#217 HMFF ______ Hybrid Leicester Yearling Ram. I just sheared him and WOW what a great silver fleece... so uniform, lustrous. Rare silver blackbelly pattern. I think I am going to take his fleece to Bethel for the fleece competition. Dam is HMFF Guenevere (one of my favorite all time Border Leicester ewes) and BT BlackPark (aka Parker/BFL Champion) He is fat and sassy after a summer's grazing and ready to work this fall! $250

When the White House received Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip for dinner during their visit last month, guess what they served? American spring lamb with chanterelle sauce (chanterelles are a marvelous type of mushroom that grow here in my woods!) with fricassee of baby vegetables, spring pea soup with fernleaf lavender and chive pizzelle with American caviar, Sole almondine, roasted artichokes, pequilloa peppers and olives, arugula, Savannah mustard and mint romaine with Champagne dressing and trio of farmhouse cheeses (hope one of them was goat cheese). Whew! Quite a menu!

Educating Sheep
Sheep lazily graze in a vineyard, munching on weeds growing between the vines
at the University of California’s (UC) Hopland Research and Extension Center
near Ukiah.
Sheep have been used by farmers for centuries to control unwanted vegetation,
but there was always a tradeoff. In addition to keeping down weeds, unknowing
sheep would snack on the crop itself. So UC Cooperative Extension is trying to
give the animals an education.
“We have a project to train sheep to have an aversion to grape leaves,” said
Morgan Doran, Solano County livestock advisor and leader of the research
project. “If sheep avoid grapes, they can graze the floor of a vineyard,
providing farmers an alternative to using herbicides and mowing.”
Based on extensive research on animal behavior, sheep that have never
experienced grape leaves are allowed to eat their fill of the leaves. They are
then administered a small dose of lithium chloride, a harmless medicine that
creates the sensation of an upset stomach.
“The sheep experience a brief period of malaise,” Doran said. “They recover
quickly, but they don’t seem to forget, even after nine months.”
Initial field observations of trained sheep show they don’t like immature
grapes or grape leaves, while their untrained counterparts do.
The sheep training research has many potential benefits for grape producers and
sheep herd managers.
“In very wet years, farmers may not be able to get tractors into the vineyard
to mow or apply herbicides,” Doran said. “The sheep can easily get in and clear
the vegetation regardless of mud and rain.”
In dry years, vineyards provide an additional food source for sheep.
“There is a tremendous amount of feed growing on the floor of the vineyard, so
it gives a sheep producer an alternative feed source when traditional feed
sources on the range may be low,” Doran said.
Reprinted in part from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

The Australian wool industry has been on a quest to find an alternative to
conventional shearing for decades. This week, the most promising upright posture
shearing platform (UPSP) was unveiled. (gee... I've been shearing upright for years now)
The UPSP is designed to overcome the back breaking and injury prone nature of
traditional shearing and includes a race, loader and tipping cradle that lowers
the sheep onto a platform in front of the shearer.
The retail cost is about A$15,000 per unit.
A 2004-2005 Australian Wool Innovation occupational safety and health report
estimated the total cost of shearing injuries to be A$35 million a year.
Reprinted in part from North Queensland Register, Australia