Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

Another reason to bring (expensive to buy new) rubber stall mats to Texas.

Just finished trimming the ewes in the large corral and castrating 2-month old ram lambs. This evening we will do another set of rams and separate the 3-month olds from their mothers. They are really big now so no need to let them pull moms down by nursing, Oh Goody! a week of screaming sheep as they wean.

They go to the butcher February 10. Then the next batch weans - more screaming and next butcher date March 12.

Here is a Ridgetop tip for you. When you buy a squeeze and it is ADJUSTABLE know where it adjusts! Hint: Maybe even try it out first in all positions. While trying to trim lambs in the squeeze while they struggled and attempted to squeeze out, DH and DS1 were discussing ways to confine the smaller lambs. Hobbles were mentioned as well as constructing a top bar to keep them in the bottom half of the squeeze. Just as the last lamb approached the squeeze, DS1 noticed the holes in the bottom bar that would allow the squeeze gate to be adjusted in 2 closer positions. easily making the squeeze much narrower for smaller lambs!
Anyone feeling stupid?!

One or two of the ewes had really overgrown feet. I am noting their tag numbers to decide if they get to go to Texas where the ground will be softer and their feet will grow even more. Also Blue 11, one of our home bred ewes has produced a third teat on her filling udder. She is due to lamb soon and if I don't like her lamb she will go t the auction eventually too, She did not shed at all this year either so she already had one strike against her. Nice big ewe though so she should do well at the auction.

I have been looking into Kiko goats as a possible addition to livestock for the ranch I will start with 1 buck and 3 doe kids and disbud all their doe kids. That way they can go in with the sheep to forage. I HATE HORNS! And some of those Kiko bucks have a horn spread of up to 3 feet!!!

I called the Extension agent today and talked to him about soil condition and testing. I also discussed what type of livestock we planned to run and he said the cattle and goats were a real good combination. You run the cattle through the pasture first, then the goats to get all the weeds the cattle won't touch. When adding sheep, you run the cattle to eat the long grass, the sheep will eat it shorter, then the goats to get all the weedy growth. By rotating your pastures that way, you can keep them healthy and weed free. County Extension will give you the soil bags to take samples. You send the samples to Texas & M for a breakdown of your soil to tell you where it is lacking in which nutrients. Once you know that you can begin to fertilize or treat it correctly, He said they would also identify the type of hay currently growing on any pastures so I will do that as well. Then they would discuss with you whether that is a good grass/hay or whether we should overseed or replant eventually. They will come out to the farm as well. Next he transferred me to the 4-H advisor and that gentleman was very receptive to our offer to be leaders and assist. Sounds like we would make acquaintances very quickly.

Getting excited about moving even though we will be moving away from the grandchildren. Talking about moving up the departure date if we can get this house sold sooner. Still a year away though at least by the time we get the fencing done. DH said we could live in the 5th wheel for a few months and keep our belongings in storage if necessary.

 

[Ridgetop]

Vaccinated and docked 7041's twin ewes yesterday. We will weigh them along with the rest of the creep lambs on Monday. Grandchildren have the day off for MLK Day. They wil be coming to clean the barn and we will weigh and castrate. Also might separate a couple of the larger ram lambs from their mamas. Need to start weaning the larger lambs earlier to get their mamas back into condition. Checked 7088 and she was getting closer. Very friendly - kept wanting her neck rubbed. My ewes get very loving and friendly just before they lamb, even the wilder field ewes. One of the signs that they will lamb in a day or two. Vulva getting puffier, so I decided to rake out her jug instead of waiting for the grandkids to clean it Monday. Just in case she lambed before Tuesday which I figured as the final date for her to lamb. I didn't want her lambing in the poo.

