Alberta Winters

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year!

We have been getting our fair share of snow here this month. This morning it took over three hours to clean out the driveway with the tractor and we had to shovel out the ram shelter and the path through a drift to the water trough for the ewes. The snow piles and drifts from earlier in the month grew again with the snow and wind we got last night. We are thankful that we are not lambing in this weather but we did get an early Christmas surprise when one of the cows calved a couple of days before Christmas. Both mom and baby are doing good.

We are expecting lambing to start for most of the flock in late February/ early March. The rams we used this year were Bell Hank 21Z, Prairie Winds 6Y and our commercial black Suffolk ram.

Here are some pictures of the farm yard with the snow

Canadian Sheep Breeder's Scholarship

This year I was chosen as one of the recipients of the Canadian Sheep Breeder's Scholarship. I feel honoured to be chosen and would like to congratulate my fellow recipient Emily Mastine! A short profile of the scholarship recipients can be found on the Canadian Sheep Breeders' Association Website. I encourage anyone who is eligible to apply next year, I know from experience that scholarships can really have an impact when paying for school. Thank-you to the CSBA for supporting my educational pursuits, I will put the money to good use!

PWH at the Priddis and Millarville Fair

On Saturday we attended our 5th Priddis and Millarville Fair. Friday was a busy day of washing, trimming and delivering fair entries and we worked until we ran out of daylight on the 15 sheep entered in the fair.

Saturday was an early morning, waking up just after 4:00 to pack and load the show string up so that we could make it to the fair grounds with time to spare. The sheep show started at 9:00 and it was good to see that there were lots of entries in all sections of the show like last year. We had stock entered in the purebred, grade, market lamb, junior and coloured sections of the show. Once again we also enjoyed warm, sunny weather for the outdoor event and there were a lot of people that came out to see the fair. 

The final placing for the Purebred Ewe 2 yrs. or older class. 

The Coloured Sheep class being judged.

The fair is always a highlight of our summer and we can't wait to go back next year. It was great to visit with all the sheep producers we have got to know over the years and see some new faces as well. A big thank-you to all the organizing volunteers, judges and sponsors that work so hard to make this day a success! 

Our complete show results can be found by clicking the Show News tab.

PWH at the All Canada Classic 2013

Last Thursday we packed up the trailer and drove out to Barriere BC for our first All Canada Classic as exhibitors. With the recent flooding in Alberta earlier in the week we were unsure if we would even be able to make the trip and the day before we left we were sure we would have to make a detour. Luckily thanks to the hard work of the road crews the highway through Canmore was cleared and we made it into town before dark. It was good to see the barn full of sheep and that lots of breeders were able to make the trip to Barriere safely.

Friday the sheep were vet and tattoo checked before being painted with the numbers for the sale. The vet and culling committee worked a very long day to get through the over 300 sheep that were entered in the show and sale. This process is very important to ensure that the animals being sold are all up to a high health standard and have legible tattoos.

The ewe lambs with their lot numbers for the sale.

Show day was Saturday and the Hampshire class was judged by Raymond Read from South Africa. Our lambs stood 5th and 7th in a tough class of Jr. Ewe Lambs. Saturday night was the Banquet and we enjoyed a lamb dinner.

Left: Prairie Winds 40A Middle: Prairie Winds 52A

The sale was held on Sunday with over 300 sheep moving through the sale ring. Luckily the order went alphabetically by breed and the Hampshires weren't too far down the line. 

Prairie Winds 40A sold for $400

Prairie Winds 52A sold for $350

Thank-you to our buyers, the show committee and sponsors for putting on a great event and making our first Classic a successful one. Looking forward to maybe seeing everyone again next year in Ontario.

Summer Synergy Fundraising Auction

Have you heard about Summer Synergy? What about the Summer Synergy Fundraising Auction?

