Sightings and Sales

This past week has been marked by several sightings of Reginald's kind.  You recall, Reginald, the biggest F------ snake I have ever seen.  He has relations in the area.  I have seen parts of his friends among the wood piled behind the barn.

As I go through the fields and see garter snakes I assure myself all is well.  And I remind myself that these creatures do not do damage the way a coyote does.  I move away, go around, find a different route, change tasks, and don't look.  Sometimes out of sight really does take it out of your mind and it is beneficial and not negative avoidance behaviour but positive.  It's working for me!

Back to Reginald's kind.  Recall, that Reginald is the endangered Rat Snake.   So, I had a pile of brush in the wheelbarrow to dump in the bush.  And there was a bag of dried burrs I had gathered up in the spring.  These seeds needed to be buried somewhere.  And there were two bags of skirtings from shearing day.  These chunks of wool fleece contained burrs and were generally sections of the fleece that were not usable.  I decided all should be dumped in the bush.

So, I grabbed two of the bags and headed to the nearby bush.  I have a place where I have been dumping various clippings and that was my target spot.  I dumped the burrs out of their bag first.  Then I dumped the first bag of skirtings atop the burrs.  This would hold the burrs from blowing away and getting distributed in the area.  I had another load to bring over.  What is that straight black stick over there?  What is that head attached to it?  It was time to leave.  It was time to change tasks.  I would dump the remaining brush another day.

The next day or so, Sister and I headed out for a walk.  I wanted to show her the mowed Middle Field.  We headed out the back door to cross the bridge into the forest.  As I went to step over the electric fence - which was off - careful with the rifle I carried,  I stopped and backed up into Sister.  That large black stick has never been there before!  Let's go a different way.  She agreed with me that it was likely a Rat Snake.

When we returned some time later we saw a Rat Snake going under the garbage storage box behind the garage.  It may have been the same snake; or not.

In preparation for my time away I wanted to tidy up the barn and make the old hay pile more accessible for the neighbour girl who would be doing chores.  I got in behind the barrier and stacked some of the hay higher.  There wasn't much left, just over a dozen bales.  I planned to put out 2 bales in the morning.  The hay's nutritional value is now diminished.  Part of my plan was that feeding more hay than the sheep would eat would also provide some bedding in the barn.  I payed less for the hay than I did for the straw I have on hand.

I removed a bale from against the wall, a bale on the second row so there was still one more bale on the floor.  What is that?  The light wasn't good, but still I could see the shape of a rat.  And what is that large black formation near it?  Nothing is moving.  And there are a bunch of eggs against the wall, further back than I could reach when I found some hidden eggs there against the wall a few months ago.  I stepped WAY back.  I observed.  Nothing moved.  It was time to change tasks.  I ensured various items were secure and left the barn.

Later when the neighbour girl came over to review tasks for the next day, the scene was the same.  Nothing had changed and nothing was moving.  Later still, in the early evening, Sister and I headed up to the barn to finish the task.  Thankfully the Rat Snake and the rat were gone.  I didn't worry about cleaning up the eggs.  We finished the task and things were in order for the next day.

I just received my first cheque for lamb sales.  At the first of last week four ram lambs went to the auction.  These were selected because they were uncastrated and had reached the magical four months of age.  Their behaviour also reflected their preoccupations due to a greater volume of hormones than their castrated cousins.

Uncastrated lambs grow faster and that was evident as well.  They went uncastrated because the technique I am using now is new to me.  I was not sure that I could be successful with these four, so I left them.  It turned out just fine as my neighbour does not castrate any because she sends them all to auction at this age.  So I was able to send my four with her fifty-six. 


I was not sad to see them go.  This is what happens.  This is why you don't name them, although, one of these four was Tiger.  And Tiger was the largest of them all.  He really was a very big guy, from day one.  The four mothers I felt for.  They stopped looking for their lambs when there were no longer responses from the Small Barn.  I had separated them the day before.  I was concerned that their udders dry up without difficulty.  One in particular had the potential to be problematic.  Of the four lambs that left, three were singles and the mothers' udders had to dry up.  The fourth mother had a twin remaining who would continue to nurse.

That first cheque is a milestone and will go toward the purchase of some hay, or the new ram.  It is spent already, for sure.  On the cheque stub are some statistics.  They weigh the lambs but had sold these four in two lots of two, and weighed the two rather than each individually.  The average of the four was sixty-nine pounds, which was excellent.  This result was from grass feeding only.


Another busy weekend.  With hubby away and a family event to attend, I needed a helper to look after things for a day.  So, I engaged the help of a teenage girl in the neighbourhood.  Her family have sheep and dogs and chickens so I am confident she knows about these critters.  I checked in with her a few days later and all went well.

Sister and I left early and I left the sheep in the barn with hay.  The sheep did not complain.  The helper girl worked our very well.  She came mid-afternoon and fed and watered the sheep and Beau-dog.  Hubby arrived not long after and so the sheep had some pasture time that day.

Our trip was a good one as Sister and I travelled to attend two family events.  The celebrations were good, the food amazing but the drive long, as usual.  On the first day the drive was great.  The birthday celebration was quite nice.  On the second day the family celebration centred on the kids' recent university accomplishments, the addition of letters after their names.  On the drive home there was a horrendous thunder and rain storm across Toronto.  We still made great time however.  All in all, it was nice to visit with everyone.  As usual, it was great to get home.