Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

You have a rough couple of days. Sometimes it all hits you at once. But the pendulum swings and things are looking up.

 

[Ridgetop]

Maybe you should just bring home a doe in milk so you have a ready supply

The problem with bringing home a doe in milk is that I would have to milk her every 12 hours. I am trying to avoid that by buying the milk from 4-H kids that have to milk to keep their does with full udders for shows. If I have to milk anything, I might as well try to milk a couple of my own ewes. Several of the ones with 3 month old lambs are still nursing so I could bring them in and milking them once a day, turning them out to be nursed by the lambs the rest of the time. I also have a ewe that has a month old lamb that I could try that with too. I really don't want to bring in another mouth to feed, and then there is the whole having to find a buck to use on the doe for next year.

Right now I am worrying about the prolapsing ewe and whether she will make it long enough to wean her lamb. DS1 doesn't think she is going to make it much longer - her prolapse gets worse then improves a little. I would rather put that lamb on a bottle and not have to leave this ewe like this. If I have to put her down sooner, I will need to put the lamb on a bottle anyway. I think it might be more humane to do that now. I was hoping that the ewe that died would be able to adopt the prolapsed ewe's lamb. Even if her lambs died, I could graft this lamb onto her by covering it with the afterbirth from her lambs. She would probably take it if I did that.

My 4-H leader friend has put the word out to her goat leaders and project kids to I hope to get some responses from them soon. Otherwise, I will try milking the prolapsing ewe out several times to get enough to start the lamb on a bottle with a lamb formula. I need to cut the formula with her mother's milk so she will take it more easily. I also use Karo syrup to sweeten the first bottle and smear it on the nipple to get the lamb to take the bottle. The sooner I get the lamb on a bottle, the easier it will be to do.

I think I will try milking her this evening when we feed and before I give the ewe her antibiotic shot. I will also bring in the other ewe with the month old lamb and see if I can milk her as well. I may have to pull her lamb off to let her udder fill up so she will let me milk her. If she is uncomfortable, I can milk one side while the lamb nurses on the other side.

Lots of tricks to try. I wish I didn't have to try them though. Maybe one of the last 3 ewes will lamb tonight or tomorrow and I can graft this little lamb onto her with her lambs.

 

[Baymule]

I wish you didn't have to try lots of tricks as far as milking out ewes, on a quest for goat milk, to save your baby lamb. I wish you didn't have a severely prolapsed ewe and I wish she wasn't going downhill. But that is what you have to deal with and you are watching them closely. You know what's coming and I know you won't let the ewe suffer.

 

[Ridgetop]

Thanks Bay. Just consider if this was my complete livelihood - the loss of 2 ewes and 3 lambs would be a big loss in my family's income. I am lucky that I am not dependent on this. Also, I understand why a rancher would just let the sheep die in the field, or put a bullet in their heads, rather than sending for the vet for an expensive euthanasia if their livelihood depended on these sheep. In addition to the monetary loss of 2 breeding ewes and 3 cash crop lambs, you would also be out the cost of a farm call and euthanasia. If you were living on the edge of making it or not, that additional cost would be considerable.

I always say a prayer for the ranchers and farmers who can so easily lose their life work with setbacks like this. I think of Farmerjan and the trouble she and her son went through with all the rain when they had trouble getting the hay in before it lost all nutrient and $$$ value. God bless our farmers and ranchers.

I tried to milk the ewe this evening and nothing. Her udder was not very full though so probably not interested in letting down. If necessary I can remove the lamb for half a day and then try milking her tomorrow when she is bagged full. I hate to stress her that much though. I was able to order a 25 lb. bag of Manna Pro lamb replacement through Chewy with free delivery. It should arrive in a day or 2. Also DS2 is calling his friend with the goat dairy to see if we can order some goat milk if she has any available. He is also checking if she will sell me some colostrum for emergencies. He will pick it up Saturday pm if she has any to spare for us.

