The Other Seven

As promised...

Truleigh

Littleton

Butser

Firle

Ditchling



Faith

Maddison

Who's your favorite?

Don't Shoot! It's Against the Law.

Not quite a week ago, Farmboy took a picture of vultures drying their wings along our southern fence line. One was perched every 30' or so, atop each of the cedar fence posts. It had been raining, and raining, and raining, and I'm sure they were as miserable as the rest of the fauna living outdoors.

Today, as I returned from making a trip to town to purchase some more mortar for our tiling project, I took another picture of the vultures perched atop an old barn across the creek from our property.

 

 

I decided I would do my blog post today about the picture.  In preparation, I did a bit of Internet research.  These are not the vultures we typically see flying around here — the turkey vulture, recognizable by their prominent red head. These guys are black vultures. The black vulture is smaller than the turkey vulture, have shorter wings, with white tips underneath their wings while in flight.

 

"Black vultures have been reported killing and injuring piglets, lambs, and more rarely, calves and cows giving birth. Ewes during lambing are particularly vulnerable to harassment or predation by black vultures. If you suspect vulture predation on your herd, signs to look for include missing eyes, tongue, or anus. These three body parts are usually the first eaten by black vultures. Because of a different beak type for turkey vultures, they are usually only able to feed on carcass’ with exposed surfaces, such as road-killed animals found along the highway.

If you see black vultures on or near your farm, keep a close eye on where they are roosting, especially at dawn and dusk. To discourage these birds, knowing their habits and roost sites is very helpful. Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

* Understanding the biology of the animal/bird causing problems.

* Removing or properly composting any carcasses on the farm.

* Habitat modification- vultures prefer large dead trees for roosting. Removing these snags where possible means vultures must fly longer distances to reach the area having problems.

* Exclusion- use of netting, or porcupine wire in roosting areas to discourage use by vultures.

*Harassment- use of pyrotechnics in conjunction with other techniques is beneficial. (County SWCD’s may have these devices for use by county residents). [In Kentucky, it would be called the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, although, I did not call them and ask them to verify this.]

* One technique that has proven to be nearly 99% effective in repelling black vultures is hanging an “effigy” or dead vulture from a tree near roosting sites. However, a landowner must have a permit from USDA’s Wildlife Services to take a life vulture. A good, safe, legal substitute is a single Tyvek goose decoy from Cabela’s, (800-237- 4444), a mail order outfitting store. The price is less than $30.00.

 

What if these techniques are used and vultures are still a problem? All vultures are federally protected, so shooting them may be done only with Federal approval. At this point USDA Wildlife Services can assist the landowner in obtaining a permit to remove the vultures. These permits are only issued through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Minneapolis. Because this process can take 2 to 4 weeks to complete, contact Wildlife Services at 614-892-2514 as soon as vulture problems occur."¹

 

I don't want anything to happen to my Babydoll girls,

or my Babydoll boys,

and we'll be lambing at the Bergamascos' Babydoll Brigade Farm in about three months; I think we have some vulture eviction to take care of. Anyone have a good decoy they need to get rid of?

 

 

¹ http://sheep.osu.edu/2008/06/20/black-vulture-damage/ 

Scarf Some Beer

Today, my daughter, Denise, and my grandchildren, Oren & Claudia came out to the farm so we could exchange Christmas gifts.  From us, the kids received roller skates and spent the afternoon practicing how not to fall on their patooties in our living room since the floor is still painted subfloor (we are in the process of tiling the entire house).

While we all visited and the kids skated, I knitted.  I had finished washing, carding, and spinning some fleece to make some yarn for a scarf for Claudia.  I dyed it a couple of days ago so it would be dry.  I wanted her approval on the shade of pink, which she enthusiastically gave me.  I used Kool-aid to dye it using the directions from dyeyouryarn.com.  Even though it is a pretty color, I wasn't completely happy with the shade.  It turned out more of an orangey-pink than I thought it would but she liked it and that is what counts.  Since I was using size 15 needles, I was able to complete the scarf this afternoon.

