Tucker Talks and Tails

Who am I? What Will I Be?

2011-09-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

I was brown, now I am silver...
I was small and helpless, now I am bigger...
I will be larger and mother protector...
What am I???

Look at the next blog for the answer...

Babies!!!

2011-09-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

We have been so blessed this year.

Lena turned 1 year old this year. She is a joy and a delight to our hearts.

Aiden was born this summer and is growing well... healthy and a delight.

Eleanora is now born, healthy, whole and home with her mom and dad. What Joy!

Gabriel is born this day! Healthy and whole. His mom and dad rejoice in him as do we all!

Heather and Jami are both due... we await with hearts aflutter to hear good news!

Dominique is due near to December beginning.

This year, the family has increased exceedingly, and the family has enlarged it's territories... Andrea in Florida, Tracie in Colorado, Larissa and Dominique in Kentucky, the rest of us in various parts of New York. May each of your family grow in favor and grace wherever you walk.

Finnsheep Available For Sale, NY

2011-09-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of you,

This is just to let you know that currently Lighthouse Farm has some adult Finnsheep ewes and some lambs available for sale.

The adult ewes have been exposed to a ram for fall lambing. We have both ram lambs and ewe lambs currently available.

Come, visit us at our website: www.lighthousesheepfarm.com Our website is being updated, but the Available Finnsheep page is currently up and you are able to peruse Finnsheep to your hearts content.

I will be attending the FBA Annual Business meeting held in conjunction with the NY Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY on October 15th-16th so transportation of sheep to that location is possible.

I hope we have something that meets your desires.

Usva - Finnsheep Gray Ram

2011-09-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

This is a current photo of Usva. He is our Gray Finnsheep ram lamb from this year. This photo was taken in August and he was born in April.

His fleece crimp is as incredible as his color!!! He now belongs to Deb Hilliard of The Meadows Gate Finnsheep in Andover, NY as a herd sire. She is a long-time hand-spinner with a small flock of Finnsheep.

A white ewe from my flock of Finnsheep went with him to his new home. She is also of splendid fleece and her owner "can hardly wait to get her hands into their first fleece to begin spinning!"

2011-07-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

This Finnsheep ewe is Star 901. Following her is Usva 1356, the gray ram lamb that we just wrote about. At this picture he was just turned out to pasture from the jug pen on the 3rd day and already you can note the lighter color gray showing on his neck/shoulder area.

If you look carefully, you can see a small set of legs underneath Star's belly. That is the little sister Aamu 1355 who is showing gray now that she is 60 days +... difference being that it is a clearly defined line between the black and her lighter gray. Am I correct in saying that the black/gray line color change shows the modified genetics and the gray like Usva where the baby fuzz fell out and he was all gray underneath just is gray??? Help me with this if you know...

2011-07-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Usva 1356 was born black and "soft fuzzy". By his seventh day he was showing the gray coloring and the baby fuzz was starting to come out. By day 30 we knew for certain that he was going to be an awesome color of gray and this picture was taken at weaning day 60.

Usva's dam, Star 901 is a medium gray with a slightly "crispier" but more relaxed fleece. The dam of Star is Hatton's Faith 193 who was a "grayish" black but has given me three different colors of gray lambs. The sire of Star is Hatton's Tucker 208 who is also "grayish" black but a lighter shade. Tucker's fleece is short and very tight pin-curls. This ewe/ram combination has given me three different shades of gray... from fog to pussy willow gray to pewter...but definitely gray.

Usva's sire is Lemuel 920 a white ram with brown spots on his belly, legs and scrotum. He had brown inside his ears, around his eyes and his skin and tongue were brownish pink. I believe he was brown. He definitely carried and throws spotted lambs. The dam of Lemuel was Witt's Charity, a white ewe who carries white, black, gray, solid and pied. The sire of Lemuel was Wee Croft's Short Tale, a white ram who was 75 % brown AI genetics who gave me lambs that were black, white, brown, and pied.

His dam Star 901, his grandam Hatton's Faith 193, and his sister Aamu 1355 who is black with a hint of graying will be bred to Jimmy R Cook our new Gray Badger ram.

2011-07-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of you who read this blog. This year has been quite exciting for our Finnsheep. We have finally begun to see some of the colors and marking patterns that we have been striving for! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

This is Lighthouse Splash a Quint who has a matching mark on his off side. I do think that this lamb also may have carried brown as the one foot and his nose area showed and stayed brown. He has been sold.

This little fella is called Rusty. His face and ears are rust colored and he has rust spots on his legs. These marks have stayed. His body looks like someone dumped white and tan paint all over him. I am waiting to see if the tan color is going to fade or if it will stay.

He is a Quad ram lamb out of a white ewe who carried brown. His sire was also white and carried a lot of brown. Both carried pied marking pattern.

This lamb is wide front to back, well made with a very soft, tight curl in his fleece. He may stay here as a back up ram. We will see what the color does.

Well here are two lambs I was excited about!!!