I am second guessing myself again and I think I should have put down the ewe in labor right away and just tried to take the lambs. Without any formula for them though, I didn't want to try that. My fault, I might have been able to save them at least. Of course, if I had done that, I would be second guessing myself now thinking I should have had the vet try to save the ewe. Oh well, once I have the formula and some goat milk, I will feel more secure. I will need to add full cream to the goat milk though since sheep milk has much more fat in it. Lamb replacer has 30% fat and kid replacer only has 20% fat. At least the grandkids will enjoy giving a bottle to the lamb. And it is a ewe.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Thanks Bay. Just consider if this was my complete livelihood - the loss of 2 ewes and 3 lambs would be a big loss in my family's income. I am lucky that I am not dependent on this. Also, I understand why a rancher would just let the sheep die in the field, or put a bullet in their heads, rather than sending for the vet for an expensive euthanasia if their livelihood depended on these sheep. In addition to the monetary loss of 2 breeding ewes and 3 cash crop lambs, you would also be out the cost of a farm call and euthanasia. If you were living on the edge of making it or not, that additional cost would be considerable.

I always say a prayer for the ranchers and farmers who can so easily lose their life work with setbacks like this. I think of Farmerjan and the trouble she and her son went through with all the rain when they had trouble getting the hay in before it lost all nutrient and $$$ value. God bless our farmers and ranchers.

I tried to milk the ewe this evening and nothing. Her udder was not very full though so probably not interested in letting down. If necessary I can remove the lamb for half a day and then try milking her tomorrow when she is bagged full. I hate to stress her that much though. I was able to order a 25 lb. bag of Manna Pro lamb replacement through Chewy with free delivery. It should arrive in a day or 2. Also DS2 is calling his friend with the goat dairy to see if we can order some goat milk if she has any available. He is also checking if she will sell me some colostrum for emergencies. He will pick it up Saturday pm if she has any to spare for us.

I am second guessing myself again and I think I should have put down the ewe in labor right away and just tried to take the lambs. Without any formula for them though, I didn't want to try that. My fault, I might have been able to save them at least. Of course, if I had done that, I would be second guessing myself now thinking I should have had the vet try to save the ewe. Oh well, once I have the formula and some goat milk, I will feel more secure. I will need to add full cream to the goat milk though since sheep milk has much more fat in it. Lamb replacer has 30% fat and kid replacer only has 20% fat. At least the grandkids will enjoy giving a bottle to the lamb. And it is a ewe.

We've had to do a number of "terminal c-sections" over the years. A bullet to the head and then quickly cut the lambs out. We've saved most of the lambs born this way.

 

[Ridgetop]

We've had to do a number of "terminal c-sections" over the years. A bullet to the head and then quickly cut the lambs out. We've saved most of the lambs born this way.

Thanks, Purplequeenvt - The fact that you are able to save the lambs means a lot and gives me courage to just do it next time. I always think that if I kill the ewe first the lambs will die before I can get them out. Hopefully I won't have to do it for the rest of this season.

It is what I should have done to start with when I couldn't get my hand in to pull the lambs on the second ewe. I probably could have saved the first lamb if I had done that on the first ewe too. I would have had 4 bummer lambs to raise but they could have cuddled up and been raised together which would have been healthier for them than raising one alone. Now that I have lamb colostrum in the freezer and a supply of lamb formula, as well as goat colostrum and milk, I will be less reluctant to take that step.

Every year another castastrophe, but at least I learn from them. Having learned, I try to avoid the same mistakes and salvage what I can. The lamb formula arrived yesterday and I have transferred it into airtight (?) plastic jars to store it. Transferring the powder made me a little hungry since it smelled like a vanilla milkshake! LOL I am going to separate the lamb from the ewe today by outing a panel between them in the same pen. That way the ewe and lamb can still see each other but she won't be able to nurse the lamb. I hate doing that but the lamb won't take the bottle unless it is very hungry since she has been nursing mom for a week. Then I will milk out the ewe so I can blend some of her milk with the formula to convince the lamb that the bottle is as tasty as mom. I hate doing this but I can hate keeping that poor ewe alive anymore. I am sure she is in pain in spite of the pain killers the vet has her on.

