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Ridgetop
Herd Master
Absolutely - DS1 has already planned that and we have cut offs for every line. We like the lever valve cut offs instead of the turn ones. Easier to use.
We have come to a temporary stop on the water line installation. The lines through thenight pen are finished and the 4 hydrants are set in concrete. Bryan is not feeling well - went to doctor. Not sure what is wrong but said he has to take a couple days off to recuperate. He works at home in the morning, usually is doing 2 or more jobs at the same time and works with lights until 10-12 each night. The man is exhausted. We try to feed him dinner when he is working here, then we often go to bed while he is still working. DS1 stays up late and helps him break down the worksite and pack up. Hope he recovers soon. Being self-employed means no work, no pay.
Wednesday DH went to the VA dermatology and they did 3 biopsies, as well as spraying some spots with stuff. Years working in the sun has caused various non-malignant skin cancers. We will know about the bipsies in 2 weeks. Meantime he has a return visit in July. We are very happy with the VA services here. Even when we transfer our PPO here DH said he wil continue going to the VA for most stuff. Have to drive to Greenville but the Costco is only 15 minutes further out so it works.
We went to Costco after his appointment yesterday and got the large heavy duty shelf for the pump shed. DS1 had showed me the type he preferred which much sturdier. As I thought, the brand he preferred is the one carried at Costco. $199 instead of $299 at Lowes. Got it in the car and packed the groceries around it. They had 5 gallon pots of Better Boy tomato bushes for sale at a good price so I got 3 for DH since he has been fussing about planting some. They also had Gardenia bushes in 5 gallon pots so I bought 2 of those. I love Gardenias and they like some shade so hopefully will do well in the front yard. We also got three 5 gallon pots of Floribunda roses. They are a really pretty shade of red and I saw them at Lowes for $30 each. They were $17 at Costco. Too bad Rockwall is a 45 minute trip or I would go back for more. I am not overly fond of Floribundas since I prefer tea roses for cut arrangements, but these were really special. I will put them in the front yard in full sun - maybe around the light post. A lot of the front yards around here don't have flowering plants in them. Is it because everyone is too busy with farming, or is it the DEER? It just occurred to me that front yard landscaping may be doomed to Death by Deer! We went to Lowes on Tuesday, and I got 9 tea roses to plant along the fence in the front yard. If deer come in after them, I will have to transplant them to another spot where the dogs can protect them. I still have plenty of garden fence panels left to protect the roses from digging dogs. LOL I still want to get some fruit trees. Bryan told me about a garden nursery called Gordons with lots of good plants and fruit trees. I looked it up and it is in Yantis. Lowes only carries standard size trees and I want the semi-dwarf. They grow 15' tall and are easier to prune and pick. Even the semi dwarf trees gave enough fruit for our family to eat all summer and for canning and jam. Hopefully the nursery will have the correct varieties for north east Texas. DH says he will hook the auger to the tractor and drill holes to plant the fruit trees. LOL
I called Gordon's Nursery and talked to the fellow there. He is super knowledgeable about what varieties of trees to plant. He said that when planting the standard varieties you need to cut the central trunk off at 4-6'. The other branches will form a tulip shape around it. Then you trim the surrounding branches off around 12-15'. That keeps the trees in pruning and picking height. I will be going to Gordon's to get some more fruit trees. He also said that we need to be aware of the drainage when planting. He thought that may be why my peach trees did not make it. They don't like wet roots. Santa Rosa and Satsuma plums will do well here and he has some apple varieties and peach varieties he recommends.
I told DH that when he tractors out the creep side barn to put all that good stuff in the garden to raise the level of the ground so we can channel off the water. Last night we sorted the remaining lambs and marked them. The ram lambs got blue, the keeper ewe lambs got orange. When we tried to mark the "for sale" ewe lambs the old cans of purple and green marking paint were out of air. We ended up marking those with both orange and blue. Very colorful.
