Shari’s Gone Country

As I said earlier, since the first of the month, this has been a wild ride indeed.

Last fall, when it was time to breed, we put a harness and color marker on Al (our big ram). The idea is that you can see the marks on the ewe’s rumps, so you know if they’ve been bred.

I very carefully looked for the marks (they’re quite obvious), and then entered the breeding dates into our fancy “Ranch Manager” software. That gave us pure dates for lambing… that’s what you call it when the ewe’s have their babies.

According to our software, “Annie” and “Carolyn” were due April 6, with “Merino” right behind them on April 7. Due April 12 would be “Beulah”, with “Amy” due last on April 18.

Well… so much for plans and software. Someone forgot to tell the ewe’s.

Sunday, March 30, “Annie” went into labor. Now, we’re real rookies at this sheep business. I have 16 years of commercial rabbit production, and hung out with “sheep folks”, but I’ve never actually been through the lambing season, except for a couple days of observations at the neighboring sheep ranch last year.

Being rookies, all we really knew was that we were supposed to stand by and stay out of the way. We had a pretty fair idea she was in labor, as we could see the contractions, and she was separated from the rest of the flock, and was really uncomfortable.

What we didn’t realize until much later… the next morning, was that she had ruptured internally. We got to her in time, so she’s still with us, but will be put up for auction as she’s no longer capable of breeding, and carrying lambs successfully.

Cindy and I spent the entire night with the truck parked at the sheep pen. We made hourly, even 15 minute rounds to check on her. At one point, we could see a little hoof and nose… but were helpless to help her in the dark of night.

Oh, and it was one of those very rare foggy nights on the desert. No moon, no lights visible anywhere. We couldn’t even see the horse corral just 50 yards away.

By sunrise, we had determined we needed help… so, we got on the phone to our various neighbor/mentors. We got Clyde and Amber’s answering machine. Linda was on her way to work. Our last hope was the shepherd at the sheep ranch.

While Cindy and I captured Annie and prepared to pull the first lamb, Bev raced to the sheep ranch to get Pedro. Luckily, he had a few minutes, a new-born quadruplet to graft to the ewe, and understood how much he was needed.

First words out of his mouth… “You girls are no sheep herders!”

“Of course, Pedro. We’re rookies… and once upon a time, you were a rookie, too. We’ve pulled the first lamb, but there are more and we don’t know how to get to the rest.”

It was a sad sight. Annie had three dead lambs in her. We successfully grafted the little bummer (a ewe lamb) we named “Stormy”. All in all, while we felt very badly, we were also elated with the fact that we’d been able to save the ewe and the bummer.

On April 3, Bev was “on watch” and came in to announce that “Beulah” was in labor. Sure enough, she presented first a small black bundle. Cindy and I watched as she cleaned and nosed the little rascal, trying to get it to stand.

“Come on! Get up… I’ve got more coming and you have to be independent.”

Unfortunately, Beulah had to turn her attention the next little guy, leaving Cindy and me to pitch in and help. We had some colostrum ready. The little guy was brought into the house and given a nice soft warm bed as well as a good meal.

In the mean time, Beulah gave birth to three more little lambs. The second little guy was on his feet in just minutes, finding his way to “Mom’s teat”. The next little girl was quickly on her feet, too.

The last little bundle came out kicking. I was “on watch” at that time and marveled at how active the little guy was… but he was having a tough time standing up. Beulah hadn’t bothered to bite off the umbilical, and it was twisted around his back legs… No wonder he couldn’t stand up.

Cindy to the rescue!

Within a few hours, the little guy we rescued had died… another sad moment. But, he had weighed less than 5 pounds and his siblings were all over 8 pounds, so it wasn’t totally unexpected.

The April 6 and April 7 due dates passed with no activity.

Finally, Tuesday April 8, “Amy” dropped a pair of twins. These little gals tipped the scales at 10 and 12 pounds each. What beautiful little ewe lambs. We named the chocolate one “Mouton” in honor of one of my business partners. Her maiden name was “Mouton”, which means sheep in French, and her birthday was April 6. The other little gal is named “Dixie” in honor of our original mentor. These were all her sheep last year.

Thursday morning, I was greeted with two more little lambs, compliments of “Merino”. She had two little boys, who look like identical twins. These little guys were kind of small, and not on their feet for hours, so once again… it’s Cindy to the rescue with some nice warm colostrum.

We’ve gotten real good at milking sheep this week, as we’ve felt the need to make sure each ewe has had milk for the lambs. So far, no bottle babies, and that’s a very good sign.

