Weezies little boy, the black one, is not well. He is anemic and is being treated and is showing improvement. I am sure it had much to do with the fact that she herself was not well and was fighting the debilitating skin condition for the entire pregnancy. Although she is on the mend and is regrowing hair once again, the toll was taken on the little ones. They are precious and beautiful and helpless. It makes anyone want to love them. I do and so do these young men!
There is something very touching about a young man cuddling a baby animal. It endears one's heart to the males of the world and helps us realize that tenderness is not limited to the female species.
Weezies little boy, the black one, is not well. He is anemic and is being treated and is showing improvement. I am sure it had much to do with the fact that she herself was not well and was fighting the debilitating skin condition for the entire pregnancy. Although she is on the mend and is regrowing hair once again, the toll was taken on the little ones. They are precious and beautiful and helpless. It makes anyone want to love them. I do and so do these young men!
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Weezie is a little Pygmy goat. Originally, she and her brother, were bought for pets for two young children. As time went on, the kids lost interest and the parents were anxious to get rid of the goats. By then they were about six months old and the cuteness stage was pretty much over, especially for the billy. He was interested in breeding the female. I am not sure he was her brother, but he did indeed breed the little doeling and they had a beautiful set of tiny twins. Weezie was a wonderful mother and the twins and she wandered the yard as they pleased. Because they are so small, the Pygmy goats do not climb over fences or onto vehicles as full sized goats do, and they eat less than half of what a normal goat eats as well. They still will get into gardens and love roses, so those precious plants do need to be fenced off, but otherwise, the goats also love weeds and will keep the yard clean of most dandelions, thistles and other pesky plants. The billy lived with the pigs and a few other little goats came to live at the farm, so he jumped the fence and bred Weezie again. Pygmy goats are not seasonal breeders, but can breed all year round. She had twins again and was again a wonderful doting mother, but the toll of raising two sets of twins in a year made her susceptible to mites. She had a terrible, unresponsive case of mites that winter. She was treated with everything the vet recommended and barely responded. She had another set of twins in the spring and then developed what the vet said was an autoimmune skin condition and advised she be put down. I did not want to lose Weezie. She is my pet and my favourite goat, so I concocted a potion of garlic, oil, borax, copper sulphate and water and sprayed her every few days. She was improving. She delivered two tiny babies, a boy and girl, healthy, but maybe two pounds each. I then gave her an Invomectin injection and some vitamins to build her blood up to help her nurse the twins. I am so happy to report that the mom and babies are well and Weezie is growing hair back where she had none for almost a year. I am not saying she is 100% cured, but she is on her way to recovery. I am so glad I did not give up on her. I love that goatie and her babies!
Straight out of the egg, still in the incubator, a Khaki Campbell duckling sits snuggled to the other eggs. Note his egg tooth at the tip of his bill.
The borrowed styrofoam incubator has an automatic egg turner and a fan, unlike my old Bower, which has neither. I followed the instructions, but to date, out of 30 eggs, only 4 have hatched so far, 3 Khaki Campbells and 1 Rouen. None of the Saxony eggs hatched and none of the Muscovy's, but I understand the Muscovy eggs take 5 days longer. It has been three days over the hatch date now and there are still plenty of eggs to hatch. I hear peeping in two of them, but nothing in the others. Several have turned blackish inside, likely indicating a totally dead and rotting egg. The smell in the incubator is anything but pleasant. I am going to remove the blackened eggs tonight, assuming they are duds, and hope that the two peeping eggs will hatch, as well as the Muscovy eggs. I am not thrilled to hatch eggs as many are. The little ones are very cute for sure and they have little birdie ways that are fun to watch too, though I would rather leave the hatching aspect to others who really enjoy it or the mother hens themselves. The electricity to run the incubator for 21 or 28 days , 24 hours a day, is considerable. Then the babies have to be put under a heat lamp in a brooder for 4 weeks, again an expensive proposition. The trouble is that Khaki Campbells seldom, or rarely, ever hatch their own eggs and Saxony and Rouen ducks are not known to do so much either, so if more ducklings are desired, hatching the eggs in an incubator is the only and usual way. This is the second generation hatch, which means that some of the eggs are fertilized by a brother or father. Next year, I plan to look for new drakes for the Campbells and Rouens so there are fresh genes. Many people have trouble hatching duck eggs, so I know I am not alone with the poor results. I washed the poop off the eggs, something that is controversial. Some say that the eggs should only be dry brushed and others are fine with washing the eggs. They were not sparkling clean by any means, but the big lumps were certainly washed off. Maybe washing the 'bloom' from the egg harms the chicks in some way. The bloom is the final covering the mother coats her eggs with to seal them while allowing the contents to breathe. The outside bacteria does not enter though, which is why unwashed eggs can sit on a counter at room temperature for a long time and not go bad, where as eggs that are washed and refrigerated do go stale rather quickly, since the washing has removed the 'bloom' which then allows bacteria and air to enter the egg. We shall see over the next 5 days