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Long Ridge Farm received February’s “Farm of the Month” from Hannah Grimes !
I wish I could link to the article however the recognition comes out only in an email newsletter. Suffice to say our farm is showcased and proud!
Hannah Grimes Center is a successful venue for NH artists, farmers and producers allowing us to showcase our products both on the internet and in the wonderful marketplace shop on Main Street in Keene, NH. In order to be a member we need to be a NH farm, craftsman or business.
So! Our month in the sun! Hooray!
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And now it is Memphis’ birthday. Get a cup of coffee, glass of wine or what have you and enjoy the story.
Memphis is the queen of our flock and has been the great teacher of all things sheepish. Memphis is the face of our farm logo. She is the absolutely most feminine ewe, from her gentle personality to her thin and lovely legs! Memphis is always at the back of the flock but moves right up front and center once visiting begins. She is incredibly photogenic and as I look at these pictures across her eight years, she is ageless, never looking less than beautiful.
Below is the photo I was sent before I purchased her in 2002. It was love at first sight.
Below are photos of Memphis just after she arrived here. The top picture is stunning. The lower picture makes me smile with those ears and full face shot!
We bred Memphis that fall to a CVM ram that we also purchased. Memphis had twin ewe lambs (a shepherd’s dream) and so began our first lessons. First, lambing, which she did with complete grace, and second, one of the twins (Trooper) was born with a nerve block in her spine making her unable to coordinate her brain to her back end with regularity.We named the twins Savannah and Trooper. As with Charlotte, Trooper was born an absolutely perfect little CVM with regard to color and markings. And her personality won us over despite her struggle. Here they were with Memphis on their first day, Savannah on the left, Trooper on the right.
After an unsteady start, Trooper gained strength and was able to romp and play and nurse just like Savannah. After they were adjusted to the barn, warm weather arrived and they went out to pasture to run and jump and sproing! Notice how much smalller Trooper is and how her back is not right. We felt though that if she could make it we just would let her be a fleece bearer and friend, never to breed her, of course.
But after 6 weeks as Trooper got larger, she lost control of her hind end more and more and Savannah wanted to play harder and it was just too much for Trooper. We made the gut-wrenching decision to put her to sleep. And I can tell you, once again, I will never make a tough old shepherd. I cried for days for that little Trooper who fought so hard to survive. We laid her to rest under the maple tree in the pasture behind the house which is now one of the summer shed areas where the flock stays cool in the summer months. And that shed has a tiny little plaque on it “In Memory of Trooper~ May 2003”. Lessons from Memphis that have to be learned.
Memphis has taught us other lessons. In 2004 she managed to get something lodged in her gum line and it eventually worked it way out to her cheek when I noticed the abscess. That was another toughy as it had to be lanced (the vet came, thank you!) and she did not enjoy that at all. Then every day for a week we had to hold her while I drained the wound and flushed it and then gave her shots of medication. That was my first try at injections and that took some doing. I am a bit squeamish but have managed to do them now although I will never enjoy it.
Another lesson I learned from Memphis occurred the fall of 2004 when she started to hobble on pasture. She would actually graze on her knees. Not being aware of the issue or what to do, again, I called the vet and they jumped to the conclusion we had foot rot. No way! I said, and started to read everything. Low and behold in the simple little book by Storey Books “Raising Sheep The Modern Way”, I read about the toe gland which is located just above the hoof area on the front of the foot, shown below.
It secrets a waxy substance and from time to time the gland can get plugged. Then pressure builds in the foot and it is painful for the sheep to walk. Here I am paying Memphis a visit on pasture to help clear the gland. It can take a few times if the situation gets aggravated but clears quickly with no medication. Memphis actually would hold out her leg and let me help her. She knew what the problem was an taught me what to do.
In 2006 Memphis lambed a single ewe lamb, Charlotte. Jack had gone down to the barn early AM to see what her status was as she was showing signs of lambing the day before. Nothing happening so he came back to the house. At 8AM we went down to the barn to feed the sheep and tend to the ewes and lambs in the big barn where Memphis was awaiting her special day. We arrived to Memphis having lambed and Charlotte was in the middle of the barn with the other mothers and lambs all around. We quickly gathered Charlotte and Memphis and got them to their private jug (a small pen with feed, water and a warming box where the ewe and lamb spend a few days so they bond).
The following day we noticed Memphis had a swollen teat , bright red and Charlotte was not well. Vet call. He came and found that Memphis had injured her udder in the lambing process and the udder got blood in it. That blood had infected Charlotte and because she was in her most important 24 hours of life needed immediate help. The vet gave both Memphis and Charlotte injections and left us with the following instructions; twice a day we needed to milk out the blood from Memphis’ udder (about a quart would do) and give her some pain meds for a few days. Charlotte had medicine to take each day for three days. Well, that was a ball. Jack goes to work at 6:30 each day so we got up at 5, milked Memphis, did meds, retaped the teat and then each night we repeated the course. It went on for 11 days before finally the milk was clear enough for Charlotte to drink again. We taped Memphis’ teat shut each time so Charlotte wouldn’t be tempted, and miraculously it stayed on! And thank God Memphis has two teats! If we had not treated Memphis she would have developed mastitis and could have lost the proper function of the udder. As it turned out she came through beautifully and Charlotte used both teats thereafter. Little Charlotte was so good, she felt great after a few days but had to stay with Memphis in a private but spacious pen for the eleven days when all her lamb comrades waited to play with her. We would get them both into the jug for the treatment and Charlotte would lie down under the heat lamp while Jack milked Memphis. To this day I wonder if it is why Charlotte is so mellow. She never runs away or jumps from fear at all. Another lesson taught by Memphis. Here they are in the jug the first few days and you can see the tape on her teat.
