Last week was spent driving to a nearby town (about 55 miles one way, out here in the sticks of northern Nevada, that is nearby) to do training for a new data program they are switching to in the company I work for. I was so worn out by Friday, I didnt get anything accomplished this weekend.
I am still trying to decide which drum carder I want; on one hand the Deb's is made by Patrick Green and by all accounts, that line of equipment has a good reputation. Then there is the Strauch 200 Series, and the Louet Roving Carder.... I am so confused lol
Havent heard much from Ashford fans... are there any?
Well, just thought I would pop in and say Hi :) time to work!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Our Little Flock
Yay! We have pictures!
This is my modest (but attractive) tunis flock. 
From left to right; Rose, Coral, Honey (way in back), Vanilla, Ewenice, and Carmine. Carmine, by the way is the name of a color, red actually :)
I went out Tuesday and took this picture, they though I was there to feed them so they were very attentive.
Rose is out of the Kleman Family flock of Ohio, Vanilla is out of the Freeman flock, Honey is from Cunnington Farms, Ewenice is out of the Mayes flock and Carmine was conceived at the Darling Tunis Farm in Ohio, his sire is Lyle, a three time grand champ.
I know I am probably a bit prejudiced, but I think Carmine is the hottest thing in sheepdom since wool :)
Rose is out of the Kleman Family flock of Ohio, Vanilla is out of the Freeman flock, Honey is from Cunnington Farms, Ewenice is out of the Mayes flock and Carmine was conceived at the Darling Tunis Farm in Ohio, his sire is Lyle, a three time grand champ.
I hear horror stories about people who get too familiar with a ram. I have let my self in for it, as Carmine and I are fast friends right now. I haven't figured out yet how to separate training from friendship, so I may have problems as he gets older. But then again, he is a tunis, and tunis are known for their even temperament. In fact, I can't stress enough how different they are from other breeds I have experience with. As I have mentioned, we have suffolks, a dorset, a corriedale, and crosses; none of them have any more reason to fear us than the tunis do, but the tunis' personalities are consistently better than the others.
As an example, these little ewes went to the NV State Fair with me and Carmine this past August, one of them was an exception to the rule; she was what I would call a pin-ball sheep (thank you Laura!). The only one I have seen in the tunis breed so far. The other was not handled any more than the first, but after the first day of people coming by to look and admire their pretty little red heads, she just started stretching out her neck so everyone could feel how soft and sweet she was. It was amazing! I was totally flattened by her behavior! In my experience, you have to imprint when they are born to get that kind of attitude towards people. To this day she always comes to the fence to get her scratch. So by now, I guess you know that I want every sheep person in the world to experience a tunis. IMHO they should be the breed. But then I wouldn't think I was so special if every one had them ;-)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
No Pictures?? Early Cudos for the Tunis Breed!
Since I cant upload pictures, what I was going to post today will wait till tomorrow.
I will instead post one of the articles I found on the 'Net about tunis sheep. I am going to paste it word for word, as I really like the way people of the time constructed their phrases, and I believe that if I tried to paraphrase it, some of the meaning would be lost.
This was originally an oral speach given by Jas. A. Guilhams, to the Indiana State Board of Agriculture and the Wool Drovers Association. The year was 1897...
"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Wool drovers' Association of Indiana: The subject on the program allotted to me is "The Tunis Sheep." I will try to give you a short history of this breed of sheep; also my personal experience in breeding and mining them. The Tunis sheep is a native of Tunis, a mountainous country in northern Africa. Tunis was formerly Carthage, and at one time the most powerful nation in the world.
"The native sheep of this country are a specie of the broad or fat tail breed of sheep. They have been bred pure for several thousand years throughout the countries of northern Africa, which includes Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria and Morocco. Another specie of the broad-tail sheep are raised very extensively in Turkey and Persia, principally for mutton and the fat of the tail, which is manufactured into a kind of butter that is greatly relished by the people of those countries.
"It is said that the tail of the Turkish sheep weighs from 60 to 100 pounds. Sheep have been imported from Turkey to America several times and have always proved a failure. Mr. Bailey, of California, has a flock of broad-tail sheep which were imported from Astrakhan. In color they are black and black and white spotted. The wool on the specimens that I saw was a coarse quality. I am informed that these sheep have multiplied and done remarkably well in California.
As far back as we can trace ancient history we read of the fat-tail sheep. In Leviticus, third chapter, ninth verse, it reads: "And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering the fat thereof and the whole rump. It shall he take off hard by the backbone." About 2,300 years ago Herodotus describes it as the sheep of Syria and Palestine, and having a tail one cubit in width, which is eighteen inches. From time immemorial this has been the common species of sheep existing throughout Asia and Africa.
"Some very foolish stories have been written about the broad-tail sheep. Some writers have described them as having tails three feet long, with a wagon attached to the sheep for the tail to rest upon. One writer a few years ago in describing the sheep, said that in case tbe wagon was not placed under the tail in time, that the lobes of fat on each side of the tail bone would become so heavy of their own weight that they would sometimes drop off. This is simply nonsense."
FIRST INTRODUCTION OF TUNIS SHEEP IN AMERICA
"In 1799, when Gen. Wm. Eaton was United States Consul at Tunis, he purchased from the Bey of Tunis, and on his farm, ten head of Tunis sheep, which he placed on board the man-of-war Sophia, bound for the United Stales. One ram and one ewe only survived the voyage. This pair was placed under the care of Judge Richard Peters, of Belmont, near Philadelphia, who kept and bred them until he had a fine flock of pure blood Tunis sheep.
