EllieMay's journey towards self-sufficiency.

[EllieMay]

Today is day 147 and my ewe, Spreckles is due to have her babies. Spreckles is one of my best ewes and even though she's a yearling first-timer, I expect twins from her. Last night I had a dream (it was a very real dream) that Spreckles had her babies; they were twins and they were black with some white spots. This morning I went out to the barn to check on her and there were no babies.

Odd thing is that when I opened the gate to let her out with the other ewes, she didn't want to go; she just hung out at the gate. I figured she must be close to lambing. I could see her hip bones now, so I know she's close. This is a pic of her as she was just hanging out at the gate. Not sure if you can notice her hip bones.

Anyway, as I was feeding the livestock and locking them all up for the night, I noticed a ball hanging out of Spreckles. It was a water bag! I got really excited!! I ran inside and told hubby to come watch the birth. We sat there and watched and waited and waited and watched. Spreckles just stood there in her pen that I set up for her. She wasn't in active labor, so we left to go finish dinner and I planned to return in 15-20 minutes to wait some more. Well, by the time I went back outside, she had already had BOTH babies! One boy and one girl and they were black with white spots exactly like they were in my dream last night!

It was dark and I had a flashlight, but this is a pic that was taken of the babies and momma. I'll get way better pics tomorrow.

 

[SheepGirl]

Easter babies! Congrats!

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Beautiful babies!!!! Congrats!!!!

 

[promiseacres]

congrats!

 

[EllieMay]

Last August as we were weeding out the tomato bed, we discovered a nest of guinea eggs.

It wasn't too long after that when 'mom' decides to check her hoard of eggs.

Well, I grabbed handfuls of eggs and gave them to some broody hens I happened to have sitting on eggs. I left the momma guinea with about 10 eggs to hatch.

After the eggs hatched and momma guinea decided to leave the nest with her brood, I looked at how fast she was walking and started grabbing babies that were at the back of the line and struggling to keep up. (I already knew guineas are the worse moms in the world, so I had not planned on her keeping any.) I gave babies to my other broody hens who were sitting on the guinea eggs that have now hatched. I left momma guinea with 3 babies. I went to the nest in the garden and saw one guinea baby that had just hatched and was still wet from coming out of the egg. I picked up the poor thing and brought it into the house and put it in a brooder box. There were still two eggs left in the nest and I just left them there hoping momma guinea would return. She never returned to that nest (don't know where she took her 3 babies). But when I went back later another guinea chick had hatched so I grabbed it and put it in the brooder also.

Later that afternoon momma guinea was walking across the grass with two babies (yeah, in just a few hours she already lost one). I took another baby from her and left her with the one baby that seemed strong enough to keep up with her. Within two days that baby was gone.

In all I had about 24 baby keets being raised by broody hens plus two in my brooder. The momma guinea saw some of her babies in a pen I have outside being raised by one of my Silkies. Momma guinea would pace back/forth for days next to that pen. I finally felt so sorry for her that I put her in a pen up in the barn and gave her 6 babies to raise. She actually did a fine job of raising them inside the pen (there was no where for her to lose them). In the next pen was a Black Australorp raising another 7 or so guinea keets.

As the babies got older, I took the mommas out and brought them back down to where the chicken coop is located. My plan was to raise the guinea babies inside the barn and let them out during the day to free range in my pastures so they could eat up any worms. Hopefully, this would minimize the wormload for my sheep.

The guineas enjoyed hanging out in the pastures . . . and they also enjoyed hanging out down the street and up the highway. You can't imagine how many times I had to jump in the car to go fetch guineas off the highway. I'm sure it was funny to see me herding a bunch of screaming guineas back down the road to my farm. Anyway, eventually they figured out how to stay on the farm and inside the pastures.

So now I have my guineas helping me with my pasture management.

 

[EllieMay]

Well, I'm BACK!
Been real busy sitting in the barn 24/7 waiting for ewes to lamb.
You know the old saying, "a watched kettle never boils..."
Yeah, so true. . . . :/
So I packed up my sleeping bag and left the barn.

Hubby was glad to have me back in the house, so he decided to make me an omelet for breakfast with the one asparagus shoot that was growing in our garden.
Oh, yes! It was delicious!!





After breakfast I had to drive up to Louisville to meet someone who was buying one of my cats.
Although she looks like psycho-cat in the photo, she is really a sweet loveable kitty.











Earlier this year I ordered four Royal Empress trees to put in four pastures to provide shade/shelter for my sheep. They finally arrived! I already have one of these trees near my house, and I absolutely love it! They can grow to 12 feet in the first year, and they have HUGE leaves (about 12" across). The sheep LOVE to eat the leaves since they are very high in protein. The leaves also make excellent mulch because of the high nitrogen. Right now my tree near the house is blooming and the fragrance is heavenly!

I had to put temporary fencing around the 'tree' to prevent the sheep from stomping on it thinking it was a twig.




This is how my tree looks during the Spring when it blooms.




And here it is with its leaves coming in (not quite full yet).
This is a 4-yr old tree.




My ram, Sylar, was watching us plant the tree.
He's a really good ram! Very friendly.
Also loves to play head-bashing games (but I can't play those games with him).
But he still loves his chin scratched and his hips massaged.




He also enjoys relaxing with the dogs (his favorite pastime).




Here are a few of my girls. They are due to lamb in May or June.




And the other ewes that have lambed or are ready to lamb are near the house.







Of course, my day would not be complete without me herding the stray guineas back home.








Okay, that's it for today.
I gotta go check on my sheep to see if anyone has lambed.
I know I said I wouldn't . . . but . . . oh, well. I'm weak.

See ya!

 

[PendergrassRanch]

all your photos. Looks like heaven to me

What kind of sheep are they?

 

[EllieMay]

all your photos. Looks like heaven to me
What kind of sheep are they?

Hi!
They're Katahdin hair sheep (no shearing or docking necessary).
They're very docile and can be raised on pasture (no grain necessary).
I got them because they come in many colors/patterns and they are extremely low-maintenance.

 

[promiseacres]

yumy asperagus (waiting impatienlty on mine)

beautiful trees and critters!

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

I do love those trees!!!! Very majestic looking!!! Beautiful sheep you have, good luck with the rest of the lambing!!!