# Misfitmorgan's - Babies 2020



## misfitmorgan

And so it starts.

Our first lamb was born to our FF ewe 308 on 01/13 between 8pm-midnight. 308 had a large single ram lamb who appears to be in good health, she is feeding him well and taking care of him well. 308 was a triplet so we will be hoping for multiples from her next season. (yes i will get you pics)
FF - single ram lamb (2018)

308's full sister 310 is we believe also bred and should be lambing in the next month. 310 is also of course a triplet and FF.

Sweetie will be a 3F and looks very bred. Sweetie was a single and we expect a single from her. We expect her to lamb in the next month.
FF - single ewe lamb (2016 maggie)
2F - single ram lamb (2017)

"The Polypay" - also looks bred. She is a 4F and an excellent mother usually always giving us a single. Polypay is a not a seasonal breeder so she could lamb at any time though should be in the next month or two.
FF - single ewe lamb (2016)
2F single ram lamb (2017)
3F single ram lamb (2017)

I will get pics and update on the other ewe's when i get time..hopefully tomorrow.


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## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> (yes i will get you pics)


Good thing because you KNOW you will be cut from the herd if you don't


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## Latestarter

Congrats on the successful ram lamb.


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## Baymule

I love lamb pictures! haha You are a Lammy Grammy!


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## misfitmorgan

Ok we are now not sure if 310 or 308 is the mother of the ram lamb. I saw a bag on 308 and the ram lamb hanging out by her for several hours and then yesterday DH said he saw the ram lamb nursing on 310 he thought. I was going to go out and check better but it was sowing like mad, i will have to go check today. We ended up getting a foot of snow, the drive into work was a bit insane.

I did get this pic from the back deck though when the snow stopped for a minute. Of course there is no lamb in it 




 
That is the sheep/goat/llama/goose shed. The building with the slider door is the shop, its actually much bigger then it looks in this pic and the building on the far right is the 2 story barn. You can see DH and our friend Carl went around the temp fence and pulled it up off the ground out of the snow with t-posts.


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## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> Ok we are now not sure if 310 or 308 is the mother of the ram lamb


Um, isn't one of them still fat and the other not??

Ooh look at all the nice buildings!!

I've never seen a 2 dimensional silo before. How much grain can you store in that??


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## misfitmorgan

With sheep covered in wool, looking fat or not isnt exactly an easy thing to look at them and see. I will have to go in the pen today and feel them to see who is still prego feeling and who is not. DH said maybe they are both letting him nurse which would be bad because whoever hasnt had their lamb yet would have no colostrum for it. I will get it sorted today. I know for sure the polypay is bred and not lambed as of yet and sweetie as well. The others are not sure sure's yet, i was not even positive the young girls were bred until the lamb appeared. We dont britch our sheep for lambing because it stays so cold here so udders are harder to see, we typically just feel for them instead.

They are nice buildings really. We found out the previous owner was a mason which explains the first story of the two story being cinder blocks and the odd basement additions. He also had a sawmill for a short while which explains the second store of the 2 story building being all rough sawn lumber....including the outside steps which rotted.

Are you perhaps making fun of our tin? It was something like -10 with 25mph winds the day DH and i put that up..we were just glad we got it up to close off part of the doorway before we nearly froze to death. It is temporary. Surprisingly that little wood shed they are in(carport someone covered with wood and put a real roof over) is very wind tight and low enough it stays warmer inside then outside with the herd in there. Now if they would stop eatting their bedding it would help.

We are debating making some jugs, i want to but i dont want to stress out the expecting moms and at this point if we did that the only sheep left in the pasture would be the rams.


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## Bruce

Honestly I thought it was a couple of panels of a silo that had been taken down. I'm surprised the wind hasn't flattened it over above the roof line. Would love to see more pictures of that 2 story barn inside and out.


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## Baymule

What a great find on this house. Barns already in place, a shop, count your blessings!


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## Latestarter

What Bay said! Those are some awesome looking outbuildings.


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## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> Honestly I thought it was a couple of panels of a silo that had been taken down. I'm surprised the wind hasn't flattened it over above the roof line. Would love to see more pictures of that 2 story barn inside and out.



Not silo panels at all just old school thick gauge galvanized tin panels....they are way more sturdy then the new stuff. The pattern on them is because thy came off a roof of an old building, sadly we only have like 3 of those panels.



Baymule said:


> What a great find on this house. Barns already in place, a shop, count your blessings!





Latestarter said:


> What Bay said! Those are some awesome looking outbuildings.



I agree it was a good find on the buildings, the place really is a nice place and with some upkeep in the orchard and the gardens outside.....as well as some other things i would love to do, it will be a really nice show place.

So yesterday....i went out to see the livestock. I was taking pictures and wouldnt you know my phone died right after i got one blurry picture of the lamb....i was not pleased.



 
He is a black lamb with a black coat at dusk so it is what it is.

The lamb was not acting right he was very cold and his little ears now have frostbite damage/swelling. He was standing uncomfortable looking. So i picked him up and he was just sitting there, no crying, no looking around, nothing. I was holding him up in my arms and THEN he started shaking after a minute or two. If anyone knows anything about cold, it is that when you lose the ability to shake its not good. We ended up moving his mother(verified it is 310) and her sister 308 along with the lamb into the shop where it is warmer. They are atm blocked off between the pig stalls so the lamb gets the pigs warmth too. 

308 does not yet have an udder, what i thought was an udder was wool. That's why it is best to get your hands on sheep, so hard to tell sometimes with them. I believe 308 will have her lamb in about 2.5 weeks at the earliest. In fact i believe the next window for any lambs is 2.5 weeks from now which would be about Feb 3rd. The good news is it suppose to be at least 15-25F warmer then when this ram was born.

The Polypay looks pretty heavily bred, you can see she looks pretty dang round even with the bad picture.


 

Sweetie is looking pretty round, she is our only sheep without a docked tail and is my avatar pic.


 

 
They all kept coming up to check if i had more grain or not. 310 is not in this picture, that is actually who 308 is watching behind me.

294 may or may not be bred, i think if she is bred she will have a lamb late around march perhaps. Rut went pretty late this year so any of the sheep could wait until the end of may to give us lambs.


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## Latestarter

Have you noticed that the heavily wooled sheep come into contact with the electric fence and do nothing? Like they don't even feel it with all that wool? Just curious.


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## misfitmorgan

Yes i have noticed. They do stay in the fence though because they can still feel it on their face/legs. A few of the goats jump/walk over the fence. Normally they respect it but the net is grounding out now thanks to our new snow dump even after we raised the fence. To be fair the electric net is ment for 3 season use in any place with snow during winter so it is performing as it should still, just not ment ot be buried in snow.


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## Baymule

You just got there, so you haven't had time to build the fence lots you want. It will come in good time. Like what already has been said, you bought your farm at a young age and you will have the time and energy to make it your own. Money....it seems to dribble in a little at a time.


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## misfitmorgan

Very true Bay, the waiting is hard. Spring will be here soon enough though and then the major work starts.


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## misfitmorgan

I got some lambs pictures. If i wasnt sick and run down i probly would have thought to get you some hereford pics Bay! I was literally leaning on their pen.



 

 .

This is 308


 
This is 310




Not the best pics but it will have to do for now. The lamb was a lot more lively and talking. His poor ears are sore but not much i can do about it. It is definitely staying warmer where they are now, their water was not frozen yesterday and it was only a high of 21F. We do not plan to ground feed them, i just need to find the hay rack and the hanging grain trough.


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## Baymule

Your lamb is a cutie. You are doing your best, not easy to do when you have just moved, everything is in a jumble and you are both sick on top of that. Take it easy if you can, get well and feel better.


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## misfitmorgan

He is a big boy and growing fast, his white fleece is already coming in. Him and 308 and 310 will likely be put back out in pasture today or tomorrow. It will be staying "warm"(read as above freezing) until next tuesday night, then temps should level out and stay in the upper teens to low 30s(daily low/high) so he should be able to regulate his body temp by the time it gets cold and be nibbling on hay. I would really prefer the bred sheep and those with lambs be in their own pasture so we can flush them but thats not gonna happen.

I have been kicking around the idea of retro fitting the 2 story for the goats and taking one of our electric nets and moving it over there for their own pasture but i dont think DH would like the idea since it puts them really close to the apple trees.


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## Baymule

I have apple tree envy......


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## Bruce

Now now Bay, though shalt not covet thy friend's trees!


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## Baymule

Bruce said:


> Now now Bay, though shalt not covet thy friend's trees!


Well it ain't like I could go dig them up and take 'em home! Covet means to want so bad that you'll do anything to get it. I'll just have to plant my own already well established apple orchard.......


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## misfitmorgan

I dunno about coveting but you could take a few tons of apples though 

19 apples trees, i dunno what we will do if they all produce this year.


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## Baymule

misfitmorgan said:


> I dunno about coveting but you could take a few tons of apples though
> 
> 19 apples trees, i dunno what we will do if they all produce this year.



SEND THEM TO MEEEEEE!!!!!! Wow! what a wealth! I can't even imagine. Oh well, I guess the pigs will eat good. Give doubles to the Herefords.


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## misfitmorgan

When we got on the place the macintosh tree was so loaded we thought the branches might snap...same with the honey crisp. The Granny smith had a few pitiful apples on it. Sadly the transparent apples had already fallen and rotted by the time we took over the place but it was loaded up too.

The trees all need a trim and most of them need some neem oil.  Most all the trees also need to be topped the younger ones might be small enough to just weight down. Younger trees had apples but not many and all were small apples almost crab apple size though they are not crab apple trees.

We got a heavy ice storms a couple weeks ago with heavy wind and it did snap a large limb on one of the younger trees so that will require clean up and sealing. It snapped the branch about half way down so not a complete loss and no trunk damage.


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## Baymule

It is so wonderful to have a ready-made apple orchard!


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## Latestarter

Get yourself (or make) a cider mill and I'm sure you'll have no problem selling fresh made cider. You could always advertise "pick your own" and let folks pay by the bag full or bushel to pick what they want. And of course treats for the animals goes without saying. Mac's are great cooking apples. I remember them from my youth in New England.


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## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> Get yourself (or make) a cider mill and I'm sure you'll have no problem selling fresh made cider. You could always advertise "pick your own" and let folks pay by the bag full or bushel to pick what they want. And of course treats for the animals goes without saying. Mac's are great cooking apples. I remember them from my youth in New England.



We did have an apple scratter but i dunno if it made it thru the move, it has seen better days. I do know DH needs to re-build the stand for the press...but it is in the plans to make cider for sure.....regular and hard 

We did discuss doing pick your own apples, we will either do that or just pick them and offer them at our farm stand.


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## Bruce

I think one concern with PYO is cost of the insurance you need to have in case someone falls out of a tree (that they shouldn't have been climbing).


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## misfitmorgan

Our home owners insurance would cover that as far as i know.

There are no pick your own apple places that i know of. There used to be a pick your own apple farm when i was a kid but they long ago went to a gift shop and apples and cider for sale and pony rides, etc....basically someplace for kids field trips. A lot of people like going there but it is not just a pick your own and actually your not allowed to pick your own anymore, they dont want the trees damaged.


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## Latestarter

I haven't been to a PYO in 45+ years. My family used to go when I was a kid. Like you, they had a large variety of trees and what was available depended on when you went in the season. I have always had bad teeth, as in many missing, so eating apples was never easy for me. Corn on the cob used to be bad as well. Anyway, I bought some from the store a month or so ago... Gala I believe as I wanted a "sweeter" apple. Started eating one and threw them away. They were horrible.


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## misfitmorgan

My mother loves gala apples, i am not a fan of them. My favorite eatting apples are honeycrisp and my favorite baking apples are transparent or granny smith so i was pretty happy when i found the orchard already had all three of those and they were well established. My step-dads favorite apples are Macs so he is pleased about us having a mac tree.

Ironically the old farm had a honeycrisp, a mac, a granny smith, and a transparent.

As you may recall I co-miserate on the teeth problems. I still need to go get a partial for the lower back teeth they pulled and get those 4 top teeth pulled. Gotta pay the dentist first though.  While i love apples i find sometimes i am just not up to eatting them fresh.


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## Bruce

I'm not big on Macs, too tart for me, though I think the are the most common apple variety in Vermont. DW likes Cortlands for pie. She likes Granny's (tart) but also Fuji and Honeycrisp (sweet). Found a new one (to me anyway) at the Health food store a few weeks back - Envy. It is a sweet one.


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## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> I'm not big on Macs, too tart for me, though I think the are the most common apple variety in Vermont. DW likes Cortlands for pie. She likes Granny's (tart) but also Fuji and Honeycrisp (sweet). Found a new one (to me anyway) at the Health food store a few weeks back - Envy. It is a sweet one.



If i'm recalling right envy is a pretty new variety all together.


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## Latestarter

Forgot all about courts... never heard of "transparent" or envy... and don't really care for Granny Smith... not a big fan of tart.


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## Baymule

I love Granny Smith apples. I like to quarter and core them, then slice in 1/2" slices. Then I put them in a pot with a little apple juice, cinnamon and butter. Simmer until tender-DESSERT!


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## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> Forgot all about courts... never heard of "transparent" or envy... and don't really care for Granny Smith... not a big fan of tart.



That's why granny smith are good for baking....you add sugar. Transparent is actually one of the old timey apples and is said to make the best apple pies....i would have to agree. It has a perfect balance of sweet, tart, and crisp, and retains a really nice texture when baked instead of going to mush or needing to be chewed. 

Envy are a cross of Gala and Braeburn so probly not to your liking either LS.

I'm hoping to find that we have a gravenstein tree in the orchard but odds are not high. Gravenstein makes really good cider and apple sauce.


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## misfitmorgan

The next lambing date should be on or about 01/30....that is purely a guess based on the 17 day cycle. The cycle could have been 13 days or 19 days and the ewe could actually lamb between 01/18 - 02/14. Assuming the ewes are on the same 17 day cycle and they lamb on day 147, the lambing dates should be as follows.

01/30
02/14
03/02
03/20
04/05
04/21
05/08
05/24
06/09
06/25
07/12
07/28

Assuming all the ewes got bred...i'm really hoping those late dates are not a thing.


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## misfitmorgan

No new lambs yet.

The ram lamb is growing like a weed!! I need to take his coat off of him or i will need to cut it off soon.

Next estimated lambing date is tomorrow so we will check bags tonight.

I may also add goat kids to this thread. We are only expecting 4-5 kids.


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## Latestarter

You could change the thread heading to lambing/kidding... justsayin'


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## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> You could change the thread heading to lambing/kidding... justsayin'



Very true......though it is in the sheep section 

DH ended up working overtime and bringing a guest home so we did not actually get bags checks last night which i am sort of annoyed about atm. We will definitely check tonight, hopefully if anyone is going to lamb or kid they do it tomorrow when it is suppose to be 38F and not at night. Hopefully they skip having any lambs/kids next week since most day highs are in the teens.