"Judge Peters offered the free use of his rams to his friends; his pastures were overrun with ewes, brought from far and near. Soon a number of wealthy victnalers of Philadelphia, discovering the superiority of the Tunis sheep for mutton over all other breeds, both in quality and price, made up a purse and offered Judge Peters any price he chose to fix on his imported ram, but he refused to sell. These sheep were hardy, bearing heat or cold and fattening with less food and much quicker than any other sheep. An unsound sheep of the Tunis breed was unknown. The great demand for the lambs for mutton was detrimental to the multiplication of the breed. In 1810 the Merino craze struck this country, with fine Merino wool selling at $2 per pound. Mutton was lost sight of. The imported pair, Caramelli and Selina, were both killed by dogs when very old, the ewe raising her last lamb at the age of sixteen years. During the twenty years or more in which Judge Peters bred the Tunis sheep, several fine flocks were sent to North and South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia, where they were successfully bred in large flock until the beginning of the war in 1861, during which they were nearly all destroyed.
"About two years ago, through the kind assistance of Col. Washington Watts, of South Carolina, who owned a fine flock of Tunis sheep before the war, I succeeded in locating a small flock of the pure bloods in the South. The owner satisfied me that he could trace the history of his flock direct to the flock owned by Judge Peters. In my venture with Tunis sheep I found a willing partner in Mr. M. A. Bridges, a wealthy land-owner and fine stock breeder of Putnam County, Indiana. We made our first shipment the first week in March. With the sudden change of climate and feed, etc., we expected some of our sheep to die, but we were very agreeably disappointed, for they stood the March and April blizzards like a stone wall.
I have bred and raised successfully the Cotswold, the Merino, the Shropshires and Cheviots, l am an admirer of all these breeds. I have at present a small flock of Cheviots, of which I am very proud, for I believe they are destined to become one of the leading breeds in America.
"In order to test the hardiness of our Tunis sheep we have let them run with the above named breeds, giving them all the same treatment, the same care and feed. We are compelled to say that we are highly pleased with the result. First, they have cleaner noses than any other breed of sheep; second, they need less tagging and third, they seem less affected by heat or cold.
In color when very young they are sometimes a pure fawn, and frequently red with a white face. When only a few days old their tails are the same as any other lambs, with a surplus of loose skin at the upper part. They can be docked as close as other lambs. As they begin to grow in size a kind of fat flesh begins to accumulate on each side at the tail bone for about half way down the length. Three or four inches of the lower end of the tail should be cut off. This leaves the tail fan-shaped or tapering. In mature sheep in good flesh the tail is from five to ten inches wide and six or eight inches long, and would weigh from three to eight pounds; and this is said to be the choicest piece of mutton that mortal man ever tested. I have not tried it. The tail of the males is larger than that of the ewes. The wool on mature sheep is a light gray in color, and will shear about eight pounds of fine medium wool.
"In form they are straight, round bodied, with good length; short legs and fine bone, with a very small, tapering neck, and a deer-shaped head and nose. They are quick, active and strong, and have a bright, intelligent look. They will raise two crops of lambs a year or they will bring lambs in any month desired. We have one lamb born August 15, and one August 25, both being the second crop for 1894. We have a very fine ewe lamb, born November 1. It is as fat as a pug dog and can run like a jack rabbit Its tail is four inches broad. Full grown sheep when running make a noise with their tails like slapping your hands. And a flock of lambs in their gambols and play seem to take delight in seeing which can make his tail crack the loudest.
Of all stock bred and raised in America by the farmers, the sheep is the most abused and neglected. What the average American farmer wants, is not a sheep that with good housing and good care and plenty of feed can be made to weigh 350 pounds, but they want a sheep that with no care and very little feed can be made weigh 150 or 200 pounds. We believe the Tunis sheep will come as near doing this as any sheep in the world. I do not propose in this article to claim that the Tunis sheep is the grandest sheep on earth. Because we have none to sell, and my experience has been limited. But our experience so far has proven to us that they are a grand, good sheep, with many good qualities. I hope by another year to be able to give you more light on this subject. And if our State Board of Agriculture will give us a class at the next State Fair, we will show you a sample of Tunis sheep with both the wool and tail on."
I will instead post one of the articles I found on the 'Net about tunis sheep. I am going to paste it word for word, as I really like the way people of the time constructed their phrases, and I believe that if I tried to paraphrase it, some of the meaning would be lost.
This was originally an oral speach given by Jas. A. Guilhams, to the Indiana State Board of Agriculture and the Wool Drovers Association. The year was 1897...
"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Wool drovers' Association of Indiana: The subject on the program allotted to me is "The Tunis Sheep." I will try to give you a short history of this breed of sheep; also my personal experience in breeding and mining them. The Tunis sheep is a native of Tunis, a mountainous country in northern Africa. Tunis was formerly Carthage, and at one time the most powerful nation in the world.
"The native sheep of this country are a specie of the broad or fat tail breed of sheep. They have been bred pure for several thousand years throughout the countries of northern Africa, which includes Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria and Morocco. Another specie of the broad-tail sheep are raised very extensively in Turkey and Persia, principally for mutton and the fat of the tail, which is manufactured into a kind of butter that is greatly relished by the people of those countries.
"It is said that the tail of the Turkish sheep weighs from 60 to 100 pounds. Sheep have been imported from Turkey to America several times and have always proved a failure. Mr. Bailey, of California, has a flock of broad-tail sheep which were imported from Astrakhan. In color they are black and black and white spotted. The wool on the specimens that I saw was a coarse quality. I am informed that these sheep have multiplied and done remarkably well in California.
