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Well, it finally is starting to feel like spring. I realized that I never put up any photos of the inside of the barn with the chicken coop. Also, we have a temporary hoophouse that will come in handy since I've planted 8 trays of seedlings inside the house - flowers, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, onions, leeks, and even luffa gourds!

I suppose it's officially spring now, but we still have three feet of snow and it was -10^oF this morning, so I still call that winter. The ewes are holding on so our lambs are late. Maybe they're waiting for it to actually be spring. But, around midnight between Friday/Saturday (March 21st/22nd) Jewell had her twins, Othello & Oscar. Othello is the one with floppier ears in the photos, but as of this morning Oscar's ears have now flopped too. Othello is larger and learned how to feed faster than his brother, but both are doing fine.

We have a few new things going on at the Womerlippi homestead this summer. We got some new animals and have two building projects going on.


Abe in January 2007		Abe after being sheared in May
Abe, the ram (or Abraram) - Abe is a pretty mellow fellow, although he has decided that I'm is just another sheep to play with and occasionally tries to ram me.


January 2007	With newborn Nugget in February	After being sheared in May
Tootsie is a black ewe but has a beautiful gray-brown fleece. Tootsie is the bossiest of the ewes - maybe she thinks that being the only one to still have a tail gives her the right to be in charge.


January 2007	With newborn Nellie in February	After being sheared in May
Jewell is the most skittish of the older ewes, although she's gradually warming. She's also the smallest, which is why were surprised when she was the first to drop this winter. Jewell is the mother of Maggie (2006) and Nellie (2007).


January 2007	With newborn Neeps in February	Wanting some attention	After being sheared in May
Tillie is the most pet-like of the sheep. She always wants love and attention and will follow me around like a dog some times. She is also a very good mom and incredibly defensive of her babies for the first few days. I also saw her acting as a nursemaid to Nugget and Nellie, both of whom would sneak milk from her. Neeps didn't suffer though, as you can see from the photos below! Tillie is the mom to Lark (2005), Molly (2006), and Neeps (2007).


January 2007	After being sheared in May
Lark is the smallest of all the sheep. We think she was stunted early in life. We also originally thought she wasn't the brightest of sheep, but after getting all that wool off her face, she seems a little smarter. Lark, like her mom, is very friendly.


January 2007	After being sheared in May
Molly is a very sturdy young ewe and looks like a classic Corriedale. Unfortunately I chose to try to learn how to shear (using dull shears) with Molly. She does not have mange in the May picture, it's just a demonstration of my very poor shearing ability. We ended up hiring a student to finish off the sheep that were left after we gave up.


January 2007	After being sheared in May
After being sheared, Maggie looks just like her mom, although it seems like she might end up being a little bigger than Jewell. She has her mom's same skittish personality as well. Maggie is also one of the more quiet sheep.


Was, and always a big eater	Potbellied by May
Neeps (which is British for turnips that you eat with haggis) is the most personable of this year's lambs. He has his mom's adventurous and friendly personality. Neeps was born in the late morning of February 11. Neeps has a new home with the school sheep and is doing well with his new friends.


February	May
Nellie gave us the least trouble early on, but later suffered from white muscle disease. A couple shots of selenium and some nutritional paste with vitamin E took care of it pretty quickly. Since then she's been trying to keep up with Neeps in the potbelly area. Nellie is more friendly and adventurous than her mom and big sister. I think this is likely due to the influence of Neeps. Nellie was born about 9 hours before Neeps. She'll remain part of our flock.


February	May
Nugget is a tall, lanky lamb. Born a week after the other two, he gave us lots of trouble initially. He was a lazy feeder. Combined with Tootsie's huge and sore udder, it meant that we were bringing him in regularly for tube feedings. Eventually though we got him to feed off his mom and since then he's been inseparable. Nugget is currently for sale if you are looking for a breeding ram.

