Winter had a relapse, bringing us more snow and wind, but then yesterday was sunny and most of the snow melted. The high temperature was just barely above freezing for part of the day with wind enough to cut through clothing like an icey knife blade.
Last week our local feed and farm supply store had a sale on fencing materials, so my hubby bought 200 heavy duty steel posts and 8 rolls of barbed wire, 1/4 mile per roll. That put a dent in our project money, but today we are going back to take advantage of the sale price on railroad ties and get more wire. The first load really made our old pickup hunker down. We will take the flatbed today to make it easier to get a full bundle of ties that can be loaded at the store with a machine and then unloaded easily here with our tractor. A full bundle is too heavy for the tractor, so the metal strapping will have to be cut and the ties taken off a few at a time. They are very heavy, being saturated with creosote to prevent rotting, which makes them excellent for fence corners and gate posts. The metal posts will make up the majority of the fence, between the railroad ties.
Our south and east fences have needed to be rebuilt for many years, and have been patched together and patched again. This rebuild is one of those property improvement, investment types of things, and will help keep our animals and those of our neighbor in bounds. The sheep and calves have been leaking out through weak spots, even with a couple of hot wires in place, something that makes the neighbor who owns the adjoining field unhappy because he is raising hay and grain there. Good fences make good neighbors.
Yesterday I remarked to my hubby that the geese hadn't shown up yet this spring (that term is used very loosely here) because we had seen some pairs elsewhere looking like they were thinking of goslings. This morning I heard a familiar honking sound, looked out the window toward the pond, and there were 2 pairs of Canada geese, right on time! They waddled around on the edge of the pasture for a while, then walked out on the ice, and finding no open water, flew away. They'll be back. I wonder if they are ones who have nested here before, or some that were raised on our pond.
Spring might be coming after all, the geese think so.
No lambs last night, and another dead ewe. She was alive and on her feet when I checked her, but died in a few more hours. I could smell her when I opened the barn door, and her breathing was rapid and shallow. Ok, you don't need the rest of the details. The lab reports on another one should be back today, maybe that will give us some answers.
This morning I helped hubby unload the 25 railroad ties we bought. We drove on nicely frozen ground out into the big pasture and put them on a hill out there where they will be handy to get to when we start rebuilding 3/4 of a mile of fence in that pasture sometime this spring. We used the tractor to unload them.
On the way back I discovered that our 1000 gallon propane tank has rolled over because 1, it is on a fill, 2, because the concrete supports the propane company used when they installed the tank are too small and sank into the ground which 3, has been heaving because it freezes and thaws. I could smell gas, so hubby turned off the valve. Don't know how much we lost. The propane delivery guy didn't put any more in it last time he came because he saw that it was sinking on one side, but said it would be a couple of months before they could do anything about it. Well, today they have no choice.
Now we will have to relight the pilot lights for the shop and greenhouse furnaces, maybe the house furnace too but I think that one is an electric ignition. I need to learn how to light the pilot lights without going boom!
Sure hate to hear about the dead ewe. I hope it's not something that will spread through the whole flock. Has he lost lambs with the dead ewes?
I don't miss having a propane tank. We had one when I was a kid and when I got married we had one. The house we still own in La has one. They are common in that area. But it's a pain to have to wait and hope the gas man can get to you before you run out. Hated lighting pilot lights.
Is there anything left in your green house that might suffer from no heat again? You might have to roll in a 55 gallon drum and build a fire in it. LOL
Cajun, I neglected to answer a question you asked several days ago. The ram to ewe ratio is about 30 to 1.
Probably nothing in the greenhouse would be killed if there were no heat in it now, since our night temperatures are not lower than about 10 degrees and it warms up every day, but some things that were really knocked down by the freeze have started to grow back and another freeze would set them back again and might finish them off. One amaryllis grew new leaves and bloomed, so I brought it into the dining room so we could enjoy it. We have electricity out there with plenty of outlets, so I could just plug in an electric heater. I know now that I should have done that last fall. Hindsight is 20-20!
