This year’s lambs are ready to fledge! I have 3 ewes, 3 rams and 2 wethers available. The image below is how they respond when you come out with your phone to take photos. Very unhelpful. All are RR at codon 171 (Scrapies resistance), NABSSAR registration in progress (except wethers), and my flock is OPP free. UTD on deworming and CD&T.
Pretty girl shown here with her attentive mom, Ivy. Mom is exceptional wool producer.
MN6805-0394 Nicolle D.O.B 4/10/24 Twin
Nicolle’s dad is Lancelot (black) giving buyer flexibility in color of her future lambs. Breed to white – likely white lambs. Breed to black 50% chance of black lamb.
Rams
MN6805-0364 Nolan D.O.B. 3/21/24 Twin
Mother, Georgia, is known for great fleece – long and abundant.
MN6805-0366 Neville D.O.B 3/21/24 Twin
Mother, Dixie, is especially known for great maternal traits – birthing, nursing, protecting.
MN6805-0385 Noah D.O.B. 3/31/24 Twin RESERVED
Mother, Nina, favored him so he grew up sort of as a single. We were fine with coddling his sister as a bottle baby and keeper for flock.
MN6805-0393 Nigel D.O.B. 4/10/24 Twin
Beautiful darker nose and legs – a tribute to his black father. This provides flexibility in lamb colors that can be expected from him. Strong with good leg positioning/shape.
Wethers
MN6805-0362 Nelson D.O.B. 3/19/24 Twin
This big teddy bear was a bottle baby. He’ll be great for keeping a ram company when separate from the girls or as a pet and lawn mower.
MN6805-0389 Nikolas D.O.B. 3/31/24 Single
Nikko was the serendipitous result of an unintended mating. His papa, Matthew, was 5/8 Finn so Nikko is 5/16. This means he’s going to be a good wool producer with Babydoll spring but more Finn length.
Babydoll lambs basking in sunshineFinn x Dolls enjoying the creep feed offeringsEnjoying warm April day on pasture
All of the lambs have been born – with a total of 51 skipping around the farm! They are eating well from the creep feed and have even been out on pasture. All but the very youngest will be ready to go with hoof trims and both CD&T vaccinations (and castrations, where appropriate), by Memorial Day weekend. Some of the older lambs before then. I will also be reducing my Finn X Doll flock a bit so some adult ewes will also be for sale as well (with their multiple births they quickly outnumber my Babydolls). The Babydolls will be registerable with NABSSAR. I can offer breeding groups with the Finn X Dolls (Babydolls don’t get bred their first year so most folks don’t buy ram right away.)
Check out these website links for how to reserve sheep, pictures of available lambs, information on the parents and what they bring to the genetic pool, and the information about the wonderful wool of both groups. I enjoy mentoring individuals new to shepherding so try to be available to answer many of the questions that arise. I hope I can help you discover the fun of sheep ownership and/or add new genetics to your existing flock!
Easiest reached by texting 715.220.1183 or emailing swiegrefe@sbcglobal.net.
Perhaps you’ve forgotten since high school biology, but the pollen parent contributes 50% of the genetics of a seed. To ensure I have the highest possible quality seed I remove all the catkins from plants that have been determined to have unacceptably small nuts (=not crackable by commercial and many smaller cracking equipment). This means that the pollen cloud remaining in the plantation to create this year’s seeds have all met the threshold criterion of adequate nut size. This takes a lot of time to sample and evaluate each bush’s nuts and then to remove the catkins of the inferior plants. My small size of 140 bearing bushes last year gives me an advantage as larger operations cannot manage their pollen cloud due to the labor involved. Small niche operations specializing in genetic improvement are key to improving the quality of hazels planting stock reaching the marketplace. It can be devastating and financially challenging if, after 4 or 5 years of carefully tending your plants, you find that a significant fraction of them are below industry standards. Start with the best you can find!
To order seeds or seedlings yet this week, click here.
hazel catkins in dormant statebefore catkin removalafter catkin removal
Judi delivered a second set of triplets for this year – this last one on November 1st. There are 2 rams and a ewe. They are on track to have their vaccinations (and castrations) in time for a new home (and will be weanable), by Friday, December 20. I am willing to let them go at a significant discount to give some family a chance to love these little tykes and give them a life. They need each other’s company and should all go together. They will also produce lovely wool and give the new owners the chance to explore fiber arts – dyeing, felting, spinning, knitting, crochet!
The smallest ram is being bottle fed and all of them are friendly. Their names are Prince (purple coat, bottle baby), Perry (green), and Pickles (pink – the sister), but these need not be their permanent names.
The harvest is in and I was gratified to see that 5 of the 6 plants I selected last year as seed sources were again in the top 8 producers. (The 6th had extenuating circumstances of severe crowding). This consistency between years indicates these lines are not prone to biennial bearing (i.e., alternating boom and bust production). The top 4 all produced 5 or more pounds of husked (dehusked?) nuts (moisture content not standardized. Data collected after 7 – 10 days of drying). I was especially impressed with the top producer, E027, who was also last year’s top producer. It went from 13.7 pounds in 2022 to 6.7 pounds but was still ahead of the second highest producer by almost a pound.
