Appalachian Hills Farm

Appalachian Hills Farm A local farm in the Laurel Highlands; Specialize in raising llamas, sheep and alpacas; Creating hand-spun yarns & rovings

We installed new fans for the animals. Yes, they are blue. Installing them took almost as much time as it took us to fee...
06/23/2025

We installed new fans for the animals. Yes, they are blue. Installing them took almost as much time as it took us to feed everyone. The fans can't hang straight because the animals are lower and the air would flow over them. As I stood on the ladder trying for the best angle Lee guided me on the angle from the animals' area.
We have timers attached to the cords so the fans will turn on in the morning and run until around ten o'clock at night.
All of the animals were doing well with this first really hot day. In fact they seemed cooler than Lee and myself. Of course they were able to rest while we were working.
The animals have free access to the mineral salt mix year round but during hot spells we offer a mix with added powdered electrolytes. We also fill extra water troughs. Lee and I take a couple of thermos bottles with us so we can stay hydrated. I also place spray bottles of water around the barn to use to cool us off.

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Spotz, an alpaca, has some new deer to watch. This set of twins were roaming near his paddock. The whole time they were ...
06/22/2025

Spotz, an alpaca, has some new deer to watch. This set of twins were roaming near his paddock. The whole time they were playing and grazing Spotz was quiet. He watched them but didn't say anything. The fawns strolled out of sight then an adult which I think was their mom came into view. Well that was too much for Spotz. He took one look at that deer and he loudly called out an alarm.
I am not sure why an adult looks scary while two babies look safe.
Later I saw another doe with a single fawn skirting one of the pastures. Throughout last year there was a herd of five who stayed close to the pastures. It will be exciting if all of them have a fawn.

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Earlier this week Hazel's ram lamb passed. He didn't want to nurse after the first day. Hazel had limited milk on one si...
06/21/2025

Earlier this week Hazel's ram lamb passed. He didn't want to nurse after the first day. Hazel had limited milk on one side and that was the side he insisted on nursing. I milked Hazel so he could have his fill of her milk but after a couple of days he refused the bottle. I still made sure he continued to have meals but he couldn't keep his body temperature up. With the warm temperature I would have worried about him being too hot instead of too cold. We used the usual methods to get him warm and were successful but within an hour he was cold again. This was one of those times when I wish an animal could talk so I would know how to help. Obviously there was something wrong with him that I couldn't see.
Happily Hazel's little ewe lamb is thriving. Today she was nibbling on some grain. She is growing and has developed her own feisty personality. She doesn't like being held but today she did come over to where I was standing to smell my hand.
Hazel maintains the light brown fleece she had at birth. This little girl is much darker. Like her mom she doesn't have any white markings.
So far Hazel is the only ewe out of the group of naughty ewes to have a lamb.

Hope you have a fun first weekend of summer.

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This two year old mullein plant is one of thirty growing in a pasture. To many this is just an annoying w**d. To me it i...
06/20/2025

This two year old mullein plant is one of thirty growing in a pasture. To many this is just an annoying w**d. To me it is a useful plant.
The leaves and flowers are edible but the main benefit is their medicinal use. This plant has anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and expectorant properties just to name a few of how it is helpful.
The leaves are covered in velvet like hairs that can be unpleasant if eaten raw. The leaves and flowers can be used in a liquid infusion to drink or use as a liquid topical. A tea made from the leaves can soothe laryngitis.
An oil infusion is good for earaches and inflammations of the skin. This comes in handy to use after a fly strike on the sheep. The raw affected area responds well with a few applications of this mullein oil. It helps soothe the skin. Its antibacterial property helps prevent infection. The list of how this plant is beneficial is quite extensive.
During the Covid pandemic when toilet paper was scarce some country folks used the leaves. Not us but many on the homestead pages mentioned how handy this was. Once the flower stalk has reached its peak the stalk can be dried and used as a torch. This was a common use during colonial times.
If the plants aren't being invasive we let them grow. The small yellow flowers are visited by the insect pollinators and hummingbirds. The tiny seeds are food for other birds. What isn't eaten falls to the ground to start a new plant.
The animals ignore them as food. The rams do enjoy them as something to butt. It is not uncommon to see some of the taller plants get flattened due to a playful ram.
Recently mullein has been offered as a native plant by some nurseries for those who are planting native plant meadows and for herbalists.
Once the rain stops I will collect some leaves to dry. I am always hesitant to pick the flowers because I don't want to take away from the insects and birds but with a plentiful crop this year I will be able to harvest some flowers.

