The New York State sheep and Wool Festival is fast approaching. I will be having a food booth again this year. I will be serving a slow smoked leg of lamb sandwich, lamb sausage with orange, lamb and barley soup, and on Sunday, we will have scotch eggs for breakfast. I hope all of our supporters will stop by again and try our menu.

We are currently showing the merinos a the Eastern States Expo in Massachusetts. We entered six fleeces in the wool show. We had two firsts, two seconds, a third, and a fith. Not bad ,for the off the sheep competition

BBQ

Sunday BBQ at the Inwoods in Bleneim. All was good. We had crays(New Zealand lobster) that we caught last Saturday on the coast. I have been sampling the local beers to see whish one is best. After seven or eight kinds, I have found that I still need to do some more research.

Wedding

It was a great day for a wedding 23 degrees. The cerimony was held in the family garden, which was perfect. There were two vintage mustangs for thr bridal party to ride off in.

There were about seventy people. Most from New zealand, afew Ausses, and six from the USA. It was great fun.

Blairich Station

Met with Ron and Sue Small today at Blairich Station on Thursday. Station being a really big farm or what we would call a “Ranch”. It was very impressive.

We watched as yearling rams were sorted for a potential buyer. Then we travaled to the wool shed to look at fleeces. Brite white all around. Most fleeces were in the 16 to 17 micron stage.

Next we were on a drive to see the stud rams. We drove around for twenty minutes through paddocks trying to find them. At last with the help of two dogs, we were able to locate them. The Champian ram from the Christchurch Show was quite impressive. I told Ron he could come and join my studs anytime.

Winter Lambs

Blowing snow, fridgid temperatures and heaps of snowbanks. That is what January is about. Wait it is also about the lambs! We had quite a month. Several lambs were born on the coldest days. On the 21st it was -8′ and a ewe lamb was born. I thought it was not going to make it, but its mother did a fine job of keeping it dryed off and fed. There are two more ewes to have lambs in the next couple of days. then we will be done till a few due in March.

New Pasture

 I finished building fence at my cousin Erichs house. He has some nice meadows behind his house, just needed some fence aroumd them. I took over a breeding group(22 ewes and 1 ram). They were very happy with their new surroundings. There is a nice maple tree for shade. There should be plenty of grass for the next month.

Shearing of the Rams

Today was the shearing of the Stud Rams. The new stud is in breeding for fall lambs . He was shorn in the fall and did not need to be shorn at this time. Are stud from Neveda was in good spirits and took a little extra muscle. He has a nice bright white fleece. I then needed to shear the old stud ram He didn’t seem to mind at first, but as I got near his horns he changed his opinion. Sometimes they do not like any vibration near their horns. I had to alter my style a little bit, and victory was mine ! The old ram also has a bright fleece. Now to make the decision as to which type of yarn to make them into.

Wool Show

We went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last month. We took eight Merinos. We show in the white fine wool classes. Ther were several other breeders there. Overall we did well at the show. Our junior ram lamb that was born in January was first. He later sold to a breeder in Pennsylvania who raises fine wool fleeces. He puts covers on the sheep year round to keep them super clean.

Spring

Spring has seemed to pass right by and put us into Summer. The weather has been great and we are busy trying to finish shearing the merino ewes. I also need to trim feet on the stud rams. There are sixteen spring lambs to go with eleven fall lambs. All are growing well. I hope to post some pix soon

We plan to send raw wool to a scouring plant in a few weeks ,so we can get our yarn plans underway. So much to do!