294  and 254 both look bred and pretty far along, i will need to get my hands on them to see for sure.

This is our big ram this past spring when he was approx 1.5yrs old. Born born 2016




To give an idea of size, DH is 6'4" and the stands platform he is sitting on is around 14" tall.

This was our only suffolk lamb last year and was Sired by our big ram.




The same lamb at 8-10 weeks old.




This is the polypay cross ram lamb, sired by our Big suffolk ram.





For goats i know phoebe is bred, she normally gives twins, Cassiopia did give us a single last year so hopefully we get at least a single from her again this year. Hazel i sort of hope is not bred as she is pretty small but she is looking very large, Ivy i think is bred. If phoebe and Cassiopia hold true to patterns we should have kids from them the 3rd week of February - 2nd week of March.

Cassiopia kid 2017, buck of course



In the backround are phoebe's twin bucks from 2017.
Here is a better shot of one of the kids




Phoebe's 2016 kids, twin bucks


 



I'm really really hoping for some doe kids this year, esp from Phoebe. She is an excellent mother, always makes enough milk to feed to two kids no problem. She has big healthy kids and usually twins. She has excellent hooves and good parasite resistance. If she gave us some doe kids they would be 37.5% Boer and 62.5% Nubian. Our next buck is planned to be a Boer to get some larger size on our dairy kids.


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## Baymule

Beautiful babies! They grow so fast, they just don't stay little very long!


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## misfitmorgan

Yes they do!!

The Ram lamb at 2 weeks old is a giant and already has to duck down to nurse.

My estimate of lambing dates is apprently accurate. We got home yesterday to find sweetie had lambed...on 1/30.

Sweetie gave us a single EWE 
 I am so paranoid something is gonna happen to the little girl. Sweetie and her lamb were moved into the shop to help prevent frostbite problems on ears and give the lamb an easy first few days. The lamb got a coat put on her and had a full tummy.

DH wants to name this lamb....2 of 2.....like 7 of 9 from star trek.

So everyone meet 2 of 2



 

 



She seems to be healthy and doing well. Gosh does she have some legs on her though!!

The next lamb should be should be on valentine's Day. If it is a girl i'm naming it Amor.


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## misfitmorgan




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## Wehner Homestead

Yay for one you can keep!!!  She’s adorable!


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## misfitmorgan

We are very excited to have a ewe lamb, this is the second ewe lamb we have ever had.....to be fair this is only our 3rd season though and we started off with a trio.


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## CntryBoy777

She is adorable.....and looks like she is on stilts.....


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## misfitmorgan

CntryBoy777 said:


> She is adorable.....and looks like she is on stilts.....



Thank you @CntryBoy777 
I agree!


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## Bruce

Yep, she's going to need to grow into those legs or people will think she is a small giraffe!


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## CntryBoy777

Bruce said:


> Yep, she's going to need to grow into those legs or people will think she is a small giraffe!


.....or Camel....


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## BoboFarm

She's adorable!


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## AClark

She looks like an Imperial Walker from Star Wars - I had to google what they were called, but yeah, she's built like that right now, lol. She's adorable.


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## Latestarter

It's hard to imagine at a day old that all that was contained inside her mom. Even more so when it's twins or more. It's like they are "air sponges" and after being born they double in initial size overnight by "inflating" with the air around them. Congrats on a ewe lamb!


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## Baymule

I understand your excitement. My favorite 2 ewes each had twins, ewe and ram lambs for each one. I got 2 ewe lambs!  Yours is adorable, she is so cute.


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## misfitmorgan

AClark said:


> She looks like an Imperial Walker from Star Wars - I had to google what they were called, but yeah, she's built like that right now, lol. She's adorable.



You are so right, that is what she looks like!



Latestarter said:


> It's hard to imagine at a day old that all that was contained inside her mom. Even more so when it's twins or more. It's like they are "air sponges" and after being born they double in initial size overnight by "inflating" with the air around them. Congrats on a ewe lamb!



I have the same thought LS esp with the ram lambs! She has already grown too!

The ram lamb who is now 2 weeks old had doubled in size and he was heavier then her when he was born. I have noticed the ram lamb was born very very black. Looking at this ewe lamb and our lamb maggie they both came out with that lighter grey body, of course both were sweetie's lambs. I will be interested to see if we get any blues this season. If anyone recalls the ram lamb we had last year from sweetie turned out to be a blue suffolk ram.



Baymule said:


> I understand your excitement. My favorite 2 ewes each had twins, ewe and ram lambs for each one. I got 2 ewe lambs!  Yours is adorable, she is so cute.



It is always nice to get a ewe lamb esp when you are trying to build your flock. Suffolk of any quality are not easy to come by up here. All of our stock except sweetie comes from 3+hrs away. We are hoping to get to a few more ewe this spring, atm we only have 6 adult ewe. We did have 8 ewe but lost two. Congrats on your ewe's too Bay!

The little ewe lamb is doing well and was learning how to make her legs into springs yesterday. She does have a very small amount of frostbite on her ears but shouldnt lose any of her ears. When we found her yesterday she did have a watery right eye and the side of her face was wet. I believe she scratched her eye. Her eyes are clear, bright, no redness, no icky, nothing just seems slightly swollen around that eye and weepy. Sadly her little girl parts may have gotten a bit wind burned before we brought her inside but nothing horrible.


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## misfitmorgan

Everyone still seems to be doing well. The ewe lamb's eye is still very watery, i believe she has an inverted eyelid. I will check when i get home and see if we can fix her up.

The polypay and phoebe and cassiopia are very large and should be kidding soon i would think. Next lambing date is 14th but the polypay is not seasonal so could go anytime.


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## Wehner Homestead




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## Latestarter




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## misfitmorgan

Yes the ewe lamb did have an inverted eyelid, I turned it back out and hopefully it will stay out. I felt bad doing it but as soon as the lamb realized what i was doing and i assume the pain went away she laid right down and was fine with me. These are the best pics i could get of her eye. Her eye has ulcerated a bit but should heal up fine, we are going to pick up some vetericyn just to be safe. Her bottom lid was the one that was inverted.



 

 

 



After i had got her lid turned out she hopped around and then nursed for about 30 minutes. Previously she has been mostly napping and seeming depressed...not acting like a normal lamb.


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## Bruce

Glad you could fix her up!


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## misfitmorgan

The ewe lamb nursing/trying to, after (hopefully)being fixed up.


 

 


 
You can see the ram lamb to the right...he is so much darker and a lot more filled out. Height wise the ewe lamb is almost the same height already and she is 2 weeks younger.

Two pics of the ram lamb and his mother 310


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## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> Glad you could fix her up!


Me too....i hope she stays fixed.


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## misfitmorgan

I also for got to mention Phoebe is either in early labor or playing with us. She was walking around yesterday all stiff legged, stretching, holding her tail out stiff and straight behind her. DH checked this am before leaving for work...no kids yet.


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## Wehner Homestead

x2 to what Bruce said. (Poor baby. So glad you were able to help her!) 

Phoebe.


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## goatgurl

don't ya love lambing season.  bouncing babies just makes your heart happy.  good catch on the ewelings eye hopefully it will stay fixed.  just because i'm curious what kind of ducks are those in the stall with the ram lamb and his mama?


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## misfitmorgan

I feel much better her eye is (hopefully still) fixed too. 

From what i understand it is a genetic thing and they say not to breed those sheep who have that defect. This however the 3rd lamb from Sweetie and the first time we have seen it so we may retain her and breed her anyhow. Sweetie also did not have this defect. Our big ram is actually Sweetie's half brother so he may or may not also carry the defect. We shall see.

@goatgurl those are some dirty pekin ducks who just took a bath in the sheep water.....making me have to change the sheep water for them. The ducks go where ever they want. We also have muscovy and rouen and a mule duck. Those are all left overs from what the eagles/hawks didnt get. The mule duck and possibly some of the pekin we hatched, we are down to i think 6 ducks and 3 or 4 chickens.

I also saw last night that the ram lamb is nursing off sweetie so we will have to make panels to separate the ram lamb and 310 from Sweetie and 2 of 2. Atm we have a wall made of hay bales, stacked 2 high and i am not sure if rose is knocking them down or the sheep...i think maybe both. I saw rose do it but i think that was because i was on the other side. So far no issues with the sheep and rose, she actually seems pretty interested in them.


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## Baymule

Interesting on the eyelid. Good observation and good on fixing the problem. I like the instant pens y'all have built. I know, not so instant, but your hard work is showing.


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## misfitmorgan

Thanks Bay!

Her eyelid has indeed stayed fixed and the small ulcer is now healed up as well. She is a happy camper and being a lot more active, including in nursing. Both lambs are already eating the pig and sow we are giving the mommas(it's powdered, they also get sheep/goat pellet feed(no copper) and shell corn) and nibbling hay.

The pens are very nice, though the one big one still needs a gate build....some day.

Phoebe still hasnt dropped kids but she is hanging low so should be soon......like within the next month 

Next lambing date is tomorrow, so we shall see if someone drops a lamb. The polypay is absolutely huge, i dont know how she is still walking around, if she only has a single i will be shocked. I'm unsure if 245 and 259 are bred or not as they are spring lambs. 308 should be bred but may be bred for later lambing.

Cassiopia is pretty big, she has normally only given singles so she shouldnt be to far off though i didnt notice her dropping much yet. Ivy has the start of a tiny udder. I do not think hazel is bred she has no udder evidence.

I did notice Sweetie is looking pretty skinny, we are going to worm her and see if that helps. She is already getting extra grain and all 3 sheep in the shop have 24/7 access to about 14 bales of hay.


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## Baymule

Waiting on baby pics!


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## misfitmorgan

No new babies yet. We have to band tails today.

I will see if i can get pics of the ram and 2 of 2.


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## misfitmorgan

The lambs are doing well and growing fast. The ram lamb got frostbite bad enough on his tail that we were unable to band it and it is a long dock now on it's own. The ewe lamb got her tail banded yesterday, a bit shorter then the ram's but enough to cover her bits still. I hate when people band sheep so they have no cover for their bits.

The polypay still is holding out on dropping her lambs she is absolutely huge. All the goats are still holding out as well phoebe still looks the closest but is definitely full of doe code this year.

Next lambing date should be the 28th, looks like we skipped the 14th. I do not think our two youngest ewe look bred, neither does hazel. I may do a preg check on the two youngest ewe if they dont look like they are progressing any by April.

308 is round but i'm still see no evidence of bagging up on her.


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## Baymule

The only thing better than lambs and kids is MORE lambs and kids!


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## Latestarter

I like it when it's someone ELSE'S kids... when I get tired of them I can send them back home  OK... I mostly like my grand kids...


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## misfitmorgan

I got down to the shop yesterday i havnt been down for 3 days because we had company the hubby of the company helped DH do chores and i was busy with the other half of the company.

So i noticed the ram lamb is FAT, he is a little porker!! Both lambs are eatting grain and hay well and running all over the place.

Ivy is making a bag...i'm so excited to see what she has and i really really hope it is a girl and everything goes well. Phoebe and the polypay are never gonna let them babies go 

I did try to take pictures last night but my phone just refused to focus so i got about 15 fuzzy ones and a few decent ones.

Our ducks




This is the little porker Ram lamb! That blur is 2 or 2



2 of 2 between Sweetie and i think 308



The ram lamb and 2 of 2. I swear she knew i was trying to get a picture of her. 2 of 2 is the lighter colored lamb.


 

 


The lambs nose is not white, he was eating the powdered pig and sow feed we have been giving the sheep. We have been mixing in a little pig feed to try to up their protein so they can put on some weight, esp sweetie.

No ear lose as of yet, which we are really happy about. The lambs seems very happy and bouncy. 2 of 2 is as tall as the ram lamb but more slender, he may be out competing her for feed but there is food 24/7 so she should be getting plenty.

I want to move them back outside to the main pen but i am concerned that the goats and other sheep would beat up the lambs. Secondary problem is that the goats will need to come in when they have their kids if they have them in the next week or two.

Also 308 is pretty sure Rosie shouldnt be near the lambs and is wary when Rosie is near me. If i am petting Rosie, 308 just watching closely but if Rosie tries to walk up to be 308 lunges at her and Rosie jumps and runs up on her hay bales. They seem to have come to some sort of understanding that if Rosie is out of the sheep's "area" they are fine with her. Not sure what to do about that, Rosie hasnt shown any aggression towards the sheep or lambs. She was getting very excited by the ram lamb when he first came into the shop, but i told her no she had to be calm and gentle by the lamb and she has been ever since.


----------



## Baymule

Cute lambs! Rosie is a smart girl and gets out of the ewe's way. It's great that she listens to you and hasn't shown any aggression. She's coming right along!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Thank you Bay, we are very happy with Rosie!


----------



## Latestarter

I see a lot of fresh wood in those pics. Looks like you &/or the hubby have been building out inside the barn/shop. Looks good! Thanks for the sheep pics. Can you include one of Rosie next time as well? We all love our big dogs (and everyone else's too!)!


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## Bruce

I expect in time Rosie and the sheep will learn they are meant to live together.


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## Dani4Hedgies




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## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> I see a lot of fresh wood in those pics. Looks like you &/or the hubby have been building out inside the barn/shop. Looks good! Thanks for the sheep pics. Can you include one of Rosie next time as well? We all love our big dogs (and everyone else's too!)!



That's the 100something odd boards we got from DH's work, 97 2x4x16 and 40some 2x6x16....they have built all of our stalls so far and we have enough left for about 3 more stalls. We also used the 2x4's to lay over the tops of all the stalls and store our hay on top of the stalls, we have around 300 bales stored on top of the stalls.

I did include a new picture of Rosie about a week ago on my journal page but I will add it here too


 

@Bruce Rosie is actually ment to guard the poultry, she is only with the sheep atm because we had to put the lambs and momma's some place.


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## Latestarter

I saw that photo, but you know, with these big beautiful lovely white dogs known as LGDs, things can change in a matter of hours! No such thing as "too many pics" where they're concerned   She really is a beauty.


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## Baymule

It's hard to beat pics of that sweet Great Pyrenees face!


----------



## Bossroo

misfitmorgan said:


> That's the 100something odd boards we got from DH's work, 97 2x4x16 and 40some 2x6x16....they have built all of our stalls so far and we have enough left for about 3 more stalls. We also used the 2x4's to lay over the tops of all the stalls and store our hay on top of the stalls, we have around 300 bales stored on top of the stalls.
> 
> I did include a new picture of Rosie about a week ago on my journal page but I will add it here too
> View attachment 44082
> 
> @Bruce Rosie is actually ment to guard the poultry, she is only with the sheep atm because we had to put the lambs and momma's some place.


I hope that you have plenty of air circulation bettween the hay bales -- what you describe is a well known recipe for spontanious cumbustion for the hay.


