Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

I didn't realize I had not posted since Thursday. Very busy. I really don't know how @Baymue and @farmerjan do it all on their own. Superwomen!

Fires are surrounding the San Fernando Valley. Just had a text from DD1 that the fires have come over the Santa Monica mountains and are starting to burn their way down the hills into the southern part of the SFV. We are in the northern part. The Sylmar fire and the Pasadena fire are closer to us although if the fire reaches the Valley floor there are tons of hes buot very close together so plenty of fuel. The problem with all those hillside homes is that people don't trim brush since they like the privacy ignoring the fact that the brush is dry and in a fire goes up like gasoline. More winds are expected too. DH went up to Nipomo yesterday to visit with DS3 and DDIL1. They are putting in a small rabbitry and he spent the night. DS3 is in town althugh expects to be sent to the fire sites once they are put out. Lots of overtime work for linemen in SoCal rebuilding infrastructure and stringing new wires after the fires are out. Anywhere that does not have the new metal poles will need either new ples or undergrund services run.

One the ranch front here in Texas, the snow has melted and it is just cold. Not as cold as it was though.
The sheep are eating haysicles The horses are wondering what this crazy white stuff is. I told them it was ash from the California fires and that I had turned the AC way down. They seem to believe me. LOL The rest of the sheep don't even want to leave the barn!
Here are the triplets You can see the larger one in the front. He was much larger than the two little guys at the rear.

For some reason the larger triplet got chilled Thursday night so I brought him inside yesterday and revived him in a heating pad. He sucked a little mik once he had warmed up and got lively so I took him back to mom. The temperatures were supposed to drop even lower last night so I decided to bring in all 3 in for the night. I put a large viny tub in the guest bathroom, closed the heating vent, and opened the windw a bit since I didn;t want them getting too warm and nt being able to go ut the net morning. I gave them all a bottle but got little nterest last thing last night so I left them in the bathroom. This morning the two smallest ones were calling t be fed but big guy was lim and unresponsive again I took the little guys out to mom who was happy to see them and eft the unresoinsive lamb in his box. He died late this morning. Odd since he was the larger one.

When I arrived out in the barn this morning, 9031 had split twins. I am happy to see a ewe lamb out of her since she is one of the top quality ewes I bought from Wes and these lambs are out of the embryo ram. The ewe lamb will be a keeper and maybe also the ram lamb as a sellabe breeding ram with those bloodlines. They are large and lively. Moved her into a jug with the lambs, fed and watered both ewes, gave them grain and alfalfa pellet, then took care of the rams and horses. Since the sun is out I let out the sheep.

I also moved the last 4 40 lb. bags of feed out of the freezer (the old one that broke) where DH insisted I store them. He stacked his horse feed on haybales in the barn. I wanted to put my feed bags in the tack room since I go through a bag a day. DH only feeds 2c coffee cans of feed a day to the hrses so his feed lasts longer. He insisted that I put mine in the freezer thinking it would be "easier" for me. Thank you. Dear. I have to lift a 40 lb. bag out of the bottom f the freezer each day. No wonder my back is hurting. Down to the last 4 I decided to remove them and put his horse feed in the freezer to store. I needed one bag to feed the sheep today, and another to pen for the rams and jugged ewes so that is just 2 left to store in the tack room. I have more in the truck which is parked under the carport until it is dry enough to drive out to the barn and unload them. If it doesn't dry up, I will have to wheelbarrow another couple bags out. I pulled the 4 bags out and then moved the 8 bags of horse feed into the freezer.

Back in the house to warm up for a while and make more lamb coats for tonight. It is still cold but we are in a warming trend with sunny days expected until Tuesday when it will cloud up again. Not supposed to drop below 37 degrees tonight, but will drop to 30 degrees tomorrow night and 29 degrees Monday night.