We all had a great afternoon...but, the NOISE really gets to me.  Too bad I didn't have some of the Welsh Lamb flavored beer I recently read about to soothe me. Conwy Brewery in Llysfaen, Wales, has produced a few bottles of specialty beer made with the juice from Welsh Lamb meat.  Gwynne Thomas, of the brewery has named the beer The Sunday Toast.

photo by Hadyn Iball from the article in the Daily Post

Seriously, though, I don't think I could manage a swallow!  Could you?

Strike a Pose

The past couple of days I've been trying to get pictures of Cato.  This isn't an easy task since he's in with five other rams and I don't go in their pasture.  He's a sheep, sheep graze, so he is constantly moving while grazing while I'm standing at the fence line.  I need a front view, a back view, and a view of both his right and left side, one using a yardstick to show his height at his withers, as well as a picture of his head showing his ear tag.  I want these pictures to be showing him at his best while standing square with his head up.  I have to be quick whenever he's in the correct position.  Why am I am doing this you ask?  The pictures are a requirement to send in with his application to be reviewed and accepted for registration with the North American Babydoll Southdown Sheep Association & Registry (NABSSAR). He is already registered with the Olde English "Babydoll" Southdown Sheep Registry (OEBR) but I register all of my sheep with both registries if possible.

I can't resist taking pictures of all my babies because they are all such handsome fellows and gorgeous girls.

Eleven today...I'll save the other seven for another day.



Cato & Sutton

Grayson

Patrick

William

Beachy

Pop

Haven

Dolly

Beacon

Sprout

Sutton
 




A Berga What?

Both the name of my farm and the name of my business are in honor of my Bergamasco -- Iluska, and my former Bergamascos - Spiros, Geronimo, & Teodoro.
 

Iluska

I spent this past weekend in Dayton, Ohio, at the Gem City Dog Obedience Club attending a United Kennel Club Mason-Dixon Multi-Breed Dog Association conformation show.  It was a wonderful weekend spent with several of my friends who raise and breed Bergamasco Sheepdogs.  It's not too often that you'll find a large group of Bergamascos together but I was lucky enough to spend time with Susan from Windy Hill Bergamascos and Hunter, Dana from Blizzard Peak Bergamascos, Yvonne & George, and Kellie & Taylor, and we even had a couple of folks who had purchased puppies stop by to visit with us.  On Sunday, we had 12 Bergamascos to love on.

Bergamascos are an ancient shepherding breed.  The origins of the breed can be found to have come from Persia (the area is now Iran).  The Bergamasco tended and worked sheep with their nomadic masters and eventually settled in the Bergamasche valley in northern Italy.  The Bergamascos are very intelligent, independent, have the ability to problem-solve, are courageous when confronting wild animals that may prey on flocks, and have a deep desire to please.  A Bergamo shepherd used a small number of dogs to tend and drive hundreds of sheep, hundreds of miles, across mountains and through valleys while moving to new grazing areas.

Their coat is what sets them apart from other breeds.  It is a combination of puppy coat, "goat" hair and fuzzy "wool".  These three combine to form dense, flat mats that are felt-like.  Their coat protects them from heat and cold as well as bites of predators.

The Bergamasco can compete with the best-known herding breeds.  Today, owners compete with their Bergamascos in conformation, obedience, agility, rally, and herding.  This summer, I hope to work with a herding instructor so Iluska can learn I can learn how to herd my sheep.

Faith's Socks

 

 After I had the sheep sheared this past January, I wound up keeping Faith's fleece for myself because she likes to squeeze her fat, big butt underneath the deck.  It's low enough the fleece on her back gets rubbed and wears off so most of her fleece was even shorter staple length than Babydoll Southdown's fleece grow naturally (notice her back in the photo above).  I hated to throw it out so was looking for someone to process it into yarn for me. One of my fleece purchasers kindly offered to do this. What she sent back to me was so gorgeous, I entered it into the Handspun Yarn contest at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival under her name and she won a red ribbon. There were seven other skeins entered in the category - Two ply - Medium. I can't thank Bethany enough for taking Faith's raw fleece which was already beautiful and turning it into something even more beautiful.

Today, I finally finished ONE sock of a pair of socks knitted on size 0 needles that I started this past September.  Life on the farm is busy, especially this past summer and most of the fall we spent adding fences.  Faith's natural color is gorgeous and I love the little flecks of color in the finished sock. Needless to say, I'll be keeping Faith's fleece again this year!