The ram lambs born in March should have been separated a couple of months ago. I am hoping that they were not really mature enough to show any interest in breeding the little girls and that the girls were not mature enough to come into heat and be bred. I saw no action whatsoever, but that does not mean much. The only lambs born in March were the Southdown Babydoll rams and ewe lambs. The rest of the flock lambed late into the summer. At any rate, it was definitely time to separate those little boys from the girls. I took advantage of having Travis home from camp and asked for his help to carry the lambs across from one pen to the other. There were 9 ram lambs in total and an almost equal number of ewe lambs. The youngest are very small, born to the Shetland/Barbados ewe and the Karakul/Shetland ewe. Although tiny, Shetland lambs are vigorous and robust and they were the hardest to catch. A livestock panel was finally set in place and the lambs cornered inside it. The one that was too heavy to carry was moved by straddling him and holding his horns, then prodding him along slowly. The horns of young sheep are quite delicate and if injured bleed tremendously, so it is best to no use them as handles and never hold only one at a time. Finally, the ram lambs were settled with the big rams, who at first were curious, but after a short while, let them alone and went back to the most serious business of eating. One of the little Icelandic rams is very handsome and strong with extremely soft wool and should be kept for breeding next year. The fate of the other boys is sad. They will be raised for lamb meat, but raised with love and kindness and the best care they can have, plus they will get to live as sheep do and enjoy their lives. The females will be bred, mostly the following year, except the Meriono girls, who are large enough to be bred this winter. Now, the next move with the sheep is to asses them for the worm load and worm if necessary, trim any wayward hooves and ensure they have enough shelter to stay out of the blizzards of wind and snow that come in the northern winters here. Then the rams will be turned out with the mature ewes for the last week in November and the process will start all over again next year. Some ewes and their lambs were sold this year and a few more will be sold next year. The flock is best at no more than 20 sheep in total and the number this year is 10 higher than that, so some of the lambs and two ewes and a mature ram are for sale. Lovely little gaffers, the lambs are.
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It was an amazing year for lambs with most ewes twinning. Four lambs were lost to a predator, likely the pigs who lived in the pen next door. There was a small hole in one shed where the mothers would take their newborns, a hole big enough to drag a lamb out by a foot. I fixed the hole and no more lambs went missing. I wonder? The best meat cross is the E'st a Laine Merino and the Cotswold. One ewe had twin ewe lambs and the other a huge single, about ten pounds at birth. She was the only lamb I had to help be born. All others were managed by their mothers without intervention, but I was standing by, just in case. The lambs were born from March to July, with the last two at the end of June and first few days of July. For the longest time, I did not think the Barbados/Shetland ewe was bred, but finally she showed a belly and produced the tiniest little lamb with a reddish coat. I believe the Icelandic ram was the sire, because it looks nothing like a Cotswold, and the Icelandic was the clean up ram. Barbados and Shetlands are very small sheep and do not mature for two years. Two lambs were acquired for breeding purposes, an Icelandic from my Crystal whom I sold to a local farmer. He purchased a registered Icelandic ram and the offspring were very desirable. The other is a Finnsheep ewe lamb born in February and ready to breed this December. A Finnsheep ewe was also purchased. Their claim is lambs by the litter, or at least triplets, if not quads. The problem is that they cannot successfully raise four or five lambs so the little ones have to be supplemented by bottle. That is a good deal really, since mother ewe can take the night shift and the supplemental feedings can occur during the day hours. The Jacob ewes both had twin ewe lambs too! And of course, there are the six Babydoll Southdown lambs that joined the farm in the early part of the year. They will be bred this winter too. There are lots of Icelandics. The five ewes had 9 lambs between them, and the three ewe lambs from the E'st a Laine Merinos and Walter, the Cotswold. Walter also sired two sets of twin Karakul/Cotswolds and three purebred Cotswolds. There were some other crosses from the ewe lambs retained last year. I am interested in the wool from those crosses, but as of yet, have not found a way to keep the fleece free of vegetative matter. Maybe coats for the sheep? Sadly, the males are destined to be lamb chops though. Hopefully, one or two of the Icelandic ram lambs will be scooped up for breeding, but otherwise, the boys will be food. I