Monday, February 25, 2013

My morning, so far

The phone rang at 6:07. My daughter calls after she's left for work to get me up to get Kansas up and ready for the bus at 6:40. So did that. Came back up the driveway and turned right to go check on the sheep. As I thought she might, Gracie was in the 3rd stall and had just had 2 lambs. Ran to the house to grab more towels and water and feed. Got them both dried off. She had a red ram lamb first, #9. And a cute little ewe lamb that's kind of blackish gray, #10. So right now it stands at 3 ram lambs and 2 ewe lambs!

Went back to check on Darla and Leelah. Leelah is going crazy, baaaing really loud. While I was feeding hay to the others, I saw a white streak fly by. It was #6, out of the stall. Leelah was trying to find her. So got her back in and fed Leelah. Good there.

Looked in on Darla. She's moaning and groaning. Has a really messy rear end. Runny poop. Nasty. She hasn't eaten anything. Just standing there, moaning. So ran inside to the box of goat and sheep meds. Got the Sheep Nutridrench, Cydectin for worming, Pepto for the runs, B Complex shot, LA200 for antibiotic, and Red Cell. Gave her all that. And fresh hay and water too.

Hauled water to everyone else. Then fed the dogs and cats. Got  Penelope, Sandy and Zeeboo on the stanchions to feed them and milk Penelope. One of Abby's buck kids came in and helped himself to the milk bar. So I let him get his milk there and milked the other side. She did not like that at all. Took the milk in and put in a bottle for the other kid. Got them off the stands. Went to check on Abby and Zarah.

So Abby is standing there outside the barn against the wall, with white foamy froth on either side of her mouth. Good grief! Went and got the Red Cell. Gave her some. Took her to the milk room and milked her out. It's really yellow milk. Dumped it. Could be from all the Vitamin B and red cell?

Checked on Zarah. Still hasn't eaten a thing. No grain or hay. Or drank any water. Gave her more Red Cell, fresh water and hay. I had to give her all kinds of stuff yesterday when I saw she wasn't eating.

Then went back to the house and cried. And cried some more. Called the vet at 8:15. He called back in a few minutes. Told him what was going on and I wanted him to come out here as soon as he could. Which he said would be after lunch. Thanks. Hope Darla's not dead by then. More bottle babies for me. Cried some more. Balanced check book to see if I had money to pay him. Yes.

And now it's 9:15. I just had a cup of coffee. It's 58 in the house. Forgot to turn heat on last night, so just did that. I let Leelah and her lamb back out, since she wanted to get out. The other ewes sniffed around her for a few minutes, then went back to eating hay. She's just another one of the flock now. Took more pictures of Gracie's cuties. Will post on another post.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

More lamb love


These are Darla's new ram lambs. Born this afternoon. I had to go to town again and when I got back, i noticed Darla in the stall. She was in there this morning too. But then back out in the field when I left. I didn't really think she'd have lambs this early. Anyway, #7 was still wet and covered in slime. So I ran to the house to grad some things. Got back out and was drying him off, when out flew another lamb. I think he came out backwards because he was facing Darla, who was standing up. Strange. So got them both dried off as much as possible. Got them over to the milk bar. They both had some think warm colostrum.

#7 was a little weak. He laid around a lot. I gave him a few squirts of Nutridrench. He looked a lot perkier later. I still had to rub them some more. They were still wet. It sure takes a long time for that wool to get dry.

They are both so cute. #7 is in front and #8 behind him. #8 had a lot more energy than 7 did. He was already trying to bounce.

SO far the 2 ewes to lamb are pretty consistent. Leelah had a single ewe lamb last year. Now Darla with twin ram lambs after a single ram lamb last year. I hope Gracie and Fiona have twins too. So far Leelah is the only animal to have a single. All goats have had twins so far. I have 2 more to kid. And 6 more ewes to go. But 4 will be May or June lambs.

And please remind me to never breed for so early. What was I thinking anyway? It's COLD out there!

So a pretty good weekend here at Outback Farm. With twin kids and a single ewe lamb and twin ram lambs. And we are at 4 bucklings and 4 doelings so far!!!!!!! But we have Sandy to go yet. And she usually has more bucks. Which this year, since I bred her to the Boer buck, I don't mind if she has bucks.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Good night, y'all!


Look at this beautiful sunset tonight! A perfect ending to a great day. 2 goat kids and a ewe lamb, all cute and healthy and raring to go! Good night, y'all! I am tired.

Lamb love



I had a feeling Miss Leelah Belle would have a lamb or 2 today. I remember that her and Zarah were bred the same day.

I had to go to town to get some more hay and when I got back, I counted the sheep, like I always do when I come home, and only saw 7. And Leelah was not one of them. Then I saw her in the middle stall with a little cutie in front of her! And it's a GIRL! Outback farm #6. It's a B year so need some cute B names. I am wanting to keep 2 ewe lambs and I have decided to name one of them Beatrix Belle. But I won't know which one til I see them all. #6 is mostly a hair breed. Leelah is half Katahdin and half Dorper. And she was bred to Alfie, who was Fiona's ram lamb. Fiona is the same as Leelah. Alfie's sire was Earl, who was Hampshire, Suffolk and Finn. So she's got a lot of sheep breeds in her. She's pretty big too. But only a single. Again. I was so hoping they would all have at least twins this time.

