Monday, October 27, 2014

2014 Breeding Groups

Our newest addition to the OK Acres flock is Khan and I've put 5 girls in his group this year.  I'm pretty excited about introducing Khan to some of my ewes this year, he's a lovely smooth polled, fine fleeced ram and he's proven he can put quality lambs on the ground.  I've put 2 of my shorter fleeced ewes with him and 2 of my ewes that have a bit more length and tip, we'll see what happens.  I've no doubt that the resulting progeny will be well worth the 5 month wait.  Khan was originally from the mid-west, he's spent a few years in New York and now he's coming back to work his magic for our farm. 
Winter Sky Khan
Khan's girls
Alabama
Attina
Sarafina
Shania
Edrea- she is for sale before or after being exposed to Khan.  Khan's will be introduced to his girls when he arrives at our farm on Nov. 3rd.  (Edrea is sold....thank  you Cyndee) 


This is a year of new rams.....my favorite and only retained ram from 2012 is Einstein.  I really, really like this ram and what he brings to the table in terms of overall structure and fleece quality.  I'd like to see him be smooth polled, but his small scurs are perfectly ok considering how great he is overall.  Einstein's fawn fleece is such a lovely rose-gray and pictures just don't do the his coloring justice.  I've paired him with 4 pretty good girls this year and hoping for more modified lambs, possibly from a Seneca or Sierra pairing, I'd love anything from Anais (secretly want a grey kat ewe from her)  and really wanting a mioget or fawn smooth polled ewe from Garnet.  
OK Acres Einstein
Einstein's girls
Anais
Garnet
Seneca
Sierra

I've decided to use a couple exceptionally nice ram lambs this fall and Danby is as nice a spotted, polled ram as I've seen so far.  I'd like to see his rump develop a bit more roundness......but I've paired him with girls that are pretty strong in that regard as compensation. 
OK Acres Danby
Danby's girls
Angel
Bee Sting
Catherine
Salicional
Irish Mist

There's not much I don't like about Kennsington, he's got his mom's body...straight, square with a nice body length to height ratio.  He's got a particularly lovely head and ear set and his fleece is yummy too.  I've given him 4 girls I think will compliment him well and hoping for more grey kat(s) from  Meadow, a possible gul/kat from Cherish, Maybe some lovely white lambs from Duchess and (hopefully) knockout kat(s) from Ellie.   A girl can dream, right?

Ok Acres Kennsington
Kennsington's girls 
Duchess
Ellie Mae
Cherish
Meadow


So that's my wish list for the 2014/15 groups, let's see if all my whispering in the ears of the sheep works out for me.  I'm probably so far off base with what I envision that it will shock me, but I'm going to keep up the sheep whispering just the same.  Thank goodness there aren't any close neighbors that will wonder why I'm out having secret conversations with my sheep.  I've already got people wondering about me just a teensy bit.  

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

UK Trip Part 8.......more Northern England

Philip and his family had a full house and so it was arranged for us to stay at a little Inn in a nearby village with a nice pub attached to it.  Breakfast at Philip's featured an English dish called "Toad in a Hole", which stopped my fork in mid air when I heard it.  We don't generally eat toads in America!...haha.  It only took a moment or two to realize that the "toads" were just breakfast sausage in an egg casserole dish and it was delicious.  We spent a fair amount of time going through Philip's flock and were treated to a delicious meal prepared by his mother followed by 2, that's right TWO amazing desserts.  Since it would have been the height of rudeness to NOT eat the things offered I forced myself to eat both desserts.  (grin)  Like I needed more food............
I can't say we had a bad meal the entire time we were on our trip, everyone was exceedingly generous with their hospitality and kept us feed and moving about the countryside. 

Here is a shot of Stanley, a little dog so full of personality that we fell in love with him. 
It rained, rained, rained prior to our arrival, during our stay and after we left, so Stanley has slightly mucky paws. 

The first time I saw this sign was in Edinburgh and it amused me endlessly, due in part to the fact that I'm easily amused.  By the time we got done with our trip I was quite accustomed to pulling a string to get hot water.

Spectacular view on our way to meet Jenny Holden-Wilde near the Lake District area

A quaint little village where we met up with Jenny at a local pub

Mike, Garrett and Philip in the pub awaiting Jenny's arrival and the next leg of our journey.  This is where I started getting very, very sick.  Excuse the lack of names on villages, I was lucky to recall we'd been there at all I was becoming so miserable with an upper respiratory illness. 
Next stop..........Jenny's house and her lovely flock of spotties!!

Mike and I

Mike and I
Mike and I at Nick and Emily's wedding

Raised beds & chickens coops

Raised beds & chickens coops
Can't wait for this stuff to actually be food....