Video clip of lambs

Other animals on the Womerlippi farm

We have the typical menagerie of whitetail deer, wild turkeys, raccoons, skunks, porcupines, and squirrels. Less common but also present are moose and black bear.

This bald eagle showed up just a few hours after Neeps was born in February. It circled the sheep pen a few times and then sat in this tree overlooking the sheep until Mick ran it off with the noise from a gun. We haven't seen it since. We have a couple of these snowshoe hares (summer coloration) that hang out by the bird feeders in the late afternoon/early evening.


Here's what the barn looks like now. The chicken coop is about 4' x 4' and has plenty of room for the girls and then some. We used hardware cloth this time. Chicken wire might keep chickens in, but it doesn't keep weasels out! And, the hoophouse on the side of the barn.


George - as in curious. She likes to run and greet you when you come home. And, six of the sheep hanging out by the swing.


Haggis and Mary were the most excited by the arrival of 10 Golden Comet chicks. One died, but the other nine are doing well and are out in the chicken tractor.


Everyone keeps an eye on the chicks out in the chicken tractor. (I'm sure Haggis and Shenzi are having different thoughts about the chicks!). Even the sheep like to keep them company.


The new barn is sited on the north side of the property, near the garden. We had a concrete pad poured for the foundation.


After I pointed out to Mick that his barn was a little too small (he's actually building the chicken tractor there), he made the barn frame in pieces and assembled it all pretty quickly using his contraband nailgun.


The second floor is already being used as a hayloft. Mick made a Dutch door for the back that sheep can use. The barn is just waiting for Mick to finish the gable ends, the front door, and for me to start shingling.


The sheep have settled in and can enter one of their paddocks right out of the barn door. (Tillie likes to get her head stuck through any fence she can.)


The porch at the house was very poorly built. The floor had sunk and the roof was sagging quite a bit. Mick tore out the porch walls and jacked up the roof. The floor was in such bad shape that he just removed all of it as well. (There was even trash under the porch!) The plans are for a stone kneewall, maybe a tile floor, and some large windows.


Haggis (Australian Shepherd) - We got Haggis for free when he was 1 year old (2002). He's not very good at being a shepherd, but he's pretty good at rounding up chickens.


Daisy (Aussie/Malamute mix) - Daisy was 7 1/2 when we got her from the pound in 2003. She is a homebody dog; drools and vomits in the car, gets disoriented on walks and then runs frantically home.


Mary (Redbone Coonhound) adopted us in Virginia (Christmas 2005). She was used for hunting bear and the hunter left her. We found her while hiking St. Mary's falls in the Jefferson National Forest. She still has scars from her encounters and is gun shy now.


Charlie (the black & white) and Shenzi were adopted as kittens July 2006. Charlie was found by a friend in her yard, alone, when he was only four weeks old. Shenzi came from the Skowhegan pound. Charlie is named for Charlie Chaplin because he has a black mustache (which is now more like a goatee) and he's mostly silent, only squeaking once in a while. Shenzi is Swahili for savage; she makes these disturbing growling sounds when she's chasing something. Shenzi is the hunter and climber while Charlie is the lounge cat. Charlie also considers it his responsibility to groom both himself and Shenzi, which he often does while laying on top of her.


In January 2007 we acquired 7 Corriedale sheep from a couple in Old Town who were moving west. The set included a ram, 3 pregnant ewes, a 2-year old ewe, and two 1-year old ewes. Despite not having been sheared in three years, we managed to fit them all into the back of my truck.	This is the sheep holding pen. In the upper right corner is the garden, which was the original sheep pen. The barn that we're building this summer will be to the upper left side. The sheep graze everything to the lower side of this photo and quite a bit on the upper side as well.


This bald eagle showed up just a few hours after Neeps was born in February. It circled the sheep pen a few times and then sat in this tree overlooking the sheep until Mick ran it off with the noise from a gun. We haven't seen it since.		We have a couple of these snowshoe hares (summer coloration) that hang out by the bird feeders in the late afternoon/early evening.