Archive for the ‘Animals - Sheep’ Category

March 12, 2010 – Third Ewe Drops Triplets

Three out of four ewes have dropped their lambs.  This one is our skittish ewe who never really looks pregnant compared to Tank.

Again, a morning trip to the barn found all the lambs out and up – triplets again.  Two of three ewes had triplets so far this year and have not needed any intervention. ...Read more.

March 6, 2010 – Ewe Lamb Births with no Problem

Our second ewe has given birth without any problems.  We checked the barn in the morning and these two boys were just born and still wet.

This was the birth we were most worried about since the ewe was only a year old.  But as you can see, momma did just fine!  She’s a very vocal ...Read more.

February 28, 2010 – Tank Delivers!

There indeed was a reason Tank was getting so very large – she was carrying three good-sized lambs!

Here she is with two of them trying to get some milk from momma – two females and one male.

Here’s the third triplet, just hours after giving birth – Tank did it all on her 0wn – we ...Read more.

January 25, 2010 – Blizzard Warning with no Warning?

The weather people missed out on predicting this storm  We went from winter weather advisory to Blizzard warning in a flash.

I’ll only bother you with four seconds of the view while I was waiting for the early out bus near the closest blacktop road.

We’ve learned it’s just best to take the lead of the animals ...Read more.

December 19, 2009 – Tank and Friends

It’s now time for hay feeding of the animals (it has been for about two weeks now).

In the foreground is Tank, our favorite Katahdin ewe – she’s just solid, chunky, and robust – we call her Tank.
one year ago…”Gift Boxes Sold Out”

November 15, 2009 – Mixing Winter Grain Ration

It’s a big mixing weekend. The bred ewes eat mostly hay over the winter, but we give a little grain supplement for the pregnant and nursing ewes.

First step is to grind up some corn – ground corn is better than shell corn as it is better to digest. Here Martin watches the electric ...Read more.

October 14, 2009 – Pasture Reconfiguration

It is time for a pasture reconfiguration.  The area broadly outlined in white shows where the new temporary fence went up.

This fence allows the animals to get into an area they haven’t yet grazed this season.  It includes the ornamental willow nursery – now that the majority of the growing season is over, they can ...Read more.

September 15, 2009 – Mulberry Feast

It doesn’t take long for a mulberry tree to get away from you.  This one was growing in the fenceline south of the raspberries.  It was overdue to take out. One of those things that’s on “the list” for a long time.

The tractor sure made the job easy – instead of cutting it up into ...Read more.

August 10, 2009 – Mulberry Forage

Mulberry is excellent forage – comparing favorably to alfalfa in protein content.  There is so shortage of mulberry around here, so the goats and sheep have been getting a small daily ration of trees cut out of fencelines and other places I don’t want them going.

When the pastures start to fade in late summer, it’s ...Read more.

March 16, 2009 – New Electric Fence

Although it’s a bit hard to see in this photo, I finally got the electric fence across the cement pad outside the barn.

This will give us much more flexibility to segregate animals as needed.  Because the fence was on cement, I needed to make the fence have alternate hot and ground wires so animals can ...Read more.

February 28, 2009 – Sheep Bling

Today the lambs got their bling – new earrings.  Only one stud for both boys and girls.  Ear tagging is a new process for us and it seemed to go well.

Here’s Linda with number 16.

And me with number 17. I went into the local farm store (Theisens) earlier in the week to get the tags ...Read more.

February 20, 2009 – Hangin’ with the Ewes

All the ewes and lambs are together now that moms and babies know who each other are.  Everybody got their tetanus shots and one boy was banded – the two others will have to wait a few more days as they are not quite old enough yet.

I can’t wait for it to green up and ...Read more.

February 16, 2009 – Tank’s a Mommy

Tank finally had her lambs. She had triplets – each of them seems very vigourous. The previous triplet birth last week, we eventually lost the runt of the batch, but we’re hopeful about these three.

These seem to have perhaps a Romanoff or other Daddy ram as they have more curly fur than their ...Read more.

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 ...Read more.