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This young one was our visitor this evening. It was working its way along the driveway. In all of my years I have never ...
06/19/2025

This young one was our visitor this evening. It was working its way along the driveway.
In all of my years I have never seen a snapping turtle. There was a pond nestled into the hillside below the farm house but it was only home to frogs and water bugs. That pond is no longer in existence but there is a marsh area from the spring house to the creek. There are ponds on four of the neighboring properties.
Snapping turtles can travel at least ten miles to find nesting spots or new home sites. This turtle might be traveling to one of the ponds or it might decide to live in the marsh.
In the wild the lifespan of a snapping turtle is around fifty years. A mature turtle's shell should be eighteen to twenty inches in length. This one was not much bigger than my hand which is why I knew it was young. I did pick it up to get a closer look at it. I was also checking for any injuries. It did not struggle or attempt to defend itself. I returned it to the exact spot in the same position when I put it down. As soon as it touched the ground it walked away at a quick pace which surprised me. I am used to the slow pace of a box turtle.
Snapping turtles have a flat shell compared to a box turtle which has a domed shell. The nose on a snapping turtle is pointed. The box turtle has a flat nose. A box turtle has a short tail and a snapping turtle has a long tail which helps as the turtle moves through the water.
This encounter was very unexpected but it will rank in the top five of our interesting wild life meet and greets.

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06/18/2025

Our day was filled with rain. In a few hours we received almost two inches. All our plans for replacing a broken post were dashed. We knew there was a prediction of rain but we believed we could work in between showers or work in light rain. The heavy downpours changed those plans.
I decided to use that bonus time to spin some soft gray Shetland roving from Sweetie. The yarn has a slight tw**d appearance due to the fluctuations in the fleece.
By late afternoon we were gifted with an hour window of no rain. This would give us time to feed Turbo without having to worry about his food being washed away. I returned the roving to its bag and secured it with a twist tie. I have learned to never leave roving exposed because Onyx will decorate the house with it.
We were outside for a couple of hours feeding and checking fence lines for fallen trees and limbs.
Onyx met us at the door when we returned. In his mouth was a twist tie.
That clever rascal removed the tie as well as some roving. Fortunately he only decorated the dining room.
I truly believe he would be in engineering or be an inventor if he was a human.

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Turbo had a delay for his evening meal. He of course did not understand that the feed barrels were compromised. I though...
06/17/2025

Turbo had a delay for his evening meal. He of course did not understand that the feed barrels were compromised. I thought Fluffy would quickly slither away but instead the barrels became a napping spot. The mice that usually scamper around the base of the barrels were hiding. They probably knew danger was lurking above them.
Black snakes are not aggressive. They will occasionally try to defend themselves but most of the time they quickly leave. To them we are predators.
Just when I decided to use a broom to gently encourage Fluffy to leave it slowly angled down the side of the barrel. It is amazing how they can move vertically without falling.
Turbo stomped his way to his stone when I was finally able to feed him. He definitely was out of sorts because he had to wait.

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Biscuit holds the record for being a father. He had twenty nine lambs born in a two week time frame two years ago. There...
06/16/2025

Biscuit holds the record for being a father.
He had twenty nine lambs born in a two week time frame two years ago. There were ten sets of twins and nine singles. All of these were conceived during a one night raid he did on the ewes.
All had brown fleeces. A few of the lambs had white facial markings.
Some years we have had more lambs than that but those were out of multiple rams.
Of course Biscuit doesn't realize he is a record holder.

