Yet another ongoing project on the farm

I've done by the bd-ft and by the hour. Either way, the price has varied widely from like around $0.30 - >$1.00 /bf. Some of that has to do with the job, e.g. quartersawing vs. grade sawing, and some has to do with the individual sawyer.

 

Had a surprise lamb delivered today. The mom is one year old now, so she was about 7-8 mo. old when our sneaky ram broke into her pasture and got the deed done. We don't usually breed them their first season, but it is fine and specifically in this case everything went perfectly.

 

Another surprise today. This one not so awesome. This poor lamb busted off a horn. It happens occasionally and it always bleeds like stink, but we took care of it and it will heal up just fine. Ups and downs of raising sheep.

 

Looks ugly. Glad you were there to take care of it.

 

I think they catch them on the grid of the hay feeders. We use 6x6 welded wire which is super standard for hay feeders. We may look at a different setup down the road.

 

A little Blu Kote and 24 hrs, and her horn is just fine.

 

Here's an new picture of the 3-day old surprise ram lamb, just for cuteness sake.

 

Trim and primer done.

 

Surprise ones that work out is always a plus. Good looking place!
You shear your own or do you have a sheep sheerer locally? Wool worth anything any more?

 

Thanks. We can and sometimes do shear by ourselves. Wife actually did a 2 day seminar through Penn State Extension. However, we found a very good, experienced and inexpensive shearer locally, so we let him do it most of the time. Hope he doesn't retire any time soon. Icelandic wool has some value, especially Fall shearing and lambs fleeces, if you spend some time skirting +/- washing it, etc. Completely raw wool is next to worthless.

 

It is a shame. Wool, a natural product going to waste. Sheep are something we really never focused on in our farm. I took in a bred ewe probably 25 years ago, trimmed four horses for a lady and when done she thought it funny that she didn't have any money and I couldn't do anything about it. She had a rabbit and hutch, a ewe (I didn't know it was bred then) some ducks and can't remember what else. Loaded it all up and told her she could have them back when she paid her bill. Never saw or heard from her again. Named the ewe Sally and my wife tied her out for years to trim and mow the yard. In the 4H world sheep are so labor intensive, expensive and a complete unknown to me.

 

Final coat painting started today. Here's the ground floor. Upstairs will be done this afternoon.

 

I like the color.

 

X2

 

X3

Usually I like white-ish walls, but that just makes it sunny and bright, but not too bright.

 

Me too on the light/bright. But that was FIL's choice. We tried to keep it as light as possible since it is the lower level and in in the NE corner so natural light will be a premium. Thankfully, wife is good at this kind of stuff. She put the big, sliding glass door facing south and the she had them paint the far north inside wall bright white. That area will become his kitchen, so he's getting all light/bright colored cabinets and appliances, too. Also, when the electrician was here laying out the lighting, we made sure we put in plenty of (?excessive) lighting.

 

My living room and kitchen are that colour. The rooms face north and even on a dark day the rooms are bright and light.

 

The upstairs painting is finished today. Next week is flooring, bathroom tiling, plumbing and light fixtures. If all goes well, it may be ready for dad by the end of next week. Let's keep our fingers crossed. The kitchen has to go in a little later for very complicated reasons...