Instead of the expensive livestock marking paint at $15+ each we decided to get cans of construction marking paint. The construction marking paint can be sprayed upside down, is water soluble, and cheaper at $9 each. The can lasts a couple years (or until the air runs out). I think the air ran out of our sheep marking paint cans because they were actual livestock marking paint cans which are designed to be sprayed upright. Really stupid because you have to hold the can upside down to mark fleeing lambs. Upside down spraying with cans not meant for that purpose just sprays out the air. The "special" livestock marking paint is supposed to be able to be washed out of wool safely. Wool s not important to us snce we have White Dorpers. A lot of their wook is currently decorating the pastures. The construction marking paint was what the NAHMS people used. The orange paint we used yesterday was the remainder of that can. All the sheep that were sprayed with construction marking paint the end of November were paint-free by January 1 anyway. I had a new can of blue, and yesterday DS1 had to make a run to Lowes. He came back with a can of bright green, orange and pink. Marking the lambs with paint makes it easier to ID the ones we want to keep and sell without having to check ear tags. We can also use it to mark the ewes that are close to ambing according to breeding dates to keep track of them. Marking paint is easier to see than trying to read ear tags. Ear tag numbers are imperative for registrations so we will use both.I called the prospective buyer about the lambs he wants to buy. First he wanted to come by Saturday after the sale but decided to come by today. All the lambs are in the barn. DS1 has divided the barn pen in half so we can turn several out for the buyer to look at and choose. With 30 lambs it would be harder if they were not marked. Hopefully we can sell a couple and get them gone.
I called the auction yesterday to see what the prospects are for the Saturday auction. It was supposed to storm heavily Wednesday through Sunday, but so far not bad. Super bad weather is predicted for Saturday which means that fewer people show up to sell or buy. I was give the number of one of the older auctioneers who I was told knew everything about markets, prices, and could give me better information. I called Jack and had a nice talk with him about how I was marketing my ram lambs and what to do about ewe lamb sales. Ewe lambs bring less than ram lambs at weaning so I asked about holding the ewe lambs till they are 6 months old and then running them through the auction. He said they would sell really well then. Hopefully the pasture grass will hold. He said that registration papers being offered would not bring me enough more so no point. I will sell breeding ewes with registration papers private treaty. I asked Jack about Saturday's sale and he said that the following week would be better. It is the week before Easter but we will be out of town for the Duncan show. I asked Jack about bringing the lambs in on Thursday morning when we leave town and he said that would be a good idea. Emory doesn't charge "yardage" and would feed and water. DS1 will drive over in the car to watch the sale and tell the auctioneer their numbers so they will be announced in the ring as White Dorpers. They liked our lambs last time so it is valuable to get to know them so they recognize our animals. DS1 can also pick up the check afterwards.
DH wants me to keep all the ewe lambs, but we will be overstocked and I don't want to ruin the pastures. Instead we have sorted off the ones I want to keep due to special breeding etc. Since they change as they grow keeping all ewes for 6 months will give us a chance to reevaluate them when they are older. DH is planning to divide up the pastures with the electric fencing to make smaller fields. We need more pens this year because we will be using 3 rams in 3 breedig pes, as well as staggering some breedings to have sale lambs for several holidays and times of the year when prices are traditionally higher.
I took Angel and Hazine to the vet yesterday. Hazine needed a microchip, Angel needed antibiotics for an infection, and both needed their vaccinations. The horses need vaccinations in May and Ozel is due in June. I will try to get an OFA appointment scheduled for her then too. The vet said that Texas is recommending that dogs and cats living in country areas be vaccinated for Rabies every year. So I did that with the dogs I also have the horses vaccinated for Rabies. I wil have to catch the cat after she has her kittens and get her some vaccinations. We were waiting to see if she survived coyotes, raccoons, etc. Since she is a year old now and pregnant she is obviously a good farm cat.
DH and DS1 are excited about the kittens and wondering where she will hide them. When we had cats that had kittens before, we also had small chdren who would hunt for them and tame them down. Not sure what will happen to these kittens. The expected heavy storm seems to have missed us. It is dark but dry out. Maybe tonight and tomorrow?
