The last few days have been crazy here at the farm, with little Angora goat kids being born, sheep due any time, horses busting out of their pen and running around the yard and then today, the skid steer stood on its front tires, upended by a hay bale on a down hill slope, which disabled the hydraulics, trapping me inside. 
The little newest Angroa kid finally was able to nurse from his mother. She would not allow him anywhere near her and for the first while, I had to hold her down and let him such while she was on her side. That would have made a funny video with me straddling the mother goat, one leg outstretched over her neck and her two back legs in my two hands, while positioning junior to get a good meal. Whoot whoot!
The horses were running amuck at midnight. 
The dogs were barking like crazy, so I went out investigate and sure enough, Willa and Zeb had pretty much cleaned up the duck's oats and were looking for anything more tasty. I tried for an hour to get them back in their pen, but they were having none of it. Finally, I went to visit the Angora kid, to be sure his belly was full and he was warm. If they do not eat, they get cold and then it is problematic to bring their temperature back to normal so they will suck. Fortunately, he managed to drink from mom on his own, so I went back to get the horses in with a bucket of oats. Grain is like heroin. I have said that before. Any animal that tastes it, is immediately addicted and will do almost anything to get it, plus eat themselves to death if they are not stopped. Willa followed me and the bucket and I wired the gate shut. Today I let her and Zeb out and they immediately went around to the llama's side to bug them. They dominate the llamas, which are gentle clean creatures. Horses eat and poop in the same spot, but llamas do not, nor do they poop where they sleep, so the horses always foul up their side. In addition, they bite the llamas and kick them to keep them away from the food. 
That is how problem number three started. I fired up the skid steer to put what was left of the bale over the fence so the horses, who are pigs in disguise, could eat as much hay as they wanted. The trouble is they waste so much that way too, because their feet are dirty and they poop and step in it and then on the hay and do not eat it. I did not want to fork hay over to them, since they were not allowing the llamas to eat. I thought if I sent the bale over, and then put several other piles over, the llamas could eat too. That worked fine, though I needed another bale, so I went to get one. That area is on a fairly steep slope and the bale upended the back wheels enough so I could not sit in the seat. There is a safety that stops the hydraulics if there is no weight detected, so I was stuck half upside down and could not get out. Fortunately, I had the cell phone in my pocket and phoned 911. In minutes, three fire trucks with about a dozen men came and some pushed the bale off. Immediately the skid steer righted itself and I could use the hydraulics, so I lowered the forks and shut the machine off and got out. That was enough excitement for the past two days. Now I need to have a nice long bath and go to bed to catch up on the sleep I lost the last night. It sure is a good thing I had the cell phone. Who knows how long I would have sat there in the cab unable to get out?

The locals talk about this winter. They can remember two others that were as bad or worse, but one was in the 1970's and the other even earlier. This was a hard winter on the animals with no let up from the cold and snow. The snow pack was over 6 feet in places.The animals could step over fences and they did. Gates were frozen 2-3 feet under the snow and ice. The pipes froze in the house and the septic tank froze when the frost creeped down inside it. It is not a winter that I would like to repeat any time soon. Being my second, after last winter, which was mild by comparison, I am hoping that the next won't be one people can remember like the one in the 1970's. If it is another 30 years until the next bad winter, then I am good with that!

The sheep have a vulva that makes pregnancy and delivery signs obvious, therefore watchful shepherds should be able to monitor their ewes closely with accuracy. The Cotswolds are pregnant and due anytime from now to the first of April, so basically 2 days.

The vulva has a little part that sticks out. When a sheep is not pregnant, that points downward and is reasonably small. Halfway through pregnancy, it begins to lift and become horizontal, but at this stage it is pointing almost skywards. The vulva has become jelly like preparing for the imminent birth, the ligaments and muscles become relaxed. The vuvla swells and enlarges, somewhat protruding. When the ewe walks, it jiggles and the closer to delivery, the more jiggly it becomes.

