Four Winds Ranch
Loving the herd life
Congrats!!!! That is awesome!!!! 
He definatly looks like a strapping lad!! What was his weight!!!!????
He definatly looks like a strapping lad!! What was his weight!!!!????
Bridgemoof--Sheep & Wool festival
- Thread starter Bridgemoof
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- #1,112
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
He weighed about 14 pounds. And I also weighed Fluffy's and she's only 7. 
Beatrix finally got with the program and is catching on what it means to be a "mom." Whew!
My bottle babies weigh about 20 pounds already. Wow! They are growing fast.
Beatrix finally got with the program and is catching on what it means to be a "mom." Whew!My bottle babies weigh about 20 pounds already. Wow! They are growing fast.
Roving Jacobs
Seeing Spots
Beatrix is so cute! And her baby is huge! 7 lbs is a pretty normal weight for a Jacob, they just look teeny if you're used to big meaty lambs.
I was thinking of you while I was shearing one of the cormos today. Just wait until you get that fleece! It's awesomely soft and there's so much of it. 5 lbs just of what was under the coat. I want to just take a nap in it (especially after shearing the giant fidgety moose).
I was thinking of you while I was shearing one of the cormos today. Just wait until you get that fleece! It's awesomely soft and there's so much of it. 5 lbs just of what was under the coat. I want to just take a nap in it (especially after shearing the giant fidgety moose).
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- #1,114
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
Oh Roving, we sheared ours last year and I know what you mean! It is scrumptious. It always reminds me of crabmeat for some silly reason. Did you have yours blanketed? Did it get matted at all under your sheep blanket? My Cormo seem to get hose crunchy tips on them, and I've had a devil of a time trying to wash it. I guess you're sending yours out, huh? I have yet to get any fleeces to the processor. Not enough hours in the day!
Oh as for Fluffy's baby, well I swear she's a lot smaller than my other Jacobs. She's even smaller than my bottle baby Lottie from last year who was really small! I need to figure out a better way to weigh her. She's so cute, I just love her!
Oh and BTW, Saturn the ram lamb has 4 horns, but they're kind of funky. They are not evenly spaced, maybe fused. I'll try to get a better pic, if he would just hold still long enough. 
And Cloud, the other one also has 4 horns. They seem smaller but more evenly spaced. They are just the cutest, too. I LOVE Jacobs!
Oh as for Fluffy's baby, well I swear she's a lot smaller than my other Jacobs. She's even smaller than my bottle baby Lottie from last year who was really small! I need to figure out a better way to weigh her. She's so cute, I just love her!
Oh and BTW, Saturn the ram lamb has 4 horns, but they're kind of funky. They are not evenly spaced, maybe fused. I'll try to get a better pic, if he would just hold still long enough. And Cloud, the other one also has 4 horns. They seem smaller but more evenly spaced. They are just the cutest, too. I LOVE Jacobs! 
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
We use this...... http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=95&cat_id=9 and this......... http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=673&cat_id=9 to weigh our lambs.
- Thread starter
- #1,116
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
Two of my ewes delivered today! 
See my lambing thread in the sheep section for more details. It's all good! 
See my lambing thread in the sheep section for more details. It's all good! - Thread starter
- #1,117
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
Hello everyone!
Just checking in to give a little update on happenings around the farm. Looks like spring has finally sprung around here, with the last couple of days being half way warm. One of those days it actually got over 60, so hopefully the grass will start growing! The paddock where the sheep is either a dust bowl or a mud pit, with hardly a sign of grass anywhere. I tried planting some rye seed about a week ago, and the chickens were eating the seeds, and also eating the sprig of grass if it made it up.
Hard to even manage growing season when there are animals on every square inch of our property. Even pigs in the garden!
POULTRY
Our older lame Cuckoo Marans rooster General Tso died this week. I found him in the corner of the chicken coup all hunched up. Poor guy, probably got attacked by another roo. I loved him and he would hobble around and eat bits of corn he found on the ground. A lot of times Tim or I would pick him up and move him to a different spot if somebody was picking on him. He would always sleep on the floor of the coup under the nesting boxes because he couldn't get up on the roosts. We donated his body for the sake of the truce we have with the foxes across the road. We give them fresh meat every once in a while and they stop coming over and chasing the lambs around. :/
We are down to 2 pheasants sadly. The fox must have gotten the rest. So they are in lock up for now. They are both females, so we want to get another male. The really sad part is now they are laying eggs! If we had a male left we could be hatching out baby pheasants! Boo!
The 3 Indian runner ducks finally discovered the pond last month. It was so funny to see them jump in the first time. I swear after a year of them running around upright on the farm we didn't even imagine they could swim. They have been sharing the pond with 2 wild Canadian Geese who have been hanging around for a few weeks. But yesterday one of the ducks came up lame, and couldn't hardly waddle. So we put them in lock up until he recovers. Hopefully recovers!
Our turkey hen has begun laying eggs in the tool shed of all places. But yay! Since we do have a Tom, we took the eggs and will put them in the incubator. Hopefully we can get some turkey poults to raise.
SHEEP
We seem to be past the hump of the mycroplasma pneumonia nearly all the sheep had last month. We administered Zactran to all the coughers and that stuff is amazing. It really does knock it out in a day. We have had many lambs, I think we're up to 14 now. Had our share of heartaches, like the one yesterday who had the prolapse and lost her lamb. She's still recovering, she is so swollen it looks awful.
