She’s a very tactile person. She loves playing with fiber both on and off the hoof. I have to admit there are some days that you get an itch in a hard to reach spot and she can find it! We all love a good body rub! Oh, my name is Rose, let me finish my carrot before I continue - need to be polite!
This is Lady Jane - she’s my mom. Mom was abused by her 1st owner before I was born. I was born when mom was sold to the 2nd owner. Miss Beth is my mom’s 4th and my 3rd owner. Mom is very mistrusting of people after being handled wrong. Miss Beth has worked very hard at earning Mom’s trust. Now Mom will go over the teeter-totter obstacle as long as Miss Beth is on the other end of the lead. That is a big deal if you had seen Mom when we 1st came here! Yes, Mom is the head critter here at WillowLark.
This Miss Beth’s boy, Dylan and his Alpaca - Dawn’s Early Light. Dawn will never be bred as her ovaries are undeveloped. That means cria-like fiber every year! Miss Beth loves that idea! She’s a good 4-H alpaca for Dylan!
Here’s WillowLark’s Colored Angoras;Merlin, Sophie, Pixie and Arthur. They are a friendly bunch. Lil’ Finn is in the picture but he wasn’t born yet…lol.
There’s Lil’ Finn!
This is Andy. A rejected ram lamb. His mother was slamming him against the barn and Miss Beth was offered Andy as the breeder didn’t want to feed another bottle baby. Miss Beth was concerned about internally injuries, so Andy got to be in the house for ten days. Andy would sleep on the dog pillow or with the dogs during naptime and spent nights in a large dog box. When Andy came out to the barn, Miss Beth had him in a fleece lamb coat. Mom and I took over from there and we’ve been “raising” Andy, keeping him out of trouble and such. Mom puts him to bed in the barn same time every night…7:30ish. Andy sleeps in a corner and Mom lays down in front of him.I think Andy has species issues. He plays with the family’s two former foster Boxers they adopted. He hangs out with us - llamas. Andy has even gone to the “pile” and eliminate just like us! And he likes to snuggle up with Miss Beth and Courtney. (Miss Beth’s 3rd Daughter -19). So is he a sheep or a llama-dog-human-sheep? He’ll figure it out!
This is a pic of Andy last month.
That’s me, my Mom and Trooper from right to left. I tried to upload a pic of Trooper by himself but it just didn’t work. Remember, I’m a llama and my toes make it hard to type. Trooper was rescued by Miss Beth and Miss Courtney from a farm that had to remove the llamas or they would be put down the next day. They helped to rescue 20 llamas that day. Trooper was a yearling when he came. He will never go to show or do PR work as his digestive tract goes crazy when he’s stressed. So Trooper gets to stay on the farm and never have to worry about food again! Trooper loves Mr. Tim the most out of anyone here!
The rest of the critters photos won’t load so I’ll just have to write without props I guess. I will give them their moment in the spotlight though:
Jrflection, Rosetta, Dain and Jubie are the LaMancha does. Miss Beth had to drink goat’s milk as a kid due to allergies and she has raised her brood on gmilk too. I still can’t get over the fact that they look like they lost their ears. Miss Beth told us they are good examples of the breed, so I guess the ears are meant to be tiny. Oh, and Tag-you’re-it came to the farm Sunday…don’t get too close as that buck reeks! I’ll be so happy when breeding season is over. The does like the buck to smell like that? What are they thinking. I’ve mentioned Andy - the Corriedale ram lamb. The other sheep is a black/silver Corriedale - Brunhilda - Bruni for short. Add Bowen and Jewel the pygmies and that is the end of the quadrupeds. Toss in the ducks, chickens, and dogs and it’s a large family!
Miss Beth loves to spin our fiber! I swear she’s like me when I see my favorite grain coming. Miss Beth doesn’t dance around as much but boy just look at her smile when she’s cleaning a fleece!
When it’s Spring Shearing time, while waiting our turn, you can see Miss Beth skirting the fleeces as Mr. Doug shears us. When the humans take a break you can see Miss Beth labeling a lock of fiber from each critter. Then she takes a little of fiber and hand spins it to see if the blend is working for her. That woman loves that fiber!
Miss Beth loves color, you should see her yarn stash! But our fleeces she likes to keep natural. Miss Beth was working on a combo of my medium brown llama fiber and some cream/apricot angora. It was quite pretty. I think that is why she loves Colored Angoras and the possibilities that can be created with her blends. When Miss does dye a batch, she prefers natural dyes . You can see her on sunny days gathering her various plants - planted and wild - to get going on her dyeing. You should have seen the big wagon, full of Goldenrod she harvested!
Why was Miss Beth talking about an essay contest to win a small Angora flock? Seemed strange to us, but the animals here at WillowLark decided to write an essay for her. Miss Beth is happiest when she’s with us. Even on her worst days, you will find her coming to the barn for respite from her Fibromyalgia. I mentioned her health not to gain pity for her but to explain why a lady is coming out to the barnyard and sitting in the cast iron bathtub the goats lay in and petting anyone who comes by. No matter how bad she hurts - she still does the day’s chores twice a day, plus playtime with us. Miss Beth tells us that we are God’s gift to her when she’s hurting. We get a great rubdown too!
Miss Beth, her husband Tim, daughters Hillary, Lindsey, Courtney, her son Dylan, grand cubs - Bailey, Chealee, Jolie, Sophie and baby Nolan (due in December), enjoy critters. The family is very 4-H. Sitting on ten acres with another 20 acres coming after…not going to go there! A special grain mixture that Miss Beth’s mom came up with that serves all our needs - yes my candy as Miss Courtney calls it. Top quality hay - no mold ever hits our hay racks. Detailed records on each of us, from worming to any innoculations we need, heat cycles for the goats, it is all recorded. Rotation of fresh grass, always improving fencing and shelters - Miss Beth is always doing something that has to deal with fiber!
Why Miss Beth? She and her family promote Colored Angoras and their worth to anyone they talk to. It’s amazing how happy she gets when she’s talking about her goats with fiber!
I hope I did Miss Beth justice! I know she hates talking about herself. She’d rather be doing - not tooting her own horn.
It would be great to win this wonderful flock for Miss Beth. If she doesn’t - Congratulations to you who did win!
I’ll keep my toes crossed for luck,
Cherokee Rose Bud