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## misfitmorgan

Bossroo said:


> I hope that you have plenty of air circulation bettween the hay bales -- what you describe is a well known recipe for spontanious cumbustion for the hay.



You are incorrect. Spontaneous combustion is caused from hay that is baled with to much moisture in it not from simply stacking hay the way it should be stacked. If just stacking it made it combust every barn and hay storage in the world would burn down. We stack our hay the same way hay has been stacked since it started being made into square bales, we do not bale high moisture hay and would salt the hay if there was a concern.


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## misfitmorgan

Yesterday while we were at work Phoebe finally had her kids.

She gave us a set of twins and one is a girl!! 
Ironically the girl is being more active then the boy even though she is a bit smaller, both appear healthy and well fed. They were completely dry when i found them after work despite it raining for the past 2 days here.
The girl- her right hind leg is completely white, I'm happy she isnt completely solid color.



 
The Boy - he has some really neat markings


 
While checking on phoebe's kids i noticed cassiopia was in light labor. So i was out tin the shop playing with rosie and decided i better head in, as i walked passed the shed i heard the first cry of a new goat kid. Cassiopia had a single male kid around 11pm.
Here is the best picture i could get, she wouldnt stop licking him. He is all black with a white blaze, i made sure he nursed and was walking before i left them. DH checked this morning and he is doing good.


 

And this is a picture of 2 of 2 playing queen of the moutain, the ram lamb is to her left and behind the ladder.


 

The polypay also looked like she may have been in early labor yesterday....or playing tricks on us. No new lambs this morning.


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## Baymule

Congrats on the beautiful kids, glad you got a doeling out of the bunch! Just name the boys Dinner. LOL


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## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Congrats on the beautiful kids, glad you got a doeling out of the bunch! Just name the boys Dinner. LOL



Either dinner or for sale. I am very excited about the doeling esp from Phoebe I have been waiting for almost 4 yrs for her to have a doe.

Still waiting on Ivy to kid, her udder is over half built so it shouldn't be terribly long.


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## Mike CHS

I'm glad they are doing well - their being cute is just a plus.


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## Wehner Homestead

Congrats on the new kids and even better news that you got a Doeling!


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## misfitmorgan

I agree...a major plus!


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## misfitmorgan

Wehner Homestead said:


> Congrats on the new kids and even better news that you got a Doeling!



Thank you


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## Dani4Hedgies

Soo pretty love the kids colors


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## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


>


Looks like his back half fell in a bucket of white paint!


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## Dani4Hedgies




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## Bossroo

misfitmorgan said:


> You are incorrect. Spontaneous combustion is caused from hay that is baled with to much moisture in it not from simply stacking hay the way it should be stacked. If just stacking it made it combust every barn and hay storage in the world would burn down. We stack our hay the same way hay has been stacked since it started being made into square bales, we do not bale high moisture hay and would salt the hay if there was a concern.


Well,  good luck with your thaught process.


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## Wehner Homestead

Bossroo said:


> Well,  good luck with your thaught process.



@Bossroo I’m curious about how you store your hay. We store ours in a loft, stacked also. We’ve never had an issue...


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## misfitmorgan

@Wehner Homestead
Everyone I've ever known has stored hay stacked unless it was wet/to moist then it was laid spaced out and let to dry or fed.



Bossroo said:


> Well,  good luck with your thaught process.


I'm sure myself and the other 5million people who stack their hay will be just fine despite your incorrect information, thanks though!



Bruce said:


> Looks like his back half fell in a bucket of white paint!


I definitely agree Bruce he does too!!


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## Hens and Roos

Congrats on all the new arrivals- very cute!!


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## misfitmorgan

Hens and Roos said:


> Congrats on all the new arrivals- very cute!!



Thank you much!!

Hopefully them last two are going to pop soon. We also had our mini pig have piglets yesterday.


----------



## Baymule

Baby pigs have got to be the cutest babies on the farm! Pictures?


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## Wehner Homestead

X2 @Baymule post. We need pics of mini pigs. 

@misfitmorgan I hope I didn’t offend you with my post. I’m truly curious at how they store their hay. Everyone I know stacks their square bales also! I’ve never known anyone to have issues that was properly dried.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Baby pigs have got to be the cutest babies on the farm! Pictures?



I will see about getting some tonight



Wehner Homestead said:


> X2 @Baymule post. We need pics of mini pigs.
> 
> @misfitmorgan I hope I didn’t offend you with my post. I’m truly curious at how they store their hay. Everyone I know stacks their square bales also! I’ve never known anyone to have issues that was properly dried.



Not at all, Boss didnt even offend me, they are simply incorrect but think they are correct. Combustion in hay comes from having your moisture to high when it is baled. I can't imagine how else one would store hay other then stacking it like normal unless it is loose hay and thats just a giant pile not bales.


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## Mike CHS

@Wehner Homestead - like has already been said, if you can't stack properly dried hay there are many millions of hay barns in the country that should be left empty.


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## Wehner Homestead

Mike CHS said:


> @Wehner Homestead - like has already been said, if you can't stack properly dried hay there are many millions of hay barns in the country that should be left empty.



We have two lofts full of stacked hay and straw square bales. We’ve never had an issue with them catching on fire and it’s been done this way my whole life. DH did have to bale some hay a little green once and he stacked it loosely on a hay wagon and put it in the steel shop to keep it from getting wet then spread out the bales once the storm passed. These bales never did make it to the loft. He was too nervous about them drying properly and ended up storing them in the shop and feeding them first. (Mold/mildew growing was another of his concerns and reasons for not keeping long-term.)


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## Bruce

I'm obviously not the most knowledgeable about this hay storage thing but yeah, stacking square bales seems to be the "normal" way. That is how Al (the guy I get my hay from) helped me stack my original 39 bales and the 20 I got last summer. And the horse camp my daughter went to for 10 years had many hundreds of bales stacked WAY high. He's been running this camp for something like 25 years, no hay barn fires to my knowledge.


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## misfitmorgan

Yearly we make between 2,000-6,000 small square bales and help stack 80% of it. All of it is stacked the same way no matter the barn unless it was baled to wet, then it is stacked loosely and salted and fed first, checked daily , etc. Normal quality properly dried hay is all stacked the same in pretty much all barns, wagons, auctions, etc.


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## misfitmorgan

Sorry no new pictures.

We got home last night, we were actually gone until dark. I got out of the truck and heard a goat kid crying bloody murder. It was of course the doe kid. She was down, empty tummy, wet and hypothermic. Of COURSE it would be the doe kid!!! We milked out phoebe and got her a bottle, warmed her up some and went and checked on her after 15 minutes. No improvement and her mouth was ice cold inside, so in the house she came. She did make it thru the night after we had got some milk in her. This morning she is standing and walking but keeps falling over like she is doing a head stand and just standing like that until she falls over. We got her tummy full this morning before having to leave for work. She is adequately warmed and left in a cool room in the house.

DH seems to think she either was stepped on or roughed up by another goat. She was completely fine and running around playing with her brother Wednesday evening. While we were out there milking phoebe i watched the wether we have sh**roll the doelings brother for seemingly no reason. The wether has a date to leave on Sunday so hopefully the people actually show, if not DH will be getting rid of him his own way.

Phoebe definitely has enough milk for both kids, so thats not the problem. The little boy way sleeping with the little girl and he had a full tummy. Even so we milked a quart from phoebe and she still wasnt empty. The doeling did get colostrum for sure so that shouldnt be the problem. We can't seem to get a break on our full size doeling kids.

The plan is to see if phoebe will take her back after work today, if she is doing better. The doeling is doing the teeth grind so she is in some sort of pain but she is fighting so far. If phoebe won't take her back or she doesnt show enough improvement she will become a bottle baby full time.


----------



## Hens and Roos

Hope the little girl improves for you


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## misfitmorgan

Thank you @Hens and Roos


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## OzarkSerenityAcres

oh I hope she continues to heal!


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## Dani4Hedgies

get better little doeling You can do this!!!!


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## misfitmorgan

Thank you @OzarkSerenityAcres  and @Dani4Hedgies


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## Wehner Homestead

I couldn’t like the post. Poor baby girl!!  she does well and Phoebe takes her back!!


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## Latestarter

Best wishes for a quality finish to this evolution. Know you've been wanting does/ewes... I have a sh**head wether as well, of course he's the offspring of my sh**head doe Bang...


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## Bruce

What? You didn't get the extended warranty, free replacement if you get a ****head doe?? You best talk to the seller about that


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## Bossroo

I stack about 100 tons of hay per year for 50 years, so what do I know. I always stack the bales onto wooden pallets and always leave about 2 inches of air space between the bales. I stack between `10-`15 bales high. I have a metal roof over my barn, so during high humidity / fog in the winter, moisture condences onto the roof bottom and then drips onto the hay below, so I always cover the hay stack with a plastic cover . If you stack the bales directly onto the ground inside the barn, moisture will wic up into the hay then Mold grows and / or starts to ferment when the hay gets wet and possibly spontaneously cumbust.  I have seen 3 barns burn down in Cal.  over the years. The latest was an open sided barn  last fall in Ore. after 3 weeks from the last rain due to one  side getting wet , then fermentation  followed by spontaneous combustion . 30,000 bales and the structure burned down to the ground.  I would hate to see this happen to anyone.


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## Latestarter

Boss... you just said the cause was NOT the stacking of the hay but the moisture...that's the same thing that everyone else has already stated. Everyone is saying the "same" thing but coming from different directions. Yes, if you tightly stack over wet hay, it can combust. If your tightly staked hay gets overly wet, it can combust. But to state that the stacking of the hay is the issue, would be incorrect. Hay has been stacked for centuries. Fires have also occurred for centuries. But NOT to every stack, and not because it was stacked.

I think maybe we can move on from this?


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## Baymule

Of course it was the doeling. it is always the one you want to keep, or your favorite, while the worst POS you have leads a charmed life.  I couldn't like that post either. I really hope she is ok, and Phoebe will take her back.


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## Bruce

Bossroo said:


> I stack about 100 tons of hay per year for 50 years, so what do I know. I always stack the bales onto wooden pallets and always leave about 2 inches of air space between the bales. I stack between `10-`15 bales high. I have a metal roof over my barn, so during high humidity / fog in the winter, moisture condences onto the roof bottom and then drips onto the hay below, so I always cover the hay stack with a plastic cover . If you stack the bales directly onto the ground inside the barn, moisture will wic up into the hay then Mold grows and / or starts to ferment when the hay gets wet and possibly spontaneously cumbust.  I have seen 3 barns burn down in Cal.  over the years. The latest was an open sided barn  last fall in Ore. after 3 weeks from the last rain due to one  side getting wet , then fermentation  followed by spontaneous combustion . 30,000 bales and the structure burned down to the ground.  I would hate to see this happen to anyone.


Perhaps there wasn't enough detail earlier on in the discussion. Mine are stacked on pallets, per Al's recommendation (and like you he's been haying for decades, probably 6 of them starting with helping his dad) so their is air underneath. The pallets are on the wooden drive bay floor. 

I don't have space between my bales, are you talking about space between them horizontally or vertically? That would be a lot of pallets if vertically. I don't get humidity dripping off the roof nor any leaks (at least where the hay is) but my hay is covered with a breathable fabric to keep the wild birds from pooping on the hay from above.


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## misfitmorgan

The doeling is doing well and is strong enough we put her outside to see her mother until dark. Phoebe accepted her back so far. We will be co parenting with her on this set.

I normally don't post on weekends but I thought you guys would want an update.


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## Wehner Homestead

so glad the Doeling is doing well and Phoebe took her back!!!  the wether gets picked up tomorrow!


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## Baymule

That is good news, I know you are relieved.


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## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> I normally don't post on weekends but I thought you guys would want an update.


You bet we do. We are all "grandparents" to everyone's new farm babies.


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## BoboFarm

I'm glad the doeling is doing well


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## misfitmorgan

We have decided to keep her in the house overnight until she is stronger. So daytime outdoors with mom and nighttime with us.

She won't be at all spoiled....


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## Bruce

No, not spoiled at all! She doesn't even get a pillow and blanket, just a lap. She's awful darn cute.


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## BoboFarm

Looks like she's got a nice cozy spot on the couch  No spoiling there


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## Baymule

She makes a cute furniture accessory! LOL


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## misfitmorgan

That she does...esp with a diaper on.

The little dogs were rather put out feeling. They normally lay in my lap/around me but wanted nothing to do with being close to that disfigured new dog. Kora kept trying to get her to play...mock bows and all. Issac just stays away from her because she cried when he ran up to her the other day and stella only likes her when she has milked that can be licked off her face. She spends her evening/nights in a raised kennel in the back living room so she is quite safe. 

She did get her CDT already and was not at all impressed with that experience.

No new pictures of the doeling but i do have some of the lambs.
(ignore rosie's meat hanging there, she seems to like it better when we hang it)


----------



## misfitmorgan

We still have the polypay to lamb and Ivy to kid then that should be everyone who is close to making babies. If anyone else is bred it seems like they won't drop them until April or May judging on size atm.

Ivy should be kidding on her next cycle date as she has her udder half way or better built. So Ivy should kid around March 13th but could go as early or as late as the 10th-20th.

The polypay should be due the 28th if she is on cycle. She is so huge i dunno how she walks.

Luckily it has been warmer then normal here. The lowest daytime temp we will see before 03/07 is 35F and the highest is 54F. We have no snow left, just a few piles from plows and some ice in the shadows.


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## Baymule

Your lambs are pretty. It almost makes me want wool sheep.......almost. LOL


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## misfitmorgan

I have thought about hair sheep but i would feel bad for them in the winter up here. Lots of people do raise them but they are also still $200+ for lambs and $300+ for adults...even mixed hair breeds, last i checked.


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## OzarkSerenityAcres

purdy babies!


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## Latestarter

Not sure what the wool breeds you're raising are selling for, but if the hair sheep sell for more, it might be a good business decision to move over to them for the added income. They both eat about the same amount of food, and the fact that others up there raise them makes me think you don't need to feel bad about them in the winter. They still grow out a pretty dense fall/winter coat, they just shed it in the spring, so no shearing required (normally). From what I understand, they taste better too.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> Not sure what the wool breeds you're raising are selling for, but if the hair sheep sell for more, it might be a good business decision to move over to them for the added income. They both eat about the same amount of food, and the fact that others up there raise them makes me think you don't need to feel bad about them in the winter. They still grow out a pretty dense fall/winter coat, they just shed it in the spring, so no shearing required (normally). From what I understand, they taste better too.



We have thought about it but prices are coming down and by the time we would get enough hair sheep to make a profit the prices would be around what we get for our wool sheep. Atm our suffolk lambs sell for $150 each at weaning. We have invested to bring in bigger suffolk and breed up the smaller suffolk sheep we started with. 3 yrs ago when we were looking at sheep any hair sheep lamb was $400-600, any hair sheep/wool mix was around $300, adult sheep were easily $800...so prices have dropped considerable in just 3 years.