The score? As of this entry, we have four little ewe lambs, “Stormy”, “Princess”, “Dixie” and “Mouton”. We have four little ram lambs, which we’ve already committed to sell to a neighboring Mexican family at weaning time. We’ll make a little, they’ll take them and feed them out, using some for food and sharing others with friends.

That’s right, I got here a year ago yesterday. The weather is eerily similar. There’s snow on the ground and we’ll be lucky to get above freezing today.

So, what have I helped get done in the past year?

The first project was to help get the sheep bred. That was the “cross-country hike” in boot-high snow with our two ewes to the neighbor’s farm. Of course we also had “the great sheep roundup”.

Next up, we built the chicken coop and got the little birds… how grateful we are for the fresh eggs. Can’t say we’re totally thrilled with the meat as we let the boys get a few weeks too old. It’s tasty… but chewy.

All winter long, and into the summer I helped with hauling hay, a chore that definitely put my body to the test. We now have enough animals that we can purchase our hay by the ton and get it delivered.

We built raised beds for a vegetable garden. After two years here, the family finally had a few veggies from the garden. Nothing to store away… but at least I’ve shown that it is possible to grow stuff here.

We’ve got the worm bin started. In fact, we’ve got two now. That amounts to about 10k or so worms happily munching their way through shredded paper and fighting for leftovers that don’t go to the chickens.

I raised my first “bummer lamb”. Freezer is still with us. Guess we’ll keep him for company of our ram, “Algernon”.

My suspicions about Chiquita a Polypay sheep that was supposed to be a ewe. “She” had horns, and like to butt whatever was in her sight. About May, her baaa began sounding like she had laryngitis, and got really deep. Our shearer (named “Flip”) confirmed she really was “Bruce”… and away he went… couldn’t produce a lamb, so of no value to us.

In May, we went to see Clinton Anderson “Down Under Horsemanship” and I got the bug… my prayers were answered late in summer when our mentor asked us to keep her yearling, Dakota.

Until the weather turned sour, I’d been training her in the round pen. It will be a couple years before she’s ready to ride, but want her to have solid ground training first.

In November, our ram returned from a visit to a neighboring farm to do his studly stuff. In about a week, he bred each of our girls… oh yes, our mentor had sold us the rest of her black Merino sheep. I am the shepherdess!

So, what about Sarah, the “Spinach Fits”… aka Finnish Spitz?

She’s loving every minute here. I don’t let her get up in the computer chair so she’ not been able to update her blog for a few months. She’s growing quite a crop of fur… even beginning to look like a Finnish Spitz.

She’s learned beds (the one’s belonging to us humans) are for sleeping on… and she wants her half out of the middle. She gets along well with the other dogs, unless they step on her feet… then she creates a real ruckus.

She’s discovered the chickens, sheep, and horses as well as lots of rabbit holes. About once a month, we go out on the acreage and “hunt”. Other than that, she has the run of the big back lot, where she and the other dogs dig, run and wrestle to their hearts’ content.

Most recently, I’ve chosen to get back into network marketing with a company called BookWise. It’s something that makes total sense for folks who live in “the boonies”. You buy books, we donate a portion of the profits to help children learn to read, and get away from abuse.

I would say, I’ve had a most fulfilling and successful year!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting an autobiography.

Why? Well, because I believe you’ll find my story inspiring… and hopefully, you’ll discover no matter what you’ve done in life, there’s always more to be done.

I’ve got it pretty much written (had it posted on the domain in past years) but need to polish it a bit… that translates to take out some of the “sales talk” from a past life. I’m sure you won’t mind a bit if that stuff has gone missing.

Oh boy, the little chicks are rapidly becoming young birds. Monday they turned 2 weeks old and got the run of virtually the entire coop.

The coop is 8 x 8 and built on a concrete pad that was already here. Their outside run hasn’t been fenced yet, but will extend about 32′ west of the SW corner and 25′ north of the NE corner and then complete the rectangle. We’ll then divide the pen diagonally back to the NW corner, establishing two separate runs.

I’m finding an inward opening screen door made from 1/2 inch hardware cloth would be a perfect addition. That way I can leave the door open and also when I want to go inside the coop, it will sweep the curious birds inward.

Tomorrow we’re building a “junior roost” to help the youngsters get up the the bigger roosts. I found one dropping, so someone has been working on their flying skills.

As soon as I see birds flying 4 feet or higher, it’s time to clip wings. These are all heavy breeds, so don’t really expect to repeat the process more than twice as they’re growing. After a while, they’ll learn flying isn’t something they have to do.