must say, farm raised lamb has been one of the big hits at the bed and breakfast, since we are now licensed to serve all meals. I am grateful for the sheep, the ewes and their gifts of their babies and the rams and their procreation. I am thankful I have the opportunity to be more sustainable and raise these animals with love and care. They are beautiful and each is precious to me and our Creator. Indeed, we are all connected. The porch is a real problem. There are so many deficiencies, I do not know where to begin. The contractor was supposed to come by today and did not. Who would have known? He was supposed to have completed the porch a long time ago, but it remains unfinished and that which is done, for the most part, has to be redone. The interior needs to have new quarter inch plywood installed with finishing nails over the mish-mashed job that they did. I am not a carpenter, but maybe could have done better. It is terrible. The floor needs plywood so that the ceramic tile can be done, but likely that will be next year, so I bought some vinyl loose lay to protect the flooring board, which is particle board even though I insisted plywood was necessary. I could not lay it properly because the door frame on one side was right down to the floor and the other side was a half inch up from the floor. So, I asked Andy about the problem and he got a wide chisel and chiseled out the frame at the floor level enough to install the vinyl. We cut around the frame and then I did the rest myself. I am not a floor layer! Loose lay has got to be one of the simplest things a person can do though. You just cut it with scissors to fit and voila! you have a floor. Of course the pattern needs to be matched and the product needs to fit squarely, especially since this one is a square patterned slate look. It took about 4 hours in total and saved about $420. plus mileage, the cost of installation by professionals at $3 per square foot. No glue or nails were required. At least now, the floor can be used. Winter is coming and the deficiencies may not be corrected at all, but this time, I intend to sue the contractor. He charged an arm and two legs for the work and the job is worse than terrible. Now he says he has cancer, or at least he told me that, but told another person it was his wife who had cancer...hard to know what to believe. I am sorry if he or she truly are sick, but this needs to be rectified and completed properly. The exterior cedar siding is installed with the wrong side showing, the bevels overlapping do not match, the three sides do not line up, the cut outs expose the sheathing underneath and there is no house wrap of any sort. Not only that, the siding is not finished and the cheap particle board is exposed to the elements on the north side. Grrrrrr! But hey, the vinyl floor looks good! They have been there. They have done without and made do. The two Metis brothers have the wisdom of a sage, especially Andy, who is a few years older than Bruce. They are good to me and help me around the farm. They do not work fast, but they work steady and I can count on them to come up with some solution to a difficulty I have and to figure a way to make things work. I told Andy that I would like gates to match the fence, that look like its continuation, really, but with a board to support them at the back. He said that was easy and began to build them. We decided on a man gates in most areas, because the gates are wide enough to allow the lawn tractor and skid steer through if necessary and there are two truck gates into the yard as well. Those will have split gates as do most of the others. Why so many gates you wonder? Well, after working in the yard for two years, I have a good idea of what I need to do and the easiest routes to do it. For example, I do need to get at the septic clean out of my little house, so there is a gate to allow for that. There is a gate to bring a bale near to the ram pen and there is a gate to the front door. There is a man gate from the hose connection on the bed and breakfast house on my toboggan route because after two years, I know where the toboggan goes. So, there are those gates. And when I was thinking of closures, I went to the store like everyone else these days and bought latches. Andy says that with that type of gate, a bar latch is necessary to prevent stress on the hinges, since they are 180 degree hinges, not 360s. So he brought some flat steel from home and a grinder and made latches. It was my idea to install knobs on the latch as a sort of handle and voila! we have excellent latches that stabilize the gates. I must commend Andy's wisdom and experience. He has had much of his life without everything money could buy and through ingenuity and perseverance, created what was needed out of scraps. My dad was that way too. He could make everything work somehow. There is a lot to be said for men like that. I sure do appreciate it and am thankful for Andy, my father and every person out there who has wisdom and age and experience and is willing to go the extra mile to share it. Bless them all. The man who boarded his cows here all