Duckfarmerpa1
Herd Master
I live Blues bling!! 
. The sheep are beauties too!!
. The sheep are beauties too!! 
Feelin' a bit sheepish...
- Thread starter
- #152
Beekissed
Herd Master
I live Blues bling!!
It also has the added benefit of defeating Ben in any coup attempts, which is kind of funny. Thank you for the sheepy compliment...wish the cross girls didn't have all that nasty wool to get rid of, but I think Shine is looking pretty sleek even while preggers.
Baymule
Herd Master
Your girls are looking lovely, they are so healthy and happy. It makes me smile, I know how long you have wanted this. I am beyond delighted for you. Blue's collar made me bust out laughing, I turned the computer around to show BJ and he laughed too. Yeah, I bet that does work! Thanks to Joy Chicken laying her egg in Sentry's dog house, he is one humdinger of an egg sucking dog. 
- Thread starter
- #154
Beekissed
Herd Master
I think my old gal may have been a victim(not really, she would have had to back up to it)of a fence line breeding, as she's presenting with increased signs of imminent lambing. Even though she was the first to be bred when I joined the ram to the sheep, she was also standing for him and letting him attempt to breed further when they were finally all separated. She's an old hussy, what can I say?
Chances are she backed up to that gate for him, as she's settling further and she's bagging up more each day, way beyond the others. Getting that more caved in look to her flanks...granted, she looks like that most of the time anyway, as she sort of has that milk cow/goat body style....but MORE so these past few days.
In light of that and not wanting to lamb in that winter pen, I'm going to keep the girls out on the grass from now on~at least, when I'm home~ so she can find a clean place to lamb, to isolate herself from the others, etc. Will be working hard this weekend to get the fence up and in place, several fencing things being shipped here as I type this, but I have a feeling Rose is going to have lambs way before we can get a good paddock established.
I was kind of hoping Rose would be lambing first, but closer to the date of the others, of course. She has fostered other lambs at her previous home and I was wanting to have that ability on hand~ was even one of the reasons I chose her. Don't know if a ewe with older lambs will accept a new one or if the older lambs will even let a younger, weaker lamb nurse, so her usefulness in that regard may be null and void.
Kind of exciting waiting for lambs and I pray that all goes well.
Chances are she backed up to that gate for him, as she's settling further and she's bagging up more each day, way beyond the others. Getting that more caved in look to her flanks...granted, she looks like that most of the time anyway, as she sort of has that milk cow/goat body style....but MORE so these past few days.
In light of that and not wanting to lamb in that winter pen, I'm going to keep the girls out on the grass from now on~at least, when I'm home~ so she can find a clean place to lamb, to isolate herself from the others, etc. Will be working hard this weekend to get the fence up and in place, several fencing things being shipped here as I type this, but I have a feeling Rose is going to have lambs way before we can get a good paddock established.
I was kind of hoping Rose would be lambing first, but closer to the date of the others, of course. She has fostered other lambs at her previous home and I was wanting to have that ability on hand~ was even one of the reasons I chose her. Don't know if a ewe with older lambs will accept a new one or if the older lambs will even let a younger, weaker lamb nurse, so her usefulness in that regard may be null and void.
Kind of exciting waiting for lambs and I pray that all goes well.
Baymule
Herd Master
Lambs! I can't wait! How exciting for you Bee!
- Thread starter
- #156
Beekissed
Herd Master
Worked on hanging gates, bracing corners and getting everything ready for stringing wire today. Fence posts arrive on Monday. We hope to have most of the wire strung through the woods in B paddock and all the corners ready to receive the line when we get the posts installed in the open areas.
Got the charger today and I never knew it would be so BIG. It's big as a lunch box! I've only ever had chargers that were the cheapy $30 kind, small and simple. This is a big, red behemoth! It's a Cyclops brand, "The Stallion" version.
Today was absolutely a beautiful, typically March day, with dramatic cloud movement, warm breezes that dried the land out a little from all the rains. The peach blossoms opened today and I saw scout honeybees around the shed. Need to get my hive baited....NOW.
Perfect day for work, perfect day for the sheep to get out on the land and range around....I could tell they loved it. May stood with her nose into the wind and closed her eyes....looked like pure bliss on her face. Blue hung around the sheep most of the day, as he was supposed to do but soon got bored and laid up higher in the yard to watch over them.
They got good exercise today, a good bit of grass though it's still mighty short here, and they got out on the clean soils. Rose still looks to be progressing faster than the other girls, so the fencing is really important now....I really want her to lamb in B paddock and not in that winter pen.
Will get them out of the pen tomorrow too while we work on fencing and enjoy watching them be where they are supposed to be...out on the green grass, heads down and the fresh wind over their bodies.
Got the charger today and I never knew it would be so BIG. It's big as a lunch box! I've only ever had chargers that were the cheapy $30 kind, small and simple. This is a big, red behemoth! It's a Cyclops brand, "The Stallion" version.
Today was absolutely a beautiful, typically March day, with dramatic cloud movement, warm breezes that dried the land out a little from all the rains. The peach blossoms opened today and I saw scout honeybees around the shed. Need to get my hive baited....NOW.
