High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?

[High Desert Cowboy]

I must confess, I loathe daylight savings time in the fall. I go from having time to do everything to having time to do nothing, and all I get in return is a little daylight at 7:00AM. Watching the ewes interacting with Shaun has been entertaining, though I think Dottie has some serious issue. I’ve never seen a ewe head butt so often with rams. She’s done it since she was a lamb, and I thought it was just a twin thing her and lambert did but now she headbutts Shaun and I don’t get it. And poor Bellwether, she keeps dropping to her belly when he tries to provide his services. She has no flight instinct, she just goes limp under pressure. When the triplets were born, I had to move her from the pasture to the garage because we had lots of snow and then cold forecasted. I figured move the babies and she should follow alright, that’s what the others do. Nope, she wants nothing to do with me. And if I tried to grab her and lead her, she just plops on the ground and won’t move. I had to grab a sled and drag her sorry backside all the way to the garage to her lambing jug. Spoiled her, treated her good, and when I went to get her out of the garage She pulled the same stunt. Great when it’s shearing time, not so much at others

 

[Bruce]

Sounds like Bellwether is top of the cull list at sale time. No one needs a clueless ewe.

Re DST, they could just drop it and move everyone a time zone earlier. Permanent DST.

 

[Ridgetop]

It made it worse that I couldn’t see anything from my window. I think a remodel is required, so I can build a master suite that looks at my animals

My master bedroom looks out at the night fold pen. With pregnant ewes about to lamb, I keep a pair of binoculars on the bathroom window sill so I can take a close look at the animals in the pen without actually having to go down the hall, out the door, around the house, into the field and check the pen! LOL Caught the 3 that lambed in the pen that way. Moved one just in time, and the other 2 immediately after they lambed into the barn jugs.

Hope you are on the mend from your surgery and that it was not something requiring further work, other than removal of stitches and antibiotics! Get well soon! You have 5 months before lambing season starts for you.

There are several excellent White Dorper breeders in Axtell, UT. If you want info on them let me know. They do both registered and commercial Dorper breeding and sales. They actually ship their meat lambs to slaughter in Texas.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Bellwether was on the chopping block for this year, but I did say “Unless that no good beast has twins she is gone!” And she had triplets so I gotta side by that and she stays one year more. Besides I can’t really afford to get rid of her at the moment.
@Ridgetop thank you I’ll keep that in mind. Axtell isnt too far, but I gotta see what my surgery costs me in the end. I had money set aside to buy a ewe, but money set aside usually becomes emergency funds around here.

 

[Baymule]

The hospital will set you up on payments. Go haggle over the price. They will charge you an exorbitant price because they can. Insurance, medicare and medicare supplements NEVER pay the asking price. Why should you? Haggle the price down, don't forget the interest rate, pitch a fit (in a nice way) over that too. You tell them what you can afford to pay, promise to never be late and that you will pay them, but they have to come off the price to something that you can afford and keep the interest rate low too, or else your payment gets eat up by interest and you get nowhere. I have no idea what your credit rating is and it isn't any of my business--I would sweetly tell them to play ball or you will send them $10 a month. Tell them that your credit is in the gutter and that paying them a huge bill that you can never pay off is not your top priority. So what if they screw up your credit?

VERY IMPORTANT. Tell them you want a CLOSED END contract. That means that you have an ending date for when your last payment will be paid, like a house note or car note. Otherwise they will put you on a revolving account, which is like a credit card and the interest will be horrible, plus you will never know when it will finally be paid off. INSIST on a specified number of payments with an ENDING DATE.

I hope this helps, it sure can't hurt to make them a low ball offer, low ball them on the interest rate and specify how many payments you want to make at XX amount per month. If you need to, take someone with you that is a good negotiator. Believe me, the hospital would much rather strike a deal with you than for you to not pay the bill at all. I wish you the best!

 

[Bruce]

If you do have to go the payment plan route, also ensure that you can pay it off early without penalty.

And I agree with Bay, those without insurance get raked over the coals (I refrained from using the words I want to). My guess is they pay more than the actual cost of the "procedure" to balance the "underpayment" that the insurance companies have negotiated.

Good luck, stay strong.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Some places are easier to deal with than others, and fortunately I have some pretty good insurance that’s going to help a ton. I wish our little hospital here could’ve done it, they are great to deal with on pay back options. Pay a set amount back until it’s all paid off, with no interest. I think everyone in the county owes the hospital money!
I found Axtell quality dorpers, they have some nice pictures on their site and I just might have to give them a call. I also found out someone in the county here apparently raises dorpers, though I don’t know who it is which is weird for this county and I haven’t seen any hair sheep around besides my ram.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

I really need to invest in some good exterior lighting. There’s still so much to catch up on at home but by the time I get home from work, where I’m almost caught up, it’s dark or someone needs a hand with something important. Oh well, that’s winter. The ewes are fat, Shaun is happy, and Alfalfa has started a new love for goats in others. My parents recently moved to Oklahoma and my mom flew back to help out with the kids while I was stuck in bed and my wife was at work in the evenings. They’re looking to buy some property and do their own little homestead as they want to be self reliant. My mother’s been on a fiber kick, wanting to raise some sort of animal that she could shear and use to make things. We talked about sheep, she visited a lady with alpacas, but after spending so much time with Falfers she has decided she wants to raise Angora goats. I barely recognized their existence, now I’ve been her researcher to learn everything we can about them! It will be a fun project I’m sure.
I finally, after almost 6 years of trying, have gotten my son more interested in horses. For years he’s only had a slight interest, riding when I pushed him to. Now he goes out, catches Bro, saddles him up, and awaits review. I enforce the last bit as the first time he tried without me had the potential to end in disaster. Then he rides to his hearts content. Bro’s come a long way from when I first picked him up 10 years ago. A little history, Bro is a half Arab pinto I picked up from my cousin. Bro was going to be the first horse she trained and had had him since birth. Her first time in the saddle she did it in a pasture, not a round corral and he spooked, threw her, and took off running with her dragging behind by a stirrup. She was done with riding after that, and asked if I was interested. I was just starting college, but I took him with me and started with him. He was the spookiest beggar alive and his stop didn’t work really good. For a while after every ride I’d consider selling him for glue, but I wasn’t going to give up. One day it all just clicked for him. The spooking stopped, he could stop on a dime, and he became an awesome horse after that. I trained him as a heel horse because he was too small to be a decent head horse, and I let a friend come teach him to do hunter jumper. He showed in a few local shows, the equestrian team borrowed him, he was everyone’s favorite. And he’s the smartest horse I’ve ever had. I would tie him up to clean his stall, and if I got distracted talking to someone and took a little longer he would get my attention, make sure I had eye contact, then pull his rope loose and walk away. Hes a great kids horse now, and my kids just love him.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Bro sounds awesome! Glad your son finally decided to come around!

 

[Baymule]

I can't imagine my life without horses. They are like breathing to me. Bro sounds like an awesome friend. I am glad that your son now likes to ride, it is the best thing in the world for a kid, to have and ride horses.