Fibre

LambMetrics – 31st August 2021

August 31, 2021 by Wendy Beer

#LAMBMETRICS for the last few days

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 0
Total Lambs Born: 107
Drysdale lambs (live total): 48
English Leicester lambs (live total): 37
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 13
Total Sets of Twins born: 35
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 53
Total ram lambs: 54
Ewes lambed /70: 70 (100 %)
Lamb % : 140 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 11
Losses: 9 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 1
Total Lambs Born: 100
MerinoX lambs (live total): 25
Castledale lambs (live total): 67
Total Sets of Twins born: 38
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 62 (100 %)
Lamb % : 148% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 3
Losses: 10 [lamb]; 1 [ewe]

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

All done and dusted!

The last Merino ewe lambed a day or so ago. Unfortunately, as is wont with the last handful (why, I do not know) it was slightly overcooked and the ewe had herself in a bad position (legs uphill is *bad*) and lamb got stuck and had died before I arrived. The ewe took a while to get herself walking again (took the tractor taxi to the hospital but then she broke out…. lol)

The number of lambs on the bottle this year (saved!) is a bit overwhelming but they had adjusted very nicely to the new “Lambars” and are going through milk at a rate of knots! LOL

I will try get a further Stat Breakdown done in the next few days.

Now there is a mad scramble for last minute preparations for The Big Wool Show! A wonderful online woolly event – based in Australia but accessible everywhere. 🙂 🙂

So, our online shop will close for “refurbishment” later tonight and then open up for The Big Wool Show on Saturday morning! 😀

LambMetrics – 28th August 2021

August 28, 2021 by Wendy Beer

#LAMBMETRICS for the last few days

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 4
Total Lambs Born: 99
MerinoX lambs (live total): 25
Castledale lambs (live total): 67
Total Sets of Twins born: 38
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 61 (98.3 %)
Lamb % : 150% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 2
Losses: 9 [lamb]; 1 [ewe]

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

Down to only 1 ewe still pregnant. I think. (I don’t have the hi-viz tags on the Merino and Castledale ewes and it’s got confusing with a paddock full of lambs. lol)

Beautiful day today but the other night – straight after the blog – was drama-filled when I went back to feed lambs and went to try get 2 lambs back with their mother and then discovered a ewe “down” and her (new) lamb missing.

Found it under a fallen tree. Couldn’t tell if a fox had tried to grab it or if it had bled a bit due to getting itself into a tight spot.

The Merino ewe is okay now but wasn’t interested in her lamb whatsoever. And at 9pm I wasn’t going to muck about – a jacket, a bottle and a warm shed were in its future. (The ICU Small Animal rugs are awesome – I can put a heat pack in the jacket to keep the lamb snug all night.) Lamby is now doing well.

And then there was another lamb whose mother didn’t want it.

Those of you keeping track will realise this means that now I have WAY TOO MANY lambs on the bottle.

I caved. I got the special “Lambar” feeder to make like easier for Mum and I.

The poddy lambs may need a blog post all their own. There are a variety of reasons the lambs are on the bottle – ranging from fox attack injuries to orphans. They are quite the “gang” now!

One set of twins is on the bottle because their mum had been ill and subsequently didn’t have quite enough milk when they were born.

This ewe had a partial vaginal prolapse. The “retainer” normally ties to the wool but short wool necessitates a harness to “hold it all in”!

There was a request for a Floss update.

You will be pleased to know that Floss appears to have made a full recovery! Thank you all for the love, prayers and good wishes for her.

The other day was International Dog Day or some such thing. So here are some pics of the other dogs here. 🙂

Bramble and Brighid are slowing down now. Maggie isn’t an awesome sheepdog generally but she’s been very useful on the night rounds during lambing. She’s been taking “guard dog” duties very seriously!

Today was so lovely – so here are some flowers in the garden too.

Peach – “Lady Palmerston”
“Silver Princess” – E. caesia spp

Supposed to rain tonight – obviously that means the last sheep will probably lamb!

Hopefully the stats can be wrapped up tomorrow!

100% Australian Grown & Processed

December 12, 2020 by Wendy Beer

Did you know that the Australian Fibre Collective has been set up by Australian Fibre processors and growers to give consumers confidence that what they are buying is 100% Australian Grown & Processed.

To be a licencee and use the logo a rigorous application process has been undergone to prove all claims are accurate.

Many fibre products available to consumers have varying (or no) Australian processing.

To be certain of supporting Australian manufacturing look for the Australian Fibre Collective logo.

Details of current licencees and the Collective are on the AFC website:

www.australianfibrecollective.org

PS. Beersheba Farm is Licencee #0011 !

LambMetrics – 3rd September 2020

September 3, 2020 by Wendy Beer

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 113
Drysdale lambs (live total): 52
English Leicester lambs (live total): 38
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 14
Total Sets of Twins born: 36
Total Sets of Triplets born: 1
Total ewe lambs: 59
Total ram lambs: 54
Ewes lambed /77: 76 (98.7 %)
Lamb % : 137 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 10
Losses: 9 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Notable Midwifery tales:

There hasn’t been much action for a few days so it was about time the English Leicesters shook things up a little!

It was a very quiet start to the day with nothing appearing to be happening so I decided to take poor, time-neglected Floss for a good, long walk in the paddock where the yearlings, wethers and “empties” are. It’s been a little while since I’ve had time to do so. They’ve been living the life of Riley with plenty to eat and no humans interfering! It was good to catch up – and nose-bump – with Mr Squishy, NotSquishy and Hippo. 🙂 (Pet lambs from 2016)

I’d been a little hopeful that young Cassie was indeed pregnant (just not due until mid-October, due to THIS rendezvous) so I wanted to check on her as well as a general welfare check on the random sheepy assortment in that paddock.

