Our sheep herd was completed today. Dixie, our mentor and good friend is planning a move out of state and her sheep can’t go with her. We took her up on her offer of buying 4 of her yearling Marino Ewes.
We went over and got 2 yearlings and 2 lambs. The ewe that had quads is one that we picked up today along with the 2 remaining lambs from the set of quads. We will get the remaining 2 tomorrow. That will round out our herd at 1 Ram and 7 Ewes. Out of those 7 ewes, at least 2 are due to lamb in July and maybe a 3 also. Not real sure will just have to wait and see.
In the process of rounding them up to catch them, they made a break for it and I tried to chase them back the other direction. Well, needless to say, I will never get in front of 13 sheep and a bunch of lambs again. Naturally, no camera, but from the way everyone was laughing as I picked myself up off the ground and brushed off the sand, it must have been a sight. Now I know what it feels like to be run over and the bruises on my ribs that could resemble sheep hoof marks are proof.
Needless to say, the next time they want to run by me, I will move over and let them go where they want to.
These 13 sheep probably weighed between 100 and 150 and there were only a couple that didn’t run right over me. Humm, no wonder I feel a little sore. Oh well, live, learn and nurse the bruises. lol
Will get some pictures of the new comers when they all get here.
Right now its time to take this bruised and battered body to bed.
Cindy
April 30th, 2007
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Well, after our storm 4 days ago or so, we have had trouble connecting to anything. The only thing we could get was “request timed out”. It finally got squared away today. Oh well, ya gotta love Hughes Net.
We got our baby chicks Wednesday. 35 of the healthiest looking, 3 day old balls of fluff I have ever seen.
This is a picture right after the thermometer was put in the brooder. The brooder is set up in the coop, and the temperature needs to be kept between 90 and 95. It has been getting warmer than that but they seem to be doing fine.
This picture is inside the brooder with the infrared light on them to keep ‘em warm.
Will keep this updated as they grow. I understand they grow very fast.
Cindy
April 27th, 2007
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We got outside yesterday and worked on the chick brooder in the coop and got the light the proper height and put cedar shavings. It is now ready for the little peeps Wed. or Thurs.
We also cleaned up a couple brush piles that have been bugging me since we got here. Two runs to the dump with all the junk from those piles.
Put Dusty out in the round pen today. First thing he did was paw the ground and rolled, got up and shook off like a wet dog. The second thing he did was walk over to the side of a panel, pawed again and rolled. I was watching him as I walked away and thought OH OH, that’s not a real good place for him to roll. He was almost against a panel. So I started to walk over to the round pen. Sure enough, just before I got there he rolled towards the panel and got his back legs between 2 rails. He struggled to get up and then laid quietly. I got to his back feet on the outside of pen and tried to push the one rear leg back thru the panel. He started struggling again and I got kicked in the elbow. Talk about hurt? It sent shock waves clear to my finger tips. He managed to get free and lifted the panel about a foot off the ground and disconnected the pins holding to next panel.
I stood there and watched him to make sure he was ok. He reared up half a dozen times about a foot of the ground while facing the panel. Not sure what that was about. Hopefully he will remember that and not get so close again. He could have easily broken one or both of his hind legs by struggling.
When we build our own round pen with pine posts, it will be designed a bit differently to keep that from happening.
Today, Sunday, it is raining and blowing. Temperature is only lower 40’s and with the wind blowing about 25-30 its not very nice out. Glad we got what we did yesterday. Its that time of the year that I hate to loose a nice day outside. Its getting close to the time to go to work on the farm again. Then most of my time outside will be done here at home.
Planting has already started at one of the remote fields, and should be starting soon at the home farm.
Cindy
April 22nd, 2007
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Hasn’t been a lot going on here in the last week. I haven’t forgotten to keep it up, its just that the dang wind has been blowing so bad for a week, it makes working outside almost impossible. It really cranked up Monday night. It was hitting 50 mph and there isn’t a piece of dust that is in its original location in the entire valley.