The final home for both water and feed will most likely be below the nest boxes (which aren’t completed yet).

Our plan is to hold off on a lot of the final construction until we can let the birds outside in about three weeks.

One thing we did learn, and will be correcting is that our big black lab could dig her way into the coop with not much effort. She’s dug into the engineered “plywood” enough to get our attention. Now a roll of flashing is on our list. We’ll be installing it around the coop base and up the corners.

Last week was one of “those” weeks.

Just after I wrote the last post, we had a quick family meeting…

Bev was asking us to approve her reasons for leaving the job she got in St. George. You see, she’s a cancer survivor, and the chemotherapy really slowed her down. She’s a retired cop and thought sure she could handle a dispatcher’s position.

Unfortunately, learning the new computer system and having to type while carrying on two different conversations, was more than her stress level could handle.

On top of that, fuel and food was costing about 40% of her take-home pay. And gas just keeps going up.

We all agreed that it was best. It would get her back on a regular schedule instead of shift work, and with Cindy going back to work at the farm, the income difference would be minimal.

After that, we settled in for a week of nasty weather… wind storms, rain, maybe snow and sleet. About all we did from Tuesday to Friday was go out to feed while struggling to stand up.

Bev returned to her “old job” driving the Senior Center bus. Thursday included a trip to St. George. Since I’m 61 and eligible to ride the bus… I am able to do the “animal feed” shopping and bring it back on the bus. At least that’s the feed that is bagged and any other equipment we can fit into the bus. Sure beats spending our gas money!

This weekend, Cindy, Bev, neighbor Dixie and I attended the “Downunder Horsemanship” seminar by Clinton Anderson. What an awesome time. Cindy and Dixie are the horse owners. In fact, Dixie is a breeder/trainer. Bev and I both love to ride, but have never owned our horses.

Starting later this week, I’ll be working a horse under Dixie’s tutelage.

While I grew up riding horses, took a couple years of English riding lessons, and earned my “horsewoman’s badge” in Girl Scouts, as an adult, I’ve had very limited time on a horse. I don’t really remember doing any “ground and foot work” with any of the horses. So this is all new territory for me.

About those fence post holes… we managed to fit everyone into our current configuration. We’ll dig a little later.

Ok, now we be sheep herders for sure!

Last weekend our neighbor, who has been so helpful to us came for help from us. She and hubby are giving serious thought to leaving the desert for Colorado. Her kids are settling there and she’d love to be closer to them. Also, employment for hubby (a welder) would be much better.

Anyways, she offered us her four Merino ewe’s at a really good price. The original plan was that we’d get them when they move and could make payments on them.

Wouldn’t you know it? She lost her “trade hay for horse training” deal, so no more feed means she has to disperse her flock immediately. She got a really sweet deal on her PolyPay flock and we are now moving the Merinos and lambs to our pen.

Yesterday was the first “roundup” day… No pics as it’s wasn’t the least bit pretty. Cindy got a good trampling and will have some ’splaining to do at her next mammogram (this week).

Here are pics of yesterday’s success.

This is Annie. She’s a yearling Merino. Until we get Dixie over here to clearly identify each one, I’m at a loss to say if she’s bred, had a lamb and lost it, or has not yet been bred.
This is Beulah. She’s a real prize as she dropped quads this year. She’s “Freezer’s” mama and those are his surviving brother (black w/white face) and sister.
We’ll be keeping the sister for our flock, while raising the little boy for Dixie’s freezer. In return, she’ll give us some of her lambing equipment. Ain’t it nice to have good neihbors?

Monday we enlarged the brooder as the peeps are now a week old. They’ve nearly doubled in size. Next week, they’ll get pretty much full run of the chicken coop… This is gonna be fun.

We’ve added some boards for roosts and the concrete block for a combination roost/toy. They now have almost 27 square feet of space.

In time, we’ll name the hens, but the cockerels (save one or two) will be nameless and headed for our dinner table and freezer by fall.

Don’t hold me to this… but we may be adding another horse, too. Eventually we want to have 3 horses so we can all ride together. I’ll need to find a Welsh Pony for myself as my legs are too short to hoist my lead-filled butt into the saddle on a full-sized horse.

Last time I rode (in 2000) I had to stand on the wagon tongue to mount a beautiful Appaloosa. At that time a friend and I were traveling The Oregon Trail and were doing a short Wyoming segment by covered wagon and horseback.

