It's What they call the Wind

Thanks to some money we had saved up and some Christmas money from Manta (Grandpa) this year we bought something we've always wanted, a class A miniature horse.

She is trained to pull a cart and is wonderful with children. Since she is so small we only ever lead little kids on her but she can pull up to 750 lbs which is more than our whole family.

"Mariah" has competed in national shows and can be driven by anyone.  We found a used harness for $80, bought a bit on eBay and are looking around for a cart. She follows the kids around, lets them braid her hair and brush her, and will jump little obstacles while they run beside her.

I foresee a very fun summer ahead!

A Good Week for Aspiring Farmers

This has been a very good week for homestead steps. 

Baby goat deposit is in! It's the year of "C" names for American Dairy Goat Association (AGDA) registration so I'm scouting for good femmy names that start with C.  This little girl will have to go outside of her comfort zone and be friends with a sheep.

The sheep registration doesn't have yearly letters so the sky is the limit on our sheep.

Homestead total: 1 sheep and 1 goat down.

Long Time Coming

Today I did something I've been wanting to do for over seven years. I bought a merino lamb.  She is the first official purchase for the homestead which begins in less than 4 months.  I've been searching the country and emailing breeders trying to find something that is available and affordable that also fits my requirements (ewe, white, show quality, <20 micron count fleece).

Here she is.  White merino ewe lamb 4 months old. 

Twin. 9 lbs at birth currently 70 lbs from two white parents.

I got my pick from 16 white ewe lambs.  I looked through the pics and info and this little girls stood out to me on the first pass.  After creating an XL spreadsheet comparing all info she actually ended up statistically being the best choice.  While I'd like to think I have a 'good eye' for something I know nothing about, it turns out that this is just the sheep for me :o) 

The plan is to use a black ram for her first breeding to eventually produce different colored kids to provide a nice variety of wool colors.  She will arrive in a little over a month.  My husband said I should buy a brown ram lamb at the same time (such an enabler) but I think I'd like to start small so it doesn't get overwhelming.  We are going tomorrow to see other animals so for now our sheep count will happily stay at 1.

*If you live in Pennsylvania it is a very good time to buy sheep since serious breeders from all over the country will be attending the Sheep & Wool fair in Maryland and come from near and far and will bring you animals for a small fee.