We started working outside Saturday, the 7th and the wind started picking up again. We were working on the chicken coop when the dust decided to get rolling.
It was nice temperature wise, and I decided this would be a good time to dig up the leaking frost free pump head. Should have been a simple task. HEHE Ya right.
I got it dug out finally, thru the roots, and around the gray pvc that had 220 wires running thru it, and the frost free just fell over. Naturally the water wasnt’ off yet. The water was shut of at 9:30 am and didn’t get back on till 8:40 pm. We also ran into a controller valve that went to the rest of the inoperative irrigation system that someone put in and is probably the only one who knows where it went.
We finally got everything cut off and out and turned the water back on. OHOH, major LEAK. We didn’t have the main line capped like we thought. That was about 4:00. We shut it off again and started digging, again. It was very obvious there was more there than we were finding.
We finally got to the bottom of the issue, disconnected the controller, found the rest of the frost free and found it was on a “T” in the main line from well. The controller was also run off the same T.
Between digging most of the day, and fighting the blowing sand, we were whipped. We called the neighbor, who is a retired plumber, to come give us a hand. We had all the hard work done, and what he did took all of 10 mins. He got it capped off, and ready to put a new frost free in.
This will take you to a page with a frost free hydrant on it if you don’t know what I am referring to.
Frost Free Hydrant
If this wind ever stops, we will be back outside to finish up. Our chicks will be shipped Monday April 23 and should arrive here by next Wed. or Thurs.
Will get pics when they arrive.
Cindy
April 19th, 2007
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Another fun-filled day, and some more sheep and lamb pictures.
The area these lambs are in is really the manger. But it must look pretty inviting to these babies as a resting place.
This picture is mama and a set of newborn twins. We watched the little white one being born, and the little black one was born just a few minutes before we arrived. She didn’t even have a chance to clean him up before the white one was born. Both lambs are doing well and being taken care of.
This picture was taken a feeding time. This is just part of the Ewes that are still waiting to have babies.
Maybe we can get a couple bummers from this group and add to our small herd. 
Cindy
April 5th, 2007
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These 3 pictures were taken in order across the eastern sky. Now would look like a good time to run for shelter.
Picture 1 is the trailing edge of the storm to the Northeast, 2 is East and picture 3 is the leading edge to the Southeast. Needless to say, we didn’t get a single drop of rain or snowflake from this nasty looking sky.
This is just another example of the strange weather patterns here in the valley.
Cindy
April 5th, 2007
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Yesterday was a nice outside day, so we decided to work on the chicken coop runs…
Cleared all the tumbleweed and junk with a rake, then staked out the area. Gonna try to grow some grass for them, which may be a real trick in this sand.   We put a sprinkler out there and watered a little, will add some more water today then try the grass seed which is drought resistance and see what happens.
We also got our hot compost pile started a couple days ago. We are using sheep manure and hay stems right now and it is heating up a little. There again, will see what happens.
We are going to start a separate compost pile for the horse manure which should do well and I have a little bit of that.
Freezer, the little “Black Sheep” of the family is doing well, getting life lessons every day. He is about ready to get put in a pen in the backyard. Still on the bottle, but eating hay, sweet feed, and sheep creep, which is a lamb starter pellet. Still having a little problem grasping the concept of drinking water out of a container though, but is improving. When he gets that down pat, he will be ready to go into outdoor pen. He got moved to the garage about a week ago in a Doberman-sized dog cage so he has a bit more room to move around.
The older of our sheep are very intolerant of him in their pen area, so he will have to grow a bit before he can go in with the adult sheep. When he goes for a morning feed walk, Dusty is totally fascinated with him. It’s one of the few things that will switch his focus from eating. It’s cute to see this little bit of a lamb nose to nose with an 800 lb. animal.
Will try to get some pictures of the two of them.
Cindy
April 5th, 2007
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