I Want This Ram Lamb!

This is a ram lamb born at Cathy Gallivan's Spring Water Farm in New Brunswick. He is out of WillowGarden Cherry Bomb (F3 /F4 Timothy, F3/F4 Greyling, F2 Glayva, F2 Hornblower) and WillowGarden Garnish (F3 /F4 Timothy, F3/F4 Greyling, F2 Glayva, F2 Hornblower). As you can see, this lamb was very much linebred on Great Plains Cherry and my two UK import rams, Hornblower and Glayva).

I sold Cherry Bomb when I was paring down the flock last Fall to avoid raising food for coyotes. Now ... I'm hoping that I can buy this ram back ... or at the least, lease him for a year. Look at that LACK of britch and the even-ness to his fleece ... :-)

:-)

Here is an article about my farm that is in this week's Picton Gazette. If you click on the article, it will get bigger. Then, if you squint and wrinkle your brow ... you might be able to read it ... hehehe

Life is good!

Willow Garden Shepherdess

Anna came for an 'Adventure Day' today. She was thrilled to march around the back yard with ewes and lambs. I'm not sure WHY I can't keep her clean when she is here ... hehehe

She has an amazing confidence with the sheep, and they all know her. It is pretty cool to watch her with them ... and them with her ... :-)

She and Kanata became fast friends ...

Life is good.

It's Hard to Photograph a Black Lamb!

These pictures don't do this guy justice. His name is WillowGarden Clinton. He is out of WillowGarden Guinea, a 'moorit' Extension Dominant ewe ... and Lil'Country Greyson, an Ag gulmoget ram.

Although he looks to be solid black, he isn't. He is Extension Dominant, and is either gulmoget, katmoget, a gul/kat, or an Ag katmoget. I'll breed him to double patterned ewes this Fall and know that anything with a pattern is not ED.
He has very little horn growth for being two weeks old. Many of my double patterned ewes are out of Red Velvet, who has button scurs.
Because he is black, it is hard to see how even his fleece is ... but it IS!
Life is good!

My NEW Lawn Mower!

Girls ... cutting the lawn ...

Ram lambs ... trimming shrubs ...

Blythe ... surveying the situation ...

Collingwood ... climbing ...

Guelph and Aurora ... weeding the flower bed ...

Kanata ... getting spoiled ...

Life Is Good!

In two months, I will be 60 years old. THIS is my birthday present to myself ... :-)

This is the rear ceramic burner to use with the rotisserie.

This is the ceramic 'sear burner' for cooking steaks at a high temp so they stay juicy.

This is the digital timer.

And here it is all wrapped up and waiting for the next time it gets used.

Life ... is good!

More Birds

Well ... you will have to look pretty hard to see them in this picture ... but I added 20 Pekin ducks to the turkey/meat chicken brooding group today. All are settled in well.

And the egg layer group also arrived today ... 20 Welsummers and 20 Americaunaus. I'll be sharing these with my friend Michele, who also has some Wyandottes for me.
Life is good!

The Wait Is Over!

Eve had twin ewe lambs this afternoon out of Wintertime Red Velvet ... :-)

The first one was a lovely moorit katmoget.

The second was a lovely moorit katmoget/gulmoget ... :-)
This means that Eve is double patterned, as I had hoped ... Awt/Ab.

Life ... is just so good!

Waiting For Eve

Spring Water Eve is on day 149 today, based upon when I saw her bred. She'll be the last ewe to lamb from regular groups I expect. There are four more bred to my clean-up ram for early May and then three that I bought exposed for mid to late May lambs.

Eve CAN'T keep me waiting much longer!

:-)

Meat Birds

Today I picked up 20 started turkeys to join the 25 meat chickens that I got last week. All are doing well.

Layers should be ready for pick-up tomorrow ... Welsummer day old chicks. And I have a few Cuckoo Marans hatching in my wee incubator right now.