Ok, time to get out of here and start digging holes for fence posts. We have to enlarge our pen and get some lambing jugs built as our own ewe’s are both preggie. Don’t ya just love it?

Wednesday morning we got the call from the PO… we have a box of peeping chicks for you.

Bev, Cindy, and I quickly got all the chores done. That meant feed the horse, the sheep, prepare the bottles for the lambs and get them fed, and make sure everything was right for the peeps, including turn on the brooder light to preheat their new home.

The gals at the PO had already “inspected” the chicks. Apparently they peek at each shipment… they’re just so darned cute. They also told us this was the healthiest batch of chicks they had seen come through the Post Office this year.

Our hatchery of choice is Welp. They’re located in Bancroft, IN, but have “satellite” facilities elsewhere. Our chicks originated in Albuquerque, NM. That’s one reason they are so bright and healthy.
We taught each how to drink before moving them to their new home. What a hoot! Mom was inspecting each one before handing them off to either Cindy or myself. Bev was taking the pictures.

Their brooder is in the chicken coop so we never have to fully relocate them, just remove the carboard from around them and spread more shavings. We can even expand the brooder in a week or so when they really become active.
Ok, so what did we get?

We got 5 Astrolorp females and 5 Astrolorp males, 5 Plymouth Barred Rock females, 5 Buff Orpington females, 5 White Rock straight run, 5 Golden Laced Wyandotte straight run, and 5 Silver Laced Wyandotte straight run.

That will give us a good assortment of brown egg layers, as well as some very tasty meat. Mom wanted lots of “color” so we have black, black and white, brown and white, red, golden, and white birds.

The first day we monitored them every 30 minutes and then finally every hour. By bed time, we were pretty confident, but I did get up at 1 AM to check/adjust the temp and then again at 6 AM.

Believe me, our dogs think we’re nuts. We finally had to leash two at a time and take them on a farm tour after the big black Lab (the only one that gets out without a leash) reported back to the rest. She’s still patrolling the coop exterior looking for a way in… I figure she’ll be a great help if we ever have a problem.

Since my last update, we’ve dug a 160 foot trench two feet deep and put new heavy wire into our well, dug out a broken water line, received two more bummer lambs, ordered and received another 2000 redworms to re-start our worm project, and have finally ordered our chicks.

The water line issue was really an emergency. It was supposed to be a “dig, find, and replace” of an old leaky frost-free that’s in our way at the chicken coop. Well, just 8 inches under the soil, we found dripping… that’s never a good sign when you expect the junction at a depth of at least 30 inches.

To complicate matters, the idiot who built this place ran underground electric wire in the same hole. He had both 220 volt and 110 volt. Thankfully our neighbor across the road had a tester so we could confirm it was not hot. What we still aren’t sure of, is whether or not it’s connected to either the main service or our panel.

Oh, that project took over 10 hours and we had to call more neighbors in to help us… Not a fun day!

The electric wire to the well was to solve a safety issue. For whatever reason, the previous owner allowed a contractor to run 14/3 wire 160 either just a few inches below the ground or on the ground, up and over the wall to the well. Last year the pump had to be replaced and this is most likely one of the causes.

We were finally able to get the project done correctly, digging a two foot deep trench, and encasing 10/3 wire in plastic electrical conduit from the point of exit at the house to the well head cover. Strange but for whatever reason, with the turning on and off of the water… the hot water heater is now screaming for replacement… does it ever end?

The chicken coop is nearly ready for the chicks. All that’s left is to temporarily close off all the “ventilation” and build the rest of the brooder. Cindy and I will get that done this weekend.

Freezer is growing fast. I’m starting to wean him now as he’s getting more than enough nutrition. He’s so funny when I let him out to play. Since his pen is only about 8 by 16, I like to let him run around when I’m working outside.

Our little female bummer is a screamer. She’s so loud we had to move her to the garage, just to get some sleep. She screams for attention… not because she’s hungry. Here she’s meeting Sarah.
Last night, a neighbor brought us a crippled up bummer. Now, this may sound cruel, but we’re using him as a “bed warmer” for her. He wants to live, but will never be able to stand. I’ll keep him for about five days or so, and then return him to the sheep ranch to be put down properly.

Cindy has re-started the worm project. We had a 100% total failure that may have been caused by our alkaline soil. Our worms disappeared… and no, they didn’t go walkabout. We frequent a forum of worm raisers and the only things we can identify are perhaps (no way to measure) a high ph and or salinity, and also not enough moisture.

