is it just me?

[Southern by choice]

See Bon that was the first page in your journal! Your morning was similar to mine! I was up at 5, brewed the coffee, prayed a bit then read the news, then BYH. Started sausage biscuits/gravy that everyone in the family has been bugging me to make. 3lbs of sausage, a gallon of milk.I really really need a commercial kitchen! Wasn't ready when DH got up and had a special work function to go to. 8:30 and kids start coming down to the kitchen... little stinkers they grabbed cereal! yes CEREAL! let me do that again... they informed me that would have some after the cereal. But they really will... they are like Tolkien's hobbits...1st breakfast, 2nd breakfast, and then there is the" eleven zees". Big kids got up ate said thank you mom...It is all worth it now. Anyway I cheated, the biscuits were not homemade! then off to the farm stuff! I want a nap. I'll be working on buildings today! I have family coming in because the "sandy" hurricane is going to hit them hard next week. I want a nap now!

 

[Cricket]

Oh so guilty! I work on a dairy farm and the other day I had to feed 2 newborn bulls and a beautiful heifer calf and then watch them be loaded on the beef truck along with one of my favorite old Jerseys. I bawled all the way home, which isn't that unusual for me, 'cause I suck at farming. Then read about you folks having to butcher your sheep, bawled some more, and then felt oh-so good that there's all these people who get it. And I bet we all would have gotten it if you'd decided to eat her or if you'd decided to keep her as a pet. It is SO good not to have justify your animal decisions!

 

[bonbean01]

Guess it's just the way it goes...we do come to love our animals for sure

 

[Back to Nature]

with feed bucket held low this time and bbgun just in case

?

 

[bonbean01]

I'm thinking back...and believe this is when I had a very baaaaad ram and trying to protect myself....got worse...not just ramming us, but the shed walls too...once you have to resort to carrying a bbgun to protect yourself after you have tried everything else...it is time for that ram to go to the freezer. It is not my idea of good husbandry, but sometimes you do what you have to when you are at your wit's end and cannot afford another injury...the freezer was a good choice in this case.

I'm thinking that is what you are referring to.

 

[Back to Nature]

Well, that makes sense. The good thing about food animals is that if they're jerks, then, well... They're food.

 

[bonbean01]

True...our only regret is that we waited for it to get to that point. He was a beautiful looking ram and made beautiful, healthy babies...parasite resistant and good hooves and shed off nicely...oh well...hope we do better when we pick our new ram lamb in the next month or so.

 

[Back to Nature]

True...our only regret is that we waited for it to get to that point. He was a beautiful looking ram and made beautiful, healthy babies...parasite resistant and good hooves and shed off nicely...oh well...hope we do better when we pick our new ram lamb in the next month or so.

I heard that carrying a stick helps, because when they're babies, if they try to head-butt you can rap them lightly with the stick. Do you think that would help?

 

[bonbean01]

There was no problem as a little guy...wasn't until he sexually matured...didn't care less about a stick and rap...water squirt gun worked for a little while, then .... nope...we never want to get the point of a bbgun every again...terrible animal husbandry in our opinion.

For people with very large pastures and tons of room and not putting them up in a smaller paddock each night, it works better with rams. But our little operation and limited space and my fear of coyotes and neighbour's large stupid dogs that they let roam at night...well...it's the paddock with shelters, strong light all night...good strong field fence, and hot wires on the outside. Means closer contact than would be ideal with a ram.

So...after this last ram and doing it all right from when we got him as a weanling and still having the same result as the first ram...we've decided to just get a new ram lamb every spring...avoids inbreeding too...and once a mature ram has done his deed for the year...will be going to the freezer...unless of course we get one that is lovely even at maturity...but then there is the problem with inbreeding still...but could be sold or traded if he was a safe ram.

We have a ram pen, but that just made him want to bash the shelter and doors besides us.

 

[SkyWarrior]

I'm pretty sure it's just you. I wouldn't stay up until 2 or 3 am reading BYH posts or answering questions or fretting over a doe. Nope. Not me. Never.

Ignore all my timestamps. They are wrong.