The black and white pied ewe lamb was sold the day this picture was taken. She had a very fine fleece and was awesomely soft to handle. Her body build was excellent. She was curious as all get out and was trying to figure out what I was doing sitting on the ground. She turned and came over to see. The visitor with me took her home.

This grayish white ewe lamb is here for awhile...if she stays gray, she will remain. Her fleece is different than her sister's. Her curls are not as tight and she has more "baby fuzz" and I have no clue what color she is going to become. Her face and ears as well as all under parts are gray. Her leg skin is pink but her body skin color is grayish pink.

Her sire is white and carries black, white, gray, brown, solid and pied. Her dam carries white black, gray, solid, pied and HST. I am kinda betting and hoping for gray! Any ideas anyone???

This lamb is black HST. HST is the most common marking here at Lighthouse. She is out of a black HST ewe who was bred to a black HST ram. I do not expect her to lighten up. Her fleece is soft and slightly loose. Very low britch. Excellent body. This lamb is now sold.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about a few of the Finnsheep lambs and their colors and markings.

In the next blog, I hope to share with you photos of a few gray Finnsheep here.

2010-01-31T16:27:00.000-08:00

Well winter came with a blast this year. Snow came to stay early. It was not exceedingly cold at first but the Great Lakes have not yet frozen over here at the end of January.

We got a week of nice weather that spoiled us and got us thinking of early spring, melted all this snow into ice about four inches thick and then WHAM!

The final days of January have been "Nasty Cold!!!"

To make life interesting here on the farm, instead of being inside snuggled up with my husband and son watching a movie, knitting, reading a good book or playing games together, I am on "LAMB PATROL"... Yep, you got it... we knew the possibility existed since the Dorset Ram-bo did NOT stay inside the ram pasture when he was supposed to, but the proof being in the pudding, when we noticed ewes "bagging up" we brought them into the "Red Shed" for the cold spell... we had our first lamb born on January 29th... and another on January 30th and another on January 31st... so for now, no matter how cold or how tired, we get up and check on the ewes.

Pictures will be coming... just not tonight.

2010-01-31T16:13:00.000-08:00

This is Jake, the Lighthouse Keeper! We got him as a pup and he is now 3 years old.

He is a Farm Collie who partners with Herb, Will and I each and every day to work with the sheep or anything else we need done.

He is smart and can follow directions and also work independently if we are not there to give instructions regarding the sheep.

At times when younger I was quite exasperated while trying to get him to do something I wanted ... he was also exasperated with me at times... he was doing what I wanted, in a more efficient way... it just took me awhile to realize it!

2010-01-31T15:42:00.000-08:00

To those of you who know my husband, you will get a "kick" out of this story!

One day while Will (12 year old son) and I were going to get hay for the sheep we arrived while the man was doing chores in his barn. There were several cats who Will was immediately interested in...he petted and made a big do over them.

The man said that they had just recently had one dropped off at the farm that was not being integrated into the rest of the farm cats and had obviously been a house cat...we were of course "welcome to take her home." Will went looking for her but did not find her and I had to tell him "No, you know your Dad and cats." (As many of you also know...)

Will found her the next day when we went back to get more hay. She followed him all over the place.... and we watched as she tried to get in and get some food. Each time she would get even a tad close to the dish the other cats would chase her away... they had plenty of course but were not willing to share.

She was very small... I figured about 2 lbs. and about 6 - 6.5 weeks old. I felt really bad, but again I had to tell William "No, you know we can not; and you know why."

As we were unloading hay with my husband, William told his Dad we had met a cat and she was beautiful and smoke colored. A female, very small and quiet. He changed the subject and left it alone.

Herb (Dad) of course knows that Will is a "Cat Person" and asked me more about the cat later. I explained the situation and what I had answered both the man and Will.

The next day Herb said that I should get the cat because when we move to the new farm the chances were great the house (having been empty) would have mice and such... and because with colder weather coming here the mice had decided to move inside...

So the cat came home. She was named Smokey.

Sheep in Winter, Tale on the Farm

2009-01-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

Winter has come at last. The earth is silent as the snow begins to cover the barren ground and branches of all the trees in the woods.

Winter wind howls and the coyotes on the hill respond as the move silently in the silence of the night.

In the pastures nearby the sheep are moving down to the barn for their evening meal. Gently the step over the ice left behind by the just past storm. Now snow is slowly falling on top of that.

The sound of the barn door opening and the clang of the feed barrel's lid and the sheep begin to move faster and faster until they are sprinting over the fields all converging at the now well lighted barn.

Yelling for food, pushing and shoving in their excitement, they wait.

Ah! There it is, now we are let in to enjoy.

While they are eating hay is placed into the wall rack feeders for them to munch after they finish with their grain. All is well in their world.

All is well in their shepherds world as well. While the storm rages on outside, they sit and watch in peace within the shelter of the storm with their sheep. They know them all by name and each has their own personality. Some come for a few minutes special time with their shepherd. Some tail wagging, some head lifted for a chin scratch, some just a few minutes of leaning on their shepherd.

All is at peace within reguardless of the storm.