Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

I lambed In February in Snowmeggdon of 2021. Temperatures got down to -6F. I had 15 brand new baby lambs. It didn’t faze them one bit, I threw hay down daily for them to snuggle in, they were in an open on 3 sides lean to. I put cardboard on the north side to block the wind and the lambs did just fine. It was hard on ME! Frozen water, carrying buckets of boiling water, trudging through snow and ice. But the sheep were fine. That was a freak storm.

My point is, you have that real nice barn. You could lamb in February and it wouldn’t hurt the lambs. You’ll have electricity to the barn and you could wrap exposed pipes with that electrical heat tape to keep water from freezing. That would give the lambs March to get some growth, and be ready for April and May.

I can’t lamb in February here, it’s too wet and I don’t have a decent barn to shelter newborns. I’ll have a barn, but don’t have it now!

 

[Ridgetop]

It's not the cold that worries me since I can put up heat lamps, etc. It is the parasites in the pastures that come on in a big rush in spring. Once aio figure out the best lambing times, I will robably only lamb twice a year, late spring and fall.

 

[Ridgetop]

Talked to DH this morning. They are driving back in the car since the truck turbo has not come in yet. Too bad, hoped that the Sulphur Springs ford dealer would be better than Galpin. Has been till now.

DS1 will put ram in harness and in with ewes tonight.

We had an earthquake at 9:10 pm on August 5, 5.2 magnitude just south of Bakersfield in Arvin. Gentle shaking of house here but enough to know that it was a fair size earthquake somewhere. Arvin is mostly agricuoatural acreage in San Joaquin Valley. Remember the old Dasiry Association commercials of cows in a field during an earthquake saying to each other "OOOOH, FOOT MASSAGE!" lol

 

[SageHill]

Love the Foot Massage commercial. I say that every shaker we get.

 

[Ridgetop]

DH called - he, DD2, and grandkids stopped for night in Amarillo. Figures he will be home tomorrow or Saturday.

DS1 called. Lost another ram lamb. He thinks it might be the heat. Lamb looked fine but dead. However, DS1 said that this ram lamb was not growing well. He was born March 23 and was very small for 4 1/2 months old. Also very undeveloped testicles so not one we would keep for sale as a breeding ram. Others that are younger are much larger and large testicles. DS1 used the tractor and took the dead lamb out to where they dumped the last one. Nothing left of that carcass except a couple bones and tufts of wool. Carcass completely gone.

DS1 said that one of the new ewes is acting lethargic. Hopefully she will be alright. I need her bloodline. He says she is staying off to herself a bit, slow to go out and slow to come in.

DS found another spot where the ground may wash out under one of the gates into the hayfield. He will put some wire down or something to prevent washout. I wonder if we could use stall mats under the gates to prevent washout. We have 6 stall mats in TX and another couple here. I think they may be 4x6, or 6x8. We used them under the gate from the asphalt driveway onto the dirt field to prevent the dirt from washing out. I'll ask DS1 what he thinks.

 

[Baymule]

Can your DS keep that ewe in the barn where it is cooler? Maybe he should take a fecal sample to the vet to check for parasites.

 

[farmerjan]

I'd pen that ewe separate and worm without waiting for a fecal... keep her in where it might be cooler/protected from the sun.
It is going to be an ongoing transition for the sheep... totally different climate and moving them before the worst of the TX heat makes the transition harder for them.
MAYBE it is the water from the old well???? Or are you using the water from the house? Is that city/county water? Is it chlorinated? Might be something else like that.

 

[Mini Horses]

She may not be drinking enough. Some animals are sensitive to water change. At shows, many took water from home to keep them drinking.

Your entire herd has had dramatic change!! Location, weather, forage, feed, water, germ exposure....TOTAL upheaval. It takes time to adjust.

 

[Ridgetop]

I will tell him to worm her tonight when he brings them in.

Got the check from Emory Livestock. Prices were better than expected since DS1 said the rams and wethers were smaller than normal and the auction said prices were down a lot. The commission was $216 with yardage of $9 and tax of $4.08 for 18 head. Not sure what the tax was for but the total cost of sale came to $12.72 per head. Still have more lambs to take eventually but for now that will have to wait until I get back there and we look at the flock. DS1 separated out the ewe lambs and remaining rams/wethers to get ready for Z164 Patton ram going in tonight. He also gave the rams a flake of alfalfa thinking maybe the ram lamb died because it didn't get enough to eat from the grass hay. The rams were interested but not ravenous, so not sure. I told DS1 to grain them with the same supplement he is giving the ewes. He will start them on that today. He forgot I told him to do that a couple weeks ago. He is not used to supplementing the sheep since when they were fed on alfalfa there was no need. I think we will start using the hay feeders to feed the supplements. We can build a shelter over the top of them for the rain. Also need to get some outside mineral feeders. I wonder how well the spinning ones work in the open pastures. I have an idea for building some fenceline grain/mineral feeders with covers. I prefer fenceline feeders to in pasture feeders, and "J" feeders to all of them for easy feeding of minerals and grain. Have to work on those plans.

Back from PT with a couple new exercises added.

DS1 said the truck should be finished today or tomorrow. Maybe Monday. The shop will send a car to pick DS1 up so he can get the truck.

DS2, DDIL2, Robert qnd Nicky will be leaving this evening for the midnight flight to Minnesota. They have several excursions booked - a couple of lake tours, and the Mall of America. DS1 says just bring back some NFL Viking stuff for him. That is his favorite team. LOL

 

[Ridgetop]

DS1 called tonight about 3038. She hid in barn today and did not go out with rest of sheep. She has a draining snotty nose so possibly summer pneumonia brought on by weather change. He will begin 4-5 day regimen of pennicilin. Next will be worming depending on response to antibiotics. I will tell him to keep her in if possible and feed some alfalfa.