This year the Senior competitors all submitted an auction item as part of the marketing component to be eligible for scholarship money. The proceeds from the auction will benefit the event and go towards supporting the youth that attend this event who are passionate about agriculture. There are some great items, but be sure to check out my brother Dale's entry: http://www.livestockxchange.ca/sale/summer-synergys-online-fundraising-auction/bullseye-print
I featured the original drawing on a previous post when I won the Calgary Stampede Art Scholarship for the rural division with it in 2011. The winning bid will take home a framed art print of 'Bullseye'.

Make sure to register as a bidder and bid on an item or items that grab your eye. The auction ends on June 18 at 7:00 PM. Your support of this event and its youth participants is greatly appreciated!

4-H on Parade 2013

This weekend some of our Hamp cross ewes will be making the trip to Calgary to compete at 4-H on Parade. 

A ewe lamb that will be shown in the sheep show.

The annual Calgary 4-H Region show takes place at the Stampede Grounds and is a highlight to many of the competitors 4-H year. The event takes place from May 31 - June 2 and the full schedule of events can be found by following this link: http://ag.calgarystampede.com/events/550-4-h-on-parade-presented-by-cervus-equipment.html#schedule. The event features livestock shows including beef and dairy cattle, horses and sheep as well as dog classes and a lifeskills display and auction. The shows and displays are all set-up indoors so even if the weather is not perfect you can still enjoy the event. The public is encouraged to come out and support the area's youth who area participating in the event and ask questions about their projects and 4-H experience. Hope to see you there!

Find Us On Facebook

PWH is now on Facebook, like our page for pictures and updates on lambing, shows and more

Prairie Winds Hampshires Facebook Page

The Blackie Babies Are Here!

Black is always in style and last fall we decided to try something a little different by keeping and breeding a black Suffolk cross ram lamb to some of our ewes. For the commercial herd it is nice to have a Suffolk ram to breed to some of the mostly Hamp ewes because they make a good cross. We didn't just select this ram because of his color, but for traits like his length and rate of gain. His dam is also a black Suffolk cross and is a very prolific ewe that has no trouble weaning triplets and has also produced great market lamb projects for 4-H.

The ram 32Z as a lamb (can't find a good picture of him to show what he looks like now).

We were pretty interested in how using this ram would affect the color of the lambs and how many would take after their daddy. So far there have been 3 black ewe lambs born that 32Z has sired (a set of twin lambs, and a triplet from another ewe). While his lambs have had smaller birth weights on average as compared to lambs out of the Hamp rams, they have all been smart, lively lambs. His dam also had a black ewe lamb in her set of triplets born this year out of a Hamp ram. 

I think having a black lamb in the show ring really stands out, especially if your competing against a class where you literally are the black sheep. These ewe lambs might make their way into the show ring as they are very clean, correct, feminine and have lots of length, overall they're very stylish. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the lambs sired by this ram will look and turn out like.

First Lambs of the Year

This morning we finally got our first set of lambs! Our estimated start date was on Jan. 12, so even though they have waited until today to start we weren't too far off with our guess using a gestation table. We are very lucky to have mild winter weather to make it easier on the new babies.

The ewe, 'Bear', and her lambs. 

The ewe that lambed is my brother's 4-H mature ewe (2 years old) that will be shown this year with the lambs she had today at 4-H shows. She gave birth to twins: one boy who weighed 10.5 lbs. and one girl who weighed 11 lbs., for twin lambs these are good birth weights. 
For now they are the only ones with a pen but the rest of the barn is open for the flock to use. All ewes get their own separate pen once they lamb to bond with their lambs and for easier monitoring. They are given clean straw bedding, water, feed, a salt block and if the weather is cold a heat lamp for the lambs to sleep under. 

My ram Prairie Winds 6Y, the daddy of the lambs.

All of the lambs born from now until the middle/end of February are sired by a Hampshire ram from my own program. He is a yearling and this was the first year we used him for breeding. This first set of lambs means he was able to get the job done and we are even more happier that they are twins. Here is a link to his pedigree.

It is always good to start the year off with a pair of healthy lambs. As the barn continues to fill up I will try to keep posting pictures and updates. Happy lambing to everyone!