Good news! I’m pretty sure she’s pregnant….. 😉

So, Cassie needed to come up to the Maternity paddock where I can keep an eye on the minx.

Cassie’s mum (Flopsy) and aunt (Mopsy) had scanned empty back in June which was pretty sad since they are silver English Leicesters and I finally HAVE a ram that would guarantee they have silver lambs.

However.

Uh huh.

Yep.

Turns out Flopsy had one tucked away that the scanner missed….

This little guy is very, very cute.

Now Cassie has a little brother and they arrived up at the sheds and took over immediately. LOL

Mopsy led the troops into the shed and demanded food! The last time she lambed it was a very tough experience with pregnancy toxemia – that was when I delivered Mona and her sister. Mopsy was in the shed for weeks. She figures she owns it. Haha

I left them to all get reacquainted.

Late this afternoon I went back over to get some water pipes re-jigged and discovered that Mona did indeed want her mum – and had just delivered her bub!

Of course, Granny Mopsy came to inspect and photobomb. LOL

A lovely little boy!

And now there is only one left to lamb (not including late-to-the-party Cassie).

Hoping to get back in the workshop in the next few days to crank up the dye pots and sort out more wool ready for a store update and for the Fibre Advent Calendars! Plus, a new processing run of our Duchess wool/silk blend!

When is a Rose not a rose?

June 6, 2019 by Wendy Beer

Followers of our Facebook page and Instagram will probably be aware that roses are rather popular at Beersheba Farm. (Over 100 bushes and we aren’t counting!) So, a few years ago when a product called “Rose Fiber” came on the market we were very excited. Wool and roses! Our world was complete!

However, initial research yielded very little information on what this glorious fibre was made of and how. Basically all that could be found was marketing sales pitch from one or two large fibre-selling companies that it was “made from rose bushes”.

This didn’t bode well for the marketing pitch to be accurate.

It would be generally thought among the fibrecraft community from the marketing that “rose fiber” is made as a bast fibre (where the actual fibre structures of the plant are used to produce the yarn, like Hemp, Linen/Flax, Raimie/Nettle or Jute).

This is not the case.

“Rose fiber” is a Viscose. Viscose being a regenerated cellulose product and common sources of cellulose being wood pulp, soy, bamboo, and sugar cane. The environmental concerns with viscose/rayon production are well known.

….the term “rose fiber” refers to a protein-enriched cellulose fiber, particularly a blend of cellulose and rice protein. Synonyms for “rose fiber” are “rousi fiber” and “rose fiber viscose”. The raw material of rose fiber is derived from plants. […] In particular, the protein is rice protein. [….] The handfeel is fairly soft like the surface of the rose leaf, so it called rose fiber. However, rose fiber does not necessarily have to be derived from rose bushes. Rose fiber is produced by viscose spinning.
patents.google.com/patent/WO2018158391A1/en

One website also lists it as being: Protein “Rose” Fiber derived from “mixed cereals”. (Cereal crops are things like rice, wheat, oats. Rose bushes aren’t a cereal crop)

The suspicion felt about the source of the cellulose in “rose fiber” would appear to be justified. There aren’t too many places in the world with large tracts of rose bushes grown for their wood…..

Now, when you google for “rose fiber” there is an absolute plethora of websites eagerly selling this fibre “made from rose bushes”. It is quite disheartening to see people taken in by this without proper investigation into the truth of the claims.

New products coming out include yarn that is a pretty rose pink as its “natural” colour. The manufacturer claims (along with a whole bunch of large, scientific words that may or may not be used accurately) that rose flowers are turned into powder and then added to the viscose solution prior to spinning (like “pearl fibre”) and so it is natural (!) and lists a bunch of supposed health benefits. Am looking forward to some proof in the way of scientific analysis on that?! How many natural “health benefits” are going to survive the highly chemical viscose process?

Bottom line is: this product is highly unlikely to be made from ACTUAL rose bushes.

The “rose fiber” feels lovely and is a novelty to spin and use but let’s try stop the misinformation that it is anything but viscose rayon from undefined sources.

Last Drysdale shearing for 2017

December 15, 2017 by Wendy Beer

“Better late than never”

Beersheba Gilbert – enjoying his post-shearing snack

Mostly true….

Finally (finally!) have all the Drysdales shorn which means they are fly-safe, grass seed-safe and happy campers in general!

It’s been a challenge to get my shearer – have been trying for 2 months – but we’re all good now.

A good shearer is a thing to cherish. There are more good shearers around than some “interest groups” would like you to believe. The handful of “bad apples” wouldn’t last long here that’s for sure.

So, back to the fluff! This was the first shearing for the Drysdale lambs (born Aug-Sept). There aren’t many breeds of sheep that can produce 15-20cm (4-6″) of wool growth in their first 4 months! Give a Drysdale protein and it just pumps out the wool.

Beersheba Gilbert -in (more than) full wool. 11 months growth

As you will know (from reading the info on our Drysdale page…) the Drysdale fleece is a primitive type of fleece with medullated outer coat and soft, fine undercoat. In lambs this is less defined as the undercoat is typically the same length as the outercoat at this stage.

This means they need shearing 2-3 times a year, on average, to keep the fleece to a “commercial” length.

This was the first time for the lambs in the shearing shed (they will see a bit of it over their lives….) and it was a warm day today. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised as to just how ZEN the lambs were this time.

Lambs aren’t supposed to be this quiet… they are supposed to be stark-raving loonies, terrified by the world and trying to kill each other in the process. Ooops. Drysdales didn’t get that memo! 😆 😆