Today we took our flock of 7 ewes and ewe lambs to meet their new boyfriends. We split them up over 3 different rams based on who would best compliment each one’s physical features. The stocky, big ewes went in with stylish, finer boned rams and vice versa. It made for a long day since the handsome bachelors live almost 2 hours away. We made a lot of stops on the way back too. We ordered a new back door for the house so that when the builder comes back to install the new front door he can do them both at once. That will be soooo nice. It is hard to juggle paying off our debt with cash flowing the farm and fixing up the house all at the same time. I’m glad we can still fit in some improvements here and there.We had a gift card for Cracker Barrel so we had dinner there – we even got my Mom and sister to come with us so that was nice. I’m tired, off to bed. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!
Continue readingCategory: sheep
Well, We’re Back
Very long, but covers the last 2 days… So we did have a good vacation, it was just shorter than we wanted. We visited Shipshewana on Tuesday. It was nice but the flea market was mostly junk. I heard it is a lot better earlier in the season. The little shops were neat to visit. I thought it would take 2 days but we were ready to leave well before lunch time. We stopped by McGrew Tractor Parts. Brian walked around and looked at tractors and equipment for quite awhile. I was happy as a clam knitting in the truck. I even found the Dave Ramsey Show on the radio. We drove over to Michigan City and somehow drove right past all the hotels, well within a block of them, without realizing it. We ended up downtown and then we drove along the coast for a long time. We were having fun but it was like something out of a movie. There was nothing for miles. Then we found a sign for the town of “Dune Acres”. It was more like Green Acres. There was a nice little town clerk in a sheriff type uniform and you couldn’t even get
Continue readingVacation: Rough Start
We worked and worked and stayed up late on Thursday so we could get out of here Friday morning. We planned to leave by “10 or 11” and pulled out of the driveway at 11:05. Typical! We left separately, me with the horse trailer and a ewe we were going to drop off at the breeder’s and Brian with the pickup we were dropping off to be worked on while we were gone. I went to the bank, he made a few stops, and we met up at his uncle’s (he is our mechanic). I parked on the road and got out to check the ewe. I opened the side door on the trailer and was surprised that the ewe didn’t startle and jump up. It took me a few seconds to realize why. She must have put her front feet up on the manger (4ft tall) and got her left front foot stuck in a big gap where the manger had rusted out. To make it worse, she tried to get down and ended up in an almost sitting position, essentially hanging from her foot with it way above her head and her toe pointing at the ground, thus
Continue readingCounty Fair Fun!
These pictures aren’t the greatest but I wanted to share all the fun things that happened last week at our county fair! Our niece bracing her lamb.Our other neice, Jill. Her sheep was being very stubborn and holding up the class but Jill handled it like a champ.Jill setting her lamb’s feet in the proper place. She ended up winning her class!Our nephew showing in the Cloverbud class. The little ones are supervised by an older helper and no ribbons are awarded. It is a great way for them to learn.The best part: my caramel apple!!It is hard to tell in this picture but this steer weighs 1800 pounds!Aren’t the sheep cute in their pajamas!We went up on Sunday night to see the animals and exhibits. Then we went back on Tuesday to watch our nieces show their sheep. They did great and I learned a lot from watching. Do you attend your county’s fair? What’s your favorite thing to see or do?
