Shades of Ireland

Friday, April 20, 2012

Sheep-- Again!

I have just about all that I can sanely take from those bottle baby goats. They were Boer and BoerX kids and I swear, I do not believe I have ever handled more mentally challenged livestock before-- other than sheep! These goat kids just can't seem to figure out how to be real goats. It took forever to get them to eat anything solid like hay or grain. All they wanted was MILK and lots of it. Finally, I began to wean them and they started following the rest of the herd and grazing. I have had them for over 10 weeks and they have been escape artists the entire time. On top of all that, they are incredibly noisy and sound as if something is killing them---- when they are happy to see me! I reached my irritation thresh hold earlier this week and called their owner to come get them. He is coming tonight and we are going to throw a celebration!



I still have way too much milk and with these guys leaving, it is going to get worse. My lamb guy/dairyman has given me some of his problem children to raise. The lame, the blind and the halt---- literally! Last night, we picked up two bigger lambs that are weaned but having problems. One is blind and one has a serious leg injury. They will not make it on the big dairy because of the competition with the big groups of lambs. My plan is to feed them out and put them in the freezer. This morning, Seth and I went over and picked up four "dinks" from the nursery.

These poor babies have serious leg injuries and I can give them a little more attention and plenty of milk. If they recover, they can go back home to be milkers on the dairy. If not, we will have plenty of lamb for the freezer!

This has been a week for company on our farm. My friend, Rachel, came down and to spend the night and attend a track meet for her college aged daughter. The meet was at a nearby town so I took the day off and went with her. It was really nice to sit and enjoy the warm weather and just get off the farm for a bit.


This is an excellent picture of Emily throwing the javelin. Of course, I didn't take it..... but it is still good! LOL!

While I am posting pictures, I'll go ahead and post one of Elsa's pups. Prepare for cuteness....




Looks very much like the pictures of the last litter, doesn't it? The blue merle/spotted puppy has blue eyes. I am seriously considering keeping her.

Today, we are doing our usual chores plus trying to tidy up the house and farm a bit. Salena is bringing a friend home from school and we don't want to scare the poor girl too badly or embarrass Sis too much. It is going to be an interesting weekend. I am not sure what to feed the guest..... she is a vegetarian! If nothing else, we will keep the bread makers busy and feed her lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!





No comments:

Post a Comment