The Debs Parade

Something really special happens this time of year...Puposky folks, and those from surrounding neighborhoods, like Nebish and Aure, gather in Debs on the Fourth of July to celebrate with a parade. This year might have been the biggest crowd ever: approximately 2000 people attended or entered the parade. And yet there was room for everyone along the gravel road of Deb's singular city block.

It's tradition for the parade to circle the route twice: the first pass as formally as can be mustered, the second time with wild abandon and a great release of candy, freezy pops, and water balloons left over from the first pass.

There is joy on every face, happiness in every heart, and a gratefulness in our privilege of being American citizens.

One of the best things about the parade is that one tends to know most of the people in it.Folks are showing off their favorite tractors, or the cars and trucks they have just restored.The volunteer fire departments, harness club members, mounted posse, and other horse lovers all turn out in their finest regalia. Here are a few highlights from this year's fantastic holiday celebration:

A pretty appaloosa

The barn behind our spot along the road

Wendell waving to the crowd

Neil's Corvette

A very cool Uncle Sam

Ryan driving fire truck for Alaska Township

Ervin's tractor

The St. Peter Corvette pulling off the parade route

Earl's sharp team

A patriotic bull terrier

William leads a political statement

Family with root beer added: Asa Clancy Selena Leif Isaac

The rides relax while their drivers visit

Heading home

Out-takes

Just some cute/funny pictures from July 1st:

Bence
reaching for yarrow

Vianne
sticking out her tongue

Darla Gay
scratching

Darla Gay
"What's so funny?"

The Lamb That Won't Pose...

Jchen!

I filled the memory card on my camera yesterday trying to get photos of certain sheep. That's 192 pictures. And Jchen didn't cooperate for any of them. Naughty lamb.

Jchen is the youngest lamb in the flock, born 5/1/09. I knew he was special the day he was born. Even at the young age of 2 months, he is already stunning.

Jchen is for sale. Fuzzy though they may be, here are some snapshots of this full horned black katmoget ram lamb:

With his dam, Boston Lake Sian. Sian is three years old now and just this spring developed iset on her rump. She is shiny black with crimp and nice softness. Sian is the only black ewe I am retaining after this summer's cull. Jchen is a Bombarde lamb. Micron reports on Jchen's parents can be found here.

A bird's-eye view of Jchen's head. He was born with a significant krunet and carries spotting and moorit genetics.

Blurry as it is, this photo shows off Jchen's wide, straight hind-quarters and perfect Shetland tail.

The Unicorn Lambs

Dan
My top ram, Unicorn, has been for sale for a couple of months now. I knew the day I chose to get him that I would have a very hard time reselling a homozygous white ram. Such is Shetland life.

I, myself, want more color in my flock. I'm also moving toward fine fleece and polled genetics. The handle and brilliance of Unicorn's fleece is lovely. It has sold with "oohs and aahs" each year. But it is not "fine" fleece by definition.

Bence
Unicorn is also just plain big. Big fleece, big body, big horns, big bones, big presence, big offspring. Big everything. I meant to use him to produce freezer lambs. But I've discovered that I like to have a single goal rather than multiple goals. So I'm letting him go.

If Unicorn does not sell, he will be turned into highly seasoned sausage. And I think I will miss him. He's been a very good boy here. Such is life as a farmer.

Darla Gay
To relieve me of my melancholy thoughts about Unicorn, I decided to feature his spring lambs:

Qdy
Qdy and Darla Gay are staying at Boston Lake to hopefully bring some of that Unicorn pizazz to a new line of polled Shetlands.

Dan & Darla
Dan and Bence are available for sale. I do realize even heterozygous white ram lambs are not in demand. But these are boys with some excellent qualities for certain flock needs and requirements (such as heavier/longer size, excellent conformation, good bites, small tails, long staple, dense fleece, impressive horn genetics) so I am offering them for sale-even if they are likely to spend the winter here being fattened for a spring trip to the freezer.

Bence
Both Unicorn sons are as square as can be and have tiny tails with proper covering. Dan is a monster chunk of testosterone, with what I suspect is heavy spotting potential under that white coat. Bence has the brilliant white fleece of his sire-it looks like I added "bluing" to him. He also has the best uniformly crimpy fleece of any of the 6 Unicorn offspring born here. Both boys can throw solid offspring, and Dan carries modified. For more information please call 218-556-0862 or contact me by email: sabrinalea19@yahoo.com Thank you.

Horn Update

Rigg, Dan, and Roux are all 2 months old now. This snapshot shows the differences between one of my full-horned Unicorn sons: Dan, and two Bombarde sons that I believe might be half-polls: Rigg and Roux.

At first I thought the Bombarde x Rai Min twins might be half-polls with only tiny scurs. But in the last month those horns have come in rather dramatically. If you click on the photo, or look closely, you can see how the first inch or so of horn on them was knife-like, flattened material. Their horns have come in much fuller since then.

I still think Roux is a definite half-poll. His horns are much smaller in diameter than the others. I'm not sure about Rigg's, but I wasn't thrilled with his fleece quality from the beginning, so I never invested much hope in him. He will go to the freezer despite his good conformation.

Bence, my other Unicorn ram lamb, has full, wide-spread horns like his half-brother Dan. And Jchen, the katmoget Bombarde son out of Sian, also shows every indication of being fully horned with a terrific wide-spread rack.

Summer

Now are the days I think of as summer...this lush mid-June weather...so beautiful...

The breeze is scented with clover. Dawn is full of promise. Twilight is illuminated with twinkling fireflies. All is lovely.

Sally lounges happily on the porch.

The native roses are in full bloom. I think of them as my adopted daughters...entrusted to me at the edge of this deep woods and the blue shore...

Dappled Dolce

Dolce and Dan.

Dolce has been especially affectionate lately. She is always the first to come up. However, when her lambs are very young, she prefers not to have too much interference from the shepherd.

This is the time of year when the ewes become really friendly. I suspect they suddenly prefer my tranquil scratches and pets to the brutish demands of their hefty twin lambs. Once in a while I'll see one of the ladies stop to nurse her lambs. The youngsters butt the ewe's udder so hard they lift her back feet off the ground. The ewe walks away after about 1 full second of snacking. The lambs hold on for dear life and then are left behind, dazed and confused as to why mommy doesn't love them anymore. They dog her steps like burly gnats. She never looks back for them anymore. They can fend for themselves for the most part now. The lambs are reluctant to give up their baby status, but it is a role the ewes seem quite determined to relieve them of around this time of year.

I always feel a little bit bad for the lambs. But they are rolly chunks from all the milk and good grass they are on, so there really is nothing to worry about. When the lambs are all three months old, I will pull out the ramlings and give them their own pen for weaning. The dams will still have their daughters for company. I don't separate them until breeding season in late November. This routine works well for me.

Have any other shepherds observed that, with regard to natural weaning, ewes tend to be more firm with their ewelings and more indulgent with their ramlings? I wonder if it is because the ram lambs are so bold and persistent or if it is because the ewes are teaching their daughters about or within the hierarchy of the flock. Or maybe it is just my imagination...?