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A few years ago Little Guy, a wether, was a bottle lamb. He had a devoted mother but she didn't have enough milk for him...
06/15/2025

A few years ago Little Guy, a wether, was a bottle lamb. He had a devoted mother but she didn't have enough milk for him and his sibling. It was a situation of eeny meeny miny moe to determine which lamb became the bottle lamb. Even though he stayed with his mom he followed us around when we were in the pasture. It wasn't uncommon to have him watch over our shoulders as we knelt on the ground fixing fence.
Little Guy and his sibling Honey, a ewe, were born with a medium brown fleece. Their fleeces haven't changed much through the years. The tips on both of their fleeces fade to a lighter brown that gives the yarn a slight tw**d appearance.
Today Little Guy was not very excited with the occasional rain. He did follow me as I went to check on their spring. He was a bit damp but we shared a nice hug. Of course he had a couple of treats.

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They only see each other once a year but they are buddies. Harper and our out of state city granddaughter worked on some...
06/14/2025

They only see each other once a year but they are buddies.
Harper and our out of state city granddaughter worked on some training patterns during her visit.
Ted and I watched from the side lines. We gave guidance to the two learners. This was a good practice because I was able to observe Harper to see how he reacts to commands from someone besides Lee and myself.
When they were finished we gave everyone a thorough check for ticks. Even though the dogs have been treated with repellent they can still carry ticks indoors. We use a tight toothed comb to search for tick hitchhikers on Ted and Harper.
Unfortunately we can't comb through the fleeces on the sheep, alpacas, and llamas who can also have hitchhiking ticks.
Ticks and mosquitoes are two things we dislike about warm weather. Turbo dislikes the flies which disrupt his days. We use a citronella based fly spray multiple times a day on him. We also add garlic granules to his meals. During the summer our barn carries the faint scent of garlic.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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Turbo has a love hate relationship with the sheep. He loves having them as companions especially at night. I often see T...
06/13/2025

Turbo has a love hate relationship with the sheep. He loves having them as companions especially at night. I often see Turbo sleeping at night with the sheep gathered around. I also see him put his ears back and stomp his foot if they walk too near him during the day.
When I have the gate open between their areas so the sheep can move freely back and forth Turbo ambles inside their part of the barn to hang out with them. He does not like having them enter his barn. I have seen sheep quickly exit his barn with him pushing them out the door.
Then there are days like today when they graze companionably as if they are the best of friends.
It is a complicated respectful friendship that works for them.

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Magenta and her yearling lamb, Finn, are often together. It is not uncommon for sheep to form bonds with others however ...
06/12/2025

Magenta and her yearling lamb, Finn, are often together. It is not uncommon for sheep to form bonds with others however most lambs form bonds with the other lambs. Finn does interact with the others but he seems to prefer the company of his mother.
Finn is part of the color line in our sheep names. Finn is an actual color.
Some of Magenta's family members include Scarlet, Emerald, Goldie, Copper, Teal, Blue, and Aqua. The color line started with a ewe named Jewel who was Emerald's and Goldie's mom. Since our cats are named after gems I went with colors for this line to prevent any confusion.
Both Magenta and Finn were born with black fleeces. They have white facial markings. Before they were a year old their fleeces turned gray. Magenta's fleece is a medium gray while Finn is a shade darker. I am not sure if he will stay this shade or if he will become a lighter gray. Magenta's fleece has been this shade for a few years so I believe it will remain a medium gray.
The fleece color spectrum in this line includes white, brown, fawn, black, and gray. Some were born with their current color others have changed as they aged. Many sheep breeds have fleece colors another than white but they often stay that color throughout their life. Two examples are the Gotland breed which has a steel gray shade and Welsh Mountain sheep with a black fleece. Shetland sheep are one of the few who change shades and hues as they mature. We do have some who have retained their birth color but many change. Keeping track of who is who as they change color can be a challenge.

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Address

Latrobe, PA
15650

Telephone

(724) 423-8107

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