Wool today, Schnauzers tomorrow

We bought a flock of 7 sheep:

One ewe-"Momma"

 One yearling ram

 One lamb-boy (he's fine, just looks dead)

 One ram-Buck

 One lamb-girl (two pics, one lamb)

 One white ram

 One yearling ewe

We did not plan on shearing this year.  They were past due.  We had to learn everything quickly.  We also had to buy more.  Suffice it to say, I did NOT learn quickly or easily, or quite frankly too well.  We shopped online and bought a clipper at Tractor Supply.
This is the brand everyone said to get.

 Oh what a nice little box

 Oh my-ummmm....

 These were "sheep blades" according to the salesman there (that we are quite familiar with by now) of the same brand.  Now, here's where it gets complicated-GASP:
They sold us Lister Star-clippers of about 80 Watts for clipping horse manes and cattle for shows.  The blades are for shears-specifically made for sheep and wool.

We took it all back and bought actual shears online from a US Lister dealer.  Furthermore, EVERYTHING sheep comes from the UK...period.  The company called us to tell us we don't want shears, we want clippers b/c shears are for people who know what they're doing.....BUT, the clippers they were selling us are the Lister Laser 2.  A significantly more powerful machine (about 140 watts or so).

 And bigger

And heavier...

 And...more complicated...

 They also convinced us to purchase an extra set of blades as one pair will only do so many b4 you have to sharpen them.

 So, yesterday morning, we set out, scared sheepless to have to shear these things.  My main fear being of them getting hurt, or getting scared and hurting us.  Marcus stayed in, but came out later around sheep #5 to watch.  The first sheep took probably 30 minutes or more.  You have to oil, oil, oil, and it's good we bought them b/c I tried to roo more and they wouldn't.  Only that one ewe, only on her neck area...hmm..  SO, We did "Momma" first b/c we wanted to start with an easy one, but not a lamb.  I got to her poopy rear and literally fought back wads of vomit and tears as I noticed maggots crawling out of her flanks.  Blowflies.  We have opted to shave all sheep all year around the rear to prevent this and to dock all lambs not intended for slaughter as well.  Trust me, I love animals, and docking is far preferable to this.  Look it up, I couldn't bring myself to take pictures. Momma is a nursing mother, and we couldn't eat an animal in that condition.  We were worried.

I did a horrendous job.  I got better and managed to trim up some of the first ones when I got done.  I was truly grateful for the extra set of blades, and not having shears.  I still have to clean them.  I then found treatment for the blowflies and sped to get it and hoof clippers (the tin snips would not cut them) along with treatment for foot rot.  I ran back and we treated Momma (who actually appeared grateful), and clipped all but Buck's hooves as Buck will soon be ground lamb burgers.  They have foot rot.  I trimmed what I could and plan to trim again when I retreat Momma after 7 days and treat them for it.  They were so overgrown, and I am so inexperienced, that I wanted to trim more later if that makes since.

The after pictures-no laughing please, I did my best.  And I might add my entire arm from the neck down hurts like I ran the marathon on one arm-that thing is HEAVY!  I give you my little Schnauzers.

My strawberry collection

 Four leaf clover

This one looked like a shriveled up woman in person.  The hook on the bottom was her chin.

 The canteen

 The muppet

 The grumpy old man

I just cut the cheese!!

We made our first mozzarella batch today.  Utilizing this for the first half, and this for the second half, we were able to make our own.

We bought vegetable rennet online.  Let me explain rennet.  At first, I was very angry.  I thought rennet was a new thing for making pasteurized milk work instead of raw.  I was wrong.  Rennet has been around for millenia.  It is extracted from the stomach of dead calves and other ruminant animals.  Well, I just think that's awful.  The vegetable version is cheap and easy to find, please use it.

We started with a little over 9 pounds of milk, or one gallon.  We used whole, unpasteurized milk.  In fact, I normally strip the cream of every batch of milk 24 hours later.  So, I actually poured my little container of cream in with the milk that was pretty much skim in order to make it "whole" again. 

Our milk

Is strained and weighed immediately after collecting

  Actual directions for cheese making are as follows:

Bring milk to 88 degrees F using medium heat (I had it around 5).  I used an old fashion candy thermometer, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

When it gets there, add the rennet. 

Every rennet is different.  You will have to follow your rennet's directions and possibly play around a bit.  We had to dilute our rennet 20 times in water before adding.  This is because our rennet is an extract.  Extracts are made using alcohol of some sort.  The undiluted alcohol would cause problems in the milk.
We did not use ANY cultures.  You do not need cultures for mozzarella with raw milk.

Stir and bit and raise to 105 degrees.

At 105 degrees, turn off the stove and put the lid on the pot for 20 minutes to start.  Our rennet said 45 minutes.  Like I said, follow you directions, etc...

The directions say 1/8 tsp does 2 gallons.  I used 4 drops.  40 minutes later, there were no solid pieces, so I added about 1/4 tsp.  It immediately started coagulating.
Solid pieces immediately started to form

 A peak under the lid later

Pour into cheesecloth over another pot.  The good stuff won't go in the pot, so it doesn't have to be a good one.  Be sure your cheese cloth is secure and doesn't fall in the pot.  We tied ours under the rim with nylon string stuff.