This time, the worms are being raised in shredded paper, and are living in her bedroom. The temp is about 9 degrees warmer, so that should also help.

Our 35 chicks will arrive this week. We scaled the project back a bit to better fit our house as well as our budget.

Ah yes, it’s been 10 days since I sat down to update this blog. I’ve found myself on the “business end” (that’s the handle) of shovels, hammers, and other assorted hand tools as we continue to finish the chicken coop.

We’ve now prepped the “yard” and will plant grass seed this next week. At the same time, I expect to order our chicks (just waiting on some commission payments). There are a few little details to finish… “bird doors”, a window in the man-door, as well as a vent. I need to construct the cardboard brooder guard and we have to finish the electricity. That could be as simple as using the outdoor extension cord, or maybe getting the actual line completed.

Monday we cleaned the sheep pen. I could smell rotting greens of some kind. When we had lambs in there last fall, they were very wasteful, not wanting to eat the alfalfa stems, so it would get tossed about the pen. With the frozen ground, snow and small flock of sheep romping and stomping about, it became quite compacted.

Cindy and I got it all raked and shoveled out. I must tell you that shoveling dry hay and pretty dry manure in a 15-20 mph wind was quite a challenge. Now they have a very clean pen. We also replaced the “lamb manger” with a large barrel. Voila! No waste… these animals eat everything.

Tuesday, I built our first real compost pile. Now… I’m taking this as a personal challenge since Cindy mentioned she’s never built a successful compost pile.

This is an area where you have to ADD water instead of protect from water. To build it, I first layed out an area about six feet in diameter and built it up about 9 inches. Then I watered it well.

We have some extra cardboard strips left from the worm bin, so am using those, too. I placed just a single layer, watered well, and then added another 9 inches or so of manure/hay mix. That process continued until I ran out of the mix. By the time I was done, my pile was about 3 feet high. I watered it well to hold it in place and left it for the night.

Now, I didn’t measure it directly after building it, but can easily estimate the starting pile temperature to be less than 70 degrees. Within 72 hours the pile temp is now over 112 degrees.

The last couple days, Cindy and I have been “hanging out” at a neighboring sheep ranch. It’s lambing time, and by being there at the right time, we get an awesome education, as well as can get another “bummer” or two.

Lambs are being born almost faster than helpers and the head shepherd can get them moved. Our “job” yesterday was to watch for pregnant ewes in the big pen who were going into labor. Imagine this, you’ve got a pen of over 100 spooky pregnant ewes and you only want to move the ones who are going into labor.

Here’s one gal that did make it to the small pen. If you look, you’ll see the “water bag”. Within five minutes the next little bundle (the bloody white newborn) dropped onto the straw.

Believe me, there were many more lambs born in the big pen and then moved, than ewes who were herded to the lambing pens. The trick with the one’s born in the big pen is to get to them before the other ewes… if a newborn lamb is cleaned by an “auntie”… the mother will most likely reject it… creating an immediate “bummer” for us.

We prefer they have at least been cleaned and have had the first of “mother’s milk” so they can get the important anti-bodies into their system before they have to be bottle-fed.

Mother’s get a little tired of the constant need for milk. We got this shot shortly after feeding time. Several ewes have discovered they can shuttle the little ones into the manger and get some rest… this nursery contains at least 3 sets of triplets.

As for “Freezer”, he’s growing up. We moved him to his larger pen in the garage. He’s getting three full bottles (20 oz soft drink type) a day now. When I go out to work, I let him out of his pen and he follows me around like a dog. If he’s listening, he even comes to my call.

We’re nearly finished with as much of the chicken coop as necessary before we order our day-old chicks.Got the roof on, and have nearly finished installing the roosts. Window are cut and the only thing remaining before ordering our chicks is to screen in the windows, and screen in the sofit area.

Dixie stopped by and commented she has “brooder” lights. We also have wrangled a small brooder, which will hold 50 chicks for a couple of weeks. Our plan is to put the chicks straight into the coop in their “warm area”.
That way, they can become used to humans and noise as we continue working on the exterior. They’ll live in their little area for about a month before allowed outside in their daytime pens.
While working on the coop, we had the little bummer out. He’s so cute in his little red harness. This weekend, we introduced him (very carefully) to the ewes and ram. He’s way too little to go into the pen by himself.

This morning I took him to the feed trailer while I fed the flock. He had his own little pile of alfalfa and was a happy little guy. He jumped and ran back and forth between the pen and the trailer.

No problem getting him to follow me… he really believes I’m his “mother”.