how many of the remaining eggs hatch. I sold 3 of the ducklings today, the Campbells. The remaining Rouen is in with the 3 bantam cross chicks that hatched in the old Bower incubator a few days earlier. Until then... Babydoll Southdown sheep are pretty much the perfect sheep for a small holder. They are squat, chubby naturally small sheep, so they are easy to handle. Because of their breeding and heritage, they have worked in close proximity with man and are generally friendly in nature if reared with contact. They come in white or black, basically, though the white can have some brown and the black might look more brown than black. One very cute feature is their fuzzy little faces always appear to have a smile. The wool of the Southdowns is soft and downy, with varying degrees of crimp, making it the perfect spinners' fiber. Because they are small, the owner can learn to shear the sheep rather than bring in a shearer, and hoof trimming is a simple job on tiny feet. The only drawback is that they breed almost was extinct and with so few numbers, the availability is limited and the price high. A white ewe lamb can be upwards of $800, while a coloured lamb will run $1000 or more, but as long as the market holds and is not flooded with the sheep, the price should hold for a while, making the investment a very sound one. Besides, they are so cute, who can resist? Welcome to the farm, little Babydoll Southdowns. There are 4 new girls and 2 new boys staying with Morgan, the bottle baby. Next year there will be baby lambs of our own at the Fat Ewe Farm!
Lynn, the sheep are registered with the American Southdown Babydoll registry. There is none in Canada. They are really cool!
This lamb is 1 day old!
I still cannot get over this baby lamb born yesterday. She is the biggest little lamb I have ever seen. Look at her size compared to her mother, who is a fairly large sheep. I was inspecting her today and her hooves are overgrown. I am sure she must have been over due. She is just too big and well developed to be like a new born. She runs and jumps as a week old lamb would. Sure enough she is strong and fit. Mother is still recovering after delivering this extra large baby, with my help. Otherwise, I am quite sure she would not have been able to do it! Baby and mom are doing fine. I do believe they are keepers!
She is on her knees here, but when she stands, she is already up to her mom's tummy and higher.
Nina is the last ewe to lamb. She was so huge, I was sure she would have triplets. I wonder if sheep can be diabetic in pregnancy, because she only had one lamb, but it was the biggest I have seen at birth by far. She could not get the baby out and tried and tried, stood, laid down, paced and tried again. If the mother tries so hard, the baby can go into distress and die. The contractions of the uterus are extremely strong and can literally squish the poo out of the baby. If the baby was still in the amniotic fluid and they 'breathe' the poo, it is aspirated into the lungs and can cause infection or in severe cases, death, Fortunately, the lamb's nose was protruding just enough to be in clean air, along with two huge hoofs. Finally, after several hours, I got the latex gloves and helped the mom to give birth. I had to pull very hard on those little legs, but the head was too big and simply would not pass, so then I opened the passageway with my fingers to move the head forward and pulled again, and she budged. Mom cried out. I cannot imagine the pain of giving birth to this huge baby. I bet she weighs over 10 pounds. The baby was tired from the stress and pressure and I was not sure she would make it, but coughed and sputtered and mom got up to start cleaning her. In a while, I checked back and the little one was mostly cleaned, and trying to nurse. I checked to be sure the wax plugs were free of the teats so the colostrum would flow. The baby is sired by the Cotswold ram and the mother is an E'st a Laine Merino. The coat of the baby is soft and curly and she has the typical Cotswold face and legs. She is a doll, a very big doll! Welcome to the world little lady!
Did you notice the critter?
I love the Alberta wild rose. On the Fat Ewe Farm there are tons of these invasive rose bushes. Last year it was my intention to pick the petals for rose face cream and rose petal jelly, but they were here and gone by the time I got around to it. They do have a short bloom time, only a couple of weeks. Highly fragrant, they attract many bugs other than the pollinators. Eating wild rose petals as I stroll along is a joy, but I have learned to carefully inspect the entire petal individually so as not to ingest any unwanted critters, especially those that like to hide in the still furled edges of the newly opened rose. The goats and sheep also love the roses when they get a chance to eat them and the llamas smell like roses for two whole weeks. This year I am planning once again to pick the petals and make the jelly as well as a rose infused oil for later creating hand and face creams and salves. Rose is lost in soap, being way to delicate for the lye process. In order to use rose at all in soap, it is best made, hardened, grated and melted with some additional water and just before molding, the rose petal oil added. Even so, the scent will be very faint. Rose jelly is amazing, but we do not use much jam or jelly at the farm because it is made with white sugar generally. I have found a recipe for honey jelly and it would be worth a try. To make the rose infused oil, petals should be layered in a sterile jar, sans bugs, and the jar then filled with the oil of choice. The oils that are the least fragrant on their own, such as macadamia nut or rice bran are excellent for true rose scents. The jar can be located in a sunny window for several weeks, turning the contents upside down twice daily to ensure the oil is penetrating each petal. Then the petals are strained from the oil and voila! rose infused oil ready to use as is or to add to lotions, salves and creams for soft, fragrant skin. And to think, this is all free from nature! Amazing.
