TMT had time to do it today!

1. Are you a morning person? A night owl? Do you pop up out of bed full of song and happiness? do you just hit your stride after dark?
    
    I don't think I am a morning or night person. I usually get up about 7:00 most mornings. Even on my days off I get up at that time. Usually because I can't lay prone any longer because I have bad neck problems from too many rear end accidents and being thrown from my horse many years ago and landing on my neck. Also I have goats, sheep, chickens, guinea hens and dogs that tell me it's time to get up. I usually go to bed around 10:30 and read for about an hour or so. I have never had a problem getting up in the morning and usually wake up long before the alarm goes off just so I can "sleep in".


2. What is your favorite candy?
     
     Well this is a no brainer. Anything chocolate. I am a chocoholic and I live for chocolate! I have very few vices but this is definitely my worst.


3. What is your biggest driving pet peeve?


     Hands down, its tailgating. I hate being tailgated and I will slow down to almost going backwards when someone invades MY SPACE! If anything can instill a road rage attitude in me it is being tailgated. If I am traveling at or above the speed limit there is no good reason to be riding my bumper! I think its become a habit with people and it's got to stop!!! Can you tell this bothers me greatly?


4.How do you prepare yourself and  your dogs for the summer?


     I never prepare for anything. Well hardly. I take it as it comes otherwise I have to think and thinking is not my strong suit. My dogs are kenneled as my house is way too small to have them in. Only the Poodle is in all the time. The kennels are covered and seem to stay warm enough in winter and cool enough in summer. If it gets real hot I put a tub of water for them to sit in if they want. I don't think any of  them have ever used it though. Last year I did shave Meg down for the summer. She is the only one of my dogs I have ever done that to. She has grass/plant allergies and itches like crazy. Seems to help her when I take the coat off. 


5. Lets talk about grass in your dog yard. Do you have any? how much maintenance do you do? 


     I have some grass and some weeds in the dog yard. As for maintenance I just let the sheep and goats in when it gets too tall. Other than that just the standard picking up. 

The ewe and the new

Saturday, my busiest work day. I go out to feed and find that one of my ewes has a vaginal prolapse. Great, I have to go open the shop, 20 miles away, then come back to "fix" the ewe. Nobody home that day of the very few people I know that could hold a ewe for me. I end up calling the woman that I bought my guineas and goats from. I know last year was her first year with goats but she has horses so I figure she should know how to hold a ewe. I call her and she said she'd be right out to help. I meet them at the Family Dollar near my house and they follow me home. As we go out to the sheep to access the situation she informs me she has fixed prolapse on dogs and horses. So what are the chances of me finding the one person out of the handful I know that could just maybe help me hold the ewe, that have actually handled this situation? Wow! She told me what to get, her husband held the ewe and I kinda stood around like and idiot while she pushed the mess all back inside. She said she isn't really familiar with the inner workings of a ewe having only done the procedure on canines and equines, but she did not feel any lambs inside and didn't think the ewe was pregnant. I said she did seem to have a bigger udder than she did, but she is an older ewe and has lambed a few times before. She felt everything went back in place easily and felt right and we decided not to try to do the twine harness thing as neither of us knew  how anyway. I was going to get an antibiotic but wanted to find out which is good for possibly pregnant ewes. Next morning the ewe had a slimy, slightly greenish discharge. I of course thought infection and panicked, as usual. Then I watched the ewe and thought she seemed restless like a ewe in labor. When I was in the shelter feeding my doe that had a 4 day old kid, the kid was left outside while the piggy Mom left to get her grain. When the kid started crying, the ewe went over and was doing those mama bleats to the kid. That's when my mind started calming down and seeing things in a different light. Aha...she's in labor. Well she was very restless, kept pawing and trying to lay down, then would stand back up. This went on for a while and I finally decided I'd better go check her out, so I got a bucket of warm soapy water, my shoulder length obstetric gloves, betadine and towels and a dog and started to go out to where the ewe is. I had just rounded the corner of the house when Jenna says, she's just had her lamb. Sheesh could she not have had it about 5 minutes earlier? Before my gathering up all that now useless stuff? She had one big ram lamb. Both mama and baby are doing just fine. I raised goats for over 15 years and have had to deliver largish stuck babies, dead babies etc. I've done all my own castrating, disbudding, shots etc. I've had ewes and lambs before but for some reason I felt like a complete newbie with this one. This ewe was one of the 3 I had that either been stolen or let out by someone and ran free for 3 weeks before it was caught. The other 2 were never caught. After the prolapse I figured I'd gone through enough bad with this ewe so I'm glad she had one nice lamb. He will be banded and she won't be bred again. Her teats were blocked and the lamb could not get anything try as he might and he was getting discouraged so I unblocked them and then he was fine. She is not the most friendly ewe and after her 3 weeks of freedom in the wild she gets in a panic if she thinks I'm trying to catch her so it was no easy feat. This was about 5 minutes after she gave birth.

The Belated Easter Buni

Easter came just a bit late for us this year. But the Buni showed up yesterday while we were at work.

does Buni not resemble an Angora rabbit? The new Mom, Olivia is very proud of her new offspring.

After the newborn was cleaned up Olivia allowed visitors. They were very curious to see the new one.

That is Olivia looking at the camera, very proud to show off her beautiful baby. Olivia is La Mancha/Saanen X and the Father is Nubian. Buni got the Nubian roman nose and a bit more ear than her Mother. A very thick wooly coat too. 

anybody want an accident prone ram lamb?

My ram lamb is not quite 1 yr old but he has been in more sticky situations than any other animal I've ever owned. He got his head stuck in a feed bag and ran around bumping into things. He got through my fence, following Walter the wether goat who always figures a way out, and got a strand of old barbwire wrapped around his neck and between his legs. Seth had to hold him still in a corner so I could cut that off without getting ripped up if he moved on me. This latest though takes the cake. I am going to sell him as soon as I figure out if he can produce. I don't think my ewes are pregnant. I'm giving them 1 more month and if nothing, he goes. He's getting mean too and has butted me a few times. I always take in a dog or two now when dealing with him. Maybe I'll put this pic on Craigslist when I try to sell him. That way people will know what they are getting into.

Note who is keeping him still this time while I figure out how to de-chair him.

That would be my Crue. He's really getting good at holding the sheep off me while I'm feeding. He stayed right there while I wrestled that ram out of the chair. 

Hail, Hail The Gangs All Here

Well, not actually. The gang was not here, but the hail was!

Some got left out in the rain  hail.

After it started melting we measured the larger pieces. They were larger than a quarter. No damage luckily.