I have not gotten anything done in the house because I have been so busy with the livestock. Looking forward to when DH and DS1 get back and can take over some of these chores. GR10 cast hersef last night and is not looking very good. Her foreleg was caught back under her body. I straightened her leg out and brought it forward but she is weak and although she tried to get up was not able to do so. I left her in the barn. Hope she makes it.

A couple of the ewes will be going to the auctio barn after they lamb. GR27 has a terrible udder and may go before lambing. Most of the ewes have nice or acceptable udders. A dairy background makes me fixate on udders in addition to meat qualities. LOL

Icicles yesterday outside the bedroom window.

 

[Baymule]

You are doing just fine.

SHE WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!!!

The cold weather is going to break and it won’t be so bad. So sorry about the large triplet. Some things we just don’t know why.

 

[fuzzi]

I didn't realize I had not posted since Thursday. Very busy. I really don't know how @Baymue and @farmerjan do it all on their own. Superwomen!

Fires are surrounding the San Fernando Valley. Just had a text from DD1 that the fires have come over the Santa Monica mountains and are starting to burn their way down the hills into the southern part of the SFV. We are in the northern part. The Sylmar fire and the Pasadena fire are closer to us although if the fire reaches the Valley floor there are tons of hes buot very close together so plenty of fuel. The problem with all those hillside homes is that people don't trim brush since they like the privacy ignoring the fact that the brush is dry and in a fire goes up like gasoline. More winds are expected too. DH went up to Nipomo yesterday to visit with DS3 and DDIL1. They are putting in a small rabbitry and he spent the night. DS3 is in town althugh expects to be sent to the fire sites once they are put out. Lots of overtime work for linemen in SoCal rebuilding infrastructure and stringing new wires after the fires are out. Anywhere that does not have the new metal poles will need either new ples or undergrund services run.

One the ranch front here in Texas, the snow has melted and it is just cold. Not as cold as it was though.
View attachment 114235 The sheep are eating haysicles View attachment 114234 The horses are wondering what this crazy white stuff is. I told them it was ash from the California fires and that I had turned the AC way down. They seem to believe me. LOL The rest of the sheep don't even want to leave the barn!
View attachment 114238 Here are the triplets View attachment 114236 You can see the larger one in the front. He was much larger than the two little guys at the rear.

For some reason the larger triplet got chilled Thursday night so I brought him inside yesterday and revived him in a heating pad. He sucked a little mik once he had warmed up and got lively so I took him back to mom. The temperatures were supposed to drop even lower last night so I decided to bring in all 3 in for the night. I put a large viny tub in the guest bathroom, closed the heating vent, and opened the windw a bit since I didn;t want them getting too warm and nt being able to go ut the net morning. I gave them all a bottle but got little nterest last thing last night so I left them in the bathroom. This morning the two smallest ones were calling t be fed but big guy was lim and unresponsive again I took the little guys out to mom who was happy to see them and eft the unresoinsive lamb in his box. He died late this morning. Odd since he was the larger one.

When I arrived out in the barn this morning, 9031 had split twins. I am happy to see a ewe lamb out of her since she is one of the top quality ewes I bought from Wes and these lambs are out of the embryo ram. The ewe lamb will be a keeper and maybe also the ram lamb as a sellabe breeding ram with those bloodlines. They are large and lively. Moved her into a jug with the lambs, fed and watered both ewes, gave them grain and alfalfa pellet, then took care of the rams and horses. Since the sun is out I let out the sheep.

I also moved the last 4 40 lb. bags of feed out of the freezer (the old one that broke) where DH insisted I store them. He stacked his horse feed on haybales in the barn. I wanted to put my feed bags in the tack room since I go through a bag a day. DH only feeds 2c coffee cans of feed a day to the hrses so his feed lasts longer. He insisted that I put mine in the freezer thinking it would be "easier" for me. Thank you. Dear. I have to lift a 40 lb. bag out of the bottom f the freezer each day. No wonder my back is hurting. Down to the last 4 I decided to remove them and put his horse feed in the freezer to store. I needed one bag to feed the sheep today, and another to pen for the rams and jugged ewes so that is just 2 left to store in the tack room. I have more in the truck which is parked under the carport until it is dry enough to drive out to the barn and unload them. If it doesn't dry up, I will have to wheelbarrow another couple bags out. I pulled the 4 bags out and then moved the 8 bags of horse feed into the freezer.

