A bit more about my animals and poultry

So, we have a small 2.3-acre farm with 9 sheep, 4 alpacas, 11 free-range chickens, 3 guineas, a ranch dog (a dwarf Great Pyrenees named Bud), and a barn cat (name Norphan because she was “an orphan” = “‘norphan” like in the Pogo comix strip).

Alpaca names (they’re all male):
Alpacas are part of the Camelid family which includes camels, alpacas (Huacayas & Suris), llamas, guanacos and vicuña. Today, the llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña are found in South America. There are 28 different colors of alpaca.

• Koko is a Huacaya (cinnamon with a white Harry Potter stripe on his front locks on his head)
• Earl Grey is a Huacaya (rose grey which is a grey with reddish/brown in the grey that looks rose or purplish)
• El Dorado aka Eldie is a Huacaya (a beautiful sparkling white boy and very handsome)
• Al Paca is a Suri (with white dreadlocks and fiber so fine it feels like silk)

Sheep names:
Icelandics are a primitive, dual-coated breed originating from Iceland and have been there for over 800 years first brought to Canada in the late 1970’s-early 1980s, then brought to the U.S. shortly thereafter. The fiber grows from 8-14″ long in one year, so I shear twice a year to have fiber I can spin without too much trouble.

• Rocky is our Icelandic ram–lustrous white fiber will be 2 yy in spring of 2007 and is our flock sire
• Sandy is an Icelandic ewe–dark grey mouflon lamb will be 1 yy in April of 2007
• Blackie is an Icelandic ewe–charcoal grey, 5 yy
• Blesa is an Icelandic ewe–reddish brown, aka moorit, fiber that’s almost as soft as a lamb’s wool & she’s 4 yy
• Whitey is an Icelandic wether (a wether is a castrated male)—ivory and tan and he’s about 5 yy

Finnish Landrace or Finnsheep:

• Madge, a white Finn ewe–4 yy in May

Cotwold

• Emmy, a multi-colored brown, gray, black ewe–1 year old in April

Crosses:

• Sophie, an Icelandic/Finn cross ewe–3 yo in February
• BW aka Black Wether, a Lincoln/Shetland cross wether—2 yo in March)
• Little Bits aka Bitsy, a white Romney/Icelandic ewe—1 year old in May
  

This is a picture of Sophie & her two lambs below. Quite a color difference in the lambs, isn’t there? (The lambs are sold.)

The lamb below is Ralphie, one of the bottle-fed wethers. Bud’s only 14 weeks here. He was 2 yy now and is a little bigger now, but he’s gotten more chest on him and more weight. Ralpie was sold.

It’s fun watching all the animals interact together. Bud and Eldie (Eldie is about 30-40 times Bud’s size) play, is spite of the huge differences in size, for as long as an hour or more, just chasing each other, then Eldie pushes Bud tail over teakettle, then they rest and start up again. When the other male alpacas, usually Al and Earl or Earl and Koko, start their dominance actions, Bud thinks they’re playing so he gets right in their amongst them. I love watching all their antics: sheep, dog, and alpacas. It’s one of the reasons I love living on the farm!

All the ewes should be lambing soon...usually near mid-February. SOme of them are large enough around the middle that I think several will be having triplets or very large twins. We'll have to wait and see what we get though. I'm also planning on buying 25 Americana chicks from McMurrays Hatchery as the people at the local hatchery I used to buy from retired after their entire flock came down with a disease and they had to be put down...and as they were fairly along in age, they decided to retire instead of starting over again. It makes sense to me, but I miss them dearly. They referred us to other people who hatch chicks, but I don't like them that much.

I’ll chat with you again soon and I’ll tell you about my endeavors with a Kertzer cardigan pattern that I’m making for a friend.

TTFN...