Two of the three Cotswold ewes are very jiggly, enlarged and relaxed. They have also given birth before, so this is more pronounced, but the third ewe will be a first time mother. The ligaments are not as relaxed as a mother who has birthed previously. The sheep do not have full udders, though the three are all showing some enlargement. Some sheep will engorge only when the lamb is born, while others begin to fill with milk much earlier. The largest of the ewes for sure will have twins. She is waddling like an old goose at this point, and grunts when she lies down. She pees and defecates often, indicating there is not much room, and the pressure of the babies beginning to move into position for birthing, is putting pressure on her other functions.

Now, as a good shepherd, regular hourly checks should be made until late at night and then again early in the morning. Most of the time, the birth will progress without the need for intervention, though occasionally the lambs need to be turned if they are breach or presenting with the wrong parts first, or if they are too large for a first time mother to pass without a gentle pull. Cotswold babies are so cute. I can hardly wait!

Captain Morgan was missing the other day and he called to me from under the huge spruce tree in the front yard, where I picked him up and put him in with Peter Rabbit. He has been Peter's room mate before, and they got along well enough. Captain morgan cannot breed anymore, so for a while, he and his wife were swapping in the tent next door, in the hope that she would start to lay some eggs. No such luck. 
Then Sheila, Morgan's second wife went missing. Not a trace, not a feather was found. But alas, there she was back in the barn behind the pregnant goat, where Captain Morgan and her lived for some time. They quite liked the place, especially the privacy, but they despised the fact that there were no windows and they were always in the dark so to speak, so they moved out. Sheila decided she preferred the dark to the suitor in the wife swapping tent, though, and she was found safe and sound back home. 
So Captain Morgan and Sheila are back in their first apartment together with Peter Rabbit, their room mate. The Faverolle hen has joined them, because, although she does not enjoy being a party girl, the boys think she does, and they gang rape her, so she stays on her perch inside, barely eating and drinking enough to stay alive. Every time she is outside, they jump her bones. 
Sheila is a little worried that Faverolle will steal Captain Morgan's affections, so she has pecked her a few times to put her in her place, but she needn't worry. The good Captain is quite happy with one wife these days, even in their sexless marriage. 
Anyhow, the happy couple is reunited and now they are sharing their tent with not just Peter but the Faverolle girl. The Captain kind of enjoys this (don't tell Sheila). 

I bought 4 Angora goats, three females bred, and a male kid that is not related for future breeding. The owner of the goats admitted that he had used Valbazen wormer after the goats were bred and had already experienced problems. I had no idea what to expect, since I had read also that some mothers are fine, while others throw kids that are malformed, stillborn or otherwise unhealthy. 
The first doe kidded a single male kid, not very large, but reasonably healthy at birth. 
She cleaned him off and he was able to stand and attempt to nurse, with help from he to direct him and to hold her still. Suddenly he collapsed and was unable to stand. I milked the colostrum from her and syringe fed him. This went on for 2 days. Each day I tried to put him to his mother to nurse with no luck, but on the third day, he was able to suck and nursed if I held him up. He had lost all muscle tone. He was given a half of a cc of selenium and vitamin e within a half hour of birth, after he lost his muscle tone. Today, he is healthy and robust and lives outside with the goat herd and his mother. 

The second doe kidded today. Her water broke around 9 am this morning and it was not until 11 that she birthed the first of twins. The baby presented with only one leg, not the most convenient or comfortable birth. The foot was white and gel like, so I was wondering how this would go. The head presented at least a half hour later and the kid was still born with a gel like body, particularly the abdomen. 

The second kid did not present for another half hour. There was meconium in the sac and he was yellow, but alive. He presented head first, another sometimes problematic birth. Mother birthed unassisted, but stopped once his head presented, at which time I cleared his nostrils and mouth so he could breathe. He is extremely thin and tiny, possibly not quite 2 pounds. The first twin was a ewe and was close to 5 pounds. 
His mother cleaned him off with much help for three towels and a lot of gentle rubbing on my part. The temperature is only -5 and though he has a hot water bottle and heat lamp, it is still cold. He is unable to stand, barely can open his eyes and has zero sucking reflex and to top it off, the mother will not stand to allow him to nurse. 

