Well, last week was sheep shearing. Wednesday was supposed to be "the day"... we were going to get all/most of them done. It didn't quite work out that way.
We started Wednesday morning hauling supplies (plywood, skirting table, bags, shears, etc) to the barn and trying to round up the sheep. We had tried to pen the sheep in the barn the night before, but they weren't having it. Most of the flock would go inside, and 7 or 8 would stand in the doorway, and run away when we tried to encourage them inside. Wednesday morning we brought in our secret weapon - the sheepdog. Her name is Ellie, and she's nearing a year old. Soon we'll be able to start officially training her. Last Wednesday though, we just had her walk with us into the pasture, and the sheep did exactly as we asked. Well, all but three of them. One penned herself in a corner of the pasture, up against the barn. So, Ryan let Ellie off her leash, and boy did she flush that sheep out of there! She did a great job... we can't wait to start training her so she can do exactly what we ask. All in all, Wednesday morning went well, but we didn't end up shearing until close to 10am. Then we had to quit early to secure the sheep in the barn in a way that they'd have room to walk around, but not get out. So, we only got to 6 sheep on Wednesday! (We have 39). We spent the night at my mom and dad's because they live just an eighth of a mile away, and we live half an hour away. We sheared all day Thursday, and got 8 sheep done. We were going to shear Friday as well, and got all set up Friday morning, and when Ryan grabbed on to the first sheep he realized - they're wet. And you can't shear wet sheep! (It ruins the fleece). So we only got 15 done last week. Ryan is going back up today to work on it again, and I'm super bummed I can't go with him! But I have a "real" job, and there's work to be done!
Soon, it will be lambing time. I'm super excited about that. We have been waiting to get our tax return so we can order all the lambing supplies we need (ear tags, tail dockers, emasculators, medicine, etc). We should have received our refund three weeks ago. I've been waiting and checking, checking and waiting... but nothing. So finally yesterday I called the IRS. I told them I'd been checking my status online, and it just keeps saying my return is "being processed". Well, she was actually very nice and easy to deal with, but gave me bad news. See, Ryan and I received the "First Time Homebuyer Credit" in 2008. We were in the first year it was available. The downside? We're the only year who has to pay it back! We knew we would have to, and starting this year, they just take 10% out of our refund each year. No big deal. Except wait... despite having three years to prepare, the IRS computers aren't equipped to process this repayment! So it will be a minimum of an additional 30 days before we get our federal return! I was a bit upset. On the up side though, it didn't effect our state return, and we received that yesterday. So Ryan was going to order supplies when he realized... I can't order ear tags without an official flock number (a Premiss flock number I guess it's called), which is issued by the state. No big deal, he says. I've already e-mailed them requesting one, and I'll call tomorrow. It's super easy. ....... Except it isn't. They are mailing him forms he needs to fill out, then mail back, and they'll process it.... and a month and a half or two months from now, he'll have his official ear tags from the state. Well, lambs will start showing up in less than two weeks so we can't wait that long! But there's a way around it. We mail the forms back, wait a couple days, and call them. They can tell us the Premiss number over the phone, and we can order ear tags from a lamb supply company, and they can have them to us in just 3 days! So let's hope we can get the form, fill it out, mail it back, wait a few days, call and get the number, order the ear tags and have them shipped all in two weeks. Let the race begin!!!
so things I've learned in the last week:
How to tie bailer twine with gloves on (take the gloves off)
You can spend 3+ hours trying to heard sheep into a barn, or ask a dog to do it in under 5 minutes
How to skirt a fleece - act like you know what you're doing and just go for it. Everyone will be impressed.
It's not always the people you think are interested that stand in the cold with you for hours, asking you all kinds of questions, and learning about what you do.
Family is always there to help (thanks Pat for helping Wednesday, and thanks mom and dad for letting us move in for 3 days!)
Special tax credits, that were super cool 3 years ago, can come back to be a pain later!
You can't sell a sheep, or show a sheep, without an official flock number issued by the state. Not legally any way.
That's my life!
A friend of mine told me I should blog more. Seeing as I haven't blogged in over two years, I can see why some people might think I should send along a life update. I'm not sure I'm really the blogging type... but I can give it a whirl. My husband plans to blog about our farm once our website is up and running.... I figure I can always tell a story or two about something crazy that happens on the farm. It certainly happens often enough! Last November I could have talked about how two of our rams jumped the fence and started breeding our females (of both breeds) before we were ready. Just this last week I could have talked about saving a kid's life... and by kid I mean baby goat. :-)
But before I start talking about sheep and goats... I should probably talk about me.