Some of you will know that here in southeastern Minnesota we were in extreme drought for a number of weeks this summer. I irrigated just 3 times and feel it did help fill nuts and preserve the health of the plants. The above data are more impressive when you understand that there were a larger number of blank/empty nuts this season. This is the plants’ damage-control mechanism when it senses it cannot fulfill its commitment to fill all the nuts it has started. Thus, many more nuts were initiated but tossed out in the post-harvest processing. In a “normal” year those blank nuts would have been filled – resulting in even greater yields. And most of these are only in their 3rd year of bearing – there are greater yields ahead!!!
Below are photos of the 6 seed lots being offered this year (grid = 1/4″) and a couple of the planting. At the end are links to the order forms. ORDERS MUST BE RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 15th! I have limited space and only grow on a pre-order basis, not on speculation that I can find buyers once they are started.
I hope I can help improve your planting’s genetics/production. Thanks!
D114 plant and harvest. Not all fit in a 3/4 bushel trugHazels at peak color.
We’ve had a serious shortage of rain over the last 2 months in southeastern Minnesota and my pastures are not growing back fast enough to support the flock. I’d like to see these 2023 lambs off to greener pastures within the next few weeks, so am willing to take a hit. Better that than the alternative for these young’uns. Friendly Babydoll X Finnsheep lambs bred with fiber in mind, of multiple colors and percentages Finn. Finn heritage makes the fiber lock-like, soft, and long. Babydoll component contributes loftiness and reduced tendency to well felt/shrink (and reduces tendency towards out-of-season breeding, browsing trees & shrubs, and bottle babies from too many lambs for momma to care for). Multiple options for breeding pairs/sets. UPDATE 10/29/23 all animals have found new homes.
Pricing replaces previously posted pricing, including quantity discount. Call or text me (715-220-1183) or email to swiegrefe@sbcglobal.net with questions or to start reservation process. Because of the pasture issue, prompt pick-up (before mid-August). Later pick up possible, but hay feeding premium may be necessary. PayPal payment is an option with additional 3% convenience charge.
Lambing is complete for the spring season and I have an abundance of lovely lambs available to new homes. There are blacks, whites, browns and some with HST (Head-Socks-Tail) patterns and some with extra spots elsewhere (piebald). There are multiple percentages of Finnsheep versus Babydoll Southdown to choose from – depending on your desired wool traits. The offspring of my 2 rams used this year can be bred to each other without inbreeding issues. I’m especially interested in seeing my bottle babies find new homes. They are THE BEST!!!! Below is a chart of the lambs sorted by color and sire (dad). At the end is a link back to the lamb page for additional information about their moms, siblings, etc.
These are just a few of the 39 Finn X Doll lambs. If you are interested in a particular color/pattern/%Finn/sex combination, let me know and I can send additional photos. Also click HERE to see baby pictures.
A couple months of being unemployed provided me the time to evaluate my options and commit to a few new ventures on Prairie Plum Farm (d.b.a. Wholesome Harvest). Here’s a preview of some of the things in store…
CBD Hemp
Although the entry costs are rather high, I decided to use some of my plant breeding skills to work towards developing some locally adapted options of high CBD hemp. Fiber hemp used to be grown locally for rope production to support the war effort in the 1940s. There are remnant naturalized populations that have persisted on their own for over 75 years. Creating controlled crosses with commercially available varieties is the long term plan. The short term plan is to also produce high value full-spectrum extracts to be sold with oil from my hazelnuts as the carrier. I am amazed at the number of folks I have encountered these last 4 months who are using CBD for a variety of benefits… sleeping aid, anti-anxiety, anti-depression, and both orally and topically for pain management. I was able to eliminate one of my own prescriptions by replacing it with CBD with none of the side-effects. I look forward to experimenting with the various combinations of terpenes. Not only do they provide different flavors, they also contribute different effects to the various medicinal properties.
Increased Elderberry Production
You will notice the health focus continuing here. . . many people are aware of the delicious flavor of these native fruits, but are unaware of the anti-viral (not COVID19 unfortunately) and anti-oxidant benefits they provide. I will be planting an additional 180 plants from 5 commercial varieties and, hopefully, some advanced selections from another regional berry grower. I will be freezing, juicing, and freeze drying my crop going forward with these new plantings coming on line in about 3 years.
After 5 years of anticipating the first harvest of hybrid hazelnuts, it finally happened! Twenty-eight of the 75 surviving plants I planted as first year seedlings in 2015 had at least one nut – and some had many more.
It was exciting to watch the nuts develop throughout the summer. Some of the larger bushes (5-7 foot tall) had a very obvious fruit set. Others I had to refer back to my notes to see which had had flowers in the spring and carefully search the plants’ branches. The clusters are beautiful aesthetically but also, as a farmer, it is great to see clusters of 5 or 6 nuts at almost every node on some plants. That indicates great yield potential.
