But he left offspring. He mated with one of the cross bantams and there are three babies that show his plumage, though not exact. One has the feather pattern of her mother, and the two roosters look much more like their father. Their combs and wattles are not so large though, which in this frozen north country, is a good thing, as they freeze. This little girl is a bold thing, like her mother, not very friendly and not the least bit tame, but pretty as can be. I managed to snap a photo of her feeding IN the feeder today. Isn't she lovely? And she is much hardier than her father by far, thank goodness.
The least hardy animals on the far are the chickens, at least, certain breeds of chickens. Some have just up and died, though have no signs of illness prior to their demise. Others have become sick with something or other. Some have been treated only to be lost shortly after recovery, which makes me wonder if survival of the fittest might be better in the case of chickens. Like many animals, certain qualities have been sacrificed for others, particularly beauty, and the result is less hardy birds. Often mixed crosses produce birds that are much hardier than one or both of the parents. In the case of the bantams, some are double mixed crosses and others are one cross mixed with a purebred bantam, the Japanese Bantams. These are friendly docile animals, sweet natured and very beautiful to look at. Their plumage is rich gold and they have an upright carriage, but they are not winter hardy at all. The first year, the three females froze to death and one of the rooster's feet froze. He succumbed to the weather earlier this winter and today, the second rooster's feet froze and he was put out of his misery. I shed a few tears for him, but the poor thing was literally half solid and suffering.
But he left offspring. He mated with one of the cross bantams and there are three babies that show his plumage, though not exact. One has the feather pattern of her mother, and the two roosters look much more like their father. Their combs and wattles are not so large though, which in this frozen north country, is a good thing, as they freeze. This little girl is a bold thing, like her mother, not very friendly and not the least bit tame, but pretty as can be. I managed to snap a photo of her feeding IN the feeder today. Isn't she lovely? And she is much hardier than her father by far, thank goodness.
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When farming was not yet a reality, I bought some purebred registered Canadian horses, 2 bred mares with foals at their sides. One foal was a filly and the other a colt. The future sire was also brought out, Ty, a magnificent specimen of the old type of the breed. The mares were from the well known Ferme des Berges in Quebec, a long lived Canadian horse farm that was responsible for the continuance and conservation of this magnificent breed of horses, the Canadians. The animals were registered as The Eternal Herd under my name, and brought them out of Quebec in 2010 during October. I had come out of BC in the motorhome to the farm I originally purchased in Thorhild county, a small, poor county north of Edmonton about an hour. The first Fat Ewe Farm was boreal forest, simply beautiful, with 60 acres of native prairie pasture and 100 acres of pristine, untouched forest. Water and power was installed and my plan was to somehow make it through the winter in the motorhome. I wanted the farmer to place the large hay bales from my land as a makeshift garage for the motorhome, but he refused. This was based on never having done such a thing before, therefore not knowing if it would be successful and therefor unwilling to take the chance. So, when it got to be 20 below outside, the interior temperature of the motorhome was only 4 degrees. A temperature drop outside would mean frozen pipes and no water. The brother of the lady that I bought the farm from owned a very large shop in Two Hills, about 3 hours from Thorhild and offered it to me for the winter. I accepted, and paid to have fencing put up and bought a livestock shelter and heated water trough for the horses. Within six weeks, we received an eviction notice from the county, saying livestock was not permitted on the acreages. We were forced to vacate. I tried to sell the horses, but winter is not a good time to sell. They were boarded for the cost of $700 per month for 10 months. I went home to White Rock in December and stayed there pondering the next step. My home in White Rock sold at the end of January and I had 28 days to move. I