As far back as we can trace ancient history we read of the fat-tail sheep. In Leviticus, third chapter, ninth verse, it reads: "And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering the fat thereof and the whole rump. It shall he take off hard by the backbone." About 2,300 years ago Herodotus describes it as the sheep of Syria and Palestine, and having a tail one cubit in width, which is eighteen inches. From time immemorial this has been the common species of sheep existing throughout Asia and Africa.
"Some very foolish stories have been written about the broad-tail sheep. Some writers have described them as having tails three feet long, with a wagon attached to the sheep for the tail to rest upon. One writer a few years ago in describing the sheep, said that in case tbe wagon was not placed under the tail in time, that the lobes of fat on each side of the tail bone would become so heavy of their own weight that they would sometimes drop off. This is simply nonsense."
FIRST INTRODUCTION OF TUNIS SHEEP IN AMERICA
"In 1799, when Gen. Wm. Eaton was United States Consul at Tunis, he purchased from the Bey of Tunis, and on his farm, ten head of Tunis sheep, which he placed on board the man-of-war Sophia, bound for the United Stales. One ram and one ewe only survived the voyage. This pair was placed under the care of Judge Richard Peters, of Belmont, near Philadelphia, who kept and bred them until he had a fine flock of pure blood Tunis sheep.
"Judge Peters offered the free use of his rams to his friends; his pastures were overrun with ewes, brought from far and near. Soon a number of wealthy victnalers of Philadelphia, discovering the superiority of the Tunis sheep for mutton over all other breeds, both in quality and price, made up a purse and offered Judge Peters any price he chose to fix on his imported ram, but he refused to sell. These sheep were hardy, bearing heat or cold and fattening with less food and much quicker than any other sheep. An unsound sheep of the Tunis breed was unknown. The great demand for the lambs for mutton was detrimental to the multiplication of the breed. In 1810 the Merino craze struck this country, with fine Merino wool selling at $2 per pound. Mutton was lost sight of. The imported pair, Caramelli and Selina, were both killed by dogs when very old, the ewe raising her last lamb at the age of sixteen years. During the twenty years or more in which Judge Peters bred the Tunis sheep, several fine flocks were sent to North and South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia, where they were successfully bred in large flock until the beginning of the war in 1861, during which they were nearly all destroyed.
"About two years ago, through the kind assistance of Col. Washington Watts, of South Carolina, who owned a fine flock of Tunis sheep before the war, I succeeded in locating a small flock of the pure bloods in the South. The owner satisfied me that he could trace the history of his flock direct to the flock owned by Judge Peters. In my venture with Tunis sheep I found a willing partner in Mr. M. A. Bridges, a wealthy land-owner and fine stock breeder of Putnam County, Indiana. We made our first shipment the first week in March. With the sudden change of climate and feed, etc., we expected some of our sheep to die, but we were very agreeably disappointed, for they stood the March and April blizzards like a stone wall.
I have bred and raised successfully the Cotswold, the Merino, the Shropshires and Cheviots, l am an admirer of all these breeds. I have at present a small flock of Cheviots, of which I am very proud, for I believe they are destined to become one of the leading breeds in America.
"In order to test the hardiness of our Tunis sheep we have let them run with the above named breeds, giving them all the same treatment, the same care and feed. We are compelled to say that we are highly pleased with the result. First, they have cleaner noses than any other breed of sheep; second, they need less tagging and third, they seem less affected by heat or cold.
In color when very young they are sometimes a pure fawn, and frequently red with a white face. When only a few days old their tails are the same as any other lambs, with a surplus of loose skin at the upper part. They can be docked as close as other lambs. As they begin to grow in size a kind of fat flesh begins to accumulate on each side at the tail bone for about half way down the length. Three or four inches of the lower end of the tail should be cut off. This leaves the tail fan-shaped or tapering. In mature sheep in good flesh the tail is from five to ten inches wide and six or eight inches long, and would weigh from three to eight pounds; and this is said to be the choicest piece of mutton that mortal man ever tested. I have not tried it. The tail of the males is larger than that of the ewes. The wool on mature sheep is a light gray in color, and will shear about eight pounds of fine medium wool.
"In form they are straight, round bodied, with good length; short legs and fine bone, with a very small, tapering neck, and a deer-shaped head and nose. They are quick, active and strong, and have a bright, intelligent look. They will raise two crops of lambs a year or they will bring lambs in any month desired. We have one lamb born August 15, and one August 25, both being the second crop for 1894. We have a very fine ewe lamb, born November 1. It is as fat as a pug dog and can run like a jack rabbit Its tail is four inches broad. Full grown sheep when running make a noise with their tails like slapping your hands. And a flock of lambs in their gambols and play seem to take delight in seeing which can make his tail crack the loudest.
Of all stock bred and raised in America by the farmers, the sheep is the most abused and neglected. What the average American farmer wants, is not a sheep that with good housing and good care and plenty of feed can be made to weigh 350 pounds, but they want a sheep that with no care and very little feed can be made weigh 150 or 200 pounds. We believe the Tunis sheep will come as near doing this as any sheep in the world. I do not propose in this article to claim that the Tunis sheep is the grandest sheep on earth. Because we have none to sell, and my experience has been limited. But our experience so far has proven to us that they are a grand, good sheep, with many good qualities. I hope by another year to be able to give you more light on this subject. And if our State Board of Agriculture will give us a class at the next State Fair, we will show you a sample of Tunis sheep with both the wool and tail on."
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Which One?
