The countdown has begun! February is the month to prepare for kidding/lambing ... in fact, I started preparations in January!

1. Go through last falls breeding notes/calendar and mark possible due dates on my 2007 calendar. Make sure all present livestock has a production record.

2. Make sure all pregnant ewes and does are vaccinated for CD/T approx 2 weeks to 4 weeks prior to lambing/kidding. Trim a path to and around udders on heavily wooled animals. Crutch. Delouse .

3. Set up pens in maternity shed. Clean and check incubator barrels. Collect and wash small buckets and feeders for pens.

4. Collect old clean towels and kid sweaters (available to purchase at my ebay store)

5. Review supplies : 7% iodine for navels, ear tags, elastrator bands, barn record sheets, batteries for flashlights, wormer, latex gloves, antibiotic, frozen colostrum and milk

6. Start feeling for udders/checking back ends to identify which moms to keep an eye on. This is best done during feeding time, when the front end is distracted in the feed trough and all the back ends are lined up.

7. Locate hair dryer, old electric blanket, infant monitor,

It won't be long!

THANKS to buyers in Iowa and Kansas for purchasing all the HMFF sheep featured in last months issue of Seasons Bleatings. I wish I had more to offer, but am down to bare bones now

Navajo Angora Goat Preservation Project

A Navajo Angora Record has been announced by Debra Haden of the Southwest fiber Goat Association. Please contact Debra at goatgirl@wildblue.net for a copy of the recordation form . Recordation is free at this time and is intended to identify those goats who meet the criteria of "Navajo" type and the breeders who are preserving them. The Navajo is defined as a mohair producing goat with little to no grease, clean legs and faces, full body cover. Many of the early Colored Angora breeders used Navajo types in their initial breeding programs to establish color and then bred back and selected for traits similar to registered white angoras (ie full face and leg cover and grease fleece) .

While I love the style and beauty of the present standard of the Colored Angora, I can also appreciate the practicality of the open, greaseless fleece and the genetic vigor apparent in the Navajo types. Over the last 5 years or so , I have selected strictly for the retro-greaseless trait and in so doing, have returned to a goat very similar to those original goats, without sacrificing uniformity or character. The fleeces sell right off the goat! Can't argue with that...

HMFF supports and will be participating in the Navajo Angora Goat Record .

For Sale:

Beauty's Bunch Destiny

will be available as a freshened doe after kidding this month. Fresh doe alone price will be $185 Destiny is disbudded, a good mom, twinned in 2006 as a yearling, registered American Alpine. She is a smallish doe however, and I hope to find her a home where she can receive individual attention. She is gentle enough for my 5 year old granddaughter to handle and took angora foster kids last year.

HMFF Charlotte's Boy 06

This is a buck unrelated to Destiny above . He is a twin, disbudded, registerable FRENCH ALPINE with wattles. His dam is one of my favorite house milkers... and his sire is Beniesoit Tate Tristan, an outstanding black/white sundgau . $150

for more information on HMFF sheep or goats contact me at hmffarm@fidnet.com I require a 50% deposit to hold your choice. Paypal accepted.