Getting things done

Just look at all these wooly sheep! And to think that all but Amarillo were sheared back in September. Can you see the 2 lambs in the feeder? Yep, I think I need to make them a little feeder just for lambs. But these guys would still do this.

Had a message from my shearer this morning. They will be here Saturday to shear the sheep and trim feet!!! I can worm them all too then. I also want to see if they'll help castrate the ram lambs. I just want to do it right.

I am SO glad to know they'll be shorn soon! I worry about the sheep and alpacas til it's done. Then I feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. It's just one of those yearly jobs that seems to hang over me. I guess because I am depending on someone else to do it.

I'll "shear" Olga tonight when I milk. She really is looking quite shaggy.

Doesn't it just feel good to get jobs done? Me and my husband went out back this morning and fixed the electric fence. And all 3 wires are now hot! He had done a lot of mowing and trimming around and under the fence earlier, so that was done. And I had gotten some more poles, because they seem to be replaced a lot. There were whole strands of wire missing. I have no idea what happens back there, but we seem to have to do this at least twice a year. Maybe deer get stuck and break things. I have no idea. I just know things happen. And I hate to do it, but I think I'm going to spray round up under the fence, just to keep the hay-grass from growing underneath.

It's a bit windy today, so I think I'll wait til it's not blowing at all to work on the bee hives. I have everything I need to do it now. Just gotta get in there! I will be wearing my bee suit and have a smoker going.

I made 2 batches of soap for a wedding order. I need to make one more today. Then cut it all and wrap it. Just 30 bars, but 3 different scents. I think next time I'll say they all need to be the same scent. Or more of each.

And I noticed yesterday evening that the 2 alpacas were whining. Just kind of moping. If anyone has alpacas, they make this sad sound when they are stressed or unhappy. But this morning, Misha, the red one, didn't eat with the rest of them. Then he didn't eat any hay. And he went to the shed and laid down, by himself. So I asked my friend who raises alpacas, what she thought might be wrong. She asked about strange dogs and the poop. I said no dogs, but there are 14 new lambs. She gave me a few things to try. He seems better already. I moved them all over to the studio yard this morning, where the round hay bale still is, and nice good clover and grass. I'll keep them here a few days, then to the back yard to get ready for shearing. Then after shearing, to the very back pasture for awhile. It's getting tall back there.

Anyway, I just feel so good about the fence working again. And getting other things done. And the 2 sheep all better. And then the alpaca.

Npw off to make some more soap...

No more kids!!!!

So ALL 5 of the kids are gone now. My friend Kendra got Thorin, the buck, to use for breeding this fall. He's such a friendly buck. And he was big, at 9 weeks old. I am happy to know he is in a good home.

Then another friend, Cara, got ALL 4 of the doe kids!! She had gotten 2 a few days before. Then when Kendra came, she noticed Morwen, the last triplet of Freya's, had 4 teats. I was SO upset about that. Worrying about what to do with her. I did not want to sell her, then someone turn around and take her to a sale barn or even to slaughter. So I asked Cara if she would take her for free and buy Alva. She did! Now all the triplets and Olga's girl are all back together. They have 35 acres, so plenty of brush and trees and weeds and all kinds of goodies for 4 growing kids to eat! I am very happy to know all 5 kids went to great homes.

Olga and Freya haven't even whined at all about their babies being gone. I think they were ready. 9 weeks is the longest I have kept kids before.

So we are back to twice a day milking again. I have 2 lambs I am bottle feeding and my friends up the road who took 3 of the Annabelle's quads are bottle feeding them too. So between 5 lambs, we need lots of milk! Plus I have 2 milk customers. Then soap takes a little bit.

I have an order for 30 bars of soap for a wedding in early June. Finally got enough milk to make them. 3 different scents too. Trying to come up with molds and a small batch recipe now.

Amarillo is much better now! All the wool is off her left rear now and is healing nicely. I was a bit worried about her. Her 2 ram lambs are still so small. She actually had triplets but 1 was born dead. She had quads 3 years ago and none of them were very big either. But she is a HUGE ewe.

And Darla isn't limping. She hurt her right front leg. Or had foot rot. Not really sure, so I was dipping her hoof in Coppertox and gave her LA 200 too. She's much better now. Her boys, Frodo and Sam, are huge lambs.

It's going to be SO hard letting any of these lambs go. But sometimes, I would like ALL of them to be gone. Especially when they don't listen. Amarillo's boys are the worst. Well, Pippin is. Then yesterday, Eryn, the triplet I am not bottle feeding, and who is the most wild lamb, got out and was on the driveway. It took a long time to finally catch the little booger. I really wish they would know I am not going to hurt them. So I sat with her for about 10 minutes after catching her.

There is still so much to do. The sheep really need sheared. Hopefully sometime in the next few weeks. Then I need to castrate all 7 ram lambs. Then one of the bee hives needs some work done to it. I didn't put frames in the middle of the 1st swarm, so the bees have built comb from the top lid down, so there were 3 combs already made when I checked last week. I need to cut them and put them in frames really soon. Then add more boxes on both hives.

Then I want to make a little milking shed on the side of the barn out back. It's already too hot in that milk room. Then the electric fence needs a lot of work done before I can let the sheep out back.

Always something needs to be done around here...

And here they come...

A few days ago, I went out to gather eggs from the coop. In the middle one, I saw it. A snake. With an egg in it's stinkin' mouth. I ran and got the shovel. And it is no longer with us. I will not share my eggs!

The nest boxes were on the floor of the coop for years. I decided to screw them to the wall. I got some wire and screws and cordless screw driver. And the husband. It didn't take too long to get it put up. It doesn't have a bottom, that's why the wire.

And I know snakes can climb. But at least this way, I can see behind it and under it, before I go in there. I sure hope they get the hay fields mowed down soon.

So yesterday, I found 2 eggs in a nest and one on the ground under it in a nice little nest of hay.

I went to look awhile ago and there was 1 egg in the same nest and a hen in the nest underneath. I need to make a place where they can jump up on to get in the nest boxes to make it easier for the old girls.

I told my husband. one day, we might get this place looking the way we want it. He just laughed!