Our goal is to make a name for ourselves as having quality animals and working to better the breeds where we can. We start everything with culls and bottom of the barrel and breed them up. I would love to go just buy a Max Boer thats all moonspotted up and an adult and registered....but I can't justify the $1,000+ it would cost so we will breed up our little herd and then look into doing AI with Max Boer semen.

Our Ram is bigger the anything local, our new ewes at a year and a half old are bigger then our 4yr old ewe. Our two lambs will be bigger then their mothers without question. There is someone local-ish to us who brought in 6 enormous ewe's last year and we have already asked them to let us know if they have any ewe lambs they want to sell this year.
Our hereford pigs look better then whats local in conformation, size, and color. The only thing we havnt worked on to much yet is our goats, mostly because boer or kiko meat goats here are not cheap either.


----------



## Mike CHS

Don't worry about them handling the temperatures as they are known for wearing their 'shelter'.  Until recently there were more Katahdin sheep in Canada than the U.S.


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## Mike CHS

We were writing at the same time and I can see you have a pretty good plan already mapped out.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Mike CHS said:


> We were writing at the same time and I can see you have a pretty good plan already mapped out.



It seems we were....I do like hair sheep we have trimmed hooves for people before on hair sheep. I'm not buying this hair sheep taste better thing though. They say Berks taste better then whatever kind of pig, I have had lots of berks and other kinds of pig and i have noticed absolutely no different. To clarify, two pigs raised the same way in the same place, i have not noticed a difference in the berks to the whatever else pigs.

Maybe hair sheep do taste different, maybe they taste more like goat...i dunno, i've never eaten a hair sheep, i just dont find it likely that simply being hair instead of wool is what makes the difference.

Maybe down the road we will end up with some hair sheep and we can see for ourselves.


----------



## Mike CHS

There is a taste difference.  I have eaten a chop of hair sheep literally beside a wool sheep chop and there is a difference.  Not that one is better than the other but different and I don't know the breed of the wool lamb.  Hair sheep don't have the lanolin that wool sheep do and I'm told that is what makes the difference.  Before being able to buy locally all we had tried was lamb from the store which mostly comes from Down Under.  Only after we bought one to be processed did we decide to raise our own.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Mike CHS said:


> There is a taste difference.  I have eaten a chop of hair sheep literally beside a wool sheep chop and there is a difference.  Not that one is better than the other but different and I don't know the breed of the wool lamb.  Hair sheep don't have the lanolin that wool sheep do and I'm told that is what makes the difference.  Before being able to buy locally all we had tried was lamb from the store which mostly comes from Down Under.  Only after we bought one to be processed did we decide to raise our own.



I'm wondering if wool and hair raised on the same land with the same feed would be noticably different. Maybe if i ever get hair sheep i can test that out. I do like store bought/restaurant lamb, i also like farm raised and when i lived in Greece we had both and i liked both.....but those Greeks know HOW to cook lamb!! I have twice in my life been served what tasted like a wool sweater on a plate...that was gross and mint jelly eww no.


----------



## Baymule

Hair sheep here sell for around the $200 mark and up for Dorper, Katahdin and mixed. Registered rams sell for $500 and up. 

I had only had lamb once, in a restaurant and it was gamy. In doing my research between goats and sheep, hair sheep won me over. We sold our first lambs, slaughtered, and kept a half of one. That was our first taste of hair lamb. It was far less gamy tasting than what I'd had. I compare hair sheep taste to good venison, not a gamy old buck in rut, but good venison, more like a young doe.


----------



## Mike CHS

Goat is a favorite in our fall neighborhood cook out and is about the first thing we run out of and we have brisket, venison and pork shoulders.


----------



## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> I have twice in my life been served what tasted like a wool sweater on a plate...that was gross and mint jelly eww no.


If it tasted like a wool sweater, that is about the only reason I can think of to overpower it with mint jelly. With good lamb, NO mint jelly!  



Baymule said:


> I had only had lamb once, in a restaurant and it was gamy. In doing my research between goats and sheep, hair sheep won me over. We sold our first lambs, slaughtered, and kept a half of one. That was our first taste of hair lamb. It was far less gamy tasting than what I'd had. I compare hair sheep taste to good venison, not a gamy old buck in rut, but good venison, more like a young doe.


Whatever you had in the restaurant wasn't good lamb, it shouldn't be gamy.


----------



## Baymule

I was sure hoping that the lambs we raised tasted good. Thank goodness, they did! LOL


----------



## misfitmorgan

Lamb definitely should not be gamey, you got served some very off lamb. I've never had gamey lamb, even mutton.

@Mike CHS Goat is delicious eats for sure, i would go for it first myself before the other choices.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Here are a couple pics of Fate, before i took her out yesterday. She has pretty much been refusing a bottle and just waits to be put out with her mom. I hate when i have to bring her in at night, Phoebe seems to get so upset.


 

 

 

I have also noticed something odd....Fate does not make noise. She can make noise, she just hasnt since the day after we brought her in. I find it really odd for one a goat kid and for two a 62.5% nubian, the nubians i have met are normally very talkative.


----------



## Baymule

She is just sad and depressed. She has already told you she doesn't like be separated, now she is just being sad. Sometimes I wish there was a way to tell animals that the things we do are to make them better, protect them from harm and so on. But we just do the best we can and hope for the best. Fate is a pretty little thing. Give her hugs from her Aunt Baymule!


----------



## misfitmorgan

I know she is, when Fate isnt out with her she just lays around and sleeps. She waits for fate to go eat and even skips the grain. Phoebe is holding her weight well despite the lack of appetite. The little boy is the first goat kid she has ever lost and the first time we have ever taken her kids away when they are this young, even part time. I feel so bad for her and almost left Fate out last night but it would just be to cold for her since she is used to the house temps. I have started dropping the house temp to try to give her the easiest acclimation to outside. She is never shaking or cold when i go to get her to bring her inside.  Our temps are forecasted to come back down and be in the 30-40s instead of the nice warm days we have been having, so she is getting a coat and only going to be out for an hour or two for awhile. I will give her hugs for you.


----------



## Wehner Homestead

the temp breaks so Phoebe and Fate can be together around the clock!


----------



## misfitmorgan

I'm hoping for that too!

Last night Ivy had her kids....yes i said kids with an S. Ivy our FF had twin goat kids, we found them within about 3 minutes of the second one being born. We will be watching them closely as they are smaller and she is an FF. She had one boy and one girl. We made her a temp pen in the shop since the overnights are pretty cold atm for newborn's esp still wet. We towel dried and towel dried but i know their skin was probly still damp.

She is being a good momma, i am concerned she may not have enough milk, her bag wasnt very large for twins. If she has trouble we will remove the female and try co-parenting with ivy using some of phoebe's extra milk.

Piglets are still doing well....we still have 8 of them atm. Ram lamb is posted for sale and piglets are listed.


----------



## Baymule

Yay! More babies! Glad the twins arrived with no problems.


----------



## misfitmorgan

We are to, i was starting to wonder if she was ever going to have them kids. Still waiting on that polypay, either she is very close or she is having twins. She has given us two other lambs both singles.


----------



## Wehner Homestead

Yay for another Doeling!


----------



## misfitmorgan

All critters are doing well.

Phoebe consistently takes back Fate every single day. I carry fate out with me and i say "Phoebe i got have your baby come and get her" then runs over to the fence and i put Fate over the fence. Fate and cassiopia's boy play together a lot.

The shop sheep and their lambs are now back with the herd, we got delayed on putting the herd back together.

Ivy is still in her make-shift stall with her two kids. They are doing well.

The polypay is still holding onto those lambs.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Our Polypay FINALLY lambed. She shockingly had a single....but it is a girl 

The lamb is a BIG girl, she is the same size as our 6 week old ram lamb...just not filled out yet. She has black and white speckled legs and face and white fleece. I completely forgot to get a picture yesterday. I will see about getting pictures of Ivy's kids and the new lamb and everyone this evening.


----------



## Baymule

While it's nice to have boy lambs for the freezer, I sure love to see the girls arrive. Your flock is growing! Congrats on the new lamb!


----------



## Dani4Hedgies

on another doeling and a HUGE one at that CONGRATS


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> While it's nice to have boy lambs for the freezer, I sure love to see the girls arrive. Your flock is growing! Congrats on the new lamb!



A lamb for the freezer would be nice but we have been wanting/needing girls. We brought in great stock for our area and got nothing but boys...they don't make babies in the freezer. We are pretty dang happy we have 2 doelings, 2 bucklings, 1 ram lamb, and 2 ewe lambs. The ram lamb may end up in the freezer yet, the buyer backed out but he is only 6 weeks old.


----------



## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> she is the same size as our 6 week old ram lamb


No "newborn" size clothes for her!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> No "newborn" size clothes for her!


 
Surely not....she is huge.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Everyone is still doing well. No pictures atm, we have so much snow it is ridiculous atm including 3ft tall drifts.

Fate has been having very limited time outside as she gets wet and then cold easily. Atm she gets about 3hrs outside with mom, at least until some of this snow melts off. She refuses a bottle but is eating hay and pig & sow.


----------



## Sheepshape

misfitmorgan said:


> we have so much snow it is ridiculous atm including 3ft tall drifts.


 My heartfelt sympathies with you.....we were cut off here for over a week due to snowdrifts on the roads.

Good luck with the new babies.


----------



## misfitmorgan

308 FF Single Ram - Mid- June


----------



## Bruce

MISFIT!!!! YOU ARE ALIVE!!!!!! 
Been missing you, please catch us up on the happenings at your new (at least it was last we heard from you) place!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> MISFIT!!!! YOU ARE ALIVE!!!!!!
> Been missing you, please catch us up on the happenings at your new (at least it was last we heard from you) place!


It's on my journal, yes I'm alive. I missed you guys too.


----------



## misfitmorgan

For the 2019 lambing/kidding season this is what we have....

310 -  2F single
Sweetie -  4F singles
Polypay -  5F singles
308 -  2F single
294 - FF
All sheep should lamb between feb-april.


Phoebe -  4F twins
Ivy -  2F twins, exspected kidding 2/15

Fate, Oreo, and the two young boer does will not be bred as far as current planning. If Oreo keeps growing well we may put her in for a late breeding in november. I hope everything works out this year.


----------



## Wehner Homestead

Sounds great! Looking forward to following along!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Yesterday marked the first day I saw the rams actively breeding so it looks like beginning of March should be our earliest lambs which will be very nice weather wise. The polypay might give us an odd lamb though as she is not a seasonal breeder.


----------



## misfitmorgan

I am considering breeding Fate and Oreo both. They are both nearly the size of their mothers. Fate(2/20/18) is approx 8 months old now which would make her 13 months when she kidded if she was bred now. Oreo(3/6/18) is approx 7+months old which would make her 12 months old when she lambed.  I would say Fate is maybe 2 inches shorter then her mother along the withers and oreo is taller then her mother, they both obviously weigh less then moms though.

You guys have any thoughts?

I still have to expose Phoebe to Big boy. As soon as I can get into the fence I plan on doing that.


----------



## Latestarter

Why not give them another month or two and THEN breed them? Later kids but should still be before the worst of bug season for you and they'll be that much older/more mature. I had 2 young does bred this past year and it stunted their growth. They both kidded without issue.Their udders were very small as well. One of them has since grown some and is almost to her mom's size. The other has just now started growing again but I doubt she will ever get to her mother's size...  If you want them bred, then IMHO, do it.


----------



## goatgurl

I try to time it so that my ewelings lamb around 15-18 months of age.  that seems to give them time to grow themselves and babies at the same time.   same thing with my goats.


----------



## mysunwolf

With the Katahdins, we always had good luck breeding them that young to lamb at 12-14 months. They tend to cycle younger than other breeds anyway, which I took to be a hint. They will take another year to catch up in size, though.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Last night Ivy jumped out brand new fence, broke the doorknob on the barn door and let the new goats, Big Boy the buck, and some pigs loose. So the new doelings may have been bred whether i wanted it or not.
I checked their butts though and I didnt see any signs of being in heat or having been bred, Big boy didnt show much interest in them either so lets hope not.

If I wait a month I would have mid april babies, if i wait two months i would have mid-may which is to late. I will look at them in a month and see what I think. That would make them 13 and 14 months at kidding/lambing.

Thanks for the advice and info guys!


----------



## Latestarter

Explain to DH that if he had only allowed a gate, Ivy might have used that rather than jumping the fence... Hope you got everyone rounded back up without too much difficulty. Expect you did as you didn't say otherwise.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> Explain to DH that if he had only allowed a gate, Ivy might have used that rather than jumping the fence... Hope you got everyone rounded back up without too much difficulty. Expect you did as you didn't say otherwise.



Yes we did it wasnt to difficult....we used shell corn 

Only problem is the pen we had big boy in is pretty much destroyed so thats a problem.


----------



## misfitmorgan

The strapping big sheep on the far left is Oreo. The all white sheep to her right is her mother.


----------



## misfitmorgan




----------



## misfitmorgan

I decided to throw Oreo back in with the herd, kinda literally because of the no gate issue. She is actually bigger then her mom so I think she is good to go on being bred right now.

Fate and the new does will wait until mid-November be reevaluated.

So add Oreo the the lambing list.

Sweetie, Polypay, 308, 310, Oreo, and hopefully 294. 

294 is the only ewe left from her group, she is actually 2yrs old but never had a lamb. Her group was/is not at all parasite tolerant, she came with 2 other ewes we bought and we are not at all pleased with the quality or parasite problems. We are hoping to bred in more resistance from our rams since they are very tolerant of parasites. She is holding her weight well atm though her fleece is in horrible condition so i dont know if she will give us any lambs this spring or not. She was doing so poor this summer that she lived in the barn for almost 2 months on full feed and a high calorie supplement while she had all the worming treatments. We didnt think she would make it as she was about 40lbs underweight at that point but she did. Down side of all that wool, we didnt see there was a major problem with her until it was almost to late.


----------



## Bruce

Hopefully 294 will come into her own. Last thing you need is a parasite sensitive ewe that isn't providing any lambs.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Hope so! She has been waving her butt in front of the ram so thats a good sign.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Ivy is already looking like she is showing, she is not due to kid until 2/15  

I've never seen a doe look prego at only a month bred.


----------



## Latestarter

Maybe you should put that girl on a diet to prevent her giving birth to a calf (or calves) instead of a kid or 3...


----------



## misfitmorgan

She had twin kids last year as an FF, she may go trips this year. She isnt actually fat I have no clue why she looks so prego so early. She could not have been bred earlier because we had no buck.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Phoebe was put in with Big Boy on 11/24 so we shall have to see when he thinks it is time.

5 new ewes....bred ???? (refer to my journal for details)
https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/misfitmorgans-journal-dredges-of-summer.33534/page-185

For the 2019 lambing/kidding season this is what we have....