After visiting that wonderful studio, I am all about buying a drum carder. I told my DH last night that I had decided what I wanted for Christmas, and told him what it was, then he reminded me that the gun that he is haveing rebarreled will probably cost at least that much.... I don't think men have any sense of money, at least my man doesn't LOL
So I figure, while I can (we are going to AZ for Christmas this year, thats where my DH is
from) I am going for it! However, I cant go over $400. I am looking at the Louet Half-Width and the Strauch P05 Petite. I like the Half-width because I dont necessarily like those big batts, but I have heard the teeth are too deep and it takes a lot of effort to use them. I have heard the Strauch is nicer because it has more teeth per inch and it seems both will handle a fairly wide variety of wool, but the Strauch aslo is suggested for the 'occasional user'.
from) I am going for it! However, I cant go over $400. I am looking at the Louet Half-Width and the Strauch P05 Petite. I like the Half-width because I dont necessarily like those big batts, but I have heard the teeth are too deep and it takes a lot of effort to use them. I have heard the Strauch is nicer because it has more teeth per inch and it seems both will handle a fairly wide variety of wool, but the Strauch aslo is suggested for the 'occasional user'. Any opinions?
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Weekend!
Much better! After some heehawin', I finally talked my daughter into going with me to Reno; she had changed her mind and wanted to go to the last home foot ball game, it was a hard row, let me tell you.
We didn't get to my friends house until after dark, and left the two corriedales in the trailer till morning when we would be able to at least see which direction they bolted if that was what they decided to do.
Wow, what a place! My friend, you have a beautiful home! (Web page at http://home.att.net/~mimb/index.htm)
I got a tour of the studio that night, all kinds/colors of yarn, rovings, fleece, and felted items. Fiberholic nirvana! A loom here, a supercarder there, a spinning wheel over there, complete with TV, couch and a wonderful view of the mountains. I was impressed at all the different colors that shetlands come in! She had one fleece that was a steely black with wisps of grey, moorit (the shetland world has different names for the red colors), blue, creamy, bright white and on and on.
(
After the fact: I asked for a picture, this is obviously in winter, but the same sheep :)
With fingers twitching I ask if she has any of a particular fleece for sale. I feel like a junky, really! Here I am with a yard full of sheep at home, three-four-five or more fleeces and a multitude of roving cluttering up my 'corner' of the living room, and I cant walk away from two pounds of wool!!!
The next morning; after a simple (but tasty) breakfast, we went to get the sheep out of the trailer. There isn't a lot of room to move a horse trailer around in the yard but somehow I managed to back the trailer up right to the door of the barn (which is also a really cool set up!), and all we had to do was run my two pinball sheep through the barn into a pen out back (they are both a bit flighty).
Then we went on the sheep tour. I wish I would have had a camera. I have always loved the northern Nevada countryside, and I love to look at sheep! Shetlands are a smaller breed and they produce a dual coat of wool, with long outer guard hairs and a thick, fluffy inner coat that I now know is fun to spin and pleasant to handle.
That day we went to my first CSSW (Carson Sierra Spinners and Weavers Guild http://www.scs.unr.edu/~ashannon/cssw/) meeting. We went through guild business and introductions and show and tell while sitting in the spinning circle and then had lunch. I love going to fibery gatherings, I don't get enough were I'm at, the closest spinner to me is 45 min's away, the next is an hour and a half!
Sunday!
Now that I am down to two rams, we have two breeding pens. Lazarus, an old style tunis (breeds seem to change all the time, the 'old style' is from 4 - 5 years ago, before the breeders/showers started breeding for straighter backs and bigger frames, a 'craw' item for another post...) in one pen with his five ladies; this is our terminal flock, lambs from these sheep are destined for the freezer but we don't rule out the possibility of the occasional show lamb or replacement ewe.
Carmine, a ram lamb (who right now thinks he has died and gone to heaven) is in with five registered tunis ewes whose lambs are destined for the show ring, but if a lamb is born unregisterable, they go into the locker pen.
As I said in an earlier post, I live for lambing season and cant wait for the next one :-)
The corriedales are now safe in California with their new owners who picked them up last night. They are with the Mendenhalls at the Wool Ranch (http://www.woolranch.com/) where Terry and her husband raise wool sheep, and do it really well!
The last two ewes, a registered dorset and a registered suffolk, will be going to Star Valley this week to be bred to a registered suffolk and we will be picking up a yearling ewe to replace the ewe lamb we lost last week.
SOWISA!
We didn't get to my friends house until after dark, and left the two corriedales in the trailer till morning when we would be able to at least see which direction they bolted if that was what they decided to do.
Wow, what a place! My friend, you have a beautiful home! (Web page at http://home.att.net/~mimb/index.htm)
I got a tour of the studio that night, all kinds/colors of yarn, rovings, fleece, and felted items. Fiberholic nirvana! A loom here, a supercarder there, a spinning wheel over there, complete with TV, couch and a wonderful view of the mountains. I was impressed at all the different colors that shetlands come in! She had one fleece that was a steely black with wisps of grey, moorit (the shetland world has different names for the red colors), blue, creamy, bright white and on and on.
(
After the fact: I asked for a picture, this is obviously in winter, but the same sheep :) With fingers twitching I ask if she has any of a particular fleece for sale. I feel like a junky, really! Here I am with a yard full of sheep at home, three-four-five or more fleeces and a multitude of roving cluttering up my 'corner' of the living room, and I cant walk away from two pounds of wool!!!
The next morning; after a simple (but tasty) breakfast, we went to get the sheep out of the trailer. There isn't a lot of room to move a horse trailer around in the yard but somehow I managed to back the trailer up right to the door of the barn (which is also a really cool set up!), and all we had to do was run my two pinball sheep through the barn into a pen out back (they are both a bit flighty).
Then we went on the sheep tour. I wish I would have had a camera. I have always loved the northern Nevada countryside, and I love to look at sheep! Shetlands are a smaller breed and they produce a dual coat of wool, with long outer guard hairs and a thick, fluffy inner coat that I now know is fun to spin and pleasant to handle.
