Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

A 45 pound turkey! That would make turkey soup for a year! LOL I guess they like them some turkey. some kind of chicken, a Giant that is black..... might be a Jersey Giant.

I did not get a UD NASS Sheep and Goats Report to fill out. What is a UD NASS? Sounds like some sort of uterine birth control device.....

USDA NASS maybe?

 

[Ridgetop]

That is right - a Jersey Giant, I had forgotten the name. Tiny chicks in her brooder and 3 enormous black ones! LOL

Sorry, it was a USDA NASS. Unites States Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Service Statistics report. This was the first year I got one. I usually get the farm report asking if we are still raising crops, timber, or livestock. I fill that one out and show us as semi-retired. This was a completely different survey.

The turkeys were a little too large - I cooked 2 of the thighs in gravy tonight but they were sort of chewy. DS1 and DS2 said the meat was tough. Of course, cooking skinned chicken or turkey does not give it the tenderness you get when cooking it with the skin on. I sked my son if he had forgotten what he learned in 4-H when our entire turkey project group entered beautiful 35 lb. turkeys and were disqualified because their turkeys would be too big to fit through the mechanical pluckers! DDIL said that DS3 was working 7 days a week and didn't have time to kill and dress the turkeys until over Christmas holiday.

DDIL said they got themselves a mechanical plucker for Christmas to do the Cornish crosses she raises. Naturally it would not fit the giant turkeys. LOL In order to cook one for Christmas dinner they had to cut it into pieces and drop the pieces into the hot oil cooker! LOL

Here is the ewe that is due to lamb tomorrow. This picture was taken from the driveway looking into the barn windows. I don;t ever remember seeing a ewe that wide before.
Here she is again at the bottom of the photo. The ewe at the top is huge to and due on the 12th January. She did not shed clean this year. Both these ewes are my two oldest ewes, the first White Dorpers I bought. They are bred to my Axtell ram. I haven't gotten many ewe lambs from him so far, and the 2 that I have from last year I am not too impressed with. I sell all ram lambs for meat so even though one or two have looked promising I didn't keep any. This is his last chance at producing lambs that I might keep. Otherwise he is going to be sold. He is a good ram with terrific bloodlines, but he doesn't seem to blend well with the ewes I have. It happens that way sometimes - 2 different bloodlines that produce excellent individuals just don't work together. This ram should have worked well but doesn't. Oh well. My other two rams have been producing lovely lambs, particularly MoyBoy. Lewis produces fast growing meaty lambs. 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

Tomorrow the grandchildren and DD1 and DSIL will be coming to spend the day and night with us. Truffle the Guinea Pig is already here. They are having their house treated for bed bugs. They have no idea where they got them. The treatment is some sort of high heat thing and they can't stay while it is being done.

Since they will be here, the boys will clean stalls and help move some sheep around. Several ewes need to be moved into a breeding pen with a ram. If we can do it, I will try to move everyone into the chute and squeeze and trim feet. Doing these jobs makes me realize how much easier it will be when we move to a proper ranch with proper chutes for moving the sheep. Chasing animals is fine when you are young and have young children willing to run and catch the animals. Now I am in my prime (not older) I realize that wasting time like that is silly. Also crippling. I also realize that as I mature I have less patience with children who herd a flock much less catch, hold or flip a lamb so I can give it a simple injection. Maybe leaving the grandchildren behind won't be so bad after all. And when we come back for a visit we will bring canes and walkers so they will wait on us!

 

[Baymule]

That ewe is WIDE! Maybe triplets!

 

[Ridgetop]

Or she just wants to make sure we know she is pregnant! LOL She had to squeeze through the jug gate.

I bought her as a yearling ewe several years ago from Wes Patton along with 7088 when switching over to registered White Dorpers. She will be 4 years old the end of the month. She has produced very well for me, lambs easily, milks well, a good mother. This is her 4th lambing. She is a Dorper so is on accelerated lambing schedule every 8-9 months. I have bought a number of ewe lambs and yearlings from him and they are exceptional producers. My beloved knee fixer 8040 (RIP) was also a Wes Patton ewe that I bought the same time as a lamb.

