Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

I’m sorry about OR27. Sometimes the best you can do just isn’t good enough.
Y’all are working your tails off. Lambing last year was a train wreck, moving before, during and after moving the sheep to the ranch. Y'all did the best you could with the circumstances.

Lambing this year is going much better. The Old Barn Lady is giving shelter, blocking the wind, rain and weather, such a comfort. These are ewes that still aren’t acclimated to East Texas, so considering, it’s much better. You are having some losses, that sucks. Once you have ewes born on the ranch, raised there, lambing will be easier for them.

The interior of the Old Barn Lady is sure looking great. I’m sure she is loving all the care and attention. Life in the barn again!

 

[SageHill]

Heads up on Jeffers -- I've been using them since forever, my last two orders have split shipped, were incomplete, their customer service is taking 10 days to respond to email,
then 'it wasn't in stock when you ordered' well why did you take that order, or tell me and I could have changed the item. Where's my refund for that (after asking it was 4 days later and weeks after the order).
Big excuse at the time "Black Friday Sale"
So hoping it was fluke placed an order 12 days ago - still hasn't shipped. Wondering IF it will ever ship.
So - just a heads up. You may want to stick with Premiere.

 

[farmerjan]

If you have a relationship with a vet, they will often sell boxes of the needles and such directly to you and often for cost or a little over. Have gotten some from the vet several times.

Our Farm Bureau (Co-op).. keeps them in stock also...well they sporadically keep them in stock..... but mostly are 1 " needles and I prefer the 1/2 or 5/8 inch for the subq shots. We use 16's and 18's almost exclusively. Keep some 20's on hand for shots in the eye lids if treating for severe pinkeye...
I used to get them off Ebay all the time...for real good prices..... but not very available anymore...usually they only have the blunt tip ones now and they are useless for shots. I still watch for them though since sometimes you can find them from the surplus medical supply companies.

 

[Ridgetop]

The interior of the Old Barn Lady is sure looking great. I’m sure she is loving all the care and attention. Life in the barn again!

She is getting spa days- repairs and generl clean up. Probably will never get painted - painting is something we would have to redo every year or so on the metal siding anyway so not facelift. LOL DG and DS1 are talking about extending her on both sides and back. We will see.

Spent an hour or so reconstructing my Sheep and Lambing Journal using the taped together scraps and calendr. Decided to just begin with this year since too much info of previous years was lost. Hazine must have been taking notes from her goat buddies on Erick's place to eat the book. It was a buond compoition book with a cardboard cover! The new book will be more of a diary of actions, meds given, etc. with the flock. I can take the dtorn u p one to the brn for notes in future. LOL

Went to make oatmeal and empty the dishwasher which I turned on last night. NOT! I realized that I opened it to put in a spoon and must not have slammed it shut. It is an older model with no fancy electronics. Washes and dries the dishes almost completely in about 45 minutes so keeping it as long as possible. Miss our CA one with the adjustable upper rack, but not a problem since tht ne took several hours to finish a cycle. "Energy saving" appliance! Hah!

Making oatmeal again for breakfst before going out to barn to check for lambs, feed jugs, turn out ewes and lambs, and work on electric for heat lamps. Also give a dose of Selenium & Vita E paste to 332. No selenium lack in California, our alfalfa was full of it, so didn't think of it as a problem here.

 

[Baymule]

If I have oatmeal for breakfast, it lasts me all day. If I have bacon and eggs, I’m hungry again a few hours later.

 

[Ridgetop]

Update on BL31 with tiny weak ram lamb. Gave her a clean out Oxy shot and this morning there was a VERY LONG DEAD lamb in the jug with the surviving tiny lamb.
Good thing I gve her that Oxy. She stil is traiing lots of bloody cotelydon so another shot tonight if they are still hanging on there. Also some Penn. No winder tht surviving lamb looks so weak and peaky.

On a good note 9045 seems to have recovered from her bad feet issue and my close trimming (there may have been a drop or so of blood shed during the trimming. She wuldn;t stand up for a long time and we had to get her u so the kid coud nurse. Pennicillin and vitamin B did the trick and she is running in the pasture with her adopted son at her heels.

On a not so good note, 332, mother of the triplets (1 dead , 2 surviving rams) is really depressed and wont eat. Gave her some vitan B nd penn yesterday and this morning 5cc of oral Selenium & E. Gave her straight alfalfa and she sniffed and lipped it but thenjust stood staring. I am thinking maybe tonight I'll give her another shot of Penn and maybe some Banamine. She stands like she is in pain.

Most of the ewes are out with the lambs in the sunshine today.
I wonder if this is how all those pictures of ewes with trilets and quads come about. Many lambs clustered around one ewe while the other moms are enjoying time off. LOL

DS1 is working on the barn lights and heat lamps. H said that since the cold wather was over we didn't need them anymore. Told him that there is plenty more freezing weather coming in February. He decided to install the heat lamps in the creep.

 

[SageHill]

Fingers crossed on the two ewes and the lil lamb.

 

[Ridgetop]

BL31 seems fine. Hopefully her lamb will gain strength. He may have been a little early because of the sibling that died in utero. Hopefully 332 will recover too.

 

[Baymule]

I’ve never seen a dead lamb like that. Poor little ram lamb survivor. Hope he catches on and does well.

332 doesn’t sound good. I know you’ll throw everything you have at her. I wonder what is wrong with her.

 

[fuzzi]

No, she just did not shed out completely like some of the others. Dorpers carry wool mixed with hair so the wool is no good commercially. Different from straight hair sheep that way. The good ones shed everything off during the summer, others may carry a "Mohawk" strip down the spine. Some shed out completely but the shed fleece stays stuck to the hair underneath and yu have to remove it. We don't usually bother since the Mohaw protects the sheep from sunburn in summer and the wool protects them from winter rain. The reason Dorpers are not a competely hair sheep is that in South Africa where they were developed they have a lot of thorny, spiny plants (think Honey Locust on steroids.) The wool helps protect their skin from those thorns and shedding out the old wool takes away any thorns embedded in the light fleece. The goatskins are even more valuable to the South Affrican sheep industry as the meat. They don't carry any wool on their legs, under their bellies, etc. This year we plan to shear some of the heavier fleeces since they are uually just hanging on lightly. We could just pull the wool off, but for some reason the sheep don't like that. LOL

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm learning so much by reading everyone's journals.