That is one nice thing about lambing ewes out on grass, they choose a nice clean area. Lambing in confined jugs, the jugs are not as clean as you would like. One practice we can change when we move is to have the heavily pregnant/due ewes in a smaller pasture where they can drop their lambs on grass, then we can collect the lambs and move the ewe into a jug. I read about an interesting system that a couple of small flock owners (30 ewes) use. They have a large barn with jugs lining the walls. The main part is open and the floor bedded with straw. As the ewes lamb, the shepherd removes them from the open area and transfers them to one of the jugs. This is a great system for cold winter areas where the ewes often lamb while snow is still n the ground.

Anyway, 7088 lambed during the afternoon yesterday. DD1 and DGD1 were both over. DD1 wanted to come over with her videos, watch The Closer with us, and hand out. DH is on a Closer binge. DD1 and DDIL2 did puzzles while watching The Closer. DGD1 brought her new Christmas bike and rode it around the yard and on the field. She went in the barn to check the 6 day old lambs and came running up to tell us that there was a new lamb in the barn. After telling us all about how she discovered the mama cleaning it off, she went back to see it again and came running right back all excited that there were now two lambs!!!

7088 gave us twin ewe lambs. Where 7041's ewe lambs are both hair lambs, both 7088's ewe lambs have wooly coats fading into hair coats on their necks, shoulders, and thighs. Will have to see how well they shed out. 7088's should be complete shedders. Both lambs healthy and strong Will weigh them today. Easy lambing with no trouble, efficient, quiet and fast. These are my original ewes - love them. I now have ewe lambs out of them by all 3 rams. Their lambs will make a good foundation flock.

Promised DGD1 she could help weigh them. She is our farm girl. DS2 will man the scale readout and gate, but DGD1 loves to herd the lambs and even capture them and put them in the scale She is getting better at it than her brothers. Maybe we will sneak her off to Texas so she can grow up to be a regular little Texas cowgirl. Sneaky grandma promised her a pony DGD1 is thinking about it. LOL

DGD1 asked to spend the night and we said ok She is going out to feed with grandpa now.

 

[Ridgetop]

Well, back from a whirlwind turnaround trip to Texas to look at the ranch on which we put an offer. We hit snow and sleet in AZ and it lasted into NM. Then heavy rain into TX. On the way home we took the southern route through El Paso and there was snow throughout NM and into AZ. Seeing snow on the cactus and mesquite was a sight I have never seen before. LOL

Did the inspection on the property - it was the 77 acre property with 2 houses and the train tracks 100' from the old house. Yes, the trains do go past several times a day and since there is a crossing right there at CR2320 (the house is on the corner of the train tracks and 2320) the whistle shrieks each time it passes.
Loved the current welded pipe fencing which we could stretch woven wire on to make separate pastures. Adding a few other sections of fencing and gates would have given us abut 6 small pastures that would work for the sheep when we first moved back, allowing us time to fence larger pastures. The smaller pastures around the barns would have given us good breeding enclosures, lambing pasture, and close up pastures for the new moms and lambs before they were turned out into the larger pastures.

The inspection showed that the 1977 built house was not too bad, it is livable but needs septic work (the tank area outside the house puddled after 20 minutes water drainage). There are some electrical panel problems, too ad DH did not like the house itself. It could all be fixed and remodeled after we move back there.

BUT the old farmhouse that is currently rented is about to collapse. Foundations were bad, joists appeared to be partially rotted causing the floors to slope, septic puddled after 20 minutes water drain test, and plumbing was not in the best shape - inspector suggested replumbing. Worst problem was the electric panel that had all sorts of problems which were just waiting to start a fire. The inspector couldn't get into the attic crawlspace because the tenant had too much junk piled in the way, and oh yes! The tenant was heating the house with portable open flame gas heaters. Can anyone say fire hazard! Since the windows had been painted shut and there was no ventilation it would be a choice between the tenant asphyxiating or burning to death in a house fire.