The bottle baby lambs are doing great. I'm so glad there were 2, and so glad I put them outside after a week old. They will have grown up with the other lambs so all is well.
Have a sheep shearer coming out in a couple of weeks. It's a girl who advertised in our local paper that she would do it for free to gain experience. She has attended the MD shearing school twice and is ready to roll! She uses hand clippers though so she will only get a couple done. But we are both excited because it will be a great experience for her to do all different kinds of sheep.
Okay, it took me half the day to write just these few paragraphs. So many interruptions, and now it's feeding time already. Not enough hours in the day!
Just checking in to give a little update on happenings around the farm. Looks like spring has finally sprung around here, with the last couple of days being half way warm. One of those days it actually got over 60, so hopefully the grass will start growing! The paddock where the sheep is either a dust bowl or a mud pit, with hardly a sign of grass anywhere. I tried planting some rye seed about a week ago, and the chickens were eating the seeds, and also eating the sprig of grass if it made it up.
Hard to even manage growing season when there are animals on every square inch of our property. Even pigs in the garden!POULTRY
Our older lame Cuckoo Marans rooster General Tso died this week. I found him in the corner of the chicken coup all hunched up. Poor guy, probably got attacked by another roo. I loved him and he would hobble around and eat bits of corn he found on the ground. A lot of times Tim or I would pick him up and move him to a different spot if somebody was picking on him. He would always sleep on the floor of the coup under the nesting boxes because he couldn't get up on the roosts. We donated his body for the sake of the truce we have with the foxes across the road. We give them fresh meat every once in a while and they stop coming over and chasing the lambs around. :/
We are down to 2 pheasants sadly. The fox must have gotten the rest. So they are in lock up for now. They are both females, so we want to get another male. The really sad part is now they are laying eggs! If we had a male left we could be hatching out baby pheasants! Boo!
The 3 Indian runner ducks finally discovered the pond last month. It was so funny to see them jump in the first time. I swear after a year of them running around upright on the farm we didn't even imagine they could swim.
They have been sharing the pond with 2 wild Canadian Geese who have been hanging around for a few weeks. But yesterday one of the ducks came up lame, and couldn't hardly waddle. So we put them in lock up until he recovers. Hopefully recovers!Our turkey hen has begun laying eggs in the tool shed of all places. But yay! Since we do have a Tom, we took the eggs and will put them in the incubator. Hopefully we can get some turkey poults to raise.
SHEEP
We seem to be past the hump of the mycroplasma pneumonia nearly all the sheep had last month. We administered Zactran to all the coughers and that stuff is amazing. It really does knock it out in a day. We have had many lambs, I think we're up to 14 now. Had our share of heartaches, like the one yesterday who had the prolapse and lost her lamb. She's still recovering, she is so swollen it looks awful.
The bottle baby lambs are doing great. I'm so glad there were 2, and so glad I put them outside after a week old. They will have grown up with the other lambs so all is well.
Have a sheep shearer coming out in a couple of weeks. It's a girl who advertised in our local paper that she would do it for free to gain experience. She has attended the MD shearing school twice and is ready to roll! She uses hand clippers though so she will only get a couple done. But we are both excited because it will be a great experience for her to do all different kinds of sheep.
Okay, it took me half the day to write just these few paragraphs. So many interruptions, and now it's feeding time already. Not enough hours in the day!
jodief100
True BYH Addict
So sorry to hear about your rooster. 
Good luck with poults and I am glad to hear your sheep are doing better.
Good luck with poults and I am glad to hear your sheep are doing better.
Four Winds Ranch
Loving the herd life
That is awesome that you found someone that is willing to shear for free!!!!! I can only imagine how hard shearing would be with ONLY hand shearing!!! It is a big enough job with electric!!!!
So sorry about General Tso!
Them nasty sneaky foxes are a pain in the a$#!!!
I have lost alot of birds and rabbits to the pest local fox population!! 
I can only imagine how hard shearing would be with ONLY hand shearing!!! It is a big enough job with electric!!!!So sorry about General Tso!
Them nasty sneaky foxes are a pain in the a$#!!!
I have lost alot of birds and rabbits to the pest local fox population!! - Thread starter
- #1,120
Bridgemoof
Overrun with beasties
I am just sick at this moment. So many losses this week. The Finn who prolapsed and lost her lamb died two days later. Then the same day another Finn died for no apparent reason! I went out back and there she was, stiff as a board. Don't know if she bloated, or worms or what. Now to top it off, I just lost one of my Tunis bottle babies! omg I am sick. He was bloated two nights ago, so we drenched him with baking soda and mineral oil and gave him a shot of penicillin. Later that night he was better. I cut down on the amount I was giving them at one time with their bottles. Now tonight he was bloated again. So I mixed up some if the mixture and got Tim to drench him with it. He was squirming around and making a fuss, and Tim as getting impatient and held him wrong and it went into his lungs. 
He died shortly after. I am so upset over this, but I don't want to place any blame on Tim because he will proceed to scream at me and tell me how he hates sheep now. I know he was trying, and I know he feels bad, but his reaction will be to scream at me about it. I am just so upset about it.
He died shortly after. I am so upset over this, but I don't want to place any blame on Tim because he will proceed to scream at me and tell me how he hates sheep now. I know he was trying, and I know he feels bad, but his reaction will be to scream at me about it. I am just so upset about it. 