Waiting for 7041 to drop her lambs today. The other ewe, 7088, is not quite as wide, and due on the 12th - while we plan to be in Texas. DD2 is on standby pulling duty with DS1. She has learned well from me about getting the lamb breathing and will be able to reach inside with her small hands I will leave gloves out for her. DS1 can coach her but his hands are too big for the ewes that have lambs in them. It gets tight in their! I actually don;t anticipate any problem lambing from either one of them though.

For some reason our LGDs have taken to howling. Day or night it doesn't matter - I don't hear any sirens but they probably do. Some nights they howl for hours though. It doesn't carry down to neighbors though so no problem. Or the neighbors don't know where it is coming from. Or don't have our phone number to complain.

Nope, going with can't hear it.

Woke up this am with grandchildren sleeping here. We went to bed after 11:00 and they were not here yet so figured their parents were bring them over this am instead. DGD1 is currently ensconced in our bed watching "My Little Pony" cartoons. Her mother loved and collected My Little Ponies, DGD1 has them now, DGS1 and 2 are playing tablet in spare room. Just heard DD1 and DSIL arrive. They are talking to DH in other room Guess I will have to go see what is happening. DH is bringing in 2 loads of hay today in preparation for our trip to Texas. Grandkids and DS1 will stack it. DSIL might have to work from home on his computer.

DH told me last night that we are leaving this Saturday or Sunday for Texas!!!!! That sure snuck up on me! Got to start packing for trip. DH wants to drive. He doesn't want to be "trapped in airless tube in sky contaminated by Covid". We will drive and stay in motels along the way I asked him about Covid germs in the motel rooms but he said they would be fine. Go figure! He loves to drive. Will smear mud on our license plate once we hit Texas border so they won't turn us back.

Got to clear up paperwork on desk before we leave, get Hot Spot loaded and take computer. Also heavy clothes and muck boots for tramping around farm properties.

 

[Baymule]

Get some Lysol spray if you can find it and spray the hotel rooms. The label says it works against Corona virus. It seems that Corona virus has been around for a long time.......this new strain just popped up? I'll stop here.

Y'all come on!

 

[Ridgetop]

Got it! Lysol spray. Hope the stores have some in stock. I have an old half full spray can, maybe I have some liquid Lysol and can make up a solution. Will look in cupboards and also look in stores for a liquid bottle. Packing tomorrow. Bringing sweaters and sweatshirts (Yelm winter clothes) and muck boots for walking off acreages in TX winters. LOL.

 

[Baymule]

Lysol spray kills Covid 19! It's on their web site. Spray the room down, then go eat. That spray makes me choke. I guess it's killing my viruses.

Lysol® Disinfectant Spray

Lysol Disinfectant Sprays kills 99.9% of the viruses and bacteria* your family comes in contact with every day. Our disinfectants can be used to eliminate germs on commonly touched hard and soft surfaces. This spray eliminates odor causing bacteria and kills mildew, mold, viruses on most...

www.lysol.com

 

[Ridgetop]

That annoying 7088 has not lambed yet. I know she is holding in those lambs by sheer ornery will power and her desire to upset me! Darn sheep!

DS1 moved the rams up yesterday to the small crral so we can sort out which one to turn in with the breedable ewes. He and dsil went down and put up the TIPI shelter again for the rams. It had blown flat months ago. This time they used a guy wire to hold the bottom poles of the panels together so they can't spread out and collapse flat again. I wanted DS1 to also attach the other 2 panels to the corral fencing so they would make an additional shelter for the sheep in the large fold. There are too many sheep to take shelter in the existing TIPI shelter so when it rains they crowd in and remain standing like sardines.

I think we can also move in another corral pane and put it in the corner to make the framework for attaching the panels like a flat roof. The roof would be only 5' high but being lower would keep it from being blown off. DS1 said he has to think about it. Oh well.

The metal roof panels are the old horse stall roof panels from our old horse corrals. They blew off in a really bad wind (we get these 90 mph winds every couple years) and flipped the corrals all the way down the hill. Luckily we had turned the horses out into the field during the night when the wind got really bad and woke us up. We have about 6-7 roof panels that are in god condition - 4 of which are being used as TIPI shelters, and 2 others that could be used as 8' x 12' flat roof panels and give more shelter, or made into another tipi. We also have a smaller panel and a frame with the galvanized metal torn up. We could attach either fiberglass or metal corrugated panels to that frame to make another roof panel.

