High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?

[Bruce]

Sorry you had to give Kya up, I'm sure that was difficult.

I get Dr. Elsey's cat litter at PetSmart, they seem to have the best price on it. The store is 30 miles away so when I'm in that area I buy 3 bags which lasts the 3 cats about 3 months.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

It was hard to give her up, we’d had her for five years. But I’d rather see her happy living with someone else rather than always tied up or dead.
This cold weather really makes it hard to get things done, not just because the ground is hard but because when it’s 17 degrees out I get hit with a bad case of the lazy’s. But I still managed to drag myself outside to knock some posts into the ground so I can start on a hoop house. The biggest draw back of being at my in-laws was that I couldn’t really separate Gus Gus from the ewes so when babies will hit the ground is anyone’s guess. Hopefully the hoop house will give enough shelter to keep babies dry and happy. I also have a silo and a garage I could put them in if it boils down to it. This year we’ll only have the two ewes to lamb. I planned on buying a fourth when I bought the new house but where we didn’t find a place until December it kinda put a stop to that. And the loss of the little ewe puts me down to two. I’ve got my eyes open for replacements but I may not make that decision until spring.

 

[Baymule]

A hoop house will provide shelter, bed it in straw and lambs should stay warm and snuggly.

 

[Bruce]

but because when it’s 17 degrees out I get hit with a bad case of the lazy’s.

I know the feeling!

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Yesterday was a really nice day and I managed to get a bunch done. Went out with Bella and rounded up the sheep to do some crutching on the ewes and clean up the rams back end. Where it’s just an open corral I couldn’t hope to get this done without Bella. She has a ways to go but she is still a great help.
I also gave myself more work to do. I borrowed my father in law’s little flatbed trailer to haul some things and right after I left his place I noticed my dash was going screwy, the speedometer was all over and my battery was showing low. Figured it had to be something with the trailer so I pulled over to check and the connection was smoking. I panicked and pulled the connection without considering the smoke and burned my hand, turns out the ground on his trailer had completely melted the length of the wire. So I’ll be rewiring his trailer and then probably rewiring the connection on my truck.

 

[Bruce]

And rewiring your hand!!!!

While you are fixing it, as a borrower of something should do if things go south, I bet his trailer is more at fault than you are. He's lucky you were using it and not him.

I'm glad Bella is earning her food.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Well I got the trailer rewired, the left turn signal wire was loose in the connection housing so whether that attributed to the issue or not is unknown.
I’m starting to get a little nervous about lambs for this year. My crutching the other day was more of an excuse to cut out the dags and as I handled them all they didn’t really seem like they were gaining any mass and I didn’t notice any udder development. Moving in August meant that Gus Gus has had constant access to these girls since then. My hope is that where this is his first year on the job he maybe didn’t get the deed accomplished the first go around and I’ll start to see some development in the next couple weeks. Having moved I have access to more vet clinics that could potentially do a BSE but at this point in the game I feel like the ship has sailed. They’ll either lamb or they won’t. If nothing comes of it I can get him tested in the spring and if he’s a dud I got a guarantee from the breeder that he’d replace him if he’s no good. But you live and learn. They look pretty cozy in their new hoop shed with that nice bed of straw.

 

[Bruce]

I'm sure the move made it hard for you to do the usual "did they get bred" stuff. How often do your ewes cycle?

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

It’s been an incredibly dry winter this year, but today we finally got some much needed snow. It snowed all morning and I won’t say one word of complaint about it because we need it. It has drifted into the sheep shelter so that just gives me an idea of the changes I’ll need to make in the future to prevent that. Sheep are looking good, fingers crossed we’ll see babies in a couple months. Can’t wait for spring we have so many plans that we can’t start on until the ground thaws a little. Moving in the winter was a tough one as we have plans but can’t act. Patience is not my strongest point but I guess I’ll be learning it

 

[Ridgetop]

Depending on when they cycled and when GusGus got to them, they can lamb as late as May. Or with the stress of moving, they might have reabsorbed and then they would recycle very late. No need to worry, like you said, it either happened or it didn't.