I am worn out. Having to go back to the goat barn, through all the slippery mud, hauling water and feed and hay to the new momma. Then up front to the sheep barn doing the same for a new sheep momma. Then loaded and unloaded 32 bales of hay and got them all put away. I am kind of tired.

SO here we go with lambs now! I can't wait to see more of them. Gracie and Fiona and Darla are next. So get ready for some lamb love!

Zarah Belle and her clones



Went out this morning to feed the animals and milk a few goats. Zarah wasn't there, so I figured she had already had kids or was getting ready. And sure enough, there she was in the back corner of the barn, laying down and pushing. I went ahead and put her in the back stall. Did all the chores. Came back out with some feed and warm molasses water and a few towels.

I had to pull that big John Henry Jr. out. Zarah was screaming like a banshee. Why are bucks so big? And of course he had to be first out. So got him out and cleaned off Zarah went over to the other side and looked back, like she was thinking, what the heck just happened here? I kept waiting for more to come out, but she just stood there. I got the buck cleaned and put him over there with her. She started licking him then. I figured that might stimulate the labor again. And then she laid down, I saw another water bag, and plop, out came another kid. And it's a girl!!! Looks just like her grand mother, Abby.

Then I saw another water bubble. But nothing happened. So I got her up and it it broke. Got the kids to the milk bar and the girl latched on. It took awhile for the boy. I had to leave.

So we have a John Henry clone and an Abby clone. Just stinkin' adorable! I'll put an album on my Outback Farm FB page. So if ya want to see some adorable goatie cuteness, come on over there. I'm the one with the sign on the header, in Chickamauga, Ga.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Looking forward


I am done with my whining now. I sounded like a baby. I am now looking forward to nice warm spring days, lots of sunshine and blue skies. Flowers everywhere. And trees with pretty new green leaves all over them. I love bare nekked trees, but I have had enough of them for awhile. I want some leaves now. And I am looking forward to getting my seeds and tilling in the garden and planting the seeds. I am looking forward to seeing new baby plants coming up. And then picking the yummy fresh veggies again. Just to play in some DRY dirt would be great!

I am also going to be getting some bees about the middle of March! I am SO excited. I have a friend who has hundreds of hives and he's ready to downsize soon. I'll be getting 2 nooks (?). And I really am not sure about where to put them. I'll also be taking a bee class in April. There's a blogger not too far from me who is having a workshop. Sounds like fun. I will learn as I go, I suppose. I'll ask the guy I'm getting the bees from where is the best place to put them. And if they are near the gardens, can I mow near the hive? How much noise can they handle? I will soon find out!

And baby lambs will be bouncing all over the place soon! Another sure sign of spring to come. And more goat kids too.

So there are a lot of good things to look forward to. It's not all mud and slime and mess. It'll be better soon!

What are you looking forward too?


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Crappy day




This is my arm. Does it look like I just might be a little allergic to sheep? I have 2 of my ewes with cracked hooves. I've been trying to get them trimmed, which means I have to wrap my arms around their necks and try to get the right foot and then get the trimmers and all the other things I need, while trying to hold them still.  Then this happens. Big whelps all along my arms. I wash my hands and arms as soon as I can with soapy water. But this happens every time I have to do anything like this.

I did get some Kopertox from the Co-op after calling the vet just to make sure I was doing all the right things. I still smell like that stuff. And it's supposed to start in raining again. When my friend comes to shear, I am going to do all the trimming of hooves then. It's just really hard to do by myself. I would really love to have a trained Border Collie to help out. (And they are going to lamb in a week or so too.)

Anyway, it's just been one of those crappy days for me. Last night I gave all the kids their CDT shots. Then went out later to put the kids in another stall by their selves for the night. I felt wet on my pants but didn't think anything about it. Just thought it was some urine. But this morning, one of the buck kids has diarrhea. His whole back end is a wet mess, poor thing. I think I must be feeding them too much? The past few days I've been giving them a full baby bottle in the morning and evening. Plus they have been getting some milk from Abby. So tonight I didn't give them a bottle. I just don't know what to do anymore.

And, this morning, I had to get Abby out f the barn to come in to milk her. But she just stood out in the holding area, panting really heavy like a dog. I called the vet. He told me to take her temp. It could be pneumonia. But her temp was only 99.9. Well, he said that was too cold, I needed to get her warmed up. And to give her Red Cell and a shot of B Complex. Did that. Plus she went outside in the sun. And this afternoon, when I got home, she was way up in the back, eating grass, kids hopping all around her. I so wish I could sell these 2 bucks. I just am at a loss as to what to do with Abby. She has a good day, then a bad day. And she looks horrible too. And, I have noticed when she poops, there is a lot of grain in the poop, like she's not digesting it all.

So any advice or suggestions about any of this?