Later in the spring this is Memphis with Charlotte. Memphis is the only ewe we have whose lambs still lay with her as adults. Savannah will lay next to Memphis and lay her head over Memphis’ back while they rest.
And so this is the story of Memphis (So far!!). Here she is enjoying her birthday. See how little she has changed? I am sure there will be more lessons to learn from her and I will never tire of listening to her. She is a grand ewe and will be with us for the duration. Heres to you, dear Memphis, on your special day!
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Snow is setting in today. Maybe 10 plus inches for us which is just great.
Sidney is in heaven! Here waiting for me while I did the sheep and hen chores this morning.
And then we took a walk and he ran and ran and ran. He just loves the snow which is good thing because we have plenty of it!
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And today we celebrate Daphne’s 6th birthday! I have a feeling I will be saying this more than not as I go through all the birthdays and describe each sheep….Daphne is just so sweet and mellow. She is not a stand-out sheep for personality….very low key. But if ever I need a gentle conversation and am willing to listen she will be there. Sheep like for humans to get down so they are at eye level before they are willing to commit to any real discussion. Daphne’s style is to put her head down and just hang out and if I cup her chin in my hand and hold her cheek to cheek with me she will stand there for hours. She loves it. I have had her snore while holding her that way! Here she is just after we bought her in 2003.
One thing Daphne is proud of is her fleece. She can win a ribbon every time. So convinced I was, I saved it to submit in the fall of 2007 to be judged at Rhinebeck. Some of you read this story after I posted it here in October 2007, I was so upset. But it goes like this.
I took three fleeces to Rhinebeck and was at the door at 8AM to enter them. That went great (so I thought) and I went off to open my booth for vending. At noon my friend Maryann went over to the sale barn to see what the results were. She found Daphne’s fleece gone and Joe and Judy Miller, the people who run the sale/judging, had no idea where it had gone. When Maryann returned and told me I roared over there, as you can imagine. After a lengthy go-round they basically put up their hands and said “must have been stolen”. I was fit to be tied and somehow it didn’t ring true. I had labeled it and it was 7 pounds, a bit tough to steal. But there was nothing I could do. This is the fleece before I took it to Rhinebeck.
Well the months passed and come early spring of 2008 a woman contacted me to reserve a fleece. She said she had bought one before and loved it. You know where this is going, right? I asked her where she had bought before and she said Rhinebeck. Ah ha! So through the course of emails back and forth she said she picked Daphne’s fleece out early in the AM before judging and then waited in line to buy it at the appointed time. She told me I had won 1st place in natural colored fine wool class! I had a ribbon! And she was so psyched to have purchased the winning fleece! She sent me pictures of all the tags that came with the fleece. But of course the ribbon was not there as it would be given to the owner of the animal…me!
At that point I was relieved to know it had sold and that I had won a ribbon! So I contacted the head of the Rhinebeck Festival, Bob Davis, and told him my story and sent all the pictures. I told him about the Miller’s inexcusable negligence with the whole situation. He appologized and eventually after many months I got a check for the fleece. But I never got the ribbon. To this day I write Bob Davis, who had told me he would get the ribbon to me, but he will not reply now.
So I have resigned to just knowing Daphne won the prize and resolved to never show at that venue again. What would you do at this point?
Here is Daphne today, a lovely face and a lovely fleece. My Daphne doll, happy birthday!
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So here is Bea this morning. I just gave her some cubes of alfalfa and she loves me! Don’t you just LOVE her name? I will never be one of those hard core shepherds who never name their sheep, just ear tag numbers. I would never want so many I couldn’t distingish each one from the next.
We bought Bea in July 2003, she was born 1/26/01. I saw her photo and thought “boy, not the greatest looking ewe. Split ear, funky looking face, but I just LOVE the name!” She was a proven good lamber and mother so I thought why not. And she also is half sister to Memphis who has her day in the sun tomorrow. She and Memphis came from a farm in Washington state, darn good stock. That split ear bugged me!!! And you can see that her neck is shaved? I was told she liked to eat grass on the other side of the fence and had done it so much she had a perpetual bald spot! So I had this nagging question….is she one of those ewes that is always getting into trouble?
Here is Bea a few days after she arrived with two other ewes we bought, Daphne and Mila and a wether, Wetherby (white lamb laying on the ramp). Daphne, Mila and Wetherby were just 4 months old and had assumed Bea as the mother figure. Bea is one heck of a mother. Very protective, attentive and alert at all times. If there is a movement or an issue at the field edge or in the woods she will stare it down. She is up front and strong. One windy day a green plastic trash bag had found it’s way loose and into the field, catching on a fence post. I watched here react before removing the bag. She stood and snorted at it from across the pasture, just like a deer. She wouldn’t let up on it and I like that about her.
Here she is later that summer with Daphne and Mila and Memphis to the far left, just chewing and grooving.
She is a joy to have here, and gives me the most incredible hugs…I call them Bea Hugs and I am going to get a photo taken of one soon! She comes at me head on, puts her head over my shoulder, we are chest to chest and she just leans into me. It is a great reward for taking a chance on her in 2003. Happy birthday Bea! 8 years old today.
