A surprise

I did not realize that the ewe above was pregnant. She had no teats or anything when we sheared two weeks ago and I looked two days ago and figured that only one of the other Shetlands was pregnant - and it was not this one. A lovely ewe that I have named Sedona.

These are Almond Joy's kids. The black is a buck. I thought he was a goner. Michele helped me get him going.

A scene from the ranch today. In the foreground is Badger Doe - any day now. In the background, the doe lying down with the three different colored goats crawling over her is Jalapeno. They are trying to get her up, so they can drink. It is funny how long a mom will sit before she decides to jump up.

A closeup of the hair that a red angora goat is born with. If you think it looks coarse, you would be right. The babies are born with tight little ringlets that are silky looking and feeling, but they are very coarse, when you compare them to the true kid mohair that shows up three weeks later.

And this is a mom who plays favorites. She has only accepted the buck, who is lying in front of her. The two black does in the back on the opposite side of the fence, are hers. She ran them out. I am having to tie her head up or get Marc to lock her head up in a panel. She is too strong for me to maneuver into the panel. She won't stand still for the does to drink, so I am having to stand next to her while they are in the pen. The angora goats are not for those faint of heart!

Not just kids

I am getting a little spinning in between dealing with baby emergencies. I have to finish the blend of kid mohair/Merino/Shetland today, so I can spin five straps for the group that came to felt bags on Friday.
Casa and Grande are starting to get their true mohair in. I will catch and photograph a close up. The color, that you see now, is a lot darker than the true fleece.
Cinnamon made no fuss as she delivered her kids. Both are bucks and lovely shades of brown. They are available for sale on weaning. I am going to keep Barbara's buck, Valley, for breeding.
Kit is a white color carrier. She was bred to Palo Seco and gave me a red doe and a black buck. I named them Queen and Creek. Creek is definitely for sale and possibly Queen. They have lovely hair.
Absinthe's doe did not make it, but her two bucks are doing well. They spent a lot of time in the house and are now out with mother. The largest buck is finally on his feet. I had them in a milk crate, so Absinthe would stay bonded with them. I will keep them in the shed another 3 days to be sure that they are going to be ok.

I don't have pictures of Twinkle Toe's babies yet. She had triplets and only wants the buck. It took me a while to get all of them on her and she is abusing Ruby, the smallest doe, who was actually the first one smart enough to drink off her. The buck was the last to get on her. Anyhow, this is the stupidest mother that I have had this year and I have to tie her head up, so she will stand for the babies. It does beat bottle feeding!

I have sent in a deposit for a Patrick Green Elsa carder. It will arrive in about 2 months. Marc wants to be able to walk through the workshop and fleeces are starting to pile up. It takes too long to get roving back from a mill. I actually forget what I have sent! Customers are looking for larger quantities of roving from my color ways, so it makes sense to start producing it myself. Thanks to those of you who shop here, I am able to make my deposit. Marc is going to loan me the rest. I hope to pay him back within a year.

Difficult Day

I thought that Absinthe was going to have only one baby. Turns out she had three. The doe probably weighs less than a pound. She ate the best and seems to be doing well. The bucks can't quite get their legs together to get up. I have named the doe, Patagonia. It is a P day, so I have 6 more names to come up with.

Cinnamon had twin bucks. They are both lovely and up on their feet. One will be Phoenix and the other might be Payson. Will have to think on it.

To add to the day, Texas Doe's water broke about noon. She was not acting like she was in labor. She wandered around eating and doping her best to stay out of my sight. I finally milked her in hopes of triggering labor. Finally Michele reached in and started pulling babies. Two twin does that I figured would have been dead after all of that time, started crying immediately and were soon on their feet. There was a third baby that must have died earlier. It looked really weird. Anyhow, I figured that her babies would be dead and they are already stronger than Absinthe's. I am going to have to go out several times tonight to put babies on Absinthe unless I find them standing the next time I go out. They drink well, so they should eventually be OK.

While all of the above was going on, I was teaching a nuno class. Fortunately she came from a family that raised cattle and knows how theses things can go. She ended up with a lovely shawl.

4th Avenue

It was already too dark to take photos of yesterday's babies. Now photos will have to wait until Monday, since I know I will be late tomorrow evening.

The little black Shetland that was hanging out at the back of the arena had her ewe lamb this evening. Talk about huge. I will name the baby "Mesa." She was born the usual black, so she will probably fade to gray.

Belgian, a red angora goat, appears to be in labor or else distressed, since she is breathing heavily and has a discharge. I will go back out shortly to see, which it is.

The 4th Avenue is going very well. The weather is hot, so I am seriously impressed with the knitters, who will buy regardless. There were lots more people walking the circuit than I have seen in years. I hope to see lots of new faces here at the ranch!

More ewe lambs

Hazelnut's daughter # 99 had twin ewe lambs. One has a very unusual coloring. If I did not know that she is a Shetland and that their colors can change by the time they are two months old, I would be itching to spin that one. Time will tell. Pearl's daughter has an ewe lamb. She lost her ram lamb. I was expecting her to have triplets. She is so short and stocky and enormous. She is a good and very protective mother. Photos will follow tomorrow. I was in too much of a hurry to make it to the 4th Avenue Street Fair to be able to take photos.

The fair is going well, but it is hot. While I was at the gym, I was watching the weather channel. Weather in other parts of the country is downright miserable. Glad I live here in Tucson!

Booth set up

My booth number changed to 249, but it is really close to the one that I had mentioned. Caroline and I sweated up a storm while placing yarns on the racks. Hope we get a breeze tomorrow!

Update on births: Flowers, triplets - two rams and one ewe. Spots, twins - one ram and one ewe.
Saffron, one buck. All born yesterday. I will put names on them, but Spot's ewe is going to be Katherine (that is a town in Arizona, believe it or not!

Jerome

Mega just had a kid buck - all by herself and he is already drinking on her. She was quick about it and awesome - since she is a first time mom! Jerome.

Now Kit is scratching. She is a white color carrier who was in with Palo Seco - a black/red. I shall be curious to see what she has. She looks like twins, but seems like I am mostly getting singles - which is ok, just so they are healthy!