Wehner Homestead

[Baymule]

What a wrenching decision to be made. It had to be hard, but you just can't tolerate a dog that could go past nipping and bite somebody. You might have saved some innocent person from getting mauled or severely bitten. You stepped up and did the responsible thing. Not a popular thing, but what had to be done. Big hugs to you and your family.

Congrats on the new buck. I hope he improves the milking ability of your flock.

 

[greybeard]

Never good to have to put a pet down, but sometimes, it's the best and only route.

Nippers are hard to deal with..usually run along the ground snappin and yappin like one of those little miniatures you might see perched on some large person's bosom in Walmart, yapping up a storm for the sole purpose of feeling it's butt hole clinch But I digress... Brother-in-law had a little fiest dog/rat terrier for years that would ambush anyone that came to the steps, darting out from under the porch like some demonic 4 legged spotted mosquito, barking and dancing around with bared teeth and generally making a nuisance of himself and would nip at their heels if sister or her husband didn't say a few words of wisdom to the semi-savagurous beast. One Thanksgiving Day we all arrived at sister's house and as my oldest sister started up the steps in her holiday finest, Roscoe pushed the envelope and took a little chunk out of her ankle. Oldest sister survived the incident after some first aid from her younger sister tho it did require a trip to the doctor a few days later when the wound became infected. Roscoe did not see Thanksgiving Day sunset and in fact, became Underground Dog even before dessert was served.

 

[Hens and Roos]

sorry to hear

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry to hear about Lana. Hope all you remember is the good things about her.

 

[CntryBoy777]

.....it certainly isn't an easy decision to make, but it is best to end their suffering and to keep others safe....I've done it too many times and never is easy.

 

[MiniSilkys]

I am sorry to hear you had to lose your dog. Making that kind of decision is extremely hard but you also had to think of your own children as well. Plus you could have been sued if she did bite someone.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

We are adjusting to Lana being gone but it’s definitely like a piece of the farm is missing. The kids have asked about another dog but DH and I aren’t in that mindset yet. We do plan to add another LGD sometime this year but will need to embrace a farm dog soon or transition one of the Aussies to more of a farm dog that stays loose 24/7.

We are all worn out from our trip last night. I can usually entertain our kids while it’s light out but struggle in the dark. We had a vehicle with a DVD player that was only used on long trips and was nice on those occasions...fast forward to yesterday and we used an adapter to plug in our laptop in the cigarette lighter and the console as a table for the laptop and the kids watched The Santa Claus! It worked out very well!

The promised pic of our new buck, Knight. (The spelling has been changed to go with King.) He’s looking a little rough as he loses his winter fur. I’ll be sure to get a better pic when he gets clipped this spring. Knight is a polled dark buckskin.

We’ve worked on a few outside projects today and the kids loved being outside!

The hens have increased their production and we have enough to sell to a few of our regulars again. The new 22 chicks seem to be fine. I’ve found no sign of issues and all are growing well.

My parents have a large house and are looking to downsize. This has led to various pieces of furniture making their way to our house, including a complete bedroom suit. We played musical furniture part of the day today. Chester and Oscar enjoyed the doors being open so they could come and go as they please.

Chester thinking about getting on the table.

Creek pics! Jewel between DD1 and I.

Cowboy trying to figure out how to get to me without getting soaked...

2 kids and their Aussies on the farm!

*updated pics on Calving, kidding, and LGD thread

 

[Bruce]

Your Chester looks like the Chester that lives across the road from us.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

We upgraded our temporary kidding pen some over the weekend as we will use it wean Diamond’s bucklings before Snowflake needs it. When it gets closer to delivery of the next round, we will move the two bucklings across the aisle.

Chester-L, Sophie-R while we were discussing the kissing pen upgrade. That pallet is leaning against a huge stainless stick tank that has the Nov chicks in it temporarily.

DH wanted to try wrapping some dry round bales as he likes that there’s less waste and they keep better for longer. This was a trial because the black breathes BUT it would get really hot if it was solid black. He wraps the haylage in the white so that it will ferment. His best friend gets his hat from us a bale at a time (only has two cows that came from us) so DH got one ready when he put out bales so he’d just have to set it in the truck bed. I thought y’all would like to see one of our zebra bales.

The hens are starting to pick up their laying! The largest egg is from an Isa Brown. That group started laying about April 2017. The eggs this big are too large for the eggs cartons so we keep them all. I will say that they seem to be a bit more brittle than the other eggs. The next largest egg is one of the “pink” eggs from the BR, I believe. (There is a Wyandotte in that pen though and I’ve yet to be able to differentiate their eggs for sure.) The next egg and the darkest is from my BCM. It isn’t as dark as I believe that it’s supposed to be but I have no proof that she’s purebred. Finally, a Silkie egg. My Silkies are not show quality and have been crossed with some production breed. (Combs varied, no feathers on legs, similar in size to BCM, lay about five eggs each a week.)

DH paid someone to trim some dead branches out of an oak tree. The kids enjoyed watching him as he actually climbed into the tree and used a harness with ropes and a chainsaw that was tied to his harness to do the trimming. He cut a branch and screams were heard. They found three baby squirrels that hadn’t opened their eyes yet. Of course I couldn’t just let them die so I grabbed my heating pad, a towel, and a wash pan and proceeded to keep them warm.

I’m trying to find out who knew how to care for them, I found out that it was illegal for me to. I did find someone to rehab them but the mom was going NUTS (literally!) I searched and found the nest in the limbs on the ground. The guys thought it had been splintered apart. We moved it to the base of the tree and surrounded it with heavy limbs and branches to keep the dogs back. I reluctantly put the babies in the nest and when we checked, the mama had moved them back into the tree.

I’m just glad that they didn’t have to die because I couldn’t help them. (I wouldn’t want them as pets and would’ve only kept them long enough to release.) The kids were sad because they wanted to keep them but glad that their mama took them back.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

I also forgot to add that I was released from my back injury to return to work on Friday. I’m no longer in pain but my strength and stamina leave much to be desired. I have lots of exercises to do on my own to try to aid in my recovery.