That day we went to my first CSSW (Carson Sierra Spinners and Weavers Guild http://www.scs.unr.edu/~ashannon/cssw/) meeting. We went through guild business and introductions and show and tell while sitting in the spinning circle and then had lunch. I love going to fibery gatherings, I don't get enough were I'm at, the closest spinner to me is 45 min's away, the next is an hour and a half!
Sunday!
Now that I am down to two rams, we have two breeding pens. Lazarus, an old style tunis (breeds seem to change all the time, the 'old style' is from 4 - 5 years ago, before the breeders/showers started breeding for straighter backs and bigger frames, a 'craw' item for another post...) in one pen with his five ladies; this is our terminal flock, lambs from these sheep are destined for the freezer but we don't rule out the possibility of the occasional show lamb or replacement ewe.
Carmine, a ram lamb (who right now thinks he has died and gone to heaven) is in with five registered tunis ewes whose lambs are destined for the show ring, but if a lamb is born unregisterable, they go into the locker pen.
As I said in an earlier post, I live for lambing season and cant wait for the next one :-)
The corriedales are now safe in California with their new owners who picked them up last night. They are with the Mendenhalls at the Wool Ranch (http://www.woolranch.com/) where Terry and her husband raise wool sheep, and do it really well!
The last two ewes, a registered dorset and a registered suffolk, will be going to Star Valley this week to be bred to a registered suffolk and we will be picking up a yearling ewe to replace the ewe lamb we lost last week.
SOWISA!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Bad Day?
Wow! What a week! I still haven't had time to put anything else together about my darling red heads, but I promise I will. I have several letters found on the 'Net that I want to paraphrase.... for now, let me tell you about MY week!
It started OK, Monday came and went, Tuesday we decided we had to put down my favorite ewe. She has been sick for awhile, and I would have done it sooner if she hadn't been such a fine example of the tunis breed. I stood looking at her one day, with the tunis standard in one hand, comparing her to it. If you have ever raised any registered breed of animal, you know how difficult it can sometimes be to breed the right characteristics into your animals. Well with this girl, it was damn difficult to find a way she didn't fit into the breed standard! We have had two beautiful lambs from her, which we unfortunately sold because we didn't have a place for them in the breeding program at the time. Hopefully though, in the next couple years I can get her blood back into the flock by buying one of her lamb's offspring. If you have livestock, you know that putting animals down is sometimes necessary, so OK! If I want to enjoy the good things about raising livestock, I just have to live with it right?
Wellllll, on to Wednesday. This is the day I had decided I was going to finally order the marker for my oldest son's grave, so I was already planning on having a stressful day, when my younger son comes in from feeding and tells me that one of the locker lambs is dead. I didn't get over excited about it, I had other things on my mind. I go to work and about 9:30 my lawyers office calls and tells me they finally (FINALLY) received the accident report concerning my son's death. TWO YEARS it has taken them to get this report back! I know the reason it has taken so long, it involves the federal government and they don't want to let anything go, much less a document that implicates them in the death of a twenty year old young man. There were of course, several reasons for the fatal accident but the primary reason was that the last time the vehicle was serviced specifically for the emergency break, the person or persons working on it, forgot to tighten a bolt. Thirty seconds out of that guys day would have changed my future; well, in fact it did didn't it!?!
The day wears on.
Remember the dead lamb? My daughter called me when she got home from school to tell me it hadn't been one of the locker lambs. It was her prize winning (absolutely gorgeous, fancy, beautiful) suffolk ewe lamb.
I didn't realize until yesterday how horrible Wednesday actually was! I think that was the worst day I have had in almost two years! (The anniversary of Tad's death is the 27th of this month, so yeah, almost two years.)
I am hoping for a better weekend, my daughter and I are headed out to Reno this afternoon to take a couple of natural colored corriedales to a friends house, to be picked up later in the week by another friend who will use them in her wool program. I am excited that they are going where they are. When they are gone, my daughter and I can really start concentrating on our breeding and market programs with both her 4-H sheep and our tunis flock. Next year we should have quite a few tunis cross locker lambs for sale. I will say more about the delectable flavor of tunis later :)
It started OK, Monday came and went, Tuesday we decided we had to put down my favorite ewe. She has been sick for awhile, and I would have done it sooner if she hadn't been such a fine example of the tunis breed. I stood looking at her one day, with the tunis standard in one hand, comparing her to it. If you have ever raised any registered breed of animal, you know how difficult it can sometimes be to breed the right characteristics into your animals. Well with this girl, it was damn difficult to find a way she didn't fit into the breed standard! We have had two beautiful lambs from her, which we unfortunately sold because we didn't have a place for them in the breeding program at the time. Hopefully though, in the next couple years I can get her blood back into the flock by buying one of her lamb's offspring. If you have livestock, you know that putting animals down is sometimes necessary, so OK! If I want to enjoy the good things about raising livestock, I just have to live with it right?
Wellllll, on to Wednesday. This is the day I had decided I was going to finally order the marker for my oldest son's grave, so I was already planning on having a stressful day, when my younger son comes in from feeding and tells me that one of the locker lambs is dead. I didn't get over excited about it, I had other things on my mind. I go to work and about 9:30 my lawyers office calls and tells me they finally (FINALLY) received the accident report concerning my son's death. TWO YEARS it has taken them to get this report back! I know the reason it has taken so long, it involves the federal government and they don't want to let anything go, much less a document that implicates them in the death of a twenty year old young man. There were of course, several reasons for the fatal accident but the primary reason was that the last time the vehicle was serviced specifically for the emergency break, the person or persons working on it, forgot to tighten a bolt. Thirty seconds out of that guys day would have changed my future; well, in fact it did didn't it!?!