summer came to pick them up today. He was upset because he could not get in the yard the way he brought them, but there are 5 other gates to the farm and one of them should work for his long gooseneck livestock hauler! As it was, he was unable to get the cows into the loading area anyhow, not with hay, not with grain and not with a few shouts. They were having none of it. The whole summer the Highland cows have had the run of the quarter section, about 150 acres (minus the farmstead) and have enjoyed the pond and the bush immensely. Judging from the patties left behind, they have been most everywhere on the farm, from the north bush to the highway. This photo was taken of them along the driveway to the farm. I would like to own two Highland cows, but after today, seeing how stubborn they can be and how difficult it might be to handle them, I am having second thoughts. I do not have those steel panels to set up cow corals or a big livestock trailer. The small animals, like the sheep and goats, get rides in the back of the pick up truck under the canopy, but I guess it is not an option to stick a 2000 pound cow in there. I have enjoyed having these great beasts on the farm. They are gentle and approachable, but cautious and I think they are cute with the furry faces and long horns. But just maybe, they should belong to another farmer, eh? The new farm truck, my smart car and the wagon, left for the Hutterite colony just before 7 am this morning. I loaded the wagon with two great dane size dog kennels, and put 5 geese in each kennel, but it was too dark to back up and hook the trailer to the smart hitch, which my late friend Bil designed and installed. So, I rose early this morning to hitch up and it was a cinch. Bil spent a week with me last summer and he brought the trailer, one of his treasures which he decided to part with because he needed money. I was the most fortunate recipient of his trailer in exchange for some cash, and his visit when he took the time to install the hitch he designed. Connecting and disconnecting the trailer is simple because of his design. So, off we toodle down the highway, with the geese relatively safely stowed in the kennels and protected from the wind and mud by the sides and top of the wagon. The top is secured by two bungee cords, in case, and the kennels are intermingled in the cords to keep them from bouncing out. After delivering the live geese, I immediately drove home the hour and a bit, checked the farm and left to pick up the pork and alpaca that was slaughtered by a different Hutterite colony in a different direction. Thank goodness the neighbour and his son set up the new freezer yesterday! Today I loaded the pork and alpaca in and there was enough room for the geese. I drove another hour and some without the wagon to pick up the geese, now in packages and plastic bags, ready to roast for the table. Then another hour and a bit home and put the geese in the remaining space of the new large freezer. The first bed and breakfast guest arrived, then I finally went out to do the chores and separated the remaining lambs from their mothers. The crying will last a week or more. They can hear each other and sort of see each other, which is not ideal, though they are not adjacent in pens. After three weeks to a month apart the female lambs can be reintroduced to their mothers, who will recognize and accept the lambs again, even though they will have dried up and the lambs will no longer be nursing. This gives the ewes time to gain a little strength before breeding in December. The second bed and breakfast guests arrived and talked a great deal. Finally I went home and ate the remainder of yesterday's most delicious coconut curry soup with left over chicken. I am a little worried about the last bed and breakfast guest and hope she is safe and well. She has not yet arrived or called and it is already 11:30 pm. I do not have a contact number for her because her room was booked by the employer. Drat! I must remember to get contact numbers for all guests. I did call the employer, though she did not answer as it is very late and reasonable people are likely fast asleep. What a busy day it was. Hmm, sleep does sound good. ZZZzzzz. I had to pick up the freezer from the Sears store so that the meat that was butchered could come home soon. The shop asked me to pick it up sooner than later because they do not have a lot of freezer space for storage. The neighbour and his son were so kind to move it into the smart car garage for me, and to move the upright out and park it outside the new porch. I also picked up some loose lay vinyl flooring to put in the porch so that the floor is protected since it does not have the plywood on it yet. That is another story. The geese came here as week old goslings last year and hatched 5 babies this year. I watched them all grow up and develop. They were amazing and the whole flock protected the young ones, even this evening when I was catching them. The mother and the gander hissed at me and flapped their wings and tried their best to scare me away from their babies, now at least 20 pounds or more