DS1 is working on extra fencing for our young ewe lambs that are not breedable yet. I will probably sort them out and decide to send a couple to the auction to cut down on the feed bill. Several of them are keepers. I have several ewe lambs in the very young bunch in the barn that look pretty good, at least 2 that we will keep for replacements. Once we move to Texas and have grazing, it will not be as imperative to cull the ewe lambs since the market is better there for Dorper lambs. Loading a trailer with a couple dozen lambs for the slaughterhouse will be just as easy as loading 2 or 3 now.

If this 1031 property sale doesn't result in a ranch property in texas, we will invest the money in some ther rentals t avoid capita gains. It will give us more income, but might stop our move to Texas. For the eventual move to work, we need to by a ranch property ow so we can start moving a lot f our equipment there. I don't mean sheep equipment either. We have boxes of hot wire and insulators in the shed. We have a whole rabbitry worth of cages, automatic watering equipment, nest boxes, transport cages, judging cages, feeders, cage making tools, and miscellaneous rabbitry equipment, etc. stored in the shed. Also boxes of tack that need to be sorted and much of it given to my DDIL. We used to have 7 horses so lots of tack stored. Not to mention extra feeders, tank and automatic waterers, stall mats, etc., etc. Some of the show equipment can go to DS3's kids. The stanchions and shearing equipment will come with us. Not to mention about a dozen large and extra large plastic airline dog crates in which we transported our small goat kids to shows. Might need them so better bring them to the ranch and store them.

I figure we will have at least one building on the ranch that can have either a dead bolt installed or a padlock. On our trips to Texas we can pull trailer loads of stuff back to store in that barn. Moving will take about 2 years - just look at Farmerjan and she is just moving her household items and poultry! LOL

The sale seems to be moving along. The last date to cancel the sale for the buyers is February 8. I don't think they will cancel. They are getting the property for $25,000 less than DH originally told them to list it for. The agent and broker (his mother) and their friend who builds large developments are buying it together. The mother told me that she and her son are the "money people" since the builder has to finish off another project and his $$ is tied up. They submitted a letter from their bank that they had the full sales price in cash available. I think they realize that this is a prime piece of property and will be closing n it. The escrow date to do final closing will be 1 month after the final date (2/8) they can cancel so it will move along quickly. We have 45 days after closing to identify the 1031 exchange properties we are anticipating buying nd 180 days after that to close. We can't change the identified properties past the 45 day period though so need to work on getting an accepted sale bid on a ranch.

I am glad we are selling the Yelm property since the 1031 exchange lawyer told me that Washington state which currently does not have state income tax and thus no capital gains tax on property sales is trying to get through a bill that would allow them to collect a capital gains tax on Washington properties sold. Capital Gains tax is form of income tax so Washington would have to amend its constitution to put in a state income tax before they could do this Capital Gains tax. This has been defeated twice. The state legislature meets in April or May and the legislatures are all liberal democrats who love the idea of more taxes. The 1031 guy said they want to make it RETROACTIVE to January 1! How they could do that when no one in that state has ever filed a state tax return is beyond me! 1031 guy said he thought they would probably try to get everyone's federal returns to use them.

On another note, California's own Gov. Gruesome is working n a new sales tax on California property - 10% on the property sale to be collected from the buyer!!! That will certainly destroy the property market! Buyers will want the sellers to pay that tax and the sellers won't want to. It may come down to each paying half of the tax. I don't see how that can work either. Liberals don't care where the tax money comes from, they just want lots of it. And a majority of their supporters are welfare and illegals who don't own property so won't care about that tax. Their other supporters may be horrified, or if they have enough money might find ways around paying it.

Buying gold and silver looks better and better. I wish I knew how to send my money into an offshore account, It looks so easy on TV!

Back to happier topics - We are leaving Sunday for Texas to look at ranch properties. We would like to get something lined up for the 1031 exchange. If we can't get anything this trip, we will go back in February once the cancellation clause is no longer in effect.

 

[Ridgetop]

Going to go pack up the Christmas decorations. The grandsons have brought up all the storage boxes. It seemed like Christmas time with decorations up only lasted a few days this year! Going to seem dark and gloomy without all those Christmas lights!

 

[Mike CHS]

We got most of our decorations put up but we are leaving the little tree out a bit longer.