purplequeenvt - Ivy Knoll Farm

[purplequeenvt]

I think it is pretty cool too. He was in 4-H as a boy and that is when he first got his Hamps. I believe that he also sheared sheep. I very vaguely remember going to visit my great grandmother (he died before I was born) when I was little and seeing a few sheep there that I am sure were related to some of those sheep in the picture.

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Hot Chick has been moved back in off the porch. It started getting very cold last night, currently it is 7 or so degrees, and I don't have a working heat lamp at the moment. She is happy to be back in with the people.

She spent quite a while sitting out on top of her cage today entertaining my Little Person.

Little Person is an almost 3 year old that I watch 2 days a week. He is so much fun! He is extremely vocal, and I don't mean run around and scream vocal. You can have a real conversation with him and he understands what you say and can give you the correct response back.....and he likes to tell jokes. This is his favorite, "Guess what!" "What?" "Chicken bawk!" And by "bawk" he means "butt", but he misheard what his brother said and we don't feel it necessary to correct his error.

He has come a long way since he started coming here at the being of the school year. He was terrified of the dogs. They couldn't be anywhere near him. Now he loves them and he can tell them all apart and knows their names. It is very impressive considering they are all black and white and I know plenty of older people that can't figure out who is who. Millie is his favorite though. Mostly because she doesn't move away from him and she doesn't lick.

He wanted his picture taken with Millie and he is telling her to smile.

 

[Bridgemoof]

That is the cutest picture ever! Your little guy look like he is really fun to have around!

 

[purplequeenvt]

I got all of my lambing supplies this week and I set up my kit today. These are the items that I have found useful over the years.

Iodine - for dipping navels, also useful for foot scald
Bo-Se - all the newborns get 1/4 cc.
Bands and applicator - for docking tails
Scale and sling
Ear tags and applicator
Hypodermic needles
Syringes
Power Punch - a vitamin supplement for energy that we give to newborn lambs
Cydectin - to worm the ewes before they leave the lambing jugs
Rubbing alcohol - for disinfecting tail bands and ear tags
Scalpels
Vet wrap
Marking crayon
Lube
Latex gloves
Pad of paper and pen
Lamb jackets
Towels

I still have to make a couple jackets and make new lambing jug panels (most of ours bit the dust last year), but other then that I am ready. I'm trying (without much success) to get caught up on sleep now so that I don't wear out during lambing. I get really grumpy when I don't get enough sleep......

 

[Bridgemoof]

Good luck!

 

[Southern by choice]

Little Person is adorable!

Wow..with your supplies list. I wonder if sheep need more help than goats?
When should lambing start for you all?

 

[purplequeenvt]

Little Person is adorable!

Wow..with your supplies list. I wonder if sheep need more help than goats?
When should lambing start for you all?

They don't usually need help at all, but there are things that you do with a lamb that you don't have to do to a kid - like dock their tails. There are some things on the list that we won't use with every lamb or we might not use them at all. I also like to be prepared....should have been a boy scout. Lambing could start as early as the 1st of February, but I'm guessing they'll start closer to the 10th. They all get sheared this coming Sunday so that will give us a better idea.

 

[CocoNUT]

Now I'm going to ask a foolish question -
You're in VT...where it's SUPER COLD right? (Just confirming for the record)
Question: Do the sheep get "cold" after you shear them this early? I mean it's still pretty cold right? And you guys don't see the sun until like July right? (Joke! I know it closer to May!) So do you jacket them? I just want to know from a 'newbie' perspective....

 

[purplequeenvt]

Now I'm going to ask a foolish question -
You're in VT...where it's SUPER COLD right? (Just confirming for the record)
Question: Do the sheep get "cold" after you shear them this early? I mean it's still pretty cold right? And you guys don't see the sun until like July right? (Joke! I know it closer to May!) So do you jacket them? I just want to know from a 'newbie' perspective....

It's around 9 degrees right now. Tomorrow is going to be much colder, so yes, it is SUPER COLD right now. It will be warmer this weekend. We don't put coats on them, although we have on a couple in the past that were really old or skinny. We just bed their sheds really well and give them lots to eat. They'll be shivering for a few days afterwards, but they adjust pretty quickly. If we were to wait until late March or April to shear, we'd lose a lot of fleeces due to the mud and the lambs climbing on the ewes.

And it's not a foolish question!

 

[purplequeenvt]

It is SOOOOO cold out there today! The animals all seem to be handling it well though. I've been spending the day inside taking down Christmas decorations and stuff. Yes, yes, I *know* that Christmas was a month ago....I have a strong dislike to taking down decorations. It takes a long time to get them up and they look so pretty....

I also took the audio files from the summer and Christmas concerts that the choir I'm part of did last year and split the songs up into individual tracks. Can I say that we sound pretty swell?? The Christmas concert in particular. We did that one a capella. I can't wait for practice to start up again in May!

Lambing is 2 weeks away. I'm starting to get the lamb itch. Why can't they come now????? Still have to make lambing jugs though. Maybe I should get on that......

 

[bonbean01]

I hear you about Christmas decorations...all I have left now are the outside lights on the porch...guess I should take them down...but they are so pretty...sigh...next year I'm putting them up way early!!!

Once the lambing jugs are ready...and sounds like your supplies are ready...then you can go look at everyone else's lambing and kidding threads and hope the time passes quickly for your own lambs to appear