310 - 2F single
Sweetie - 4F singles
Polypay - 5F singles
308 - 2F single
294 - FF, mounted 11/24
Oreo - FF
All sheep should lamb between feb-april.

New White - 2F twins
New Brown - 2F twins
New Small Brown - 1F twins
New Wooly Brown - 2F twins
New Black? - 2F twins



Phoebe - 4F twins, With Buck 11/24
Ivy - 2F twins, expected kidding 2/15
Fate - 11?
Latte - 11?
Espresso - 11?

The bucks got loose so....yea shall see.


----------



## misfitmorgan

So Ivy had twins as an FF, i suspect that means trips for her 2F. Anyone seen this in diary goats?

I know Phoebe had twins as an FF but has always had twins and i gather that is common in boers. I know with ND i have seem many journals where when they had twins as FF they went on to have trips, quads, etc in later freshenings.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Saw Oreo being mounted yesterday by the mutt ram....she should already be bred. 

Still nothing from Phoebe and Big Boy.

294 may not have been bred, she was having problems last year so didnt get bred.  308 was bred late as she didn't have her lamb until mid-june.

I am hoping that next breeding season we will be able to flush all of our sheep, this year they only got a partial flush


----------



## Bruce

Yep, would be nice if they were all on YOUR schedule.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> Yep, would be nice if they were all on YOUR schedule.


Hopefully the new sheep will be around the same time as our Suffolk and hopefully no one has anything until at least mid-February.


----------



## misfitmorgan

I didnt see the deed but at this time i will assume phoebe is bred and should kid the end of April, same for any new sheep that were not bred yet.

The rams still seem interested in 294 but she will not stand for them now.

Also if i didnt mention, all the new sheep had twins last year except small brown because she is the wooly brown ones 2018 lamb. I've added the info i do know to the tally post.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Ivy started making a bag about a week ago so she may go earlier then 2/15. We plan on giving her CDT on 1/15.

Small brown now has a name, hot chocolate. A young man and his dad come to buy piglets and when he found out they had no names he asked if he could name one, we told him yes.

All breeding seems to be done with, I have not witnessed any mounting or chasing from the rams. I have seen Big Boy being bucky towards Ivy and Phoebe but neither of them want anything to do with him.


----------



## Latestarter

So did the young boy name one that they bought? What name did he choose? Hope all your breeding goes well without any problems.


----------



## Baymule

Baby lambs are just too darn cute! Post pics when you get them!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> So did the young boy name one that they bought? What name did he choose? Hope all your breeding goes well without any problems.



No they bought piglets but he loved the sheep and goats. They are coming back in the spring to buy some lambs. He just asked to name one of the unnamed ones and i told him yes he was welcome to as long as it was a good name. He picked hot chocolate and wanted it to be the small brown sheeps name(spring 2018 lamb). I think it's a fine name and agreed that could be her name.

I hope it all goes well too.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Baby lambs are just too darn cute! Post pics when you get them!



I will, hopefully we will have Ivy's twins on the ground first.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Ivy dropped on friday so I don't think she is going to make Feb 15th.  She is pretty big already, so I'm really wondering what she has in there. If she does have another month to go she is gonna be a miserable lady.

We are building stalls/jugs today, and hopefully a heat barrel tomorrow. Those have been on the agenda but not gotten too. DH did get the shop wall lined with offset solid plywood where the pens will go. We also currently have a makeshift sick pig stall in the way.

Either way we need to get stalls built and Ivy in one. Tomorrow is Ivy's CDT.


----------



## Baymule

I wimp out when it is 40 degrees outside. Y'all are made of tougher stuff than I am! I have one set of twins, a single and had triplets, but the smallest didn't make it. I have 6 more to lamb, 4 are FF.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> I wimp out when it is 40 degrees outside. Y'all are made of tougher stuff than I am! I have one set of twins, a single and had triplets, but the smallest didn't make it. I have 6 more to lamb, 4 are FF.



I don't thin it's tougher, just no choice 

Congrats on all your babies.....why have i not seen these posted someplace?

Also sheep could go anytime now since we have no dates on the new flock and our old flock was pasture bred. I'm hoping they all wait until mid-February at least then it will be daytime temps of 30s-40s for the most part.


----------



## Baymule

Here ya' go. The first umpteen pages are about udder watching. LOL I swear, I have two cows in a sheep suit.

https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/baymule’s-4th-lambing.38775/


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Here ya' go. The first umpteen pages are about udder watching. LOL I swear, I have two cows in a sheep suit.
> 
> https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/baymule’s-4th-lambing.38775/



Thank you much! Easiest way to tell is do the "lambs" have spots?


----------



## Baymule

misfitmorgan said:


> Thank you much! Easiest way to tell is do the "lambs" have spots?


Uhhhhhh……..yep, they DO have spots! LOL LOL See? They really ARE cows in a sheep suit!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Uhhhhhh……..yep, they DO have spots! LOL LOL See? They really ARE cows in a sheep suit!



Exactly what i was thinking, the proof is in the errrm....spots!!


----------



## Bruce

Baymule said:


> I wimp out when it is 40 degrees outside. Y'all are made of tougher stuff than I am! I have one set of twins, a single and had triplets, but the smallest didn't make it. I have 6 more to lamb, 4 are FF.


One does tend to get somewhat used to the temperature where they live. I bet you could handle 39°F if you moved up this way for a time 

Sorry you lost the little one.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> One does tend to get somewhat used to the temperature where they live. I bet you could handle 39°F if you moved up this way for a time
> 
> Sorry you lost the little one.



Speak for yourself....i'm still not used to it! One does not get used to -2F


----------



## Baymule

Bruce said:


> One does tend to get somewhat used to the temperature where they live. I bet you could handle 39°F if you moved up this way for a time
> 
> Sorry you lost the little one.


Normally our version of winter doesn't bother me. But after being sick for over a month, I just get cold. It has been cloudy, dreary and damp (when it's not raining). We usually get some sunny days in there! 

Thanks. I really wanted Allie to make it. I even went out and had a "ewe ain't doing that to ME" sheep milking rodeo. Oh well, better luck next time.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Does anyone know the shelf life of CDT vaccine off hand? I'm suddenly unsure if the bottle we bought last year is even any good anymore. I know it will have a date on it but i'm not home and it is closer to go to tsc straight after work vs home first.

@Southern by choice @Goat Whisperer @Baymule @OneFineAcre @Latestarter  or anyone else lol


----------



## Latestarter

Typically the vaccine is good for 4-5 years UNTIL FIRST USED. After the seal has been broken and first used, it says to discard any left over. IMHO if the rest will be used within say 30 days, I consider it still good, but after a year I'd say discard and start fresh.


----------



## Southern by choice

IDK- I do know once it has been used it should not be kept/stored. So if it was used I'd just p/u another.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> Typically the vaccine is good for 4-5 years UNTIL FIRST USED. After the seal has been broken and first used, it says to discard any left over. IMHO if the rest will be used within say 30 days, I consider it still good, but after a year I'd say discard and start fresh.





Southern by choice said:


> IDK- I do know once it has been used it should not be kept/stored. So if it was used I'd just p/u another.



Ok thank you both, I will grab another bottle or two...I think we might be doing the sheep tonight as well. For the sheep it shouldnt make much difference because they are getting another dose in 28 days, so hopefully that keeps them within a month of lambing for the CDT to pass.


----------



## Baymule

It's 6:15, you are probably already at TSC or maybe even home. LOL LOL


----------



## misfitmorgan

Ivy did get her CDT. She is looking very close to kidding and is huge. She dropped over 2 weeks ago now, so it can't be much longer. I'm really hoping I'm wrong and she makes it to Feb 15th. On the 8th we should be done with teens for the high temp but it still will be in single digits at night, after the 15th we should stay in double digits at night.


----------



## misfitmorgan

It's -8 out and ivy is in light labor 

We have a hot box set up but I am worried it won't be enough. She isn't suppose to have those kids until Feb 15th. It's super cold for us, we should be in 20s and 30s but this morning it was -14. Pray she doesn't have those babies yet.


----------



## Mike CHS

You have our thoughts and prayers.


----------



## B&B Happy goats




----------



## Bruce

Hang on to those kids Ivy!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Thank you guys, DH and our foster kid just went to check on ivy and took another heat lamp. I will be doing the next check

At 6pm DHs best guess was 6-8hrs until kids


----------



## Baymule

It's going to be a long night for you. I hope Ivy has no delivery problems and that everything goes well. May the babies stay warm. Y'all are in my prayers tonight.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Thank you all. 

No kids yet. Ivy is content and still in light labor though she does seem to want me close. I should be checking again in about 3 hrs.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Checked on ivy a few times, she is still having contractions but not pushing yet. She is still eating.


----------



## misfitmorgan




----------



## Bruce

Did you tell us about the foster kid? Or did this happen during your absence from BYH?


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> Did you tell us about the foster kid? Or did this happen during your absence from BYH?


I told you guys on my journal when I came back, we got her in May


----------



## misfitmorgan

Ivy had twins. She started pushing and a bubble appeared right around 5pm. She had a girl kid then a boy. The girl was coming with only one leg out and the sack broke when her head came out. I ended up pulling the girl because ivy was not making progress and she was trying to breath.

The boy came out easily and with both legs first. Ivy was being a great mom, we got both kids dried off and eating before I left them. All total it took an hour and 45 minutes.

They are in a hot box and if they stay near the lights it is about 45-50f.


----------



## B&B Happy goats

Good girl IVY....great save mum !


----------



## misfitmorgan




----------



## B&B Happy goats

Congratulations to Ivy and your family


----------



## Bruce

Great!


----------



## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> I told you guys on my journal when I came back, we got her in May


OK, I found a one line comment in your journal back in Sept. I guess things are going OK on the fostering front.


----------



## misfitmorgan

The girl is left, the boy is on the right


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> OK, I found a one line comment in your journal back in Sept. I guess things are going OK on the fostering front.



Yes things are going ok, she will be going home it looks like the end of march if this keep going well. We may be getting another foster though sometime in February, we are not actually licensed yet....long progress. So we shall see.

The kids and ivy are doing well. The weather is ridiculously cold for us but should be coming to an end this weekend thankfully. The livestock are miserable, anything born outside atm is sure not to survive it.

We have named the girl Charlotte and the boy Carson.


----------



## Baymule

Congrats on the adorable twins. I am glad that you beat the nasty weather on this one and that all 3 are doing well. 

The news is saying life threatening cold...….ya' think?


----------



## RollingAcres

Congrats!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Congrats on the adorable twins. I am glad that you beat the nasty weather on this one and that all 3 are doing well.
> 
> The news is saying life threatening cold...….ya' think?



Thank you, I hope they keep doing well. I did make sure both latched and got a good drink before i left them. It is seriously wicked cold outside. This is ridiculous, i never would have taken even a tiny chance at kidding/lambing/farrowing in january this year if i would have had any idea it was going to be this unreasonably cold. Everything we saw said a mild winter and it was until about 3 weeks ago.

This is our forecast without windchill...so if they make it to Saturday they should be good.







RollingAcres said:


> Congrats!


Thank you!


----------



## Mike CHS

It almost seems like we are being cruel having critters born in this kind of weather.


----------



## Latestarter

Have to say, Now I don't feel quite so bad about my girls kidding over the past couple weeks in 30s for lows...  Glad they're doing OK MFM. Hope all continues positive.


----------



## misfitmorgan

I agree with you. I had thought i planned on Ivy kidding on Feb 15th but she must have gotten to Big Boy sooner then i ever saw. Maybe she broke into the barn and I just don't remember. Even so none of us could have known it would be this cold at this time of year. They are forecasting -25 tonight here with windchill.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> Have to say, Now I don't feel quite so bad about my girls kidding over the past couple weeks in 30s for lows...  Glad they're doing OK MFM. Hope all continues positive.



I hope so too. So long as you can keep them over 25F you are usually good, under that and they tend to get frostbite as newborns. Heat lamps help, once our kids/lambs are fully dry they are a lot more hardy.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Kids were doing fine on the check yesterday. No shivering and full tummies.

Kids will be getting their CDT tomorrow, anyone know if a week is enough time for the CDT shot from Ivy to have passed?


----------



## Latestarter

From my understanding... giving the mom the shot less than 30 days before birthing gives inadequate time for mom to build the antibodies and include in her colostrum. Here's what I have for goats. I have to expect it would be basically the same for sheep as well:
https://articles.extension.org/pages/27116/goat-vaccination-program


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> From my understanding... giving the mom the shot less than 30 days before birthing gives inadequate time for mom to build the antibodies and include in her colostrum. Here's what I have for goats. I have to expect it would be basically the same for sheep as well:
> https://articles.extension.org/pages/27116/goat-vaccination-program



Well poo....ok so two shots for the babies, poor things. Hmm i thought babies only needed to be 3days old for CDT but that article says 7 days. So we shall wait until 7 days old i guess.


----------



## Mike CHS

I don't remember the science behind the reason but there is something in the ewes colostrum that inhibits the affect of the CDT if given to the lamb before 7 days.  But then again I could be getting that confused with something else.


----------



## Latestarter

I had heard basically the same sort of thing Mike... best to wait at least a week. The kids would be getting 2 shots regardless. They get the initial one at 1 week if mom hasn't had her pre-delivery one or at 5 weeks if she did... and then a booster 5-6 weeks later.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> I had heard basically the same sort of thing Mike... best to wait at least a week. The kids would be getting 2 shots regardless. They get the initial one at 1 week if mom hasn't had her pre-delivery one or at 5 weeks if she did... and then a booster 5-6 weeks later.



If the mom gets the pre-birth CDT the kids/lambs only get 1 shot or so i thought 

That site says If mom got the shot then give one at 5-6 weeks and another 3-4 weeks later...if she didnt get one at 7-21 days old then another in 3-4 weeks.  The booster is always 21-28 days later, bottle even says that.

Supposedly if you miss the 21-28 day window what happens?


----------



## Latestarter




----------



## misfitmorgan

Yesterday we got home to a Lamb outside in the pasture. Probly an hour or so old and it was a huge storm/blizzard out. Lamb was well fed but so cold there wasnt any shaking left.

So 310 and her new BIG ram lamb are in the barn in a hotbox was well. No lid for the sheep hot box so mom doesnt heat stress. The box is pretty small for mom and all her wool so hopefully everything is ok today. The ram nursed several more times that we saw and urinated so things are working well.

Sadly...Carson is no longer with us, he hasnt been since he was 2 days old I just dreaded posting it and i do not want to go into details on this one. 

Charlotte is doing well and weighs about 25lbs now. Ivy was making to much milk so i milked out 2 quarts after we lost carson, then a little less the next day to get her production down to hold charlotte only. Ivy looks to easily be able to make over a gallon of milk a day but with the temps being screwy i dont want to demand more then she needs to make.

Ivy - F2 boy/girl twins both times
310 - F2 boy singles both times

No i didnt get pictures, it was a blizzard out and i wasnt risking losing my phone in that.