The man who came to reset the tank relit the pilot lights in the greenhouse and shop. It was done before I knew it was time to go out to look. The furnace in our basement is one of those smart ones that shuts off when the gas pressure fluxuates and relights itself when the pressure is right again. That is a very nice feature which is probably designed to be a safety feature as well as a convenience.
I'm checking for new lambs every night, and so far have not brought in any, but yesterday a ewe had triplets which are all alive, and today a yearling had a single lamb. She is so nice and calm, when I walked over to her pen to see her baby she didn't bother to get up. The notation on the barn chart says CALM in big letters, so I would guess she will be in the flock for a good long time.
Yesterday when we were on our way to town we saw that big herd of wild pronghorns (aka antelope although they really aren't). There are a couple hundred animals and they have a very large area to roam. When we came back home we could see a trail of muddy footprints going across the highway. We had been looking for them, thinking that it should be about time for them to be showing up. They winter along the Snake River at a lower elevation that seldom gets deep snow, and as the snow melts and the grass starts to get green they start moving to higher ground. They will move back and forth until late fall so we will see them several times, usually about every 2-3 weeks.
I will start a new thread for 2009 lambing season soon.
Last edited by Mary on Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
Mostly, they all run together, although some of the white faced ewes were put with a nice white faced ram one year that I can remember, for about 3 weeks and then they were put in with the whole flock. That was to increase white faced replacement ewe lambs as most of the flock had been crossed with Suffolk rams (black faced) for a couple of years and it was getting hard to find 20 or 25 white faced ones to keep. The white faced breeds are better wool producers, and seem to be a bit calmer, and stick closer together when out in the pasture. That's important in big pasture situations, and range flocks are made up of white faced ewes. It's safer for them and easier to move them when they stay closer together. These sheep are also trained to come to a whistled signal which the owner uses every time he feeds them, even if they are standing right there next to the truck. When he wants to move them he just whistles and they all come running. His cattle do the same.
Today I spent 3 hours at the food coop packaging big boxes of dried fruit into small bags, weighing them and putting on labels, then putting some out into bins for the customers and storing the others where they are handy to replenish the bins. We use plastic bins that are like little drawers with lids. They fit into frames and have a label on the front. Today I packaged mangos, papayas, figs and pineapple. 25 pound boxes take a while to put into approxamately 1/2 pound bags. It goes faster with 2 people but today I worked alone.
In reference to the dead ewes, is it possible one of the rams might be passing something onto them during breeding? Has your neighbor gotten any news about the deaths and what might be causing them?
What was the reason for breeding the suffolks into the flock. Are they hardier?
Is the food co-op like a regular store where anyone can come and shop? I love dried fruit. I have a small dehydrator I use quite a bit. We love dried apples so when they go on sale I buy a bunch and dry them. It takes lots longer to dry them than to eat them. LOL I wonder if you can dry canned pineapple. DH loves canned pineapple. I make trail mix to take on trail rides and car trips. Did you use your hours to get any goodies?
We are in the midst of typical March weather, sunshine one minute and snow or rain the next. Blustery winds accompany most of it, so I'm still wearing my winter overalls and all the rest of the warm stuff when I go out.
Cajun, the Suffolk breed are a good meat breed, and as most of the lambs are raised for the meat, it is good to cross the whitefaced or whiteface cross ewes with them. The ewes are kept in the flock for several years, so they provide wool as well as producing lambs. Whitefaced breeds make more wool with longer strands, and it is finer and softer than that from the black faced breeds.
The coop is open for anybody to shop there, but they pay full price, and they can buy a lifetime membership any time to get an automatic discount of 5%. Volunteer hours give a bigger discount. The coop just made a website, and if I can find it, I will post a link here.
The co-op sounds like a great deal. I wish we had something like that here.
It's been raining here 3 out of the last 4 days and just before the rain set in we had a 5" snowfall. Needless to say it is a muddy mess here. It is still chilly but is suposed to warm up for the next few days. I sure am ready for warm temps.
I remember seeing lots of black faced sheep at the fair back home. We have a county fair but they don't have the facilities to put animals on exhibition. They just give $10 and a blue ribbon to every animal entered. Knock made $70 last year. He used it for spending money on his summer trip to La.
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