2019 Review

 

Yes, I am very tardy in writing blog entries.  I really enjoy the blog - and a million other things that pull me away from it.....

In February I travelled to Guelph to attend son's graduation.  He achieved his Master's of Science in Mathematics.  This is a major accomplishment for him and we are so very proud of him.



Lambing began in late April and went very smoothly this year.  Thirteen ewes birthed 24 lambs, including one stillborn triplet.  All 23 survived and thrived over the summer.  Son came for a visit at this time.  It was a good time as I had vacation from work and if I needed a hand he was more than willing to pitch in.  He got in a bit of fishing in nearby creeks.

Two lambs were orphaned at two weeks of age when their mother suddenly died while being shorn of her wool.  This is a very rare occurrence.  The orphans went down the road to the neighbours for a few weeks until they got them onto a bottle schedule that worked around my work schedule.  They did okay but orphans just don't seem to bounce back or catch up and so they were sold as soon as I found an interested party.

Maple syrup season and lambing tend to overlap as both are spring activities.  Maple syrup is Hubby's activity as I'm involved with the lambs.  I do the final step, hot packing the readied syrup into jars.  This year we used a hygrometer which has been super for assessing when the syrup is ready. For the second year in a row we had a bumper crop of sap.

Over the previous year we had extensive farm fence installed.  It. was. very. expensive.  Fencing is expensive.  Good thing it lasts 25 or so years.

With the perimeter of the pasture fenced I then set up electric fence netting to section off smaller areas inside the perimeter.  In this manner the sheep are moved every four days.  Although quick to take down and set up it's a lot when you work full time off the farm.  Moving the sheep every four days has had excellent results.  It is good for the pasture and the land; and, the sheep.

It was a very wet spring and difficult to get the vegetable gardens planted.  Many things did not get started well, so the output was less than other years.  I am trying to cut back though so it was alright.  For the first time we used wood chips for mulch and this was very successful. In the past we bought straw for mulch but it was hard to find straw due to last year's excessive rain.  A neighbour who has a tree cutting business is always looking for a place to dump the wood chips.  Later I took another load and used these for bedding in the barn after it's annual clean out.

In July I cut back to working 4 days a week.  This has been very beneficial.  I actually feel I've had a rest by the end of my 3 day weekend.  And sometimes I even get my house clean.  Sometimes.

In mid-July Hubby started a new job with the same organization, just a different department.  Life got kinda crazy after that as he got a few jobs all crammed into one and he was working weekends and evenings and not getting much rest.  And then he wasn't handy for a quick hand in the barn.  By late Fall some of this started to subside and life looks a bit more normal in the New Year.

Lots of things seemed to happen in September.  Daughter was here from Amsterdam, on her way to a conference in Boston, I think.  Son came for a visit too so we had a grand time, the four of us, over a long weekend.  We were all sworn to secrecy until all was confirmed to be well, but this is when daughter told us she and her darling husband were expecting.  This was VERY EXCITING NEWS.  Indeed!

Also in September, we acquired a riding lawn mower.  The bush hog on the farm tractor just doesn't do a fine job of mowing lawn.  The new equipment does a nice manicure.  We also had some excavation of ditches done over the summer.  The front yard drains way better now and has taken the pressure off of some basement seepage that has been ongoing since we moved here five years ago.  We had some culverts installed in some boggy spots on the property so as to assure we won't get Oz the tractor stuck there at soggy times.

I had been toying with an idea for awhile and finally just did it.  I always feel badly that a ram spends so much of his time alone.  We haven't had a ram in a few years.  Last year we borrowed one and planned to do so again, however the poor guy broke his leg and had to be euthanized.  The new ram was scheduled to arrive in October.  So, I bought an Angora goat to keep him company.  I picked up Nigel mid-September.  Born in April he was not very big and fit in the dog cage in the back of my car.

Nigel has become attached to two sheep, Pearl and Frosty, who were orphans from the year before.  They were raised by neighbours who have goats.  Whereas the sheep were pushing poor little Nigel around and out of the way, and out of the food, Nigel could tag along with Pearl and Frosty and know he was safe.

Nigel the Angora goat

Angora goats provide us with Mohair which is lovely to spin.  Angora goats are clipped (or shorn) twice a year.  Nigel had been clipped the week before I picked him up.  He is castrated so there will be no baby Nigels, and hopefully the stench of billy goat will not be a problem.

