Today was a very busy day. It was cold outside too, minus 15 when I went out and by evening it had dropped six degrees to minus 21. It is expected to be colder tonight. All the animals have decent shelters with fresh straw and were well fed today, so they will have full tummies to help generate some body heat.
Robbie has lost all his fur so late this year, that he looks naked and his winter coat is only just starting to grow in. As long as he keep running he is not cold, but as soon as he has to stay stationary for any length of time, he gets so cold he bounces. Usually, if he is tied up, he gets tangled enough to not be able to get into one of the dog houses. I will have to move his tie to a better winter location.
Today after the chores, Robbie and I rounded up the four youngest Jacob ewes and put halters on them. Either I do not understand how to put a rope halter on an animal or these ewes were able to get them off in too much of a hurry. The one with horns was out of luck, because the halter stalled at her horns, so she remained tied, but the other three were able to get out of the halter, so Robbie rounded them up and I caught them a second time, tying the halter to their front feet. Two I put in the llama shelter and put a pallet across the doorway, in case they played Houdini and got loose again. As it was, Karin wanted to go in the shelter and knocked the pallet down freeing the ewes.
So when the folks came to pick them up, we had to round them up again. Robbie was a star, singling them out one at a time and driving them into corner or the shelter or in one case, shouldering her down. The couple was dually impressed with the wonder dog. Not bad for a 2 year old!
The man came for half of his boarded cows at the same time as the folks came for the sheep. He will be back tomorrow for the rest of them.
Freddy the Holstein calf got out of the fence where the barbed wire is not stapled anymore, but did not want to come back in that way. I left him out for a while, but when he started to bawling to Elsie, I had to go rescue him. Then Elsie got out while I had the gate open for Freddy, though she is a dream to put where I want her to go and with his mother, Freddy just tagged along, happy to have a drink of warm milk. He will be weaned soon. Then either I will attemp to milk Elsie or let her dry up. The timing for milking does not suit my life. I often have guests and clean up until 11 am and if I am doing dinners, I can be cleaning up until 11 pm. I could milk Elsie after that on both occasions, but it needs to be steady and consistent and that is my problem.
Anyhow, it was a busy day and a good day, despite the cold. The Jacob ewes and two rams have gone to a good home. The last bigger job will be to catch the chickens going to the butcher's on Thursday morning. So, on Wednesday evening nearing dark, I will be chicken catching and putting them in the truck cab for the night. Hopefully they will not freeze overnight. Then the numbers of animals will have been reduced to half of the summer lot and winter chores should be much easier. The baby bunnies will be ready for butcher in a month or so.
Thanks Robbie, for a job well done today. He is a good dog (sometimes!).
Robbie has lost all his fur so late this year, that he looks naked and his winter coat is only just starting to grow in. As long as he keep running he is not cold, but as soon as he has to stay stationary for any length of time, he gets so cold he bounces. Usually, if he is tied up, he gets tangled enough to not be able to get into one of the dog houses. I will have to move his tie to a better winter location.
Today after the chores, Robbie and I rounded up the four youngest Jacob ewes and put halters on them. Either I do not understand how to put a rope halter on an animal or these ewes were able to get them off in too much of a hurry. The one with horns was out of luck, because the halter stalled at her horns, so she remained tied, but the other three were able to get out of the halter, so Robbie rounded them up and I caught them a second time, tying the halter to their front feet. Two I put in the llama shelter and put a pallet across the doorway, in case they played Houdini and got loose again. As it was, Karin wanted to go in the shelter and knocked the pallet down freeing the ewes.
So when the folks came to pick them up, we had to round them up again. Robbie was a star, singling them out one at a time and driving them into corner or the shelter or in one case, shouldering her down. The couple was dually impressed with the wonder dog. Not bad for a 2 year old!
The man came for half of his boarded cows at the same time as the folks came for the sheep. He will be back tomorrow for the rest of them.
Freddy the Holstein calf got out of the fence where the barbed wire is not stapled anymore, but did not want to come back in that way. I left him out for a while, but when he started to bawling to Elsie, I had to go rescue him. Then Elsie got out while I had the gate open for Freddy, though she is a dream to put where I want her to go and with his mother, Freddy just tagged along, happy to have a drink of warm milk. He will be weaned soon. Then either I will attemp to milk Elsie or let her dry up. The timing for milking does not suit my life. I often have guests and clean up until 11 am and if I am doing dinners, I can be cleaning up until 11 pm. I could milk Elsie after that on both occasions, but it needs to be steady and consistent and that is my problem.
Anyhow, it was a busy day and a good day, despite the cold. The Jacob ewes and two rams have gone to a good home. The last bigger job will be to catch the chickens going to the butcher's on Thursday morning. So, on Wednesday evening nearing dark, I will be chicken catching and putting them in the truck cab for the night. Hopefully they will not freeze overnight. Then the numbers of animals will have been reduced to half of the summer lot and winter chores should be much easier. The baby bunnies will be ready for butcher in a month or so.
Thanks Robbie, for a job well done today. He is a good dog (sometimes!).
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