I managed to hold her in a corner with my shoulder and milk colostrum from her, about 4 ounces, with great difficulty. The kid was then put in a kid sac (sleeve from a fleece jacket) and the colostrum was fed to him with a syringe. He was not cooperative and much dribbled down his chin, but there were times when he actively swallowed so I am sure he got some at least, possibly two ounces. Given his tiny size, that may be enough for an hour. I returned him to his mother, set his back to the hot water bottle and the heat lamp directly over him. He could not hold his head up and I do not have much hope for his survival. 

The pictures I am posting here are graphic. The kid that was stillborn was given to the dog and he ate the front, which is why the belly is exposed, but it allows a good view of what the kid was composed of -gel. At this point, I am taking a break and having some lunch before going back to see how he is progressing. He did not survive past 11 pm. I am sad for his mother. 

There lives a small Buff Japanese bantam rooster on The Fat Ewe Farm. He was the low rooster in the pecking order and slept outside with the late hatch of Jersey Giant cross chicks. Those chicks are hardy, amazingly so. Only when they were too large to fit under the chicken coop did they reluctantly go inside to sleep. By then we had seen many nights of severely frigid weather. The rooster's combs had not grown very large, or their wattles, the hanging down things on the sides of their chins, or they would have frozen them. As it is the Salmon Faverolle rooster had completely frozen feet from sleeping on the floor inside the coop. That breed has feathered feet and for some reason he attracted snow on his feet, which turned to ice and his feet froze. He had to be put down, because with both feet frozen, he could no longer walk. 
But Captain Morgan, now that is another story. First of all he is tiny, but a strong willed survivor. One of his feet was completely frozen. I put him in with the Flemish Giant rabbit and gave him a girlfriend, who has since disappeared completely, not a feather left. At one point, I put him in the barn, but there is no sunshine there so I felt sorry for him and put him in a large pen. His foot fell off and he was able to hobble around on the ground, feed and water himself and still fly, but he could not land anywhere except the ground. His days of roosting are long gone. 
Then today, he was gone too. I could not find a trace of him, not a tail feather, nothing. The ravens hang around the birds to eat the eggs as they are laid. Since he is so small, he would be fair game. I was sorry to see him go. Then I went to see Sarah the goat, who had gotten herself in trouble again and Captain Morgan called to me. He was under a large spruce tree in the yard near the goat, a little mangled, likely from the puppies I would think, but not injured. I went to get him and he allowed himself to be picked up without a squawk. I put him in with the rabbit again, but he has no girlfriend now. I will have to find a bantam hen for him for company. 

What a strong will to live he has. He must have been half frozen more than once. His right foot is missing all the way to the ankle joint and several toes on his left foot may fall off. His comb is half of its normal size from being frozen and still he continues on. Because of his spirit and his peg leg, he sports the name Captain Morgan. I am routing for him. What a lesson for all of us from this little tiny sailor. We should all be so forward thinking and not give up when the chips are really down. Thanks little buddy. May you go on. 

Weezie, aka Louise, was one of the first animals on the
Fat Ewe Farm. She and Leroy, her boyfriend, were hand raised by a family with small children as pets. Leroy soon outgrew the children and as billy goats do, he began to be a little pushy. The family decided to get rid of their pets and The Fat Ewe was fortunate enough to scoop them up. 
What a delight they were, comical, talkative and small. Pygmy goats were the first goats on the farm and it was not long before they were loved and cherished. 
Weezie had two beautiful babies and was a wonderful mother, while Leroy went to live with the pigs. Leroy was quite enamoured with Boris, the boar, but Boris found him a nuisance and told him so. Still Leroy would try to force his intentions upon poor Boris. Leroy loved Weezie though, and jumped the fence to tell her so. 
She had two more beautiful babies, who also left the farm for new homes. By then, new goats had joined The Fat Ewe Farm, more Pygmies and a few Nigerian Dwarf goats, plus a boar goat. The boar, Terry, could get out of her pen and would go everywhere, so she was sold. 

