Friday, April 28

Daily Farm Photo: 4/28/06


Snugglebunny's Twin Girls Always Stay Together

Lamb Report: Mad or mist? It was 38 degreesF this morning and very, very damp. When I got down to the barn, the sheep were all steaming. Current Lamb Count: 19. Number of unhappy mothers stuck in Bonding Suite Prison for one more day: 1. Number of times yesterday I counted sheep and delivered lambs to wayward munching mothers: Too many to count. (Good exercise, though.)

14 comments:

  1. Snugglebunny's twins just melt my heart. I'd love to take them home. We have soft grass that they could munch under our maple trees and they could cool off in the ocean when it's hot--and you could all come visit!

    Felice, Porland, Maine

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  2. I have to say that the twin's tails do look a bit strange to me. I have only seen sheep with little tails. I know you dock them but I have never seen them before docking. They are horribly cute (sheep not the long tails)!

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  3. Eee! Look at the cute little lambies! I'm guessing the black becomes the brown of Snugglebunny because of the sun?

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  4. What adorable little lambies! You should be proud of yourself. They look well and healthy due to your good care. Kudos!

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  5. Those 2 are way cute. I love comign by and seeing th latest babies :o Thanks for sharing Susan!

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  6. very cute. completely off topic, do you take recipe requests? if so, i am in search of the quintecential salsa recipe. not slasa fresca but something we can pressure-can from our garden then eat all year long. i am asking now to besure that we are planting appropriate ingredients. thanks in advance and if it all works out we'll send ya some.

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  7. oops, that's quintessential

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  8. so so so cute!!!

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  9. Those lambs are adorable... I can tell you have banded the tails so they will be "docked".. What is the reasoning behind doing this procedure? I know that it really doesnt hurt them persay... they dont seem to take notice of it. Just curious...

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  10. So, let me guess. These are not identical twins? Har.
    Whitey and I were wondering, if you're not too busy with all these miniature wooly four-legs everyone thinks are so cute...howsabout them wingchairs, missie?

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  11. Hi Felice,
    That's a tempting offer for Snugglebunny's twins (though I'm not sure if sheep swim). Hmmmm. Maine has long been on my list of Places I Think I'd Like To Live. And I sure do miss the ocean. They would probably do better with an experienced shepherdess to watch over them, don't you think? (And a guard donkey, of course). How much room have you got? : )

    Hi Vickie & Heather,
    Yes, the tails on the twins are banded (that's why you see that little lump a few inches down). There are various arguments in favor and against docking tails. Some people think it is totally unnecessary, and in all the photos of European sheep I've seen, they've had long tails. Having a short tail does help keep them slightly cleaner in the back, though. But our ram, Leopold, never had his tail docked, and he does just fine. He definitely looks different, though. His tail gets all woolly, but when it is sheared, he looks like he has a long, thick lion tail.

    The bottom line is that Americans want their lambs with docked tails. If you sell your lambs at auction, you will often get docked (no pun intended) a dollar or two per head if they don't have short tails. I recently read about one sheep farmer who didn't believe in docking but also didn't believe in being fined, so he started docking the tails on his lambs--but just one inch from the bottom! But they were offically docked, so they couldn't fine him. I thought that was pretty clever.

    Anyway, no, the banding is not a painful procedure. The other option is to simply whack off the tails with a knife, and that, to me, seems like it would hurt a lot. I think more people do that than the banding, though.

    The way the banding was described to me was this (stop reading if you're squeamish--and haven't stopped already): it's like if you took a rubber band and wrapped it really tightly around your little finger. First it's tingly, then it goes numb, then eventually it dies and falls off. I know, that's kind of graphic, but so is living on a farm. And now you have something to bring up during lulls in cocktail party conversation (or should that be lambtail party conversation? ha ha ha. Little sheep humor there.) : )

    Hi Sunidesus,
    Yes, the black lambs will bleach to brown in the sun. When they get sheared, they will be back in black for a while, but the only way to keep them from fading is by putting little cloth coats on them, and we don't do that around here. : )

    Hi Paintbrushpoet,
    Thank you so much!

    Hi Jeff,
    Oh, you know I love sharing my sheep. Oops, I mean OUR sheep. : )

    Hi Karl (or is that you Tabitha? : ),
    Of course I take recipe requests, though you probably have realized by now that nothing ever gets done very quickly around here. I did create the recently posted Chocolate Chip Almond Biscotti in response to a request, though, so there's hope.

    As far as salsa goes, I don't have a recipe that I've used for canning. What I usually just do is take my processed tomatoes (I now freeze most of them rather than put them in jars) and then mix them with freshly chopped onions, garlic, and cilantro plus a dash of cumin powder. Instant salsa! Hot peppers optional.

    However, you might want to take a look at my recipe for Green Tomato Relish. (Click here.) Unlike most green tomato relishes that are very sweet, this one is really a green tomato salsa in disguise. And I've made it before using red tomatoes (you might want to leave out the apples). But I know it's tasty, and it works for canning.

    As far as what else to grow for your salsa, I'd recommend onions, garlic, cilantro, and sweet and/or hot peppers.

    Hope that helps!

    Hi Clare,
    Yes, yes, yes! : )

    Hi Begered,
    We definitely do cute well around here. : )

    Hi Lindy The Chicken,
    Oh my. Chicken humor. Okay, this is all I'm saying to you right now about those wingchairs because I have to get back down to the cute miniature woolly four-legs:

    Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck!

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  12. Karl & Farmgirl,

    My Aunt Nadine out in Kansas had an amazing "cooked salsa" recipe that I got to try years ago on a visit. Since I always make the fresh/raw salsa, and never had a ton of tomatoes and such on hand at the time, this was a totally new thing to me. She cans up tons of the salsa and can eat it throughout the year.

    I got the recipe from her last year, but didn't plan my time well enough (nor my ingredients, like 20lbs of tomatoes) and never made it. Hopefully this year I'll have enough stuff and plan my time more wisely (Farmgirl knows I'll have the tomatoes for it!).

    I'll see about posting the recipe on my site real soon (wonder if I should check with Aunt Nadine for permission!?) and will let you guys know when it's up.

    Jeph

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  13. Quick follow up - just published my aunt's cooked (and cannable) salsa recipe here: http://jephers.blogspot.com/2006/05/aunt-nadines-cooked-salsa-recipe.html Enjoy!

    J

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December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

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