Archive for February, 2009
February 14, 2009 – “Tank”
We have renamed one of the ewes we got a few weeks ago – the one that we thought would deliver first, will now be the last one. She is so big, we’ve started calling her “Tank.”
She’s so fat that with her brown color she reminds us of a woodtick just ready to burst!
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #107″
February 13, 2009 – Katahdin Birth
We’ve never been able to witness the birth on any mammals on our farm until this Katahdin. I must admit it seemed much easier and quicker than the three off-farm births I witnessed (Claire, Emma, and Martin).
The head and legs first popped out and hung around for probably a couple of minutes before the whole body plopped out.
Mommy did a good job of stimulating the lamb and cleaning it up by thorough lickings. The ewe made the most tender low muttering sounds to the lamb after birth – reminiscent of a soft lullaby.
The lamb wanted to get up and move in the worst way – after about five minutes of false attempts and struggling, it got up on its legs for the first time. He has a strong instinct to nurse, again, taking about five minutes to find the teat, first sucking on the back legs and many other false starts before finding the food source.
Then, the process was repeated when another lamb came out – only the next one came out tail first. It was a bit funny to see the body half out of the ewe with the of the lamb wagging away.
one year ago…”Looking for a Wife? (I’m not)”
February 12, 2009 – Thingamajig Thursday #153
Here’s this week’s thingamajig Thursday.
Also check out the last thingamajig answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Hold mouse over this sentence to pop-up answer.
one year ago…”Mystery Package”
February 11, 2009 – 10-0
Emma’s 8th grade basketball team went 10-0 (not all members pictured here). Emma enjoys playing and adds a level of enjoyment to watching college games.
Congrats Em! Emma’s goal was to frustrate the opponent so much defensively that they would cry. I don’t think she ever succeeded, but had fun trying.
February 10, 2009 – Road Waves
The rapidly melting snow is causing some minor flooding – this is the road right next to the bus stop.
I guess I’d rather see waves of water, than waves of snow in February. We even had a passing thunderstorm. For an amazing contrast, check out the “year ago” link for what the road was like this day last year!
February 9, 2009 – Boy!
The repeated 50 degree days have brought a whole new world!
Sticky snow for launching snowballs.
Puddles galore for stomping and jumping. There’s a time to keep kids out of puddles…and a time to just let them at ‘em. A warm day after a long, cold stretch of weather is just one time to let him do what boys are want to do!
February 8, 2008 – Bonus Poo!
What better to do on a 50 degree day than shovel out the barn. Today’s photos are all courtesy of Martin!
The barn floor was getting kind of ripe. Usually, it means adding another layer, but the warm day and melting snow afforded another option – removal!
Since some of the snow was gone, but still not the path to the main compost pile, I made a new pile close to the barn, as to not rip up too much soft ground.
Martin captured many salient features in this shot, the tractor operator, the wind turbine, and on the left-hand side, the newly piled “pile.” All in all, doing it today makes the spring cleanout that much easier.
one year ago…”Smartest Cities in America”
February 7, 2009 – New Hay Feeder
Another accoutrement that we now need is a hay feeder. Now that the weather has warmed to the upper 40′s, it’s possible to get outside and do stuff.
I copied this design from a photo in a sheep raising book, except I added the hardware cloth bottom and wheels, and made it a bit taller than designed, hoping goats wouldn’t jump on top of it. I much prefer rolling heavy items than lifting them. I made the framing out of AC2 lumber, but used cedar for the slats on the bottom and top, not wanting the hay to have that much contact with the chemically treated boards.
We used a design feature suggested by Martin. I was trying to figure out a quick and dirty way to keep the hinged lid open when loading hay and Martin suggested a small block that’s attached with a wire that goes in the hinge to keep it open.
one year ago…”Thingamajig #106″
February 6, 2009 – 2002 Prizm Hood Latch Failure
Linda had a scary drive to work this morning. The hood opened at about 55 mph and folded back onto the front windshield, cracking the windshield. She was able to safely get the car safely stopped without further incident.
The hood is crinkled, the windshield cracked, hood hinges trashed and the front quarter panels where the hood attaches are bent. I checked the NHTSA web site and filed a consumer safety complaint. Not so surprisingly, out of 11 complaints filed against this make/model/year, almost 30% are for this situation (and the last three are all hood latch failures at highway speed). If you have a 2002 Prizm, check the latches! And if it happened to you, visit the NHTSA web site. I’m sure not everyone knows about this site, and the more problems that are reported, the more likely an investigation to determine the cause can get started.
I went into the local Chevy Dealer and got only a smart-alecky response from the service manager who’s response was “Do you know how many Prizms were made?” The obvious answer is “Obviously not very many since Chevy stopped making them half-way through the 2002 model year.”
February 5, 2008 – First Lambs Arrive!
The first lambs arrived today! Linda found them probably about a half-hour after they were born – what looks like triplet ewe-lambs!
Two of them are good-sized, but one is small.
“Baby,” the smallest one, took a turn downhill about an hour after birth. She looked dead. We brought her into the house, put her on a heating pad, tubed her (put a tube down her throat to get some milk in her to get her kick-started).
A short while later, she showed signs of wanting to live again, and once she was strong enough to stand up, she’s better off with Mom, to get the important colostrum, so she headed back out to the barn. Thank goodness the cold weather broke and the night is only supposed to get down into the 20′s and in the 40′s most of the next 5 days.
February 4, 2009 – Weather Station
I finally broke down and admitted my weather addiction. I picked up a weather station, complete with anemometer, but it isn’t really set up yet – I need to put the
anemometer on a dedicated post or someplace else higher. When it’s set up, I’ll be able to see the weather ‘back home when I’m away via a web connection.
February 3, 2009 – Thingamajig Tuesday #152
Here’s this week’s thingamajig. A special Tuesday Thingamajig Thursday comes your way this week.
Also check out the last thingamajig answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Hold mouse over this sentence to pop-up answer.
one year ago…”Google Yourself”
February 2, 2008 – Corn Grindin’
With the arrival of the sheep, we wanted to keep them on the same feed they were used to, which was ground corn and oats. So, we got out the electric corn grinder. Although it’s not meant to do hundreds of pounds of feed, it sure beats our hand crank model!
Martin keeps the corn grinder full.
one year ago…”Iowa Network for Community Agriculture Meeting”
February 1, 2009 – Katahdin Sheep at High Hopes!
We’ve had our eyes on Katahdin sheep for some time. We found out about a fire sale on bred Katahdin ewes just a few days ago and went out and got some after consulting with people who know more about sheep than we do. These four ladies are bred and should lamb in a couple of weeks or less. We’ve got room in the barn, have enough hay, and were able to get the ladies for less than the price of two feeder lambs.
We hope we’ll like these because they birth easily, have hair instead of wool, which means they don’t need to be sheared, their tails commonly aren’t docked, and they are a meat breed and do well on pasture (some studies also indicate they are more resistant to parasites as well). Stay tuned as the ewes give birth in the upcoming days!
one year ago…”Musings from Tomorrow”