Immature nuts
One gorgeous cluster
Clusters at each node
The total weight of the freshly husked nut harvest was 7 pounds but just three bushes accounted for 6 pounds. The size of the nuts was also encouraging. I went low-tech and drilled holes in the bottom of a couple of plastic storage containers – one had 5/8″ holes and the other had 3/4″ holes. The harvest from two of the heavy producers had a majority of the nuts between > 5/8″ & < 3/4″ with some > 3/4″. I dried down most for further analysis (% kernel, dried kernel weight, etc.), but kept nuts from 2 of the best for use as seed for next year.
One of the best individual bush harvests – just under 2# freshly husked
Nut size – the notebook lines are 1/4 inch apart
The husked nuts drying – some with 1-2 nuts and others with over a pound
Some plants were so heavily laden that I applied liquid nitrogen fertilizer two weeks before harvest so the branches did not cannabalize their own resources to fill the nuts and then die off. It was very interesting to see additional branches shoot out as a response – sometimes multiple branches 3 feet tall! More exciting news is that in an inventory I took just last week 80 plants have flowers for next year, including 60 from the 2015 planting and 20 from the 2018 planting. Time seems to pass faster as I age, but sometimes it doesn’t pass fast enough. Looking forward to 2021!
Red-leaved new sprouts will bear nuts in 2 years
A substantial crop of catkins – next spring’s male flower clusters
If you are interested in more hybrid hazel information, you may want to check out the book I co-authored with my friends and former employers at Badgersett Research Corporation:
Rutter, Philip, Susan Wiegrefe, and Brandon Rutter-Daywater. 2015. Growing Hybrid Hazelnuts: The New Resilient Crop for a Changing Climate. Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT. 249 pp.
Although I haven’t posted anything about the hazel planting in a while, it hasn’t disappeared – in fact it is doing quite well.
Being a scientist by training, I’ve implemented a number of experiments to help me determine which practices are most beneficial in terms of improved plant survival and growth, and efficiency of labor and material use
Additives incorporated at planting –
The first one I spoke of in the establishment page: use of biochar with composted manure vs. only composted manure vs. no additives. As I described on that page the experimental design is not at all robust, but it seems the results are sufficiently different that some mention is appropriate. This year being the first major bloom season I noticed that the number of plants flowering (which is also linked to size of plant) is greater in the two areas where the amendments were added. Below is the percentage of plants flowering in the 3 treatments:
no amendments 21/54 39%
biochar + compost 12/13 92%
compost 9/10 90%
total planting 42/77 55%
Weed Barrier Use –
I used 2 foot wide heavy duty landscape fabric in two ways to help hazels compete with surrounding vegetation. The first way was to position it as close as possible to the row to the north of the east-west oriented row. The second was to make a cut perpendicular to the edge to the middle (1′) where a small circle was cut (“keyhole”). This was much more time consuming and many more earth staples were needed to secure the edges of the fabric.
fabric centered with keyholefabric to north of row
Once again the flowering behavior will be used to sum up (proxy for?) the size and vigor of the plants as a result of reduction in weed competition.
Fabric with keyholes 27/38 71%
Fabric to north 13/24 54%
No fabric (after 1st yr) 2/15 13%
Total planting 42/77 55%
Conclusion: it’s worth the extra effort to make the cuts and install staples.
Individual exclosures:
In an area prone to visitation by deer plus calves and sheep on occasion, I felt it worth while to protect the plants with individual exclosures in the 2015 planting. I tried 3 types: plastic mesh + 2 bamboo stakes, chicken wire + 2 rebar stakes, and clouches (from Plants Alive) + 2 staples.
chicken wirecloucheplastic
Results: the chicken wire/rebar combo was better than the other two anecdotally (no hard data). The plants too quickly outgrew the clouche and the plastic and extracting the exclosure material was difficult. The chicken wire could be used for 2 years, but was much more expensive. None of the 3 can be recommended to protect against browsing by even relatively small sheep as they can push them over rather easily – chicken wire combo presented better resistance to this than the other 2.
It did become apparent that some protection was better than no protection in terms of survival the first year. Part of this was as a deterrent to “mower blight”. One did need to lift the cages at least every other month to remove weeds/shade from within.
2-way vs. row mowing
By the time the 2018 planting was made the number of plants made creating individual exclosures cost prohibitive. I transitioned to a 6 foot perimeter fence that had 30 pound test-weight mono-filament line strung at 1 foot intervals. To exclude the sheep and calves, I also ran 2 lines of electrified wire at 10″ and 20″. I tried to keep the charge above 5KV at all times with a solar energizer. The 2018 planting was also at “final” (6′ within row) spacing so I could mow in both directions, which I did approximately weekly alternating north/south and east/west.
2-way mowingRow mowing
Results: I lost just 5 of the 95 plants installed that year and mown both directions – 3 to mower blight. Having the individuals isolated from huge clumps of weeds appears to help in survival. I haven’t done as well as intended at lifting and clearing out weeds in the ones protected by chicken wire, and when perimeter fence proved at least mostly effective, I removed the cages so mowing could eliminate weeds closer in to plants. Because of the age difference, no inferences can be made, but I figured folks might be interested in the 2 methods, plus the mono-filament usage.
I’ll try to get an update on nut production when the season arrives. The appearance of flowers on a majority of the 2015 plants was very encouraging.