I am ordering vaccines, wormers, and antibiotics as well as other vet supplies today. Hope it cheers me up. Got news this week than 2 friends had passed away, and my dear friend who is y "adopted mom" has to go in for a biopsy. Her cancer may be back. It has been a bad week.

I am supposed to go to a dinner/dance tonight at a country club with DH, DS2 and future DIL2. Lucky I have my cruise clothes for this formal shindig! LOL Hopefully a night of drinking and dancing will take my mind off everything. SIL is out of town again next week so grandkids will be coming back to stay for most of the week.

 

[Baymule]

I thought, given the circumstances, that you were outstanding. As you said, we learn and get better at this. I hope you had fun at the dance and took your mind off things for a bit.

 

[Ridgetop]

The dance was lots of fun, but more bad stuff happen the following week. I will post soon, but trying to hold it together right now.

Also doing TAXES! DS gets testy this time of year - So much work, but he is good at them, and I have all the information. This year we might look at claiming the sheep as a business. All losses now due to purchase of new stocks and equipment, but will have some income this year, as well as show new ewe lambs as assets. DH is considering whether he wants to do it.

 

[Mike CHS]

We have a CPA that we use for taxes since it got to be over our heads figuring depreciation on quite a few things plus all the other dozens of things that she knows the rules for. We do give her an itemized list with all purchases and totals as well as mileage for everything and her fee is under $200.

 

[Ridgetop]

We use a CPA too, but I have to total all the receipts for each deduction, and put everything together for DH. I keep all the receipts for that he is not a paperwork guy. He fills everything out on the forms, then we take everything to the CPA and she finalizes the taxes. We have to file 2 returns, federal and state and not everything is the same deductions on both. DH used to do the taxes completely until we sold our apartment and moved our investment money to NNNs in Texas. Now we pay to make sure they are done properly. If the IRS audits us or anything, she s also a tax lawyer and will do battle for us! LOL She took over completely last year when our longtime friend and CPA/lawyer retired. I bribed him with the promise of a lamb this year to come back for another year just to do us and he said he would meet with us. Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly in February. A big shock and sadness for us. Have known him for 30 years. He also used to do all the buying at the Youth Auction for the Enrolled Agents. They are a group of CPA/Tax Attorneys who always used to buy animals from all the Kids at the Fair. Most of the meat was donated to shelters. It makes tax time extra sad.

Anyway, I also have to prepare annual financial reports for our NNN mortgage holders. They also require copies of our tax return, etc. What a hassle.

This year I want to do a farm tax return. I am actively selling all the lambs I produce, and would like to recoup some of the expenses from this year. I think you can show a loss for several years, by which time I hope to be in Texas and showing at least a break even between any hay production as well as the sheep. DH keeps wanting to breed rabbits again and that was really a money maker for us. I still have the cages and equipment for a small rabbitry setup (about 20 holes) even though I sold most of the cages off when we went from a 100 hole barn to out children taking over the barn space for raising their dairy goats and sheep. Now the whole barn is sheep, but there is another open shed that we can use for rabbits. The roof needs to be extended about 8-10'. and more steps poured since the ground has eroded below the steps we poured 20 years ago. There is another area that we can also put posts into the ground and put a metal roof up against the long side of the tool/work shop that is on the level of the regular barn that would be easier access for DH with his bad knees. It would be cheap to build. Texas may be another year or 2 into the future than we planned due to some sad things going here. More about that later. Had to call Bay to cheer up. Probably depressed her, sorry Bay.

Anyway, love all you guys. I am so glad that Farmerjan is recovering, and B&B sounds like she is on the mend too. Maybe in another 20 years we can all retire to the same nursing home. We can have wheelchair races! LOL