Author: Oogie
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2019 Lambing Is Done!
Lambing for 2019 has officially finished. We bred 36 ewes, and every single one of them became pregnant. This is a first for us! Usually, at least one ewe fails to conceive. Sadly, we lost two ewes. One was an accident, and the other was pregnancy toxemia. Our lambing percentages were decent – 57 live… Continue reading
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AI Class Results
We’ve finished our first round of lambing, and the AI Class results are in. Nine total ewes lambed to AI, giving a 26% result. However, as everyone knows, we had some straw failures and other issues where the ewe did not get proper doses of semen. If I remove those sheep from the group, 28… Continue reading
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Scone Recipe and AI Class, Completed
We hosted a class on sheep artificial insemination during the first week of December. Eleven students from all over North America came to learn about the non-surgical AI procedure that Dr. Purdy developed. Students got to practice thawing straws of frozen semen and performing the procedure on our sheep. All told, we inseminated 34 ewes.… Continue reading
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How I Got 15 Meals From a Nine-Pound Heritage Turkey
Thanksgiving is over for this year, and all of the leftover turkey is gone, too (finally). For the last several years, we haven’t had turkey on Thanksgiving. It was because I couldn’t find a locally raised heritage bird. I like the flavor of heritage breeds, and I want to support rare breed conservation. If I… Continue reading
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Freezer Management
One of the hardest things to manage when you use chest freezers for storing sale meats is how to handle the deepest areas. It’s easy to lose track of inventory in there! Fortunately, we’ve discovered a few tricks over the years that apply to anyone with a chest freezer. My secret is this: wine boxes!… Continue reading
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How Do You Ship Sheep?
So, you’ve found yourself buying sheep from across the country. What’s involved in that process? From the time you agree to purchase sheep to the time your new sheep arrive at your farm, there’s a lot to know. The rules vary by state, but you can read about the basics below. Paperwork Every livestock shipment… Continue reading
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Non-Surgical Sheep Artificial Insemination Seminar
The American Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Association and Desert Weyr, LLC are pleased to announce an intensive two-day seminar on non-surgical sheep artificial insemination taking place on December 5th and 6th of 2018. Dr. Philip Purdy from the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program will be teaching our class. The class will cover important AI topics,… Continue reading
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What Are Clusters, Anyway?
Black Welsh Mountain sheep in North America are highly inbred. Our founding population was very small, so we do not have much variation from which to select. The USDA’s National Animal Germplasm Program performed a cluster analysis study on the population. This study looked at individual pedigree information and the population as a whole, then… Continue reading
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Rule of Thirds
Ken’s working the snowblower to clear passages between the barns and pens. Prompt: The rule of thirds is a time-honored composition guideline. Put it to use today in a photo! Continue reading
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Winter Soft
Soft light filtered through the storm today. Prompt: Make a photograph with as soft a light source as you can find or create. Continue reading