worked day and night packing and selling things. In the meantime, I found a farm in northeastern Alberta, flew out to see it, loved it and bought it and here we are. The other farm eventually sold. The reason is another tale. The mares were sold, but Ty, the stallion bred the filly and Zeb was the baby she bore. The horses moved to Devon for a few months, since the new farm was not set up for horses. Zeb was born there and the border loved him dearly. They handled him well and taught him to halter and lead. At six months, Willa and Zeb came home, but Ty was fatally struck by lightening and never returned. Zeb is a delight. I find, though, that I am not a horse person. I do love him, but my interest lies with the other animals and dogs comes first. Zeb would be best served in a new home where he can be trained and loved by a horse person. As much as I would hate to see him go, he deserves to be loved as only a horsey person can. My wish for him is that he has a home where he is center of attention and receives endless love. In the meantime, I am teaching him small things. He is learning to back up and can do it quite well. The next thing will be to harness him and hopefully teach him to drive. Then the saddle will come along, but I would need another person who is adept at breaking horses to ride. Somewhere along the way, maybe Zeb will find a new home. He is truly a beautiful horse. This is day 5 of extreme cold temperatures. The ducks have wads of poop frozen to their butts, because when they sleep, they poop and it freezes instantly to their feathers. Bathing in the icy water does not thaw the poop enough to remove it. If the wad grows too large, the ducks have to be submerged in warm water, brought from the house, to thaw the poop, or it could obstruct further poops. Gross! The chickens roost up higher, so they do not have that issue. The geese do, though, but not as bad as the ducks. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to go all the way up to minus 25, whoo hoo. I will definitely have to bring warm water for the ducks several times to thaw those bottoms. I noticed the fat tailed Karakul sheep, Dora, has been off by herself the last two days. I did not see anything amiss with her, but today there was some blood near her tail so I grabbed her and had a very close inspection. Her tail, that is the inside of it, was missing - gone!. The skin was flapping without the tail. It is not the way the dogs or coyotes normally would eat a tail and has me puzzled. I think the livestock guardian puppies must have eaten it somehow from the top to the inside, but why would she have allowed that to happen? Dora is a submissive sheep. So I moved Dora in with the Icelandics, away from the pups. I did not see any blood on the pups either, which is strange. I am miffed and so sorry for Dora. How painful that must have been, whatever it was, that ate her tail while she still had it on her. Now, what do I do with the remainder? Oh, yes, and the rest of the animals are doing OK. The three Blue Faced Leiscester sheep have been treated for pneumonia, but one was still shivering today. I will have to call the vet again and see what I should expect from the very expensive drug he gave her. The other Dorset ram lamb that had diarrhea was treated at his farm prior to his arrival, but maybe he was missed. I have been in a dialogue with the previous breeder. If he kept good records, he might be able to tell me more. I will have to take a fecal culture to the vet and find out what his problem is and get it fixed so the other sheep do not contract it. He and his wife are confined to a small enclosure pen away from the sheep, but the llamas are on the other side. They do not have fence contact though. And, the rest of the birds, the guineas and other chickens are just trying to stay warm, which is not easy when there is no let up in the frigid cold this week. Brrrrr. It has been near minus forty with a wind chill as well. Today the chores were done as quickly as possible. First I hammered the ice out of the buckets. Next I put in fresh water, which was already freezing minutes after pouring. Lastly, I fed the animals. Four lambs are sick, the three new Blue Faced Leicesters and the new Dorper ram lamb. He has diarrhea and has had since he arrived. The previous owner said not to worry about it since he was just wormed with a very strong wormer. The vet said he likely has coccidiosis and gave me a 50 dollar drug to inject him with. The BF lambs have pneumonia and had to get a different antibiotic, which was another 50 dollars. Sheesh!