The day wears on.
Remember the dead lamb? My daughter called me when she got home from school to tell me it hadn't been one of the locker lambs. It was her prize winning (absolutely gorgeous, fancy, beautiful) suffolk ewe lamb.
I didn't realize until yesterday how horrible Wednesday actually was! I think that was the worst day I have had in almost two years! (The anniversary of Tad's death is the 27th of this month, so yeah, almost two years.)
I am hoping for a better weekend, my daughter and I are headed out to Reno this afternoon to take a couple of natural colored corriedales to a friends house, to be picked up later in the week by another friend who will use them in her wool program. I am excited that they are going where they are. When they are gone, my daughter and I can really start concentrating on our breeding and market programs with both her 4-H sheep and our tunis flock. Next year we should have quite a few tunis cross locker lambs for sale. I will say more about the delectable flavor of tunis later :)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Long Weekend!
I am whooped!
After spending all day Satuday chasing two teenage girls around Elko, I spent half the day Sunday trimming feet, giving shots and worming all our girls. We got done with that and went to pick up a new ewe lamb for my daughters 4-H breeding program. We got her home and unloaded her (well the kids did). I went to look at her this morning... and oh my gosh she is parrot mouthed! I bought her from another 4-Her, a girl who had only shown once and decided not to do it this year, so I got her sight unseen! That will teach me to buy from people who don't know sheep! Will also teach me to get out of the truck when we go pick one up so I can look at it LOL
I was hurting so bad I just didn't bother to get out of the truck when the kids loaded and unloaded her. I took a muscle relaxer last night; I seldom take pills, which is probably why they kick my butt so hard. I'm still half asleep.
Well, no harm done. If I cant take her back she didn't cost any more than a locker lamb would anyway.
So you guys want to hear more about my red heads? OK, you asked for it ;-)
....it will have to wait, I have something I have to do, I will get back to this tomorrow.
After spending all day Satuday chasing two teenage girls around Elko, I spent half the day Sunday trimming feet, giving shots and worming all our girls. We got done with that and went to pick up a new ewe lamb for my daughters 4-H breeding program. We got her home and unloaded her (well the kids did). I went to look at her this morning... and oh my gosh she is parrot mouthed! I bought her from another 4-Her, a girl who had only shown once and decided not to do it this year, so I got her sight unseen! That will teach me to buy from people who don't know sheep! Will also teach me to get out of the truck when we go pick one up so I can look at it LOL
I was hurting so bad I just didn't bother to get out of the truck when the kids loaded and unloaded her. I took a muscle relaxer last night; I seldom take pills, which is probably why they kick my butt so hard. I'm still half asleep.
Well, no harm done. If I cant take her back she didn't cost any more than a locker lamb would anyway.
So you guys want to hear more about my red heads? OK, you asked for it ;-)
....it will have to wait, I have something I have to do, I will get back to this tomorrow.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Breeding Season...
Here we are again, for us (because of 4-H) breeding season starts in about 2 weeks. Saturday is worming, CDT shots and begining of flushing for higher ovulation.
Rams go in on the 14th this year, and we will be expecting lambs begining around March the 15th.
I really hate winter, everything dies and looks so bleak and colorless. Northern Nevada only has two seasons; summer and winter. Its been no different this year.
The thing that keeps me going through winter is the prospect of lambs in March.
We have turned part of our garage into a nursery, so even in the coldest of March nights we will have some sembalence of warmth from at least the four walls even if it is drafty. There have been times when we were lambing at midnight in the snow and blow, or the rain, so this is a small improvment to our little farm.
Ahhh, the lambs!
Rams go in on the 14th this year, and we will be expecting lambs begining around March the 15th.
I really hate winter, everything dies and looks so bleak and colorless. Northern Nevada only has two seasons; summer and winter. Its been no different this year.
The thing that keeps me going through winter is the prospect of lambs in March.
We have turned part of our garage into a nursery, so even in the coldest of March nights we will have some sembalence of warmth from at least the four walls even if it is drafty. There have been times when we were lambing at midnight in the snow and blow, or the rain, so this is a small improvment to our little farm.
Ahhh, the lambs!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Tunis Sheep
I promised more on tunis sheep (you know you want to know!) so here it is.
Tunis originated in Africa and are believed to have existed during the time of Christ, and up to over 3000 years ago. They are also one of the oldest indigenous breed in the United States. They are a fat tailed breed and were also known as the Barbary Fat Tail or the Barbary Broad Tail Mountain Sheep. The tunis of today are called 'American Tunis' due to the fact when they were first brought to this country there were so few of them they were cross bred with other breeds of the day. With subsequent shipments, the breed ran truer but still is not exactly the same as the fat tailed breed that still exists today in Tunisia.
Tunis came to the Eastern part of the country in 1789, when Colonel Pickering had taken delivery of three sheep from the consult of the United States at Tunis, William Eaton, Esq. The original shipment had been 10 sheep, all but one ram and one ewe perished in the crossing from North Africa. There were other shipments, and some cross breeding with other popular breeds of the time. In 1811, Judge Richard Peters writes of this and his subsequent acquisition of tunis from Colonel Pickering in "Memoir on the Tunis broad Tailed Sheep, by Richard Peters, Esq. President of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture • [From the Memoirs of the Society]".