Perfect day for work, perfect day for the sheep to get out on the land and range around....I could tell they loved it. May stood with her nose into the wind and closed her eyes....looked like pure bliss on her face. Blue hung around the sheep most of the day, as he was supposed to do but soon got bored and laid up higher in the yard to watch over them.
They got good exercise today, a good bit of grass though it's still mighty short here, and they got out on the clean soils. Rose still looks to be progressing faster than the other girls, so the fencing is really important now....I really want her to lamb in B paddock and not in that winter pen.
Will get them out of the pen tomorrow too while we work on fencing and enjoy watching them be where they are supposed to be...out on the green grass, heads down and the fresh wind over their bodies.
- Thread starter
- #157
Beekissed
Herd Master
Tried out my homemade sheep chair yesterday and it works just as good as the Premier chairs seem to work....needs a tweak here and there to improve it, but overall made trimming a few hooves much easier. Made this one from a pool ladder and bungee cargo netting~the netting is the thing that needs work....I'll likely switch that to a canvas sling with bungee on the edges instead. Less chance of getting legs caught up in the bungee and also gives more support.
Trimmed the Dorp cross girls' hooves, which had become over grown this winter while walking around on all this soft, cushy DL. The other two were fine. I'm hoping the Dorp's hooves will be less prone to this when they are all wearing their hooves off naturally on pasture. Got to try out my new hoof trimmers, which were GREAT....very sharp and just the right size for the job.
Dosed the two older gals with garlic, mother ACV and raw honey just because...their FAMACHA is fine but not as nice as the two younger, so figured they could use a boost during this last stage of pregnancy. Rose hated it but Shine seemed to really love the taste, fought me less and overall has calmed down her wild butt lately.....and I blame it all on the power of the peanut butter dog biscuits. She's CRAZY over those and has even warmed up to Eli since he's been feeding her one now and again.
They were out on the grass yesterday and seems to need less and less of the hay to buffer what they are consuming out there, pellets are wonderfully small, round and shiny, so the grass doesn't seem too rich for their diet. They are staying around close and are following me right into the pen each evening for night penning, which is nice. No wrangling to get them back into fences.
Fence building is going slowly....lots of rain here to halt things and getting deliveries of materials has slowed down a bit, so not getting them when I have the help to use them. Son only gets some consecutive days off every two weeks, so it makes it hard to get any momentum going if those days are hindered by anything.
The girls look good, though Rose looks far more advanced in her pregnancy than the others. I'm glad this winter is over and they will soon be out on the land instead of in that confined space....can't wait to have the whole fence done and have them on rotational grazing. That's when the real benefit to them begins!
Talking with a person who has Anatolian pups for sale, ready in May, that we can go fetch in VA. Are wanting a female so we can produce our own dog replacements if and when it's necessary. Ben has a last chance to stay on the land in high tensile...if he can't stay put he will be quietly retired from service and this female will take his place.
Trimmed the Dorp cross girls' hooves, which had become over grown this winter while walking around on all this soft, cushy DL. The other two were fine. I'm hoping the Dorp's hooves will be less prone to this when they are all wearing their hooves off naturally on pasture. Got to try out my new hoof trimmers, which were GREAT....very sharp and just the right size for the job.
Dosed the two older gals with garlic, mother ACV and raw honey just because...their FAMACHA is fine but not as nice as the two younger, so figured they could use a boost during this last stage of pregnancy. Rose hated it but Shine seemed to really love the taste, fought me less and overall has calmed down her wild butt lately.....and I blame it all on the power of the peanut butter dog biscuits. She's CRAZY over those and has even warmed up to Eli since he's been feeding her one now and again.
They were out on the grass yesterday and seems to need less and less of the hay to buffer what they are consuming out there, pellets are wonderfully small, round and shiny, so the grass doesn't seem too rich for their diet. They are staying around close and are following me right into the pen each evening for night penning, which is nice. No wrangling to get them back into fences.
Fence building is going slowly....lots of rain here to halt things and getting deliveries of materials has slowed down a bit, so not getting them when I have the help to use them. Son only gets some consecutive days off every two weeks, so it makes it hard to get any momentum going if those days are hindered by anything.
The girls look good, though Rose looks far more advanced in her pregnancy than the others. I'm glad this winter is over and they will soon be out on the land instead of in that confined space....can't wait to have the whole fence done and have them on rotational grazing. That's when the real benefit to them begins!
Talking with a person who has Anatolian pups for sale, ready in May, that we can go fetch in VA. Are wanting a female so we can produce our own dog replacements if and when it's necessary. Ben has a last chance to stay on the land in high tensile...if he can't stay put he will be quietly retired from service and this female will take his place.
- Thread starter
- #158
Beekissed
Herd Master
It's a sunny, breezy 67* here today and I've got lambs! First born of the season, set of twins to my old gal, Rose. Ram lambs, good size and healthy, mama doing well. She had them on day 147, which is right on the average. A good, steady ewe.
Will get pics later...busy day here. I'm thanking God for the gift of healthy lambs and a good lambing for all concerned.
Will get pics later...busy day here. I'm thanking God for the gift of healthy lambs and a good lambing for all concerned.
- Thread starter
- #159
Beekissed
Herd Master
Another lamb...ram lamb again. Healthy and vigorous but Mom doesn't know if she wants to lick him to death or butt him every time he goes to nurse. First timer....
Baymule
Herd Master
I can't wait to see pictures!