Tie up the bundle and hang over night (or if you do this in the morning, hang all day).
Yeah, we're fancy that way

The liquid is whey, and we gave it to the chickens/ducks. 
Remove the cloth and

Heat one gallon of water with 1/2 cup of salt to 170 degrees F.  Cut the cheese into little pieces (I told you I cut the cheese) about 1-2 inches square.  I had a bunch of whey come out at this point where it was trapped inside pockets or something.

Put the pieces in the water and stir around a bit.
This is where the camera's batteries died and we could find any that would hold a charge.  So, I'm sorry.
Now, at this point, it's supposed to melt and stick together.  Ours did that just fine.  It's also supposed to start getting where you can stretch it out.  Ours didn't do that.  The second link above said she had batches that just wouldn't sometime, so we just continued on.  Drain a bit and squish the cheese into balls.  Mine made 3.  Place in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes and then drain on paper towels on a plate.  We made about 1 pound and 7 ounces out of one gallon of milk---WOW!!

The salt water gives it flavor, so don't leave it out even if you don't stretch it.  Trust me, it needs the salt.

Sheep ahoy!

We have been so insanely busy, I haven't been able to post.  In fact, this is nothing but words really (they'll be one or two pics at the bottom).  And trust me, once you read the sheep story below, you will understand how impossible pictures would have been, and how desirous at the same time.  We were working on the upper fence, see below, and Arlis went down to check on Booger and Betsy.  All of a sudden, he yells up, "There's two!"

"WHAT??"

 I come down there to see the new calf that Betsy does NOT want us to see.  He's up, still a bit wet, and running around without a hitch-awesome.  We can only assume she's had them taken away in the past or something b/c she hides hers crazy like (as you can see from the pics below.  That's the best I can do).  In the meantime, we have been milking Booger with good results, and using the milk.  Yes!!  Grocery bill decreased again!  And there's the convenience benefit, the health benefit....  She comes to the barn to be milked all on her own now-NICE!

Now for the good part.  Arlis finally won, and we went to get sheep.  He wanted Suffolk.  He really wanted them to look like Shaun off the show.  We didn't find Suffolk, but we did find Shetland.  This poor woman's house burnt down, and we bought her seven sheep for $700.  Three rams, two ewes, and two lambs-one of each gender.  They're in great need of hoof trimming and wool shearing.  We planned on doing that next year.  So, on top of everything else, we've had to spend a huge amount of money on sheep shears-NOT cheap!!!-and hoof trimmers, and vaccinate and do everything else we were hoping would already be done.  They do not appear to have foot rot though, for that I am thankful.  They will roo, but it was going to take a very long time.  


two curious rams

One of the ewes appears to be about two (you count their teeth), and one of the rams appears to be in my belly soon (we're going to give them three months pasture time to "flush" their systems).  Another ram we will sell/eat as time goes by.

(Words cannot do this justice-sorry.)


So we show up to the RV she's living is as her house gets built.  She's kept everything is good looking condition (yard wise), so she's obviously a good and decent person with a bit of pride still.  She grabs a loaf of bread from her truck, I assume for lunch, and takes us to the field.  This is where she goes, "Here baby!  Tum here babies!" and tosses them slices of bread.  OK...  They are pets and cute as can be.  She answers our questions and we decide to go ahead and get them.  This is where it gets fun.  We didn't bring the horse trailer, we used the stock racks.  We should have brought the horse trailer.  Arlis starts with the biggest ram.  That was my idea to get it out of the way.  He grabs a hold, and the ram drags him in circles around the stall while the other sheep get trampled and do some trampling themselves to Arlis.  I start laughing so hard I can no longer see what's going on.  He lets go and is now covered in...well you can imagine.  He finds his hat and spits out...I didn't ask.  I laugh harder.  At that time (quoting Mary McCormack) I was a "love challenge" I'm sure.  He grabs a smaller ewe, not much different at first, but he was able to pick it up and shove it on the truck.  Then her lamb, the next ewe and lamb, and the smallest ram.  The two big rams are all that's left.  He jumps on top of one, wraps around it's neck, and rolls it over.  He is then able to lift it and scream for help as it weighs more than he can lift.  I grab the back two legs, get nasty flung all over me, get kicked a few times, and we carry it to the truck.  Last one...he gets out of the stall while we're carrying big boy to the truck.  Bread will NOT coax him into the stall THIS time!  We herd him in, it took 5 of us (her granddaughter was there), and proceed to do the same method on him.  He drags Arlis around first for good measure, knocking my feet out from under me in the process.  We get him in, shut up the truck, and wait for the woman to stop laughing.  She thanked us and told us we have given her one memory to look back on.  Glad to be of service.

  
Unloading wasn't a problem.  One lamb got out and into my strawberry patch.  I was able to catch it when it tried to literally jump through the fence and got stuck.  Of course, the truck smelled like sheep until the second rain, not the first, the second.
We kept them in the calf pen until just recently, as we had to put up smaller fencing over the barbed wire.  This resulted in us working 8 hours in the freezing rain and acquiring several new incisions on our hands.  This also resulted in another set of manure laden clothes as the wire got drug through the patties near the fence line.  And with all the rain we've had, you can imagine how joyous laundry day has been.

Well, that's it for now.  Soon, I'll be able to post about the milk from Booger, wool shearing, and then I'll update with the duck journal.  So, how was your last adventure?