These sheep were also owned by other early Americans including Tomas Jefferson, and they were a daily sight at the White House and at Monticello in their lawn mowing duties. However, Judge Peters was the strongest advocate for the tunis sheep and in his writings in the above mentioned article, he bemoans the fact that the merino has taken such a tenacious hold on the attitudes of people, to the disregard of other breeds. These are his talking points for the tunis breed, I have highlighted points I think are of particular value, even today;
- 1. The Tunis sheep are better set with wool than any others generally known here. The Merino may be an exception; but it remains for experiment, in a common course of keeping sheep, by farmers here. There is no part of its body uncovered. It does not shed its wool like common sheep; so that I have never seen a ragged Tunis sheep, where the blood of the stock predominated. If the wool of the mixed breed is deciduous, it shows that the sheep partakes of the cross more than the stock. I have known one kept unshorn for a year after the fleece might have been taken off and the fleece continued entire and thriving and the sheep remained in high health; but I would not recommend this as an eligible practice. For very fine fabrics the Merino wool can be used alone and such are only within the purchase of the wealthy. It is most generally mixed with fine wool of other fleeces, and it is in such case worked to most profit. The Tunis wool is sufficient for all common purposes, and be applied without mixture with other wool, to more uses than that of the Merino or any other sheep known here. The average weight of fleeces is from five to five and a half, and I have known some flocks to average six pounds: I speak of a selected flock, well fed, and attended to with care. From individual sheep of the full blood I have shorn eight, nine, and ten pounds. I mean in this estimate washed wool, or from sheep washed before shearing. I have generally, but not always practiced this, and I have never found any advantage either as to cleanness of wool or health of the sheep. In the crosses, pains should be taken to select breeders of the best forms and fleeces. From carelessness in this respect, many persons have injured the character of this sheep and its fleece. It is as vain to expect good fleeces from a starved, neglected, or ill assorted flock, as it is to count on a good crop from a poor and illmanaged field. I am convinced that the wool of this sheep has never been properly known or appreciated, the mutton having been the object. I have now as fine and as white home-made blankets, and have seen as fine flannel, made from the white wool of spotted fleeces, as those made from any other wool usually devoted to such purposes; there being always as much white wool as will answer for every fabric requiring it. In the dressing of blankets and flannels, we are yet much behind the Europeans.
- 2. They are hardy, and will bear either cold or heat better than any others within my knowledge. I have, on a small scale (never less in number than one or two score, and frequently from 80 to 100) had an interest in, and kept sheep of every breed known in this country, for a period of forty-five years—some breeds recently introduced, and the Merino excepted, I never knew a hardier sheep than are those of the Tunis breed. Were I to point out, in my estimation, the proper form, size, and valuable points and qualities of a sheep, I could not more justly designate them, than by exactly describing my old ram Caramelli.
- 3. They fatten with less food, and much quicker, than any other sheep. That other sheep become as fat, I know; but more time and food are required, so to make them. They will bear to be kept fat, without being diseased, far beyond any others within my knowledge. The carcass is heavy but not coarse, as are many other sheep of large sizes. The heaviest ewe of this breed I have known weighed 182 pounds alive, when sheared. Her fleece, clean washed, weighed eight and one half pounds; she was half blood. A half-bred ram, a twin, at eighteen months old weighed 214 pounds.
- 4. Their character is that of gentleness and quietude; and they live in health, vigour, and usefulness, to greater ages than other sheep. I never saw a breachy* Tunis sheep. Some exceptions there maybe, but they are rare. Yet they are not inactive, but use sufficient exercise for health, without wandering and fickleness as to pastures. In these they are not over nice; and will keep in good condition upon coarser and less food than any sheep I am acquainted with.
- 5. Their general healthfulness enables them to retain their fleeces. A diseased Tunis sheep is rare, even in a mixed flock, in which other sheep have been subject to every disease known in that animal. I have had them disordered in the feet with the fouls, but not the foot-rot. If the hoofs of sheep are examined, there will be found a small opening near and above the fore part of the cleft. It is the mouth of a duct, running up the shank, and calculated for the emission of mucilaginous oil, which lubricates, supports and assists in the growth and renewal of the corneous parts of the hoof. Perhaps it is also a drain for humours which when confined, become morbid and peccant. If this closes, the disease appears. Examine well and rub briskly the parts together; assist the opening of the duct and the discharge of the morbid and stagnated matter in every way. Pokejuice I have found efficacious, few are acquainted with this part of the animal structure, though I believe all cloven-footed animals are thus formed. Swine have the duct in the binder part of the leg; cattle in the cleft, which, when diseased, is lacerated often by a hair rope drawn between the clefts, when gentler means would effect the purpose.
- 6. A Tunis tup* couples with a ewe of other breeds with more certainty and effect, than a tup of the common species with a Tunis ewe. The broad tail is the impediment. This must be managed by an adroit pander. I have known frequent failures in projected crosses, owing to inattention in this particular; but the Tunis tup finds no difficulty with a ewe of his own race. However whimsical it may appear, the colour of the tongue of any breed is said to be important in the selection of a tup. The third Georgic of Virgil records the fact, which I have seen verified in several instances. I give Dryden's translation of the passage
“Even though a snowy ram thou shaIt behoId,
Prefer him not in haste for husband to thy fold,
But search his mouth; and if swarthy tongue
Is underneath his humid palate hung,
Reject him, lest he darken all thy flock;
And substitute another from thy stock”
If this should seem to some improbable, It will be no difficult task for the incredulous to avoid the black tongue, lest, perchance, the denunciation of Virgil may turn out well founded. - 7. The tail is the true test of purity of blood; and horns are a bad symptom, especially if large. The tufts on the thighs, and crest, or forelock are also marks of blood.
*Breach - Apt to break fences or to break out of pasture; unruly
*Tup - a ram.
My First Blog!
Wow! I didn't think I would ever do this. My very own Blog!
An introduction then!
