Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[farmerjan]

You are getting a nice even mix of ram and ewe lambs too. If they are more or less equal in size, then Cooper did a good job. The ewes might not have had good heats/cycles, and then him being in there got them better synched and they settled on good heats. Having twins right along like that is also a good sign. He was getting them bred when in good heats, and they were cycling and releasing more than one egg which is also a plus. You will have a good number now that will be at good size to sell for the Easter and ethnic trade in the spring.

 

[Mike CHS]

We just finished the last bottle for the day and almost ready for bed. The ewe that had the surgery doesn't seem to be stressed by her confinement but she has a 12 x 32 foot stall and plenty of fresh grass and feed. Her stitches seem to be tight but that big spot with no hair makes me want to leave her in where the heat lamps are with temps going down in the 20's. We take her back in next Monday to have the stitches removed. She has always been a sweety but this close confinement has taken her to another level. The ewe lamb is scarfing down 10 ounces but the ram slowly drinks a couple of ounces so it appears he is getting most of what he needs from his dam.

 

[Mike CHS]

It looks like Pepper has a single just born. She has had singles but they are always huge and grow fast and trouble free. Her parasite resistance is at the top of our sheep and her daughters have been the same. Looking at last seasons data, she had a single ewe that was a bit over 13 pounds and this one looks close to that if not more.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sure popping them out now!

 

[Mike CHS]

We only have four more ewes to lamb. We got ear tags caught up this afternoon and since I have been roaming around the lambs a lot they weren't tempted to try and run so we tagged them in the field rather than bringing them in the stall.

 

[Baymule]

Do Pepper’s daughters single too or do they have twins? That’s outstanding on the parasite resistance!

 

[Mike CHS]

I had to go look at the records and I had Pepper mixed up with her sibling Myah (both came from a farm in Athens Georgia. She had twin rams the first time and she had a single the next time with Ginger who had twins this time. Ginger is one of our heaviest ewes and was 13.4 lbs at birth so Pepper wouldn't have had any more room in there.

 

[Baymule]

13.4 pounds is a BIG baby!

 

[Mike CHS]

Our no longer "feral" cat likes to walk with us when we go down to the barn and back but he has started going around to the back where our bottle lambs and their dam are staying when we feed them. He comes just inside the fence and the ewe will go over and put her head down to check out the smell. Whisky will playfully extend his front leg to touch her and the ewe doesn't react at all other than to stare at him some more. The lambs will jump around him so evidently has been in there before.

 

[Mike CHS]

We watched this show on PBS the other day about a guy that hatched and raised a bunch of turkey chicks. I'm not a big PBS fan but that show is decent and we could really relate to it since we have raised a wild turkey. We really liked it since he talked about things that the chicks taught him about what they already knew. If you get a chance to watch it the program is Nature and the episode was "My life as a turkey"