Hello from Central Cal...

[babsbag]

Welcome from another Californian, but I am up North, by Redding. I think that no matter where you are in CA you have to water the heck out of a summer garden. I have very rocky soil, but it drains well too...a little too well. My garden is in raised beds but this year all the tomato plants died...not a clue. Perhaps the chicken manure wasn't composted enough. IDK. I usually have a pretty green thumb so this was just weird.

Your sheep are very pretty. Glad you joined us. We have another member up near Sacramento that raises Am. Blackbelly sheep. Have you thought about getting a livestock guardian dog to keep them safe?

 

[BreanneRN]

Welcome from another Californian, but I am up North, by Redding. I think that no matter where you are in CA you have to water the heck out of a summer garden. I have very rocky soil, but it drains well too...a little too well. My garden is in raised beds but this year all the tomato plants died...not a clue. Perhaps the chicken manure wasn't composted enough. IDK. I usually have a pretty green thumb so this was just weird.

Your sheep are very pretty. Glad you joined us. We have another member up near Sacramento that raises Am. Blackbelly sheep. Have you thought about getting a livestock guardian dog to keep them safe?

Thanks, I have thought about a livestock guardian dog but I really don't know how to train one to be functional without being dangerous to people... And right now, I think my most dangerous sheep predator might be humans... There is some sheep rustling that goes on around here... Since I am retired, I stay home a lot. I do have a dog (because I thought I needed a herding dog), but she wants to work all the time and I don't need the sheep herded all the time. I realized belatedly that I didn't really need her at all, but she is a sweet dog and very bright. I trained her to "retrieve" the Shiba Inu dog Ginger (who doesn't reliably come when she is called and is a rescue dog), and she wants to do that all the time too. She is half Australian Shepherd and half Black Mouthed Cur (the breed "old Yeller" was). I'm sure she could have been a guardian dog if I had trained her for that. Mostly, the sheep try to do what I want them to do and follow the lead sheep Ellie, so I didn't really need a herd dog. I did train her to pen the sheep, but the sheep learned just as fast as she did and I don't need them in the pen all the time. Dora dog is a "workaholic" I'm afraid... I love her though. Sometimes the sheep help me. In June, I had 2 late lambs from a 1st time mama (a Mouflon cross who might have been rejected herself) who rejected one of them and I had to pen her up. First Ellie led her into the pen but then all the sheep followed her in and they all went back out again. Then Peek-a-boo led her in and I was able to close the gate when she went out, because the whole herd didn't go in that time. Sheep are really pretty smart, contrary to what people think. I have had Peek-a-boo since she was 8 weeks old, she has a story too. They all have a story! The good news is that Muffy's 2 ewe lambs are doing well at around 8 weeks now, I only had to supplement with the bottle a few times. The little rejected one learned to wait for the other one to latch on and then would run behind and nurse from the back. Glad it was June and not cold! They are still penned up because I don't want them to have to compete for food. Muffy is very non-dominant, I bred that one and one other in January because that was when they turned a year but Freckles aborted for some reason. 2 years of raising sheep and I have dealt with some obstetrical problems... None at all the first year but only had 3 moms and 4 lambs that year. This year I had one prepartum prolapse, one with toxemia, and then Muffy rejecting one of hers... I think she just lost track of it when the 2nd lamb came... I found her wandering around with an older lamb trying to nurse from him. I took her back to the mama and that was when she decided that one just wasn't hers. It was sad, but they are doing well now. I put out water and minerals for them and I think that helped that little one make it without my having to separate her and bottle feed her completely. She is doing just as well as the other and never suffered any apparent growth lag or anything. But might have been a different story if they had been born in January...