I live in Nevada (no, not Vegas or Reno) with my husband of 17 years, our teenage son and teenage daughter. I love animals, so it is no surprise that I have surrounded myself with them. We have a chinchilla, two cockatiels, four dogs, five cats, two horses, and a multitude of sheep!
When I am not at work, I am likely spinning hence the name Sittin' n' Spinnin' :)
Spinning is not a common past time so you want to know what got me interested, right? Well it is a relatively long story, but it is also the story of how I became a shepherd and how my daughter and I came to own tunis sheep, so lets start at the best place, the beginning...
My daughter came to me one day at 12 years old and said she wanted to be in 4-H. A friend of hers had been showing sheep for about 3 years and had talked her into trying it. I didn't know squat about sheep! Nothing other than they were edible and they grew wool.
However I did know that my neighbor had a few sheep and it was about mid summer when we called her. She said, "Yes, we have one lamb left, but it was the oddest thing! It was born red!"
Well, how better to intrigue a person! We had to go see this red lamb! We live in an area where there are only black faced sheep (we now know they are suffolks), and to hear of a red lamb?
We bought the lamb. Then went home and started a search for a breed of sheep that was born red. There are actually two, but the one that interested us was the tunis sheep, they keep the red coloring on their heads and legs when they mature (more on them later). The reason this particular lamb was born red was because of the other red faced breed; the California red, a breed created from crossing tunis and barbados sheep. Our neighbors ram was half CA red.
We found out that there was only one flock of tunis in the western half of the United States (there are now more than 12). It was located in Moab, UT owned by Mary Ann Cunningham, or Sam as she is better known (http://www.cunningtonfarms.com/). We planned a May trip to her place to check out these red faced sheep. While there we talked about her being a spinner and I was again intrigued by something I knew nothing about and decided I had to learn more. Before we left, we had struck a deal with Sam; she would deliver 4 tunis lambs to us that fall for an outrageously low price, for the simple fact that she wanted to get tunis spread far and wide and she wanted to give my daughter a hand up in the business. It was a good thing I was driving a Suburban though, because before I was able to get away, we had two natural colored corriedale lambs in a water trough in the back. That was the beginning of our flock of sheep.
Oh yeah! The wool! Sam had given my daughter a huge bag of raw corriedale wool so she could learn how to spin! Fortunately for me, she wasn't interested so I taught myself how to wash, dry, and spin raw wool from what I saw and read on the Internet. I also learned how to make spindles out of a cut dowel and a toy wheel. Still my favorite, they weigh 1.5 ounces and I have spun everything on those things! From silk to romney to qiviut, and I could get 4 ounces of wool on one spindle!
So now we have my daughters 4-H sheep (5 suffolks and crosses), 11 tunis, and 3 corriedales and enough wool that it SHOULD support my spinning habits... but for some reason I still feel compelled to buy wool, go figure.
An introduction then!
I live in Nevada (no, not Vegas or Reno) with my husband of 17 years, our teenage son and teenage daughter. I love animals, so it is no surprise that I have surrounded myself with them. We have a chinchilla, two cockatiels, four dogs, five cats, two horses, and a multitude of sheep!
When I am not at work, I am likely spinning hence the name Sittin' n' Spinnin' :)
Spinning is not a common past time so you want to know what got me interested, right? Well it is a relatively long story, but it is also the story of how I became a shepherd and how my daughter and I came to own tunis sheep, so lets start at the best place, the beginning...
My daughter came to me one day at 12 years old and said she wanted to be in 4-H. A friend of hers had been showing sheep for about 3 years and had talked her into trying it. I didn't know squat about sheep! Nothing other than they were edible and they grew wool.
However I did know that my neighbor had a few sheep and it was about mid summer when we called her. She said, "Yes, we have one lamb left, but it was the oddest thing! It was born red!"
Well, how better to intrigue a person! We had to go see this red lamb! We live in an area where there are only black faced sheep (we now know they are suffolks), and to hear of a red lamb?
We bought the lamb. Then went home and started a search for a breed of sheep that was born red. There are actually two, but the one that interested us was the tunis sheep, they keep the red coloring on their heads and legs when they mature (more on them later). The reason this particular lamb was born red was because of the other red faced breed; the California red, a breed created from crossing tunis and barbados sheep. Our neighbors ram was half CA red.
We found out that there was only one flock of tunis in the western half of the United States (there are now more than 12). It was located in Moab, UT owned by Mary Ann Cunningham, or Sam as she is better known (http://www.cunningtonfarms.com/). We planned a May trip to her place to check out these red faced sheep. While there we talked about her being a spinner and I was again intrigued by something I knew nothing about and decided I had to learn more. Before we left, we had struck a deal with Sam; she would deliver 4 tunis lambs to us that fall for an outrageously low price, for the simple fact that she wanted to get tunis spread far and wide and she wanted to give my daughter a hand up in the business. It was a good thing I was driving a Suburban though, because before I was able to get away, we had two natural colored corriedale lambs in a water trough in the back. That was the beginning of our flock of sheep.
Oh yeah! The wool! Sam had given my daughter a huge bag of raw corriedale wool so she could learn how to spin! Fortunately for me, she wasn't interested so I taught myself how to wash, dry, and spin raw wool from what I saw and read on the Internet. I also learned how to make spindles out of a cut dowel and a toy wheel. Still my favorite, they weigh 1.5 ounces and I have spun everything on those things! From silk to romney to qiviut, and I could get 4 ounces of wool on one spindle!
So now we have my daughters 4-H sheep (5 suffolks and crosses), 11 tunis, and 3 corriedales and enough wool that it SHOULD support my spinning habits... but for some reason I still feel compelled to buy wool, go figure.
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