This is a three panel shelter for the goats.
The Fat Ewe Farm has many hoop shelters. The latest is clad half with plywood and half with fiberglass panels for a permanent finish, rather than a tarp, which must be replaced yearly. The ram shed and the new goat house have industrial tarps are 4 or 5 times the price of standard blue tarps. After a year, I will assess the value of the tarps compared with the usual blues. If they stand up to the winter and winds, it might be worthwhile replacing them with the green industrial tarps as the blue ones get worn. There is the possibility of tin bent over the livestock wires as well. I have still to look into the sizes and gauges that tin comes in. 16 feet long by 3 feet wide would be most ideal in a thin gauge that can easily be bent over the shelter to eliminate the tarps as well. The shelters are moved daily usually, except when it is very wet, because the little lawn tractor does not have the power to pull a shelter when the ground is soaked. It just spins out. It has been raining for three days and the duck shelter especially needs to be moved. If it continues to rain, I will have to move it with the truck. The chicken shelter has two nesting Muscovy ducks so it cannot be moved for a long time so they are not disturbed and the plywood clad shelter houses the Ameraucana chicks. It would have to be moved by hand when a friendly sort comes by to visit. To build a hoop shelter, the most stable size is 8 feet wide and 10 feet more or less long. The bottom can be 2 x 4 s or 2 x 6 s, depending on the use of the shelter. For pigs, the bottom needs to be pallets or something very strong since they push against the sides and the shelter wires get bent. I have not made a pallet shelter for the pigs yet, but they should get one for winter since they are outgrowing their little shelter already. In the winter, some of the shelters were covered with straw bales and then tarped over them, which provided quite a good windbreak. If the front was also closed in, maybe with the plastic panels, then there would be some heat retained. Animals that do not require heat, such as the waterfowl or turkeys would do fine in such a shelter. Cut the two long ends to create skids, screw the sides to the front and back, attach the livestock panels with fence staples and wire the panels together for stability. Attach corner braces and two upright boards for each end with a cross piece. Add the wire front, tarp and there you have it!
Jane, the cat, kneading Jade, before bed time. They usually sleep together.
Jade and Jenna are the Maremma puppies. Jade is larger, huskier and more mature, plus more sensitive than Jenna. Jenna barks a lot, mostly at nothing, while Jade pays attention to the big dogs to see if they are barking. Ofcharka, the huge Akbash, Anatolian Shepherd, Great Pyrenees, Maremma cross, who is also mostly black, loves Jade, as does Jane. Jane sleeps on Jade, and before she sleeps, she is often seen kneading Jade. Jade does not mind and love Jane too. Ofcharka has always been motherly, um, fatherly would be better, to Jade as well, cleaning her ears primarily, but often licking her face. Jade follows me wherever I go, like Robbie, the border collie, lays down and waits for me, then continues on. She is becoming a fierce protector too, barking at foxes and coyotes, of which there are plenty at the farm. She is a sweetheart, exactly the loving family dog that a Maremma can be, with the independent intelligence that makes the breed superior livestock guardian dogs. Her one vice is that she has been known to steal eggs and eat them up, so we are working on that. Otherwise, everyone loves Jade!
Daddy Stanley seeing what his son, Aidan, is up to.
There are two baby llamas on the Fat Ewe Farm, an appaloosa boy and a fawn girl. They will be going to live with my cousin Barb and her daughter Aidan, whom Aidan was named after. Aidan, the human, wants to teach Aidan, the llama, to be a pack llama and possibly pull a cart. He is the perfect fit for that too, because he is so friendly and gentle. The llama babies are growing and are out in the pasture with the grown ups now, and the horses, but unfortunately for some strange reason, the colt has nibbled the ear tips off the fawn baby, Jeanette. She is still beautiful. They were enjoying the cooler weather today and Aidan was showing off to Jeanette by climbing up on the bales. She was amused and came to see him, but did not follow him up so high. His daddy, Stanley, was also curious and said hello to Aidan up there. Llamas are among the sweetest, friendliest and pleasant animals I have ever known. Yes, they spit at each other, but they have never spit at me or even so much as laid their ears back to me. We are buds! |
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AuthorFluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. Archives
October 2020
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