End of June

Trixie

The poor dear!  Such agony she must be experiencing. 

The sheep were well ahead of me as I headed out to the pasture after letting them out in the morning.  The Maremmas had not gone out with the flock and usually they will come out with me and when I slip back to the barn they stay out with the flock for awhile.

I saw her because she was noticeably behind the others.  She was slow.  She was almost limping.  I had to figure out who this sheep was so as to follow up later.  There is little one can do when the sheep are in the field.  Even if I could catch her, then what.  It's a long way back to the barn and sheep are not known for their cooperation. 

She caught up to the flock as they began to graze but I hung back as I did not want to rush her if she was not feeling well.  It was Trixie, a yearling, and her udder was very large. 

A short while later when the sheep were back at the barn it was easy to catch Trixie and pop her into a pen I had waiting.  And then I carefully caught her single female lamb.  This lamb was so cute and Hubby named her Bambi.

I thought it was good that Trixie's udder was not hot but cool to the touch.  I learned later talking with the Vet that a gangrenous mastitis udder is cool if not cold to the touch.  It was not a good situation.  I had already given her a shot of penicillin I had on hand when I spoke to Dr. McG in the evening.  He had a better medication and I picked it up in the morning.  You hit mastitis hard with a strong antibiotic.  This drug I was to administer twice daily for five days.

The internet information is poor on this subject.  I was struck that 25% of those infected die.  This was not encouraging.  I had put medication into the quarter - yes, it's a quarter even though there are only two on a sheep.  Dr. McG said that was not necessary as the offending bacteria will have left but that I should milk her out to remove as much of the remaining toxins as possible.

Over the next few days I carefully drained the udder, massaged gently, applied Epsom salts compresses and then udder balm.  I kept her legs clean as the flies in the barn are bad.  I applied fly spray.  Trixie let me do whatever I wanted - until she began to feel better.  It's a sure sign of recovery when they fight back.  She began to baa for her friends too.

I offered Bambi a bottle of milk replacer several times a day for a few days.  I did see her try to nurse, usually on the bad side.  Lambs can be brutal and she butted at mother's sore udder.  I held her a few times so she could nurse on the good side.  I tried to keep her from butting the udder.  Lambs do this to stimulate the flow of milk.  Bambi had milk on her mouth so although I could not usually get milk from the quarter, she could. 

Trixie is recovering nicely, so far.  Now the udder should slough off.  Isn't that just gross?  The entire quarter is not blue - sometimes this is called blue bag and appropriately so.  We'll see...  I was planning to move Trixie to the other barn where I have Polar Bear and some other moms with babies.  However, Polar Bear's lambs steal milk and this might be too hard on Trixie.  We'll see...

Last Lamb


Two year old Peanut was the last to lamb.  She had a single female.  Yes, another single.  Because this lamb is so much younger than the others I will not put them out with the flock until the lamb is two weeks old.  It is a large lamb, which is good. 

I am assuming this lamb was sired by Abe.  Peanut was marked by Abe but that marking indicated a lambing date three weeks earlier than when she actually lambed. 

It feels good to finally have lambing over.  The season stretched from mid-April to mid-June.  Usually the majority of lambs come in three weeks with the remaining thirty percent or less in the subsequent three weeks.  In some ways I can get on with some other things.  For example, there was not much point in considering cleaning out the barn until lambing was complete. 

Boundaries


Just as individuals have boundaries in relationships and we have physical boundaries with our neighbours, there are also boundaries within a property.  We are defining and redefining these as things evolve.

For example, our hens are free range and they have no boundaries.  One boundary they cross that can be frustrating is when they visit the veranda.  The frustration is due largely to what they leave behind.  We are working on Beau dog to chase the hens off of the veranda - gently. 

This afternoon I removed a hen from the veranda three times.  I gently picked her up and dropped her into the garden bed below.  Each time she got back up and came over to where I was working.  Beau appeared from his latest jaunt and I told him to get the bird.  He didn't get the request, as sometimes happens when he's learning something.  I got the barbecue spray bottle.  This worked!  And since I was working right there she got three or four squirts, got the message and moved along.

With the electric fence I have been able to fence the yard around the house to keep sheep in and out of various places.  With this set up I was able to let the rams graze around the house.  In a previous blog there is a photo of the "intruders" on the veranda.  The rams also left evidence of their visit. 

I purchased some more electric fence and created a large summer paddock for the rams.  Now, each morning I bribe them with grain - known to sheep as candy - and we go out to the paddock.  Each evening I put candy - that is, grain - in their pen in the Small Barn.  Knowing the candy is waiting they prance quickly to the barn and to their pen.

So, the rams now have a new boundary, a paddock of their own where they eat fresh grass, enjoy the weather and all that entails.  This is a much healthier set up for the rams.  So often rams spend most of their life in a pen, other than when they are with the girls in the early winter.  Abe is an old guy and Birch is a young guy and this new set up is good for each of their needs.

Since Polar Bear is not tolerating grass and cannot be with the flock I let her out around the house several times a day for up to thirty minutes at a time.  This is all she can tolerate.  Before the rams had their paddock I would alternate the outings between groups.  At the moment there are three ewes and five lambs in Polar Bear's pen.  There is Polar Bear and her twins; Peanut and her ewe lamb; and now Libby and her twins as she is lame for an as yet unknown reason.

We recently discussed that allowing the sheep around the house is not something we want to keep doing.  The boundary breaking is too much.  I knew they would trash the flower gardens and accepted that.  All of these gardens need some serious attention and some select pruning by the sheep was okay with me - for now.  As hubby mentioned however there is evidence everywhere. 

It seems that the Polar Bear group are the hospital wing of the farm.  This is unpredictable and will be different each year.  I can work with electric fence to create some small areas around the house.  Another thought is to consider some permanent fencing - a boundary - immediately around the house.  Lots of ideas are flowing....

Oz's Workload

Yes, I have great fun using "work words" in my new work!

Oz the orange tractor has a long list of jobs.  We have been prioritizing.  When we first got the mower the priority was predator control and the perimeter of the pasture was cut.  This removes the cover for coyotes to hide.  Some areas were cleared of brush, areas where we know the coyotes hide and travel through.

Then we mowed near the house.  Some trails were cleared for our walking pleasure.  And now Hubby has cut the majority of the pasture.  We waited until many of the grasses went to seed but now need to control the height for safety reasons and weed control.  The pasture grass needs to be shorter so we can see the lambs are safe and the coyotes cannot hide easily.  Sheep prefer a shorter grass to nibble.  And the poisonous parsnip is coming into flower and needs to be cut down.  There does seem to be a lot less of the poisonous parsnip this year.

Sister helped me to clear away the pile of brush collected from various wind and ice storms over the last year.  After we moved it I mowed the long grass there.  This cleared the gateway to the ram's paddock.  Near the garage and house, this looks much nicer now.

Today I mowed the Front Field in specific spots where there were thistles and nettle.  A few spots I decided were unstable for a tractor approach and left the weeds for a chemical intervention.

It's just about time to mow around the house again.  The wood splitter has returned from a quick fix-it that was needed.  There is tons of wood to split.  There are things to move with the bucket, such as concrete tiles.  And the new hay will be coming soon and we have the forks for moving around the big square bales which we will get this year instead of the small bales.

So, Oz is very busy.  As is the end of June in general.