Back in the house to warm up for a while and make more lamb coats for tonight. It is still cold but we are in a warming trend with sunny days expected until Tuesday when it will cloud up again. Not supposed to drop below 37 degrees tonight, but will drop to 30 degrees tomorrow night and 29 degrees Monday night.

I have not gotten anything done in the house because I have been so busy with the livestock. Looking forward to when DH and DS1 get back and can take over some of these chores. GR10 cast hersef last night and is not looking very good. Her foreleg was caught back under her body. I straightened her leg out and brought it forward but she is weak and although she tried to get up was not able to do so. I left her in the barn. Hope she makes it.

A couple of the ewes will be going to the auctio barn after they lamb. GR27 has a terrible udder and may go before lambing. Most of the ewes have nice or acceptable udders. A dairy background makes me fixate on udders in addition to meat qualities. LOL

View attachment 114237 Icicles yesterday outside the bedroom window.

Sorry about your lamb.

 

[Finnie]

So sorry about your lamb. Glad to hear that your CA house and family are all safe.

 

[SageHill]

Ah geeze- sorry about losing the big lamb.
Glad your CA house and land are ok. Thank goodness you’re mostly in TX now - the crazy TX weather is a lot better than the smoke and ash you’d have here. They say we’re in for another week of Santa Ana winds

 

[Ridgetop]

Another long day chez Ridgetop - 8192 prodced split twins this morning. Nice big twins. Moved her and lambs to the side barn jugs. First had to open gate so sheep could go onto the pasture. They were taking their time so I fed the rams and horses first. No need to break ice this morning. By 10 am I had my jacket off and was working in my sweatshirt (and of course thermal undies). Once the sheep were out of the barn I shut the pasture gate and moved 8192 into the side jug. Then I moved the other 2 ewes and their lambs to the side barn jugs.

Had to move water buckets into the jugs. Couldn't lift the full 5 gallon buckets (40 lbs.of water) so I poured the full buckets into another bucket and carried the 2 half full buckets to the jugs and and combined them back together. Fed grain and alfalfa pellets to the lactating ewes and replenished their hay.

The ewe that was not doig well last night had died (I expected her to) and I had to remove her from the barn pen. I decided to put her in the wheelbarrow and get her out of the pen. I tied her feet together but culd hardly get her hind end off the ground. 150 lbs. of sheep with pregnancy weight defeated me. I decided to throw a rope over the barn rafter and hiiist her up into the wheel barrow. I ted a hammer to the rope and slung it over the beam. Or rather tried t. Many many times. Finaly I got lucky and it went over the beam. I tied one end to the ewes hind feet and pulled on the rope. Success! I was able to get her hind end off the ground about 4". Next I tried to use the snow shovel as a lever to lift her butt. Nope. Maybe if I put a couple of tubs under a pallet I could drag her up the incline and get her into the wheel barrow that way. Next I tried laying the wheelbarrow on its side and rolling her into it. This worked but I couldn't get the wheek barrow upright.

Finally I decided to try my luck with Baby 'Bota. If i could start the tractor I could get her close enough to roll her into the bucket and move her that way. But Baby 'Bota is temperamental. First I had to reattach the battery cables to the battery. We have to remove them of the batter y drains. We don't know why and eventually we will take BB to the mechanic when Big Blue comes back. I called DH for tractor starting instructions. We were on speaker phone for this.

