The round up for Thanksgiving was 192 turkeys processed on the farm in 3 days, and all but 2 were sold. HEY! We got to keep 2 for ourselves!
Another huge shout out to ALL of our volunteers this year! We can't do it without you, and Thanksgiving, as a holiday, has become to us a holiday where we thank our animals and all our friends who help us make this happen. I had a hard time keeping up with sales trying to sell 190 turkeys, and the processing folks were way ahead of me, doing the real hard work. In years past, we felt that we were limited by how many birds could physically be processed that weekend, and this year, you guys blew that away!
We processed ALL the turkeys this year, so no extras for Christmas or New Years, or any other upcoming holidays, and starting over again with new breeding stock next year.
Even as I start thinking about planning our bird purchases for next year, the focus is back on our lambs. It's that time of year of course - cold, miserable winter is when all the moms love to drop their lambs!
Here is a video from last winter of the "nursery stall" where we put all the babies and mamas at night to stay warm. It's hard to ever want to leave when you are surrounded by bouncing baby lambs!
We have had 8 lambs born since the beginning of November, and some very large ladies out there we are waiting any day for them to drop their lambs. The Star Wars name theme will come to an end at the end of the calendar year, which is a good thing, as I have run out of decent female character names, and having to rely on ships and planets for names!
So far so good, we have had 2 born with a possible neurological disorder. They are doing GREAT! You can watch a little video about them here.
Every morning, when I open the barn, I anticipate the tiny little "baa" of a new born lamb. I know they are coming - and they can take their time. We have a great flock of mamas. Our flock has been managed by us since 2008. We "curate" the ewes based on many factors, and frankly, right now, we have the flock just where we like them. No trouble makers - fence-jumpers, head-butters, moms-who-ignore-their-babies, for the most part. We have a calm and gentle flock, good mothers who care for their babies. I have three generations of ewes from several of iour original flock, and it's wonderful to see that during nap time mid-day - they will still seek each other out and sleep together.
We have yet to see if the two cases of mastitis last year were resolved, or if there was permanent udder damage. Fingers crossed that is all well, both those mamas are currently pregnant. The ram lambs are already claimed for Eid this coming summer, and I still need another 6 to be born to satisfy that demand. It's a fun time of year when we switch from processing back to being surrounded by babies.