Before you suggest that eviction is the answer, let me tell you that this tenant had grown up in this small town, had been a friend of the owner's family, grew up working with the owner, he had been injured in a work related accident requiring 15 surgeries, is 100% disabled, his wife had left him because of it (for the owner of the business) and taken his kids. He is very well liked and his 86 year old father still lived in town. To live in this small town ourselves, we could not evict him. Even though the inspector and the owner said that the house should be bulldozed, that would not be an option if we ever wanted anyone to even speak to us. Besides, we liked the tenant too. He had been in the cow raising business and had worked in his dad's custom hay cutting business. He would have been a great asset to us getting started in this town on this property with his hay experience. Also if we came to CA to visit our grandchildren he might watch the livestock and feed the dogs. We were considering buying a large mobile home, putting it on the property and moving him into it.

Checked in town at the assessor's office about AU requirements for the ag exemptions. Also found that there was a good livestock auction and feed store about 10 minutes away. In the town 15vminutes away were a Lowes, Walmart, Smart N Final, good hospital, Ross, and Catholic church. All the stuff we needed.

After the inspection while we were trying to decide if we should look at other properties to make our decision about the amount of work and money required on the property, the agents on our sale called. They were the buyers as well and first the agent kept talking about having a conference call to "discuss renegotiating" the sale. When I asked if they were cancelling he insisted no, they just wanted to "renegotiate". The agent said that they couldn't make it work out financially since they couldn't get 17 houses on the property! 17 houses??? Where did that number come from?! The agent had set the price based on being able to get 12 houses on the property. The planning department had allowed 14 houses, but now they were dropping out because they couldn't get 17 houses! We set a date and time when our TX broker would be present on the call. He read at the sale contract and felt that the sale was improper since the listing/selling agent and broker were also the buying agent and broker and the purchasers as well. Big ethics problem.

We looked at the listing they had put out and it listed the property as a tear down for development instead of listing the 2 BR/1B house that had been completely renovated 4 years ago with all new appliances, HVAC, plumbing, flooring, etc., etc., and a new well pump 2 years ago!!! No photos of the interior, just aerial shots of the old barns looking like they were about to fall down!

During the conference call they not pleased to hear that our TX broker was on the phone with us. I wonder why! They immediately backpedaled about wanting to renegotiate and said that they could not make it work financially. They kept going on abut it and when I said to just cancel the sale they seemed surprised. I told them that they could certainly cancel and when the listing ran out the end of March we would list it with another broker who would advertise it correctly. The broker was shocked to hear that we were going to list with someone else and also that the listing was a 6 month listing instead of 12 months. I had made sure that it was only listed for 6 months when the agent wanted 12 but I should have listed it for only 3 months. My bad. I told them that they had not listed it right and should have listed it as a completely renovated cottage with everything new 4 years ago and a new well pump 2 years ago. We would get another broker who would list it correctly.

Than I complained about their management of the rental. The tenant had put a washer and dryer on the porch and just run the drain water out into the front yard. The management company had seen it during one of their inspections and done nothing about it! The agent kept whining that they couldn't make the tenant responsible for anything because of Covid. Yadayada. I told them that if they couldn't evict they could have called the Health 'Department and had the tenants cited by the city. The broker finally admitted that yes, they could have done that. Then she said that during Covid our property was the only one they were managing that did not pay their rent! Like we were to blame! Also the tenant had left a lot of trash all over the yard when they left.

They are so fired! I said they should have put pix of the interior with the new kitchen and bathroom on the listing. I said I would send them some and emailed them some good ones. They have now listed the house as a cute cottage on 3.5 acres. I think they were trying to screw us since I have looked at all the houses in the surrounding neighborhood are showing values of mid to high $300Ks and the houses are older on small lots.

I AM ABSOLUTELY SPITTING TACKS OVER THIS. FROM THE WAY THE AGENT WAS TALKING ABOUT 'RENEGOTIATING" THE CONTRACT WE KNOW THEY WANTED TO TRY TO MAKE US LOWER THE PRICE TO THEM AS BUYERS. The only reason they didn't mention renegotiating was because our broker was on the conference call. I think they thought we were under the gun with buying another property and figured they could pressure us. Think again A&*^%**es!