Continue readingMore About That Sheep… Update
This is a continuation of yesterday’s post about a lamb we found dead. It might bore you but I thought some people might be interested in what we suspect to be the real cause of death, especially if you might raise sheep of your own someday. We happen to have a relief vet at work this week so I shared my story of the dead lamb with her. She, of course, thought about it a little more logically than me. She pointed out that A)There is no way that all those intestines should have come out even if she had started a major coughing fit and B)Even if they did come out, that wouldn’t have killed her. We hear about vaginal/uterine prolapses all the time and the cow or sheep simply lies there until the vet comes to put everything back in. The only way the prolapse itself would have killed that lamb is if there was a lot of blood loss or other trauma to those parts. I didn’t see any blood or evidence of that when I found her. So… what killed her? For that I called a nearby large animal vet that just loves these kind of
Continue readingDisturbing Find and Thinking Like A Farmer
***This post contains unpleasant details and is not for the weak.*** I had a very unpleasant surprise this morning as I made my rounds doing chores. I found one of our lambs – dead. She was the first lamb born on the farm. The cause of death was pretty obvious. She had prolapsed rectally, which basically means quite a bit of her intestines had come out her rear end. She developed a cough when she was quite young and as a result she put a lot of strain on the muscles that hold everything in. She would show a small rim of pink flesh around the rear occasionally. After moving the lambs out to pasture a few weeks ago things seemed to be getting much better for her. I haven’t seen her cough for a good 2 weeks and there was no sign of a prolapse beginning. Last night she ate very well right along with the other lambs and acted very normal. On one hand, I totally blame myself. I should have taken quicker action and treated her with supplements or found some way to eliminate this problem. On the other hand, I had every indication that the problem
Continue readingThey’re chickens, not ducks!
So the chickens are drinking so much in this hot weather that we drug the hose right out there. Every few days we drag it back and fill the other animal’s big tanks. Tonight I went out and watered the chickens… then I came back up and we worked on the fence for about 3 hours. We finished it and weaned the lambs by putting them out on pasture and leaving the ewes in the garage. I’m hoping their milk will dry up this week – they won’t get any grain and will have only old hay this week. The babies are crying but the moms don’t seem to mind much right now. Once the hard work was all done Brian went up to grab a pail of water for the lambs. Guess what? I had left the hose water on. For. 3. hours. Brian suggested I go check and see if they needed a life raft. They didn’t, since there shelter was there raft surrounded by 2 inches of water on all sides. I knew I put a floor in that thing for a reason!! Too bad the flooding wasn’t Mother Nature’s fault instead of mine. What a waste.
Continue readingNotes About Sheep
This is kind of long but I want to share some of the things I’ve learned about raising sheep since acquiring my first two lambs about 15 months ago. I’ve tried to break it up by topic so you can find what you’re interested in. Right now I can sum up my feelings about sheep pretty easily: I love sheep, but sometimes I don’t. Why, you ask? Sheep are a better alarm system than any dog or machine. They are still in their pen in the old garage which is way too close to the house. They have hay and fresh water in front of them at all times but twice a day we give them grain. They expect us to grain them before we do anything else in the morning. We tiptop from our bedroom to the other end of the house in the dark to avoid waking them. If you let the dogs out at 5 or 6 AM you better be very quiet and hope the dogs stay in the front yard. At the first sign of life from us, including the dogs running by their pen, it starts. Bah………….bah. Bah? Bahhhhhhhh. Baahhhhrrrrrhhh.BAHHHHHHH!!!!!! BAHHHHHHHH!!!!! BAAAHHRRR!!! BAHHHHHRRRHH!!! And
Continue readingThe Lambs are Confused…
Apparently the lambs misunderstood how their feeder works. It is supposed to be a walk-thru feeder for people to walk-thru and dispense feed, not a walk-in feeder for little lambs to play in. They must have missed the memo about that.
Continue readingVisitors!
I just love it when people come to visit our farm. I hope people take me seriously when I invite them out because having visitors is one of my favorite things about living on the farm. Especially when the visits include children. I get a kick out of their reactions and how their eyes light right up. Today we had our good friends over with a whole group of little ones. The smaller children were a little leery of the lambs at first but I think everyone petted them eventually. Of course the mama sheep were more than happy to be bribed with all of the corn the kids fed them. Next, I brought out a hen for them to feel and passed out eggs to the older kids. That didn’t last too long because of the potential for breakage but they were pretty excited to hold them for a few minutes. Then, everyone trudged out in the cold to pet the horses. Pooh Bear and Pistol stole the show but I believe they were wondering were their treats were. I invited them all back in a month or two when we’ll have baby chicks to see. How fun! Do
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