----------



## B&B Happy goats

Just because ....you needed that ....


----------



## Bruce

Sorry you lost Carson, always a hard thing especially so young.


----------



## RollingAcres

Sorry about Carson....


----------



## Baymule

Congrats on the lamb. I love lambs, they are so cute. Sounds like he has a good Mom.


----------



## Mike CHS

It's amazing how hardy sheep can be.  Congratulations!


----------



## misfitmorgan

B&B Happy goats said:


> Just because ....you needed that ....


Thank you


Thank you all 

Sheep do seem to be pretty hardy critters. Most of the sheep stay outside of the shelter 24/7 with an inch of snow on their backs so i highly doubt they are cold.

Charlotte is bouncing off the walls and and the ram lamb appears to be doing well.


----------



## misfitmorgan

I believe the next lambing window will be the 2/24 - 3/2


----------



## Mike CHS

How many do you have left to lamb?


----------



## misfitmorgan

Mike CHS said:


> How many do you have left to lamb?



We just have 10 more to lamb and 4 more to kid then we are done this year.


----------



## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> I believe the next lambing window will be the 2/24 - 3/2


Almost time to start boiling the water!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> Almost time to start boiling the water!



Haha, not quite!

Ram lamb is doing well, he discovered he can make noise at will yesterday. So he was complaining up a storm yesterday, it was very cute. 

Charlotte is bouncing literally off the walls. I think it's time to build a bigger stall for her and ivy and take them out of the hot box.


----------



## Bruce

Glad the babies are doing well. I bet that cute ram lamb noise will get old though.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> Glad the babies are doing well. I bet that cute ram lamb noise will get old though.



You learn to tune it out. All the goats and sheep and pigs start complaining as soon as they see you and sometimes even when they hear you, so after awhile you don't really hear it anymore.


----------



## Mike CHS

We have one ewe that is called Notag for obvious reasons that will be the first one to see anyone coming out the door and she starts bellowing to the rest of them.


----------



## Bruce

Generous of her, she could sneak away and try to get all the goodies for herself!


----------



## Baymule

If I stand on the porch in the dark and whisper one word, the sheep hear it and BAA at me.


----------



## Bruce

Especially if that word is "food".


----------



## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> Especially if that word is "food".


LMAO so true...or anything that could be mistaken for any food word or food sound or bucket/container sound. Heck if i look at them to long out the window one yells at me...with a mouth full of hay of course.


----------



## Baymule

I love that muffled Baa when they are talking to me with a mouthful. LOL


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> I love that muffled Baa when they are talking to me with a mouthful. LOL



It is cute


----------



## farmerjan

Are you getting any of this current weather ????  I am not sure if it is reaching up to you but we sure have a wet mess.   Glad to hear you are having some better luck now.


----------



## Bruce

Should be OK at misfit's, but WOW does it look bad down south! 

 
I'm not surprised @Rammy and @Mike CHS are drowning.


----------



## Rammy

Help! Help!


----------



## Mike CHS

It has slacked off enough that I was able to take a round bale of hay out without getting drenched again.  At least the temp isn't too bad now.


----------



## misfitmorgan

We got


farmerjan said:


> Are you getting any of this current weather ????  I am not sure if it is reaching up to you but we sure have a wet mess.   Glad to hear you are having some better luck now.


we got rain then sleet then 2 inches of snow...that's it.

I do have some sad news to report. One of the mutt ewes had a set of boy/girl twins night before last, neither of them made it. It was 8f without the wind, she did have them in the shed and got one almost completely dry but they didn't really have a chance. I was hoping we had longer before the mutts starting dropping lambs but seems not. We will be building something in the barn this weekend to move all the livestock inside so we don't lose anymore. We have no way to tell when the next lambs will be born from the mutts. I was so sad when i found them it mad me cry a lot. The poor little girl lamb wasnt even at all dried off and was small.

Winter needs to end and our kidding/lambing season needs to improve. We have 1 kid and 1 lamb when we should have 3 lambs and 2 kids


----------



## Dale HWA

@misfitmorgan aw I'm sorry to hear you lost some little ones! So sad! How many more  mutts do you have left to drop lambs?


----------



## B&B Happy goats

Really sorry to read this, you guys sure have had a lousy winter of weather ....hate to loose little ones for any reason.


----------



## Mike CHS

Don't beat yourself up.  Sorry they didn't make it.


----------



## Bruce

Hopefully with them being inside in the near future things will be better.


----------



## Baymule

Sorry about the twin lambs. I know you felt bad for them and you are probably blaming yourself.  Like Mike said, don't beat yourself up over it. Things happen. Next year you will be getter prepared and you won't be lambing at minus nice degrees.


----------



## Sheepshape

Unfortunately, s@*t happens, and happens every year with lambing. Try not to be too hard on yourselves.....Mother Nature can be a cruel mistress. She feels she has to remind us on a regular basis that she is the one who holds the 'Ace Hand'.

Rejoice in  the successes, try to learn from the 'not so successful', and remember that the journey anything makes at birth is the most dangerous journey it will ever make, so things are bound to go wrong at times.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Thank you everyone. I definitely hope we are better prepared next year because I can't handle so many loses and it really makes me feel like we should just sell everything and start over after all the fencing/buildings/stalls are built. Then i look at  my livestock and I love them, i don't think i could part with my girls. Even one of the mutt sheep is now very friendly and comes up to get petted.



Dale HWA said:


> @misfitmorgan aw I'm sorry to hear you lost some little ones! So sad! How many more  mutts do you have left to drop lambs?


We have 4 more mutt sheep to lamb and 3 more suffolk and a poly pay and a suffolk poly pay cross. So 8 more sheep to lamb and 1 to 3 more goats. Still not sure if Latte and Espresso got bred if they did they should kid very late like April or June.


----------



## misfitmorgan

This is Charlotte, pics are from yesterday.






Ivy and Charlotte...Charlotte had her little nose all wrinkled up and was bouncing off the walls of course.




This is the new ram lamb, he is so big!


 



This is 310, the ram's mom...and her "why are you disturbing me when you just gave me grain" look




Yes i did move that heat lamp


----------



## RollingAcres

Charlotte is very cute and so is your new ram lamb!


----------



## Wehner Homestead

Our Calving season has sucked! We’ve lost two calves. Our third survivor was born tonight. Losing half isn’t just hard on emotions but on the pocket book too. I totally get it! Praying it gets better here and there!


----------



## misfitmorgan

I let the dog out this morning and when I was calling him back in I happen to hear a lamb cry, it was loud and sounded in distress. 

The polypay had her lamb, a single (we think ram, we were in a hurry) but he was going downhill fast. We think we found him within about 15 mins of being born. It was 8f again today and I think if it had been much longer he wouldnt have made it. We moved them both to the barn and kicked Charlotte and Ivy out of the hot box and stuck the polypay and new lamb in it.

Problem is now I am very worried about Charlotte but wasn't much else we could do because we had to go to work. Hope all is well when we get home after work


----------



## Wehner Homestead

Charlotte should be old enough to be out of the hotbox. I’ll cross my fingers with you!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Wehner Homestead said:


> Charlotte should be old enough to be out of the hotbox. I’ll cross my fingers with you!



Yes more worried about the other goats beating her up. Big Boy and Phoebe are on the main floor and the two geese. 

We didnt really have a choice it was Ivy and Charlotte or 310 and lamb which is younger. One of them had to get out or the new lamb was going to die, he needed the heat lamp and a place as warm as we could managed.

Between Ivy and the pigs we are down to 2 heat lamps, I have to buy more friday.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Wehner Homestead said:


> Our Calving season has sucked! We’ve lost two calves. Our third survivor was born tonight. Losing half isn’t just hard on emotions but on the pocket book too. I totally get it! Praying it gets better here and there!



I missed this sorry. It is tough on the pocketbook for sure. I hope things improve for everyone, seems losses and problems all around this year. I think the weather being so messed up is really been playing a part in things being off this year.


----------



## Baymule

What? You just stopped posting and didn't let us know h ow the lamb was when you got home?  I hope he made it!


----------



## misfitmorgan

I'm sorry Bay other stuff came up I will share it on my journal.

The lamb was fine.

Wednesday morning I woke I heard a lamb cry while getting ready for work. Went out and found white twin lambs outside with mom. We moved them and mom into the barn. 310 and her lamb got kicked out of their warm box. Mom and boy/girl twin lambs put in the box. We had to cut some wool off her with scissors so thy could nurse. By the time that was done the boy wouldn't stand up and wouldn't nurse no matter what we did. DH squirted some milk in his mouth and hoped him warming up would help. So we let him and his sister be to figure it out. The boy was gone a few hours later, he just wasn't quite right so i dunno what was going on there.

Ivy - Boy/girl twins (lost boy) Charlotte
310 - single ram lamb
mutt - girl twin lambs (lost both)
Polypay - single ram lamb
mutt - boy/girl white twins (lost boy)

No other lambs since. The funny/odd part is i'm not sure which polypay had the lamb. We have our sheep 'named' polypay...but an identical sheep came with the mutts who is i believe our polypay's sister. Now i'm not sure which one is which without them side by side so i dunno who is in the barn with a lamb for sure.


----------



## Baymule

Glad 310’s lamb is ok. Sorry about losing the twin boy. I had Two runty lambs this year that I had to milk their moms and teach them to suck. Both born to FFs never saw such tiny babies.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Sadly our polypay who had the ram lamb died yesterday. She broke the gate on the hotbox and was lose in the barn with her lamb. Her and one of the goats were fighting i guess and she took a horn thru her bottom jaw. Her lamb is now in our entry way and a bottle lamb. It was very sad for us.

About an hour ago one of the mutt sheep had twin boy/girl lambs. She is ignoring them atm so when i get home we have to see if we can get her interested in her babies.


----------



## Mike CHS

That had to be a shock to see.  Congrats on the other though.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Mike CHS said:


> That had to be a shock to see.  Congrats on the other though.



It was quite the thing.


----------



## Baymule

Stabbed by a goat.….that really stinks. If we made a post on how our sheep died, and listed all the fatalities, I think yours would be at the top of the Weird Death list. Stupid-A$$ goat!

I hope you can get the ewe interested in her babies. Just how do you go about that? Show pictures of happy sheep families? I got it! I got it! Pictures of happy sheep families at a water park! Yeah, that ought to do it! Maybe I'll try that.... it would beat me launching myself at a cornered ewe, getting a horse lead rope around her neck as she drags, steps on me, and tying her up to a post so I can teach her num-nuts lamb to suck. Meanwhile, the lamb clamps it's little mouth shut, a butter knife couldn't slide between it's cute little lips, much less a fat teat. 

The things our animals do to us.....and we go back for more.


----------



## Bruce

DAMN!!! You just can't catch a break with your animals!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Stabbed by a goat.….that really stinks. If we made a post on how our sheep died, and listed all the fatalities, I think yours would be at the top of the Weird Death list. Stupid-A$$ goat!
> 
> I hope you can get the ewe interested in her babies. Just how do you go about that? Show pictures of happy sheep families? I got it! I got it! Pictures of happy sheep families at a water park! Yeah, that ought to do it! Maybe I'll try that.... it would beat me launching myself at a cornered ewe, getting a horse lead rope around her neck as she drags, steps on me, and tying her up to a post so I can teach her num-nuts lamb to suck. Meanwhile, the lamb clamps it's little mouth shut, a butter knife couldn't slide between it's cute little lips, much less a fat teat.
> 
> The things our animals do to us.....and we go back for more.


It's one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

We basically just kushed the mom let the babies nurse then seperated them until the babies had a bowel movement. Stuck the babies and mom in a pen. She talked to them, smelled them then let them nurse and accepted them. Not sure what the original hang up was.


----------



## misfitmorgan

girl is on the left boy it's on the right


----------



## misfitmorgan

this is the girl lamb from the white twins


----------



## B&B Happy goats

Love those pictures


----------



## Baymule

Cute lambs!


----------



## Bruce

Things progressing in the right direction!


----------



## misfitmorgan

So much for the right direction 

We lost both of the twin lambs. Because of how fast things are thawing the barn flooded. Both lambs got soaked and got hypothermia. We tried to save them but we were just to late. They had a heat lamp but it wasnt enough.

From the repeated freeze and thaw cycle we have been having there is a foot high ice dam around the entire barn about a foot from the building from ice and snow falling off the roof. It is as solid as concrete, the ground is also frozen solid so nothing is draining. It has been almost 40F here for the past 3 days so everything is melting fast which caused about 4inches of standing water around the entire barn and about an inch inside on top of the cement floor and the big pen which is dirt was a huge mud puddle. 

We cut water ways thru the ice wall so the barn could drain. Put down new bedding(hay) for all the pens and made sure all the lambs and charlotte were ok. We also put a few pallets in so there was a place that was dry to get up off the floor.

At the end of the day we still lost two more lambs for our own stupidity and let down our livestock again 

I never thought farming would be easy but this season is really hard to handle. There are other things going on that I have not even shared with you guys that makes all of this so much worse. I may take a break from updating on this thread, i am so very sick of posting one death/loss after the other.

The only good news is that our Foster kid is going to use the orphan bottle lamb as her 4h lamb. This will be here first time doing 4h and she is excited. She will not be able to do the market sale but all in all it should be a good thing for her and our farm. So that situation worked out about as well as it could have.


----------



## Bruce

At least there is happiness with regard to the foster kid.


----------



## Baymule

I am so sorry about your lambs. Ice dam....I have no experience with anything even remotely resembling that. How do you even prepare for something like that? Don't beat up on yourself, this weather has been horrible. Y'all really didn't have much time to weatherize everything before Ol' Man Winter showed up. Big hugs.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Ok so...we had another mutt have twin lambs ram lambs. One white one black, the white was still born it seems, still half in the sack and soaked when i found him. The mutt was to preoccupied with the dead white lamb to want anything to do with the black one. She seemed convinced that the white one was hers and the black one was another sheeps baby. She would talk to the black one and the black lamb would talk back but she would not let it nurse.

So i took the black lamb and make him a bottle baby. I mean if you are bottling one why not 2. The black lamb was born March 11th.

In other news the kids 4-h lamb is now 28 days old and doing great. The kid decided not to do 4-h after all because she is already doing choir and softball(which has practice until 5 or 7pm mon thru fri. We didnt want her to have to much on her plate. Also...the lamb for 4h that she named Duke...its a girl

DH checked sex and seems made a mistake so one more girl lamb she is doing great and huge she weighs over 30lbs I would guess.

Everyone else seems to be doing well.


----------



## Bruce

On the whole it sounds like things are improving, sorry you lost yet another lamb though.


----------



## Baymule

I am so sorry that you are having such a rough time. The hits just keep coming. Then you get a live lamb and the ewe doesn't want it.  It has to get better.