Anyway, that takes the pressure off on deciding what to do about our lovely ranch with the falling down little rental house that would probably have caught fire and killed the good ol' boy living there. Since the place was overrun with feral hogs in the woods, and required 8' deer fencing around the front of the property on the train track side to protect the LGDs, it is probably for the best.

The Yelm property will eventually sell and we can buy a ranch. In the meantime DH, DS1, and I will go up to Washington. We will clean up the property, remove our antique stove and pot belly stove, and remove everything else that we had locked in the bunkhouse. I thought we removed all the old papers MJ kept that were my grandfather's, but we may have missed some. That way we can sell the house with the outbuildings "as is" and not have to go back. The management company had rented the property for $1100 but had admitted just before Covid that the right amount would be $1400 or more. We had wanted to rent to a military family since Yelm is right outside Fort Lewis which is a joint army/air force base. If it doesn't sell we will rent to a military family. Our TX broker is going to find us an agent and vet him for us now. We told him to get someone in Olympia which is only 20 minutes away and the state capitol.

Enough of that complaining! The day after we left 2 ewes lambed. Blue 11 produced a nice little hairy ewe lamb in the night fold. DGS1 was told to lock up the sheep for the night and apparently, in spite of being in a highly gifted school, cannot count. 180234 did not come in and no one went looking for her. She lambed outside on the hill at night in gale force winds around 60+ mph. The dogs were with her but the lamb, a very large 13+ lb. ram did not survive. Next morning while feeding DS1 was surprised to find her behind him as he got hay flakes from the shed. He went looking and found Bubba still guarding the dead lamb. It was stiff so had died the previous night. Bubba was reluctant to give it up. The ewe is back in the main field and will go in with the ram again with the next group of ewes in another couple months.

The rest of the ewes in with the ram seem to have been marked, although the marking was very faint on 2 of them. Moyboy was wearing a cold weather crayon which should have marked better in cool weather. The hot weather crayons are made to hold up better in hot weather, but the cold and mild weather crayons don't seem to do the job as well no matter what temperature it is. DS1 changed the crayon and the 4th ewe marked, so we will watch to see if the others remark. If not, DS1 wrote the dates down on the calendar so we are ok. We can wait to put the next group of ewes in with a ram until we get back from Washington. DD2 and FSIL will stay here to feed and watch the sheep while we are in WA since DDIL2 is back in San Diego with DS2. It will have to be a fast trip since DD2 is due the middle of March. We will leave around February 6 or 7 and plan to be gone about 2 weeks.

While we were in TX we were able to get down to Leander to visit with Erick. He has bred a bitch for the first time in 2 years (due to his health problems). We had told him that we wanted another bitch puppy since darling Rika is starting to show her age. Bubba is 5 already! and we have given up on getting papers on Angel. Due to club politics there is still a reluctance to allow her sire (a Turkish import) to be registered. i am going to have Angel spayed next month. Continuing to pay kennel board in hopes of getting her registered is ridiculous. She is 2 and 1/2 years old now, and by the time the Board makes a decision she will be too old to breed! If we decide to have a litter of puppies we can breed the new bitch when she is 3. I m still ambivalent about breeding, although Erick will take all the puppies at 10-12 weeks old to sort as to abilities and train. If we breed the new dog we will keep a puppy from that litter - one that Erick chooses for us. So much easier that way! Anyway, time t get another puppy so Perfect Rika can have a paw in training her. Angel is working perfectly and had taken over a lot of Rika's guardian duties. She on night patrol and is now the first one into the gully when danger approaches. Bubba is her backup.

