Do you ever have one of those days. You know the type I'm talking about. The days were no matter what you have planned, the Universe (insert your preferred presence/deity) has a completely different plan. Well for me, today is one of those days. Now I don't want to say I'm complaining per se, but the type of day I'm having I would be happy to not be having at this particular point in my pregnancy (I'm due in 2 weeks and my mobility and stamina for farmy things is...limited).
At this point we have had 4 lambs. Two decided to be born to a yearling mama this morning and my rams, who live with the ewes, decided to harass the new mom to no end while she was birthing so she abandoned one of the lambs (the ewe) in an effort to get a bit of peace while she birthed the second lamb. Since this is her first lambing season being drove off from her first lamb has resulted in her not bonding with the first lamb (who is larger, healthier and a ewe). Sigh. So what to do in a holistic farming situation. Well in this particular case, my wonderful partner sullied his work clothing dragging the new mom down to the "barn" (her lamb was not talking to her nor calling her) while keeping the yearling cow and the two ram's at bay. Multi-species/gender has it's benefits, but it also has it's drawbacks. A ewe flock is a lot easier to manage without testosterone flaring. Since he got them in the "barn" successfully and had to leave for work I've been managing. I don't know if I have to tell you, but bending and squatting for an hour trying to protect baby ewe from mom and letting her nurse and getting the ram lamb to nurse too because he's tiny and doesn't have much meat on his bones. It's 12 pm and I feel like my back is going to give out. And I get to go back out and do it again here shortly. Sigh. The joys of farm life. On the plus side, we have 4 lambs now. Two ram's and 2 ewes. I was really hoping that my white ewe would through a colored/variegated lamb but she threw two white. That means my ram carries a white gene I believe...time to pull out my copy of "The Coat of Many Colors" and see what's going on with the genetics of the lambs this year. I also need to take some pictures and get them posted on the Sheep Color Genetics facebook page. A great resource for any and all interested in color genetics. Things I am grateful for (after venting about my morning):
I should have some pictures shortly of the new lambs as well as some of the older lambs. So until next time, I hope you and yours are well!
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We have been quite busy and as you may have noticed, blog upkeep has not been a priority. I would like to be better, but we shall see. With baby 3 on the way, a bunch of critters and just your regular day to day stuff, one can hope! Hoping is about all I've got right now. I am going to look into linking my Instagram account as I post quite regularly on there and that would be wonderful!
What we have going on right is as follows:
It hasn't been a very wintery winter and we haven't gone through a ton of wood. We also haven't had to run our cook stove much which may be a blessing because it's not very air tight and could really use being pulled apart and re-cemented. We have had a lot of ice so far and I'm concerned about a number of the perennials I planted last spring that have very little snow cover to protect their root systems. Well I'm off to sew or spin some stuff. Hopefully I will be a bit better about blogging but we'll see! If you wish, you can follow our adventures on Facebook or Instagram. |
The Author
Hi there, Wysteria here. I will be writing as regularly as possible on behalf of my family and regarding our adventures in farming, food, health and things of the like. My interest range widely and my brain wanders far. Namaste. Archives
July 2016
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