In case you haven't been keeping up, here's my life update:
I graduated from SUNY Fredonia with a B.S. in Geosciences/Adolescence Education.
I turned down a teaching job to take a position in the Environmental Health & Safety office at SUNY Fredonia. I still work there... my hours and job title have changed a few times, but I'm still basically doing the same job as when I started back in 2007.
I graduated from SUNY Fredonia last December (2010) with a Masters in Biology.
I got married in September of 2008 to my high school sweetheart Ryan. He was going to be a sound engineer (and was for a while) but has since decided he doesn't like dealing with people so much, and sheep are easier to get along with. So now we own a sheep farm - Lauridell Acres. It's right down the road from my dad's goat farm - Homestead Acres. We use land owned by a family friend - Sangamon Farms and then there's my brother who also lives on that road, and may or may not be starting a beef cattle operation. But there I go again talking about the farm....
So, married 2.5 years - no kids, probably not for at least a few more years.
We have 2 dogs... one's a pet (Jack) and the other is a sheep dog (Ellie). We have two fish (Red fish and Blue fish) who were part of the center pieces at our wedding.
We own a house about half an hour from our farm.... we bought it b/c it's close to where I work, and it was in the right price range. But we don't plan on living there forever... in a few years we hope to move out by our farm, then I'll be the one commuting to work every day (Bummer).
Other than work and school, I spend my time playing volleyball (recreationally), leading a youth group at my church, knitting, and a few other hobbies I only have time for once every few months. I also work at a tax office on Saturdays Jan - April. That's a fun job. Not sure why, but I love it.
I have 4 nieces and 1 nephew... and I love them all dearly. I have another niece on the way so I'm super excited about that too!
Alright... so I think that's all of the boring life stuff.... at least the basics any way.
Now's the tough part: thinking of something to write about that people would actually care to read.
If you're interested in goats, I could talk about my dad's goat farm. The goats are almost done having their kids. I'm not sure what that's called. For sheep it's called lambing (b/c baby sheep are called lambs). But that would mean for goats it's "kidding"... and that just doesn't seem right. "My dad's goats are kidding"... hmmm... any way... he's got something like 13 baby goats running around.... just a few more pregnant moms. They are SO adorable. It's been a lot of fun visiting them on Sundays when I help Ryan feed the sheep (the hay for the sheep is stored in the goat barn, so he loads the hay while I pet the goats. Seems like a fair deal to me!). Last Sunday we found a mom who had JUST had her two kids. My parents had already left for church, and it was obvious they didn't know she'd had her babies. She was ignoring one of the babies... wasn't cleaning it off or helping it to eat... and it was obvious after a while that it would die if we didn't intervene. So I went in and cleaned it off a bit, and held it up to the mom to help it eat. After it ate a bit, it was visibly stronger, and could cry much louder, and mom started to pay more attention to it! I helped it eat a few more times that day, and now it's up and eating on its own, and playing with its sibling. It's a great feeling when you save a life :-)
We're in the process now (by we I mostly mean my dad) of trying to save another. It was born with "hip splay". Of course, we didn't know that's what it was... we just knew it's back legs didn't work too well, and it couldn't stand or walk. I did some research online and found out what it was, and that it's easily treatable. Dad's treating it now, and hopefully it'll survive. Only time will tell.
So that's the goat farm.
The sheep will start lambing later this month. I can't wait. I'm actually going to be taking some time off work and helping out. I'll be sure to post pictures. By then, I hope to have our business website up and running, so you can view photos there as well. Very exciting.
Before lambing though, we need to sheer. That's presenting itself as a challenge. The forecast says it's going to rain or snow every other day between now and March 20th (the date by which sheering must be complete). If the sheep get wet, we can't sheer for 3 days.... the fleece has to be dry. So when exactly are we supposed to sheer? Hopefully the weather clears up enough. But this is our first farm "crunch time". Will we get the job done in time? I'll keep you posted.
Let's throw in another complication to sheering - I'm going to be "skirting" for Ryan. Ryan will sheer (cut off the wool from) the sheep and when he's done with each one, the fleece (wool/fur) should come off in one big piece - like a blanket. At that point, I take it over to a "skirting table" and lay it out flat. I then "skirt" the fleece - that means pulling off all the unusable or low quality bits. The problem? I have to build a skirting table! We don't have one, and they are easy enough to build, so I told Ryan not to worry about it, I'd build it myself. Well, I haven't gotten that done yet! I've enlisted the help of my brother though, so hopefully I'll have it done in time for sheering, whenever that is! I'll keep you posted.
Well, hopefully that's a long enough update, and not too super boring. I'll do my best to remember interesting things to put in my next post.
That's my life!