Weezie got sick that winter. She was a little run down from raising kids non stop for a year and came down with sarcoptic mange, a terrible condition where mites burrow in tunnels under the skin. It took quite a while to cure her, but by summer she was her old self and gave us not two, but three beautiful babies. We lost one when a plywood board blew over onto her, but Weezie's boys went to new homes. That is when this trouble started, the new sickness. Her udder was a little crusty, so I treated her for mites again and put coconut oil on her udder, which smothers mites and keeps the skin soft too. This did not help, so over the next while, I tried other remedies and she only got worse. Finally, today the vet came and took a skin scraping and blood sample. The prognosis is poor. Apparently Weezie has become allergic to something in her environment and has a skin condition similar to eczema. She could be treated with steroids, but would abort her babies and the treatment may or may not work. The vet recommended that she be put down, because she is suffering. She stands alone and shivers. Although she is not thin, she has lost her robust nature and no longer plays and cajoles with the other goats. My poor Weezie. I do love you so and it breaks my heart to say good bye. Thank you for two lovely years and your beautiful babies. You will not be forgotten, dear Weezie. I am so sorry we could not make you better. Bless you. 

Many of the ingredients in commercial lip colours are derived from petroleum. Who wants to put oil on their lips? And, in addition to using petroleum products, many ingredients are petroleum derived chemical, many very harmful to the environment both in production and in usage later. 
So, what is the alternative? Actually, there are quite a few products available that are organic and use ingredients derived from nature such as plant oils and pigments from the Earth. Nothing is perfect. Some plant oils require refining and others are actually derived from poisonous plants, such as castor oil. But, natural products are biodegradable and return to the elements from which they were created, while the 'plastics' in petroleum products do not biodegrade and take many long years to break down at all, usually into smaller particles of the same molecules, not Earth elements. 

The lip shine I made is natural, coloured with naturally occurring pigments, sweetened with steevia, which is herbal, and flavoured with organic flavours derived from plants certified organic. That is a whole lot better than eating petroleum and chemicals. The lip shine is glossy and the colours are flattering to most. What is there not to like?

It is hard to remember the summer when there are four to six feet of snow on the ground and it is nearly April. This has been one of the worst winters most folks around here can remember and it is bad, for sure. 
But, because it is not pleasant, because it caused hardship and because it was as it was, the summer will be all the more welcome. 
The long days that move into splendorous nights with warm breezes, the little creek out back of the house babbling its merry way along the hillside and valley, the beavers slapping their tails on the pond and simply loving to be alive, yes, summer has its lures. Without the winter, summer would not be nearly so appreciated. I am grateful today, thinking of the peace of the summer and giving thanks for the cold winter. The warm fire is tantalizing and keeps the little farmhouse comfortable in winter. While I sometimes would like to cocoon all day near its heat, I must tend to my critters who depend on me for their survival in this climate. This gives my life purpose and the winter gives me a challenge. Really, it all works together for a peaceful heart. Now off to bed, where it is warm and waiting....
 

Even at the Farmer's Market, everything must be individually labeled with the ingredients used from the highest quantity to the least. Some people just print the labels on sheets of white or coloured paper and cut them out with scissors, then glue or tape them to their wares. Labeling individual bars of soap has always proven to be problematic unless the soap is wrapped or boxed. The easiest label is a wrap around type that adheres to itself. Each label must be attached by hand and all this is time consuming, but so far, the production of the labels has been problematic. 

Without a proper labeling software program, it is difficult to produce beautiful professional looking labels. Word from Microsoft has mailing label templates and most computer mail programs have mailing label programs too, however; these do not produce beautiful labels. In a pinch, they would suffice. 

Marketing is not only about having a great product. The package is equally important or it takes much more effort to interest people, no matter how wonderful the actual product is. So, tonight, my computer is downloading Avery's free label program for Mac computers. The internet is very very slow when it is snowing for some reason and it is snowing, again! Tomorrow, I should be able to spend some time and label the soap and shampoo and possibly the lip gloss as well. Once labeled, the items can be packed in boxes for the market on Tuesday. And once the initial labels are created, it is just a matter of tweaking the design for new items, such as a new bar of soap, rather than reinvent the label. In the future there will also be creams and lotions, bath salts, and other body products, so a standard branding of the farm is appropriate to help customers identify the product as from the Fat Ewe Farm with one glance. What do you think should be the logo?