch! |
