Purplequeenvt - New Journal

[purplequeenvt]

Lisle, Lizzie, and Xena







Hoy



The 4 Shetland lambs spent some time on halters today. I figured I should actually halter train them before dragging them into a show ring.



“Feed me!!!”

 

[Baymule]

Great pictures! Beautiful dogs and sheep. Hazel is a pretty girl, how old is she? Are you planning puppies? Oskar Biteyface is so handsome, any idea what he weighs now?

 

[purplequeenvt]

Great pictures! Beautiful dogs and sheep. Hazel is a pretty girl, how old is she? Are you planning puppies? Oskar Biteyface is so handsome, any idea what he weighs now?

Hazel is 7. She’s an English Shepherd/Border Collie mix and is spayed so no puppies here! She’s really sweet, but has zero work ethic. If she thinks she might get asked to watch a gate or something, she’s gone.

Last time I weighed him, Oskar was 120, but that was months ago. He’s probably pushing 150. I need to get my scale working again.

 

[Baymule]

That’s funny! Hazel has zero work ethic. I busted out laughing!

 

[SageHill]

Great photos!! You've got a bunch to frame with those.

 

[purplequeenvt]

The vet was out this afternoon to give Lepto shots to all the dogs (14 between all of us) and do a health paper on the sheep going to the show next month.

She also did a half castration on the one-nut bull calf at my sister’s. She looked for the 2nd testicle, but it’s definitely up in his abdomen. She may be coming back at a later time to do exploratory surgery to find the missing testicle.

The shocked patient


Stoick enjoyed the “spare part”. It was removed without medication so it was safe to eat.


Valerie is in heat and she’s driving Banff crazy with all her fence-line flirting.


Little Lizzie and her mama, Patti. It’s sweet to think that maybe they remember each other, but I’d say that’s most likely just human imagination since Patti didn’t raise her at all.




I realized today when I was getting ready for the vet visit that I never actually fully halter trained my yearling ewes. They’ve both been on a halter a few times, but they aren’t great going more than a few steps. Oops. They kind of need to walk nicely for the show. The spent some time walking and some time tied up. Shetlands seem to pick up halter training pretty quickly so I think a few more sessions and we’ll be good to go.

The face of stubborn


One of the ram lambs may not be going to the show after all. I had a girl contact me back in August. She said she wasn’t ready for a ram yet, but was putting out feelers. She got back in touch last week and she’s supposed to be coming out on Sunday.

 

[purplequeenvt]

More dog pictures because why not?

I think this is my absolute favorite shot I’ve ever gotten of Twist.


Hazel


My sister’s (the one that lives with me) dogs:

Jack, the tri-pawed JRT


Evelyn the corgi. You’d think with those big ears, she’d listen well, but nope. She has very selective hearing.

 

[purplequeenvt]

I sold a Shetland ram lamb yesterday. He’s the only sheep I have sold privately this year. Advertising has been very discouraging because it was all tire-kicking time wasters.

I have 1 more Shetland ram lamb I’d like to sell, but I won’t be heartbroken if I end up growing him out. He’s going to NAILE next month and I’ll put a for sale sign on his pen.

I’m growing outing out 9 ewe lambs. I ended up deciding to keep all but 1 Border Leicester ewe lamb (she went to the auction). Since I had the problematic Shetland ram who broke out and bred the wrong ewes 2 years in a row, I’ve kept only 1 replacement BL ewe that whole time. I also have a bunch of ewes that are on the possible cull list. 2 of the black ewe lambs might not make the cut next year, but they sometimes take a while to bloom.

 

[Baymule]

Congratulations on selling the ram. I haven’t done much personal selling. At first I raised them up for slaughter and sold the meat. That got old real quick. Then I found out I could take them to auction, didn’t have to grow them out and didn’t have to deal with picky flaky people. Winner!

I hope the ewes you are growing out make the cut. Ewes are always in demand. After all, it only takes 1 ram! LOL

That is a good picture of Twist. Frame it!
Jack the tri pawed… he only has 3 legs? He is a cutie.

 

[purplequeenvt]

This afternoon did not go as planned.

First, Oskar and I had to have a serious “chat” after he thought it was a good decision to try repeatedly jump on my head and punch me in the face. He’s only trying to play, but he’s gotten very disrespectful about my personal space. He’s around 150lbs so that kind of nonsense won’t fly around here.

I realized while I was dealing with his flailing stupidity that he was due to get his nails trimmed. He’s been fine for it in the past, but this time he pitched a fit which meant he got hitched to the fence for his pedicure. He then proceeded to try to do a crocodile death roll and almost strangled himself. We managed to get it done without blood or anyone dying although I’ve got a bruise on my hand that I think got snagged by a tooth in passing.

Next issue came up while doing chores. I had fed the turkeys and was filling up their water when I noticed one of the hens had a gash in her side. When I checked her over, the gash was way worse than I thought. It was all the way to the muscle. On both sides. The toms have been trying to breed and they tore her up. So instead of cooking for work this week or getting some knitting done, I had to slaughter a turkey.

Of course when I set up my scalding pot, I discovered my propane tank was empty which meant I had to dry pluck her. It went a lot better than I anticipated. I might even dry pluck the remaining turkeys since I’m not sure they’ll fit in the scalding pot.

Due to the damage, I cut her up. Total of 12.65lbs which I feel is a decent weight for a hen.