Wool

LambMetrics – 30th August 2022

August 30, 2022 by Wendy Beer

LambMetrics is our lambing blog which tells some of the tales of farm life at lambing time.
Also contains pretty lamb pictures – and maybe a few confronting ones too.

Today started with a bit of a bang.

(In order of occurrence:)

Pull set of Castledale twins
Attempt to fix a vaginal prolapse in a ewe
Rescue lamb from A Place It Shouldn’t Be
Rescue another lamb from another Place It Shouldn’t Be
Milk a ewe
Feed pet lambs and a few extra
Shift some ewes and lambs into a fresh paddock (**CHAOS!**)

And then it was 9am.

Of course there were opportunities to smile…. like when confronted with this feisty Drysdale lad who has the Milk Bar all worked out now. 🙂

The bonus of the day (wet as it was) was being able to get some non-farm work done.

And then it was time to organise the lunchtime feed, fix the prolapse (again), sort out the odd lamb that had been mixed up when the ewes and lambs got moved, watch a set of twins be born, watch the last (?) black English Leicester ewe birth a black lamb and cuddle a fluffy lamb.

As of this evening the prolapse appears to be under control (fingers crossed) and another set of twins had just been born.

No doubt it will be a case of “Rinse and Repeat” tomorrow!

Shop Talk:

PS. Don’t forget that our Fibre Advent Calendar Range Pre-Order ends tomorrow! 🙂

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 – 2nd August 2021

August 2, 2021 by Wendy Beer

#LAMBMETRICS for the day

Drysdale & English Leicester Flocks

Born today: 2
Total Lambs Born: 4
Drysdale lambs (live total): 4
English Leicester lambs (live total): 0
English Leicester X lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 2
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 3
Total ram lambs: 1
Ewes lambed /70: 2 (2.85 %)
Lamb % : 200 % [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

Castledale & Merino Flocks

Born today: 0
Total Lambs Born: 0
Merino lambs (live total): 0
Castledale lambs (live total): 0
Total Sets of Twins born: 0
Total Sets of Triplets born: 0
Total ewe lambs: 0
Total ram lambs: 0
Ewes lambed /62: 0 (0 %)
Lamb % : 0% [live]
Assisted/Dystocias: 0
Losses: 0 [lamb]; 0 [ewe]

NOTABLE MIDWIFERY TALES:

Beautiful sunshine today and in true Drysdale fashion there was a set of twins waiting for me early this morning. None of the other breed ewes look as ready to go – the Drysdales don’t believe in dilly-dallying!

Today’s twins were a mixed pair of a ram lamb and ewe lamb. They were up and ready to head off with mum when she said, move! This was her second set of twins, she had twins last year too.

It’s always nice when the sun shines – easier to get photographs! Haha

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!

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! 😆 😆