DH told me to attach the battery cables to the battery. Done. Then I had to climb into Baby 'Bota which is not easy wearing rubber boots considering my knees don't bend well and there is limited floor space to move. Turn the key to the left, while depressing the clutch and when the 2 lights come on count to 120. DH forgot to tell me that you also have to depress the brake to turn the key to the left. Finally the 2 lights came on and I counted to 120. This was not easy since DH kept trying to talk to me while I was counting. Finally I was ready to start the tractor. Turn the key to the right and it tried to start, coughed, and died. After 15 minutes I went inside and got the channel lock pliers (to made sure the cables were tight) and the battery starter thingy. This thingy is connected to the battery cables and gives it a boost to start. I connected it to the tractor with the neutral on the left. When I connected the positive to the right side the thingy had a red light and was squealing at me. Dh had no idea why it was squealing and had me remove and reattach the cables several times. Then I got the instrutions and told DH that the red light was bad and meant reverse polarity. I had n idea what that meant other than it was not something good.

After having me try several other things, DH got DS1. They both tried to tell me what to do at once. DS1 finally said that the positive had to go on the left side and the negative in the right. DH said no that was wrong and the psitive had to go on the right. He and DH had a little discusson about which of them was correct. I reattached the cables the way DS1 told me and the whining and red light disappeared. A green light appeared which according to the instructions meant that I could try starting the tractor. The engine kept turning over but the tractor would not start. Finally DH called DSIL2 who was working but coming through Sulphur Springs on his way to Texarkana with a load. He said that he would be at the Pilot in 2 hours and I could pick him up and he would try to start the tractor. If it wouldn't start at least he could load the dead ewe into the truck and we would dump her in the back field.

In the meantime, I needed to remove the ewe from the barn pen. I managed to pul her out of the pen and to the front of the barn. Then I went inside and collapsed.

A couple hours later DSIL2 called and said he was at the Walmart because there were no parking spaces at the Pilot. I went up and got him. He got the tractor started and removed the clamp on forks. In the meantime I heard a ewe screaming in the field. Sure enough P23, a first freshener, was lambing and kicking up a fuss. Two hooves were poking out but no head in sight. She was pushing hard and screaming. DSIL2 helped me by catching the ewe and holding her head as I pulled the lamb out. Large single ewe. It looked dead like they do but snorted and shook its head. We moved that ewe and lamb to the side barn jugs. The ewe didn't like her lamb. She immediately headed for the hay and started eating. In between bites she kept trying to go back to the field where she obviously thought her lamb was. I gave her grain and while she was eating we got the lamb onto the teat. Every so often she wud push at the lamb but didn't butt her. DSIL2 went and loaded the dead ewe and dumped her in the far pasture.

I offered to feed him but he said he needed to be somewhere with his load around midnight. We chatted a bit then he filled his coffee mug and I took him back up to the Walmart. Got home after dark and checked on the lambs with a flahlight and lanterns. I brought lamb socks out to put on the 3 new lambs. The single was still beng ignored by her mother who continued to sniff her and push her away. The ewe was passing her afterbirth though so I grabbed it and smeared it all over the lamb. The ewe was not interested at first. I picked it up again and tore it a bit then draped it over the sock clad lamb. The ewe started sniffing at the afterbirth. When I went back to the house she was talking to the lamb. The lamb knows where the mik is so hopefully the mama will accept her lamb and I won;t have to feed a bottle lamb.

I went back to the house and was fixing the dogs' dinners when DH called me. I told him that DSIL2 had gotten the tractor started and the dead sheep dumped. Told hm about the new lamb. Then he asked if I had remembered to remove the battery cables from the battery. No. Back out with a flashlight to remove the cables. Checked the ewe and she was still talking to the lamb so all is well. Checked the other ewes and no one in labor at the moment. Everyone content and cudding.

Shower time and maybe get something to eat. Lambing is officially here.

 

[farmerjan]

You only have to remove the positive - RED - cable... battery can't drain if there is no "circuit" ... Negative side will not drain battery.