Went out tonight and sorted the ewes and lambs out as to which ewelings will be kept, which ewes are open to be bred, which wethers will be raised for locker lambs for customers and ourselves, and which will go to the auction for sale. I have 5 wethers and only 4 slaughter reservations, and one eweling that I dont particularly care for, so we'll take a couple to the auction next week if the weather is good. I have to call and check prices.

Tomorrow we will sling weigh in the barn, vaccinate the 3 youngest lambs, dock them, and vaccinate their mamas. We will also weigh the older lambs and sort them. Some will be large enough to be weaned and I might select a couple to go to the auction as well. That will make room in the creep for these next 3 ewes and 5 lambs to be transferred over next week.

DS1 and I discussed setting up the new corrals, and building a couple of new shelters for the sheep on the field. He is considering how to do it.

It has started raining and we are supposed to get heavy rain for several days. Maybe we will get some forage after all.

 

[Mike CHS]

After all of that, I am truly happy that I will never have to move again.

 

[Baymule]

Y'all were here and we couldn't go meet y'all because we were so sick.

I was so unhappy about that. Oh well, we will see y'all next time you come.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

That is awful about the realtor/broker being so shady! That is wonderful the Texas realtor is going to help vet your new one, he should have an incentive to help you sell higher so you can afford more house in Texas. I think there's something you can sign that revokes the realtor/broker relationship so they can't try to claim the commission.

We got our house for a steal because the listing realtor didn't list it right and the seller didn't know permit info about her own house.

 

[Ridgetop]

Moving will be a breeze after we finally sell Yelm, find TX, and set up the ranch in the 2 years after finalizing the deal. The hardest part will be finding the property in the 45 day timeline after the Yelm sale goes through. We have to identify the property we plan to buy We can identify up to 3 properties so if one doesn't qualify (on inspection, etc.) we will have 2 others on which to proceed.

This cost us $1,000 between the inspection and the cancellation fee (tx requirement) not to mention the entire trip back to TX, gas, motels, time, meals, etc. GOOD part was seeing our friends and getting our Texas FIX! Less than a week there and DH said I was starting to drawl. LOL Not pure Texan yet, but give me a couple years back there!

 

[Ridgetop]

Forgot to say that when we returned home I found that DS1 had gone to the hardware store, bought drywall and patched the open holes in the walls ad ceiling where the old HVAC vents had been removed when we installed a new HVAC system 2 years ago. Our friend and contractor was supposed to patch them, but was finishing his house remodeling before moving to Arizona. Now he has put his house on the market so we gave up on him. I had planned to do it myself, and was overjoyed to find the holes patched, He shoved insulation into the ceiling before patching too!


Such a wonderful son! I forgive him the hours of excruciating labor it took to deliver him into this world. (At least till next time I want to guilt him into something! LOL)

We have some other areas to patch since this was the 3rd system we installed and some of the old vents are no longer connected to anything. The walls and ceilings looked like they had chicken pox! We want to remove the old useless vents, patch them, and then I will repaint the house getting ready for selling in several years. Also it has been about 12 years since I last painted it and it needs to be repainted. Two rooms were repainted and I still have some of the paint so will just touch up the patches.

I have decided not to plant rosebushes again - remember the ground squirrel fiasco of 2020? I think we will install fake grass in the area where we tried to plant the ill fated garden. I will plant the tomatoes and squash in the rose planters instead. That way, when we get ready to put this house on the market after ur TX move, we will just have to plant shrubs in those planters. It will be much easier than trying to clean up and plant attractive stuff in the larger garden area from last summer. Besides, I feel as though that area is cursed.

 

[Baymule]

When we had a furniture store, a lady came in and bought fake decorator trees. Real wood branches and tree trunks with silk leaves. She "planted" them in her flower beds in front of her house. When the sun faded the green leaves, she spray painted them. We drove by just to look and believe it on not, they looked pretty good!

 

[Mini Horses]

Used to be a house in an old neighborhood that always "planted" plastic flowers in the yard. New each year. hey they were always on bloom!