At least the dogs were trying to keep warm by running and playing. At one point Robbie found something and teased the others with it. Ofcharka and Harley, were not interested in Robbie's ploys, but the others fell for it, except Mikey, who stays with the sheep most of the time. He just went home. He is the low dog and gets beaten up quite a bit. Rather than risk that, staying home seems preferable. I agree. These guys were entertaining me while I was buzzing around trying to keep warm. Brrrrrrr~ This is day three of minus 30 weather and the animals are starting to feel it. One of the Blue Faced Leicester lambs that just arrived has pneumonia and is shivering. I know what it is like to have a fever and feel cold, but when it is minus 30, it must be awful. I gave her a shot of antibiotics today and will give her another tomorrow. Hopefully she will recover without too much discomfort and the other two with her won't get it. The little ewe lambs are faring quite well. They have never been fed grain except a few kernels as a treat for training purposes, so the grass hay is managing to keep them warm, that and their wool of course. The two Cotswold ewes do not have the same thick wool coats and they feel the cold much more. All of the ewe lambs have been spending more time in their shelter to stay warm. The two baby goats in the ram lamb pen have their own little shelter and they do use it, but today, one of the Icelandic lambs was inside. He was shivering a little too. Once he lays down and gets warm, he will be fine. Icelandics have a long wool and a short downy wool to keep them warm. The llamas are shivering too, and have only come out to eat a little, then retreat to their shelter. It is hard to stay warm when there is no reprieve in the frigid temperature. The weak succumb and simply cannot continue. So far, only Captain Morgan, the chicken whose feet froze last winter, has died. The other chickens are able to roost and they put their downy bellies over their feet. Numbers together also help them stay warm, but I did notice a few spots of frostbite on one of the little rooster's combs. He will be fine though, as it was very little. The ducks and geese are possibly they least cold, with their down covering under the feathers, but even they are tucking their feet up under their wings and sleeping more. After the chores today, even though I had more layers on than usual, I could not warm up. It felt as though the cold had permeated my being, but when I was outside working, I did not feel cold. It took several hours to feel normal again. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as cold. I am thankful we do not have to deal with this weather all winter long and that it only comes for a few days and then it is much warmer. Brrrr. Snowy duck, this Muscovy has had a bath and instantly the water froze to her feathers. She will spend quite a bit of time preening now and that will help spread the oil from her glands through her feathers, which in turn helps to keep the ducks warm. The Muscovy ducks are from South America and do not do as well as the North American ducks in winter.
There are 5 Maremma crosses and Ofcharka as the livestock guardian dogs on the farm, and Robbie, the border collie. The two pups are 7 months old now and are bigger than the girls. They are just getting their adult teeth and have started to challenge the female Maremmas, who felt it was their job to keep the pups subordinate and in their pen. Now, Joe, though he still cowers to the girls, has begun to stand up for himself and show those new teeth he is getting when Jade challenges him. It seems there is never enough food to go round because Joe and Mike do not get their share. Joe is cagey though, and he waits around until no one is watching or the dogs are busy eating and slowly sneaks in to take something for himself. If Jade sees him she chases him away. Mike does not even try that. He stays far away and safe, so I bring him food or the poor fellow would starve. The pups are sweet natured, gentle giants with huge feet and big hearts. Harley is like that too, only and older more experience version. Ofcharks is a quarter Maremma, but he still chases butterflies, or he did in the summer. It was an absolute delight to watch this horse sized dog flouncing and pouncing on a flittering butterfly. So sweet. Tonight I put Ofcharka with the goats for an hour while I was doing chores. He does not mind at first, and does not try to get out of the pen, but he eventually wants to come back to the pack and patrol the farm. My biggest fear is that the dogs will go to the highway and get hit. Large trucks run right by the driveway and most drivers here would not think twice if they hit a dog. That is sad. So, the dog pack numbers seven beautiful, absolutely the best big (well Robbie and Jenna are not real big) dogs and I love each one to bits. Robbie is now two. He is a bad dog. He gets into trouble every chance he gets. But that is the way the border collie works. Actually if a border collie is not working, he is finding a way to employ himself, and it is not always doing what