in just 5 months. I thanked them for their lives, blessed them and honoured them and put them in the smart car wagon to take to the processors tomorrow morning. I would have taken a picture, except it was dark. There will be Christmas goose this year. Hands down, dogs are my favourite animals. When I was a youngster, I used to think that if there was not enough food for me and the dog, if we got stranded somewhere together, I would give him some of my arm flesh to keep him alive. That is how much I love dogs. So, now that I can, I have a lot of them, seven to be exact. There are three rescue dogs, all Maremmas, an Italian livestock guardian breed. They are large white dogs, gentle with their owners and with livestock in general, but killers when it comes to defending what is theirs. One dog will keep most predators at bay on a farm, but seven will work together as a pack and pretty much nothing should come near the animals. I had hoped and worked to keep the two male Maremma/Pyrenees puppies in with the sheep, so they would bond to the sheep and live there as one of the flock, however; their pack instincts are very strong and they want to come out and be one with the rest of the dogs. This is not so bad, if they also return willingly to their sheep and rest there most of the time. Lately, they do not want to go back to the flock, and even though I have tried to patch every escape route and hole in the fence, they keep finding ways to come out. They are good puppies, and were brought here for sheep guardians so that when the sheep are out in the pasture, they stay with them. I could tie them to a board or tire or something that would prevent them from going through the fence and keep them tied up for a few weeks. Perhaps I will try that and see if they will willingly stay in with the sheep then. Otherwise, there will be a pack of 7 dogs, 6 livestock guardians and Robbie, the border collie. Managing the pack will be harder with more dogs, especially since 4 are unaltered males. There is a plan to neuter them one at a time, but the cost is very high, around $350 per animal, in this area. The females are spayed and Robbie is neutered already. This morning the dogs were treated to a pot of soup with a lot of pork meat in it. It was just one day older than it should have been to safely consume and they were happy to devour it. I scooped it out with my hand and fed it to the dogs. They have learned not to growl or fight when being hand fed and to take food from my hand without biting my fingers. They must wait for their turn when their name is called, to eat and cannot steal from the others or they get no more and are sent away. This is part of being pack master where food control is demonstrated. It is my food and I am sharing with the dogs. They must never show any aggression to me or they would be severely reprimanded and get nothing. So, seven dogs it is and I love it. Now, to work on keeping the boys with the sheep... What is a holiday without family? The love shared with one another giving thanks for the food and each other is really what life is all about Today we had Thanksgiving dinner, a little early albeit, but my youngest son is here from Vancouver with his partner, her sister and her sister's partner. My other son and cousin left earlier today, but we spoke with them as we had out dinner which consisted of two farm raised chickens, dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy, organic corn and carrots from the garden and home made pumpkin pie with brown sugar whipped cream for desert, and of course a few bottles of wine. Every one was well safonsified and the guest popped her head out to get a drink. We absconded her, a fabulous author of children's books, who shared her illustrated books with us and told us how she created them. One of the best aspects of the bed and breakfast is having the opportunity to enjoy people whom I would not meet in everyday life, but through the B & B, have the opportunity to know a little in depth. Tonight I am most thankful for my life, my family and friends, my business and all that life has to offer. Indeed, every day is Thanksgiving day. The wood got stacked today! Yay! Cousin Dave and Travis worked hard on it this morning and with the help of the skid steer to bring the piles in close, the wood was stacked in record time. The two men were tired though. In the meantime, I was busy housecleaning for the arrival of my youngest child, my son from Vancouver and his lovely lady, Cheryl. Her sister and sister's boyfriend will come tomorrow. I made a tomato pork soup for lunch and for dinner we had bison, stir fried with cabbage and organic sourdough bread, and spiced plum cake for dessert. Spencer, Cheryl and I watched a movie, not my type, but at its time, I suppose most would have enjoyed it very much. Then finally, we got to bed late, but we can all sleep in tomorrow and take a day off to visit, except for the chores of course. It was a lovely day! |
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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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