----------



## B&B Happy goats




----------



## misfitmorgan

Temps are very warm out suddenly so we have quite a bit of flooding in several areas here so lets hope nothing else bizarre happens. All the barn sheep and goats will be going back to the outside pen very shortly as the kids/lambs are old enough and the temps have warmed up enough. I may keep the mutt sheep and the white girl lamb in for another week or two just because she is still smaller.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Everyone seems to be doing well. Bottle lambs are going thru a lot of formula and started on hay and grain. Barn animals seems to be doing well, it has been sunny and pretty nice here for the most part.

310s ram lamb is posted for sale and so is the bottle ram lamb.


----------



## Wehner Homestead

Where do you post animals for sale? Have you found that posting some places works better than others?


----------



## misfitmorgan

Wehner Homestead said:


> Where do you post animals for sale? Have you found that posting some places works better than others?



I use craigslist for the moment. Results have been alright usually get everything sold just not always at the price I am wanting. I am thinking of using the local livestock FB groups but i hate FB 

We also sell a lot locally, people know what animals we have and ask if we have anything available. Atm we have 6 people waiting on pigs, whenever we get them.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Last night boys got banded which is a shame cause we have some really good genes. 310 is a large frame ewe from slack lines and our ram is from kimm lines, so he would have been an amazing ram for someone.

All kids/lambs now also have gotten their first CDT shots so we just have follow up to do. No new lambs yet which is am fine with. Waiting for tails to come off and the rest of the snow to melt.

I have not mentioned it because I did not want to jinx it but the mutt sheeps little white ewe lamb is an amazing looking lamb. She is smaller because of course she is a ewe but she is perfectly square, deep chested, very muscular rear legs..just an amazing looking lamb. We are very impressed with her so far and think she will make a very nice addition to the sheep herd and hope she took her mothers parasite resistance. Just amazing little lamb.

"Duke" the bottle lamb we thought was a boy is doing very well. She is eating hay/grain and growing like a weed, she has to weigh over 35lbs now easily. We need to buy a scale. We find it hard to get a good look at her because she always thinks I have a bottle hidden on me someplace.


----------



## Wehner Homestead

That’s wonderful news about the little white ewe lamb! 

Too funny about Duke. Will she be a keeper? 



As far as sales, we don’t have trouble selling calves but I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about selling goats. We may also be getting into pigs... I have fb but I’m not necessarily a fan. Too much stupid drama. At least what’s here is real life. Thanks for sharing how you do sales!


----------



## Mike CHS

The lambs that have that extra edge always bring on a smile.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Wehner Homestead said:


> That’s wonderful news about the little white ewe lamb!
> 
> Too funny about Duke. Will she be a keeper?
> 
> 
> As far as sales, we don’t have trouble selling calves but I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about selling goats. We may also be getting into pigs... I have fb but I’m not necessarily a fan. Too much stupid drama. At least what’s here is real life. Thanks for sharing how you do sales!



Yes we will be keeping Duke. We keep all females for goats and sheep. We have sadly had such poor luck(mostly boys) and freak accidents that Oreo will actually be our first breed back.

Next year all goats are being bred to Big Boy again and we will go from there. If things work out Phoebe will give us at least one girl this year. That girl will not be ready to breed until Fall 2020 I dont think because Phoebe got bred late. Charlotte will be bred back to her father Big boy if she is ready this Fall 2019. If things go well Big Boy will be sold this fall after breeding and we will get a new buck either this fall or spring 2020. Hopefully one with Dapples or spots 

For the sheep all ewes will be bred to our big ram this fall. Duke will be bred to our big ram who may or may not be her dad. Captain will be sold as soon as we get a line on a good replacement and that new ram will be used to breed the spring 2020 babies when they are ready. Our Big ram will breed the suffolk adults and mutts we currently have, then he will be sold in Spring 2021(i think).

Thats the some what of a plan atm. It really all depends on how well we do as caretakers and our luck I guess. If we can get decent pasture up shortly it will greatly improve our odds I think.



Mike CHS said:


> The lambs that have that extra edge always bring on a smile.


True and this was very unexpected as well.


----------



## Baymule

You had just moved when winter overtook you. You really didn't have a lot of time to get things sorted out and fixed up the way you wanted to. I expect you will be having a lot of activity on the farm this summer and getting things more the way you want them. The good thing about making plans is that it gives you a direction to go in, and can be changed along the way.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Sweetie - 4F singles
308 - 2F single
294 - FF, mounted 11/24 (expected 4/23)
White Mutt- 2F twins
Small Brown - 1F twins
Phoebe - 4F twins, expected 4/26
Latte - 11?
Espresso - 11?

Made a Spreadsheet stuff was getting to complicated.



 

I am expecting the next lambs to be born in the second half of this month. 294 and any not prego mutts were exposed and mounted for 4/23-4/27 lambs.


----------



## Baymule

April births ought to be a lot easier on you and the ewes.


----------



## Mike CHS

It does get complicated.


----------



## Wehner Homestead

Spreadsheets help everything!!! I love Excel!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> April births ought to be a lot easier on you and the ewes.



Boy tell me about it! I am so looking forward to warmer weather kids/lambs.



Wehner Homestead said:


> Spreadsheets help everything!!! I love Excel!



Me to... I make them for about eveything.


----------



## misfitmorgan

I don't know if i mentioned it or not but 310s ram lamb was sold on Saturday night. They will be picking him up on the 15th when he is 8 weeks old. So yay!!

No interest in the boy bottle lamb as of yet.

The white girl lamb, Duke and Charlotte are doing great.


----------



## Baymule

Congrats on the sale!


----------



## misfitmorgan

The new ears tags showed up on Saturday, super happy with them!!


----------



## misfitmorgan

We have now talked to a couple more producers up here, seems we actually did better then most sadly. The other producers numbers 6 of 7, 3 of 5 and 14 of 17 died/DOA for lambs at three other local places. For goats reporting around 75% loss on kids. Piglets at least two other producers had 100% loss on multiple litters, total 5 farrows. Havn't talked to anyone with calves.

Seems everyone has a combo of freak weather(super cold/flooding), weak lambs, rejections and cocci/parasite issues. The only close local producer I know who had 85% success on lambing locks all of his ewes up inside on January 1st, shears them all, worms them all, and puts close ewes in jugs with heat barrels. He has however lost 3 adult ewes to cocci(he didnt treat for it because it was winter) and several others are still recovering. As a result livestock prices this year are up and available livestock is slim. 4-h lambs/kids are now pushing $300 each and piglets $200 each which is not normal for this area.

It's a bit comforting to know it wasnt just us but I still feel a lot of it could have been avoided if we had better facilities/not been busy with family medical issues.

One of the local producers was so mad at his livestock he had ever single pig and sheep sold/butchered and bought all new stock. After talking to some other producers locally he kind of feels like a moron which he should


----------



## misfitmorgan

Almost forgot...in other news.

Phoebe should be due the 26th and her back end is swelling up, she has about half a bag made. She has labored breathing and it makes me wonder if she has pneumonia or she is just that pregnant. Phoebe usually starts to make a bag about a month before kidding so she seems on schedule.


----------



## Baymule

In your defense, you had just moved to a new place right before winter set in. You didn't know how winter treated your place, on top of that, you had horrible weather.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> In your defense, you had just moved to a new place right before winter set in. You didn't know how winter treated your place, on top of that, you had horrible weather.



We did have a year Bay...we just didnt get enough done. More things are already getting marked off the to do list. Despite having 6" of snow dumped on us we have been making progress.


----------



## Baymule

You will be better prepared for winter this year.


----------



## misfitmorgan

I really hope so!


----------



## Bruce

Yeah what Bay said! You've got all summer to work things the way you need them. And it is nice to know that you weren't alone in your troubles. Hopefully next season will be better for everyone around.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Well Phoebe has been Doe coding us to death. She has looked like she is ready to start labor any second since friday afternoon 

Still no babies of course but she doesn't seem to be at all in stress, and she is happily eating like a pig.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Well Phoebe has done it again. Every year she does this to us. All the signs of going into labor any minute...and nothing. Pigging out on feed without seemingly a care in the world. I put her in with Big boy on 11/24 and saw him mount her on 11/26 which should mean babies done cooking on 4/25 but it seems she had her own ideas. Last year she did this for 2 weeks...doe code 

It doesn't really help that she never fully dries off and she starts making a bag a month or more before kidding. I've tried drying her off repeatedly with no success which seems odd to me for Boer but she is 25% Nubian.

In other news, Charlotte has decided she doesn't really like people  Which is weird because her mom and dad are both the friendliest goats we own, charlotte used to like me just fine. She sees her parents all over the people but will stand just out of reach and if you reach to touch her she runs away  i'm hoping once she goes in the weaning pen she will friendly up.


----------



## Mike CHS

I quit trying to figure out some of the personalities.  We have a bunch that are as tame as our house dogs and a few that will run if you just look at them.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Mike CHS said:


> I quit trying to figure out some of the personalities.  We have a bunch that are as tame as our house dogs and a few that will run if you just look at them.



Good idea!


----------



## misfitmorgan

Ok so Phoebe had her kids yesterday.

Twins of course

Twin boys of course 

They seem healthy though and she was being her normal good mom self. She didnt seem to have any trouble as they were both freshly born when we got to them and she was busy cleaning them off. I didn't get pictures but i will. One is a traditional marked with the cape, the other is a solid and looks like big boy. The traditional marked red kid is the only traditional red boer we own, which is kinda odd since its the most common coat/marking.

Big Boy is solid red
Phoebe is red roan (i looked it up lol)
Latte is traditional but with a cream head instead of red
Espresso is traditional with a black head


----------



## misfitmorgan

Latte and Espresso may or may not be bred...some days they look it other days they dont.

White mutt definitely look round enough to be bred.
Small Brown mutt always looks round so not sure on her.
Sweetie def looks bred.
308 does not look bred but 308 didnt look bred last year and lambed mid-june.
294 may not be bred, she looks to thin to be carrying even though i watched her get mounted many times by both of our rams and then even the mutt ram later on.

Next year I definitely want more control over who lambs/kids when.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Question....

Has anyone ever had a goat or lamb that could not maintain their body temperature? Phoebe's kids don't seem to be able too. Yesterday it was 47F here and rainy, when we got home DH found the Red cape buck near death and ice cold and his brother not to far behind him. After 8 hrs of working on the red cape buck and him never warming up despite all attempts, DH breathed for him for 30 minutes, and tube feeding several times, he died. He was not really right, so i thought ok maybe we just got to him to late and his organs were already shutting down. His brother responded perfectly fine to tube feeding and his mouth got "warm", he did not walk around or want to nurse. As long as he was by something giving him heat, us, hair dryer box, kid, dogs, he seemed to be in no immediate danger and we thought he was past the hump. I went to bed at 12.30am he was fine I thought so i took the heat off him and left him in a box overnight. Fast forward to 4.30am when we woke up and he was flat on his side ice cold and barely showing signs of life...this is in a house that was 72-74F. DH tubed him again and I put him back in the hair dryer box to warm up, when i had to leave for work he was showing improvement but I doubt he will be alive when i get home.

This is the most insane thing i have ever seen, its like they can not maintain or create their own temperature despite reasonable or very good conditions. Anyone else seen this before?
@Goat Whisperer @Southern by choice @OneFineAcre Anyone else?


----------



## Southern by choice

How old are the kids?
Just an FYI, never feed a cold goat. They cannot digest the food. No tube feeding, no bottle nothing. They must be warmed up before attempting to feed.
A dab of nutridrench /sugars on the tongue would be better.

If being dam raised I would suspect the dam is not feeding them adequately. They are getting chilled somehow.
I'll ask more when I know their age.


----------



## misfitmorgan

Southern by choice said:


> How old are the kids?
> Just an FYI, never feed a cold goat. They cannot digest the food. No tube feeding, no bottle nothing. They must be warmed up before attempting to feed.
> A dab of nutridrench /sugars on the tongue would be better.
> 
> If being dam raised I would suspect the dam is not feeding them adequately. They are getting chilled somehow.
> I'll ask more when I know their age.



They were less then 24hrs old when we found them yesterday. We saw zero evidence of them having been fed but not for lack of the dam trying, she kept trying to shove them back by her udder. We did do corn syrup on their tongue/gums several times. The one who was doing less worse didnt get tube fed until his mouth felt warm. The other one it was the last ditch efforts over several hours because he was showing zero improvement. We tubed the one who was still alive this morning because we had to leave for work and he had had no food other then 50ML of colostrum over 12hrs before then and we wouldnt be home for another 9 hrs. I'm just trying to figure out why they can't seem to make heat or stay warm, they were completely dry and had outside sources of heat applied for hours. The one who is still alive had a warm mouth last night but seems he couldnt keep his temp. Neither of them would nurse at all, when first born they were trying and they seemed like normal kids. We did see them both appear to latch on after about 45 minutes but i dont think they actually drank any milk. Things seem to have gone wrong night before last when they were only a few hours old.

It was around 40F out, they had a heat lamp, clean dry bedding, and a stall alone with their dam. The red cape one who died after 8 hrs of work, kept having eye tremors so DH thought something must be neurologically wrong maybe from getting so hypothermic? I'm really at a loss.


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## Baymule

I don't even know what to say. I don't have the experience to offer advice. I wish I did and could offer something encouraging.


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## misfitmorgan

We lost the second kid on friday night. I still don't know what was wrong. DH thought maybe white muscle disease but the symptoms dont fit and it doesnt make sense with them having all they can eat loose mineral access.

A lack of minerals/vitamins in general doesn't seem likely. Everyone was treated with corid a few weeks ago, could that cause a problem? 

I'm at a loss, I've just never heard of anyone having this problem and can not find any info on it. I even called the vet and asked her and she didnt know either, she suggested bringing the kid in would NOT be helpful. She said because first off she didn't know of anything that caused those symptoms and secondly she thought he was to far gone to recover by the signs he was showing which I sadly agreed with. This vet is a realist and she has worked with livestock for a long long time, she shares our same view. It would be wonderful to be able to treat and save all animals but with livestock it often isnt feasible, esp with animals ment for the meat market. We can not realistically put several hundred dollars into a goat kid when our return would be $150 at absolute best and more likely at this time of year about $75. Our farm like most just could not support that, esp atm.


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## mysunwolf

Sometimes the selenium in the mineral doesn't get absorbed properly, and low selenium can cause "unthriftiness," it doesn't have to be WMD. You could give BoSe to all adults before breeding, and consider worming about a month before kidding. I've noticed if the dams have high loads of parasites, even if they are tolerating it well and their eyelids look good, the lambs (in our case) come out weak and generally "unthrifty" as folks say.

Honestly, it also may have just been a fluke since it was only from one dam and you've never seen it before. I hear you on the finances, it just doesn't make sense to spend much on young or old ones especially. What might be a good idea is to see if your state has a free necropsy program and send the kids in for evaluation.