I would have him do. At least he is not much of a digger. Whenever he begins to dig, and I see him, I tell him a stern "No!" and he does know what that means. The one major problem with Robbie is chasing. He wants to chase anything that moves quickly. Channeling this energy into productive work is not so easy with him. I do believe all dogs can learn to be good dogs, some just take longer than others. Robbie is one of those. However; having said that, he is getting so much better just lately. After a run in with the llama, in which he led the pack to kill her, only I successfully stopped them, but not before the poor girl was injured by the seven dogs. For some reason, the dogs follow Robbie. He challenges Ofcharka and even Harley, who is boss dog. Harley tolerates Robbie, not sure quite what to expect next and he give him a lot of space. Robbie gets right in Ofcharka's face and challenges him and Ofcharka usually backs down from him. Still, Harley is top dog, even though Robbie would like to think he is. For the last week we have been attempting sheep herding again. Robbie has done marvelously three out of five days and not so great the other two. He still wants to come head on to the sheep, but today, he managed to put the goats and the ewe lambs into their shelters, with less help from me than previously. He is listening more to his commands, rather than entirely thinking for himself, which usually got him nowhere. I am hoping to have him better trained for the summer, when the goats and sheep are out to pasture. Then he can move them from pen to pen on his own and even single some out for whatever purpose I need them to be singled. Robbie goes with me wherever I go usually and loves car rides. He is a good dog, really. I love him and he is my dog. My Robbie dog! Winter is a bitterly cold season in northeastern Alberta. Although the pristine landscapes offer vistas of sparkling white snow atop evergreen trees, with the golden sun highlighting the diamonds on each bow, it is also a time for survival. Sheep have adapted better than most livestock and are experts at making the most of winter. Their warm woolen blanket shields them from the elements and the wool fat, or lanolin, provides water and wind proofing amidst those tender fibers. This insulation keeps the sheep warm in winter, so much so, that the long wooled breeds, such as the Icelandic and Karakuls, do not seek shelter except in the worst blizzards. High winds will also send them looking for refuge, as will heavy downpours of rain. But, for the most part, the sheep snuggle themselves into a depression and sleep with the downy flakes falling on the downy wool that covers them. In the morning, they wake up and shake off the snow, leaving an imprint and the telltale dung passed during the night. The snow further blankets their wool and does not melt, since their body heat is kept well away from the exterior of the covering. Some breeds of sheep, not the more recent man bred ones, but especially the primitives, also eat the snow to acquire their water. When fresh water is offered, they are not interested, since their thirst has been quenched by the consumption of the snow. While the poor shepherd must dress in layers, hopefully some of them constructed from the precious wool from the sheep, to keep warm, the sheep are simply themselves. Nature is amazing and so are the wooly creatures on the Fat Ewe Farm. This week the rams will be put in with the respective ewes for breeding. Then, miraculously, 5 months later, give or take 3 weeks, the ewes will have beautiful lambs. The rams will retire in two months for the rest of the year. Lucky to be a ram at the Fat Ewe Farm! They work doing what they love and what comes naturally, then they get to retire for the rest of the year. All of the rams are wool sheep, and they will offer their fleeces. This year's fleeces will not be of great quality, but next year, the best sheep will wear fashionable sheep coats all winter to keep the wool pristine. So far it looks as though the Jacob ram will breed the Jacob ewe and the two Shetland crosses, the Icelandic will breed just the Icelandic girls and the new young Blue Faced Leicester will breed the Blue faced ewe lambs he arrived with, if he hasn't already, plus the E'st a Laine Merino crosses from last spring. The Babydoll Southdown will breed the Babydoll Southdown girls and any other lambs in the pen that are old enough. Walter, the Cotswold, will breed the white girls plus his wife, 43Y, a purebred Cotswold ewe. They always have beau Starting tomorrow, the separating of the ewes into their respective breeding areas will begin and when they are all settled, the rams will be introduced, likely on Wednesday. This should be fun! Oh, and Leo, the Angora buck will breed the Angora girls and the Pygmy girls. There will be purebred Angoras and Pygoras and three Nygoras too, Nigerian Dwarf and Angora. I can't wait to see those fuzzy little kids! |
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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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