Life is good!

For Aagaard Farms ... a recent message from The Universe ... :-)

One day, Bill, you're going to wake up and feel so much joy for your life, exactly as it is, that you wouldn't trade anything for anything. And right now, you get to live that bit that you one day won't trade anything for! Talk about blessed, The Universe

Lambs Are Growing

Liberia and her musket ewe lamb, Woodstock
Whitby and Ajax
Kagera and Wellington
Toronto
Salem
Kurrant and her ram lamb
Kitchener
Collingwood
Clinton ... an ED ram ... well worth keeping to evaluate ... :-)
Blyth and Clinton

OMG ... Life is good!

Lambs from the Weekend

Twin girls ... WillowGarden Guelph and WillowGarden Aurora (above and below) ... out of WillowGarden Opal and Wintertime Red Velvet. Both are gulmoget and katmoget. Both are slated to remain here at Willow garden.
WillowGarden Ottawa, a black krunet ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Macaroon and North Wind Holiday. This doll will likely be for sale.
WillowGarden Ingersoll, a black katmoget ram lamb out of WillowGarden Grenadine and Wintertime Red Velvet.
Awesome lambs! ... Life is good!

I Know That Life Is Good ... but ...

Last weekend, Great Plains Sara, a 1999 F1 Lightning ewe produced an awesome black ram lamb with a minor krunet, out of WillowGarden Garnish, a ram out of the best sheep from my two AI imports. He was slated to keep and evaluate.

Yesterday, I moved Sara and her lamb along with Isabell and her lamb into the side yard (Kate's House) so they could get extra groceries as they both need and deserve a boost. Seems that was a mistake.

This morning, my sheep had me out there early due to their noise and upset. Once everyone was fed and then ewes and lambs had found each other ... it was obvious that a lamb was missing ... Sara's ... carried off in the night by a VERY cunning coyote!

I have listened to her cry for her lamb all day ... and have shed a tear or two with her myself. I THOUGHT that I had the situation under control ... but I do not. I had thought that I might breed a few more ewes next year ... I will not. And ... I will never again keep ewes that need extra care as that extra care ... could be life threatening.

I am a bit discouraged, but I do still know that life is good. Maybe this happened so that I would learn that 20 ewes lambing is my max/ideal. I don't know.

I just know that life IS good ... it has to be ... otherwise ... what is there?

:-)

Guinea's Lambs

WillowGarden Guinea AI had twins today out of Lil'Country Greyson, an At/Ag scurred ram with tons of UK genetics, an awesome fleece, and STRUCTURE! He is out of Juliann Budde's breeding program. I am so pleased with this pair of lambs! Guinea is a favourite of mine out of another Cleome/Iris ewe and Todhill Glayva.

Guinea is ED, so I breed her to double patterned rams. Thus, lambs with patterns are NOT ED.

The ewe lamb above is gulmoget and thus NOT ED. She is WillowGarden Blythe, named after a small town near where me ex-wife is from (also Alice Monroe's stomping ground). She is a doll!
The little boy, WillowGarden Clinton, appears to be black. That means that he is ED. If he goes grey, then he isn't ... but there is no indication of grey just yet. Even if he IS ED, I'm thinking that he might grow up nice enough to use for breeding to some double patterned ewes. He is either gulmoget, grey, katmoget, grey katmoget, or a gul/kat. And his fleece sure looks even and crimpy. It would be fun to see his lambs!

Life is good!

A Favourite Lamb

I am REALLY taken with this little ewe lamb, WillowGarden Collingwood. Her dam Harmony Marsh Lily is out of a Cleome daughter and an Iris son ... two lines that I love! Her sire is, of course, Wintertime Red Velvet.
Collingwood's fleece is very even and soft.
This little girl will stay here and wait until I find a ram soft enough to breed her to ... :-)
She is both gulmoget and katmoget, so will be useful in my ED breeding program.

Life is good!