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## misfitmorgan

mysunwolf said:


> Sometimes the selenium in the mineral doesn't get absorbed properly, and low selenium can cause "unthriftiness," it doesn't have to be WMD. You could give BoSe to all adults before breeding, and consider worming about a month before kidding. I've noticed if the dams have high loads of parasites, even if they are tolerating it well and their eyelids look good, the lambs (in our case) come out weak and generally "unthrifty" as folks say.
> 
> Honestly, it also may have just been a fluke since it was only from one dam and you've never seen it before. I hear you on the finances, it just doesn't make sense to spend much on young or old ones especially. What might be a good idea is to see if your state has a free necropsy program and send the kids in for evaluation.



We did worm everyone about a month or month and a half ago, so I dont think that was a problem, ut it could have been. The dam seems very healthy, good appetite, good weight, good eye and gum color, good bowel movements, etc. It might be not enough selenium, but no one else is showing any signs of not getting enough. I used to keep selenium and vitamin E paste on hand to give kids or lambs if they were having a problem. I know we have 0.10-0.14 ppm of selenium so our soil.

I have checked on necropsy before, the only reply back i got was that they do free necropsy for tb or scrapie only. Good idea though.

I think whatever the problem was with those two kids will remain a mystery. This was the 7th and 8th kids from this dam and we have never lost one or ever had a problem with her kids, so this is really throwing me.


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## Goat Whisperer

I’m still reading you post so may have missed something- but did you check the dam’s udder and teats? Did you squirt several streams of colostrum into your hand/bucket/something and check it? 

Generally when I hear of this type of issue, it’s because the dam’s colostrum is to thick for the kid to get out. I have several friends who have lost kids to this, they kids looked like they were nursing but just couldn’t get the thick colostrum out. One farm I actually went over and milked the goat, “diluted” the colostrum and got the kids fed. They were really weak but both made it.


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## misfitmorgan

Goat Whisperer said:


> I’m still reading you post so may have missed something- but did you check the dam’s udder and teats? Did you squirt several streams of colostrum into your hand/bucket/something and check it?
> 
> Generally when I hear of this type of issue, it’s because the dam’s colostrum is to thick for the kid to get out. I have several friends who have lost kids to this, they kids looked like they were nursing but just couldn’t get the thick colostrum out. One farm I actually went over and milked the goat, “diluted” the colostrum and got the kids fed. They were really weak but both made it.



Thank you for your reply @Goat Whisperer. We did milk out into a bowl about 2 cups of colostrum, it was definitely thick but milked out fairly easy, i have no doubt the kids could have gotten it if they had latched on and sucked properly. Both kids got colostrum from us at approx 24hrs old.


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## Bruce

misfitmorgan said:


> I have checked on necropsy before, the only reply back i got was that they do free necropsy for tb or scrapie only.


If they do it free for those 2 diseases, I ASSUME one already knows that is what they died from so why bother with a necropsy? Or do they not know prior to the necropsy and then charge you if they find out it isn't?


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## misfitmorgan

Bruce said:


> If they do it free for those 2 diseases, I ASSUME one already knows that is what they died from so why bother with a necropsy? Or do they not know prior to the necropsy and then charge you if they find out it isn't?



If they see likely signs, then they will necropsy. If they dont find it they ont charge you, you cant just sent a perfectly healthy looking dead thing to them though and be like oh I think it has.... just to get a free necropsy. I dunno how exactly the system works  but it seems too.

On another note 308 had a ram lamb a few days ago. He is looking thin but energetic, of course now that i posted he will probly kick the bucket somehow.

One of the mutts also had a single black lamb, it was dead when i found it in the shed, i believe it was the little brown ones lamb. She is a first-timer and I don't think she knew what to do and stepped on/head butted the lamb a lot. Looked healthy but obviously some sort of trauma occurred.

That leaves white mutt and 294 if they are going to have lambs. 294 doesnt look very filled out so i doubt she is bred.

I also doubt Latte and Mocha are bred, there is no udder development and if they were going to kid it would have been by now unless big boy bred thru the fence. I am watching for them to come into heat.


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## Bruce

Sure wish you would stop having all these troubles! I can understand


misfitmorgan said:


> He is looking thin but energetic, of course now that i posted he will probly kick the bucket somehow.


given all that has gone on but I hope he'll do well and start you back on the path of things working as they should.


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## Baymule

I hope he doesn't kick the bucket and grows up. You have had more than your share of bad luck.


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## misfitmorgan

Well he was still alive as of this last nights chores. He is pretty dang small and remains thin looking for some reason. I think half his problem is it is "warm" out so we have left him in the drylot with his mom, so i think him chasing after his mom all day is making his lose his calories before he can use them to fatten up. We need to pull the adult goats out of their barn pen, and put them back in the drylot. Then pull the adult sheep out of the barn pen and put them back in the drylot. Move the bottle lambs, Charlotte and the white lamb into one pen in the barn to wean completely(bottle lambs are weaned and huge). That will open up a barn pen for 308 and her ram lamb.

So only issue with the above plan is....where do i put Big Boy? DH says to put him in the drylot with the rams and the other little buck. My concern is that big boy has no horns, the little buck does and I have seen the rams get after the little buck. He is fast and just runs away until they get tired but I dont think Big Boy would run away.

Side note 294 definitely is not bred and is very thin, we got our hands on her last night. She is the same sheep who had issues last year and spend about 3 months in the barn because she was close to dead. It appears she may not have ever fully recovered. I'm hoping with warmer weather here it will help her put on some weight and fill out. We may have to separate her and feed her up on her own again, but i really dont want to do that. 294 was in a group of sheep we bought, the other two both died because of weight issues if i recall right. I don't know if they just have a really bad parasite tolerance or what, their eyes are always almost white even with iron supplements and regular worming.


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## Mike CHS

I hope your shuffling animals pays off for you.


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## Baymule

Maybe you need to take 294 to the sale barn and let her go.


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## Mike CHS

We are finding that our high dollar registered animals aren't performing nearly as well as our mutts so we are rethinking our long range plans.


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## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Maybe you need to take 294 to the sale barn and let her go.



I have thought about it, however ewes are only going for sale for $50-60/head and the closest auction/sale barn is 2.5hrs away. I don't really think it would be worth it. They also only have auction on monday while im at work so I would lose money there too. There is a second auction almost the same distance that has auctions on wednesday but again it is while im at work.



Mike CHS said:


> We are finding that our high dollar registered animals aren't performing nearly as well as our mutts so we are rethinking our long range plans.



I am also wondering myself. Our suffolk hold back runt from last year(almost 12 months old) is pretty much the same size as Duke(13 weeks). Duke is half suffolk half polypay. That said the suffolk ram lamb we sold was almost the same size as the runt as well so maybe not the best to compare it too. I do know the straight mutt babies are smaller, Both the bottle boy and the white girl are the same size, and look like teddy bears. Anyhow we might get another large bred to cross with...thats a decision for later though.


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## misfitmorgan

308 and her lamb are doing well in their pen. The lamb has started eating solid food.

Yesterday night we also found an aborted lamb in the sheep shed. It was solid black so we believe it to be from one of the mutts. We could not see any evidence of which one. With 3 big brown sheep in pasture it is hard to tell who is who now. Hopefully we will get them sheared soon and get ear tags put in.

So that means the last sheep that could be bred still is Sweetie, it would be odd for her to have a lamb so late though as the other 2 years she has had them in feb/march.

I do not think latte or espresso settled so we might be done with lambs/kids for this year.

Sheep need sheared and evaluated for condition. Goats need pasture/forage and loose minerals. Big Boy looks great but he has had so much corn over the winter in the barn he has elf shoes on. We have trimmed him twice now but just cant keep up. 

Desperately need to find/make more pasture.


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## Baymule

Boy I do hear you on needing pasture. We have 8 acres, much of it wooded. Never enough grass!


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## misfitmorgan

So much to my surprise I got home from work on friday and was looking out the back window at the sheep/goats and a few chickens.....when i realized one of those little things wasnt a chicken!

Phoebe had twin goat kids outside and they were dry feeling when I go tto them so It was a few hours. We put her in her own stall in the barn with a heat lamp. The girl looked to have eatten the boy did not which was odd because he looked like he was born first as he was drier. It had gotten 40F that day but was already down to 34F when i found them. So we tucked them in for the night and figured they would be fine after warming up. I dunno why but no, not the boy. We found him early Saturday morning passed away. What a crumby start to the season  he was a beautiful boy too. The girl was doing well as of last night at 3 days old.

Ivy looks about ready to pop and has her udder half made.

Now here is the odd thing. We always thought phoebe took after her 25% nubian side and was a seasonal breeder, same with Ivy looking mostly tog. This is the 5th year for phoebe and this is the first time she has shown us she is not a seasonal breeder, 3rd year for ivy and same deal.


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## Baymule

Sorry about the lost little boy. That does suck, I hate to lose babies. At least you have the doeling. I hope that the rest of the kidding/lambing goes better for you.


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## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> Sorry about the lost little boy. That does suck, I hate to lose babies. At least you have the doeling. I hope that the rest of the kidding/lambing goes better for you.



I hope so to this is a poo start but we werent at all exspecting any kids of lambs until mid-febuary. Now every day I am looking at the back window worried someone else will have babies. The cold is my concern and having a time frame of....sometime after now isnt ideal. Esp annoying since we specifically pulled the boys to control when we would have babies.


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## Baymule

My bet is that you will get it all figured out for the "next time" and after that, the "next time". We learn as we go, getting better at planning these things out. 

I now have a crop of lambs that will be ready to go to slaughter just as the winter grasses and clovers wind down. I want to see if that is the best time, because my summer grasses are not well established yet, it will be another couple of years before they catch up to the winter grasses. With me, it is not so much the threat of the lambs freezing to death, but having something for them to eat and parasite bloom, which can be overwhelming in the spring and summer. I am working towards a more parasite resistant flock, but having lambs grow during the dormant time for parasites sure can't be a bad thing. For you it is climate and the threat that the extreme cold brings. We both have a timing thing to work on.


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## misfitmorgan

Hopefully this year we will have them in separate pasture from spring on so no more surprise babies. This was the first year we have separated the boys at all but it seems it was futile for some.


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## Baymule

Sneaky boys!


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## Sheepshape

misfitmorgan said:


> This was the first year we have separated the boys at all but it seems it was futile for some.


Sorry to hear about the baby......
Separating is the obvious solution to unwanted pregnancies.My rams are in with the ewes for 6 weeks only, or so I would like to think. Every year I have somebody who gives birth who , to the best of my knowledge , has not been within 2 fields of a ram. Last year I had 2 give birth. One of these girls was quite a small lamb herself and had never had a ram with her (????). The other had been with the ram, but scanned 'empty'. She gave birth to twins a good 6 weeks later than any of the other ewes....can't explain that one, either.
Sometimes we lose babies which seem perfectly healthy, due to no fault of our own. A sad but recurrent fact of breeding livestock. All we can do is eliminate those factors which we have control over, and accept that not everything is open to modification.
Hopefully things turn out better from now on in.


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## misfitmorgan

Sheepshape said:


> Sorry to hear about the baby......
> Separating is the obvious solution to unwanted pregnancies.My rams are in with the ewes for 6 weeks only, or so I would like to think. Every year I have somebody who gives birth who , to the best of my knowledge , has not been within 2 fields of a ram. Last year I had 2 give birth. One of these girls was quite a small lamb herself and had never had a ram with her (????). The other had been with the ram, but scanned 'empty'. She gave birth to twins a good 6 weeks later than any of the other ewes....can't explain that one, either.
> Sometimes we lose babies which seem perfectly healthy, due to no fault of our own. A sad but recurrent fact of breeding livestock. All we can do is eliminate those factors which we have control over, and accept that not everything is open to modification.
> Hopefully things turn out better from now on in.



Until the past month or two we thought we had all seasonal breeders so never worried about separating....guess not. Just need to get thru winter then we can figure out the plan to keep boys away from girls without just putting the boys in stalls or tiny buck/ram pens. Atm we only have the little buck left and he is suppose to be given to our friend but the 2 rams need to be kept away for sure.


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## Baymule

My ewes that lambed last month are cycling now, Ringo is intensely interested. Just goes to show ya how darn fast these girls get back in the swing of things. No! No! Girls! Not happening!


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## misfitmorgan

Phoebe's girl is still doing well. She appears a bit thinner then I would like but she had just woken up from a nap.




She loves he heat lamp!

Oddly Espresso somehow got out of the pasture fence, got into the barn and jumped the 4ft wall to be in Phoebe's pen. Phoebe seemed fine with it so we left her in there.


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## Baymule

She's cute. Don't blame her on the neat lamp, if I lived there I'd have to carry a battery operated heat lamp with me everywhere I went!


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## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> She's cute. Don't blame her on the neat lamp, if I lived there I'd have to carry a battery operated heat lamp with me everywhere I went!



 I wish I could carry a heat lamp everywhere i went   

I really don't know where her pattern/coloring came from. Phoebe is a solid and Big Boy was mostly solid, maybe he was really a paint like this kid.

DH has said if all goes as planned (hahahahahahaha...right) That as soon as we get pasture up i can get my dream buck, type of, not specifically picked yet. So I will hopefully be adding a registered tiger dappled buck to the goats at some point.....


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## misfitmorgan

Ivy had twin girls on 11/30....here are a couple (horrible) pictures.





Their ears seem to have not decided what they are doing yet.

Phoebe's Daughter is doing well so far.


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## Bruce

Pretty girls!


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## Baymule

Those aren't horrible pictures! Goats that cute make up for any photo  not-so-great.


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## misfitmorgan

Thank you I do love the colors.

Latte is making a bag so she will need to be moved to the barn as well. Wow we are going to have one very full barn this winter it seems. The current goat kids will be in the barn until at least mid-march, moms will go out at weaning. Lets hope the sheep dont have any surprises for us because it is 11F out this am and if anything is born outside they will not make it.


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## Baymule

11F? We hit single digits last winter, but only for a night, not weeks or months like you have. In a week or so, it was above freezing and sunny. Our winters are short. LOL I can deal with a few days of below freezing, but I sure wouldn't want to deal with it all winter.


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## Bruce

I would think single digits are quite rare in your neck of the woods Bay. 

I hope your girls are cooperative Misfit! Babies only during the day, when you are around.


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## misfitmorgan

Baymule said:


> 11F? We hit single digits last winter, but only for a night, not weeks or months like you have. In a week or so, it was above freezing and sunny. Our winters are short. LOL I can deal with a few days of below freezing, but I sure wouldn't want to deal with it all winter.



This is not normal for us...until Tueday it has been all 30s or higher even into the 40s and a 56 two weeks ago





It should be "warming" back up tomorrow for a couple days.


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## Baymule

Bruce said:


> I would think single digits are quite rare in your neck of the woods Bay.
> 
> I hope your girls are cooperative Misfit! Babies only during the day, when you are around.


Last year broke records that stood for 50 years.


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## misfitmorgan

35F already this morning....hopefully its a much warmer day then we have been having.


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