My Mom's 80th birthday was at the end of October.  We travelled to Guelph to gather with the family to celebrate.  We had a lovely dinner out at a nearby fancy mill restaurant.  Happy 80th Birthday, Mom!!  Mom's birthday is Halloween and one of her favourites is candy kisses.  She always took ours.  I didn't mind because I never liked them.  I bought her a bag of her own for her 80th.

In the Fall I submitted some photos for the first time to the annual photo contest of the Ontario Sheep Farmers.  We are members of this organization that represents sheep farmers in various matters across the province.  We were thrilled to learn that one of the photos won the contest.  We won in the category of "Around The Sheep Farm" and we also won for "Best Overall".  The winning photo is featured on the front cover of the December issue of the Ontario Sheep News magazine.  In addition I had already selected that photo for our 2020 calendar.

As we wrap up 2019 we are reminded of how fortunate we are to live here.  We love the property, the animals and the lifestyle.  We enjoy good quality food, some of it homegrown, while other foodstuffs are locally produced.  Also we welcome visitors and provide tours and information for those interested in learning about agriculture and the interesting geography of the area.

To you and yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

And the winner is...!

We entered the following photos in the Ontario Sheep Farmers annual photo contest.  Hubby has entered a few photo contests in the past.  And he is always taking pics around the place.  I take a few too.

So we entered the following photos.

Three Boys

Star Baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snowy Day

At Work

I came home to a voice mail message that said we had won the contest.  We won in two categories:  Around the Farm, and Best Overall.  And a few days later a cheque arrived in the mail!

What I am waiting to learn, is which photo was selected.

More to come...

Spring 2018

It is mid-June, still spring.  I am sitting on the wrap around porch, head in the shade, feet in the sun, admiring the front lawn.  It is adorned with sheep!  The tractor is broken and we have not been able to mow the lawn.  The sheep are doing that for us!

As usual I put the flock around the house early on in May when the lambs were small.  There are about 80 of them right now, ewes and lambs.  In May there were more on hand  and it took only about 3 days for them to scalp the lawn.  We'll see how long it takes this time.  The grasses are longer now than in May.

Looking through the bottom of my almost empty glass, I can see sheep and Henrietta lama.  It's a good thing she - Henrietta - is picturesque as her moodiness can be challenging.  Hubby has assured me, several times, that she is the last lama we will ever own.  I do, gently, remind him that the lifespan of a lama is rather long, as in several decades or so.  He says that's okay but that there should not be another.  Oh, she is eating a dreadful weed as I watch her and that is excellent!

We have Henrietta clipped every second year, and this is the year, however she has not yet been done.  On shearing day, Charlie started at about 8:30 a.m. and finished at about 1:30 a.m. the next morning.  There are only 6 more sheep than last year and last year he left at 8:30 pm.  Sigh.  He is good with the sheep and does a decent job of it, but speed is not his strength.

So, Charlie plans to come back to do Henrietta.  And I hope it is soon.  Fortunately Henrietta has some fibre fans, handspinning folk who drool over her fibre. I send it off to a mini mill where they wash it, card it, and remove the guard hairs.  The final product is a delightful, steel gray, that is, oh so soft!  The sale of this product pays for Henrietta's food, so she does pay her way. As well, Henrietta does go out into the field with her sheep.  We do believe she provides some level of protection to the flock - on her terms.

Today was a busy farm day.  I had to set up the new pasture area and then organize things for worming.  Actually, it is de-worming.  And - this is exciting from my perspective - I got a new drenching gun!  I've had trouble finding one but was able to get this one from the vet where I purchase the de-worming medication.

So, I waited for the sheep to come into the barn to rest in the early afternoon.  Most of the flock was right in the barn when I started to herd them into a corner.  I purchased sheep and cattle fence panels this year and these are wonderful when sorting animals as they are bendy and I just pull it along behind me as I push the sheep into a corner. The one end had already been secured and then I secure the end I have with me and the sheep are contained in a small space.  In that small space it is easy to catch each sheep, administer the medication, mark the top of their head and neck with a crayon and move on.  In quick order I got through the one group and then gathered up some more.

So, spring. It has been a challenging year.  My final deduction is that the challenges are due to the poor nutrition of the hay.  Last year was very challenging for haying.  There was so much rain that when hay was finally cut it was overly mature and not very nutritious.  And, although I fed grain, I realized a little late that I was not feeding enough grain.  In the end, there just was not enough nutrition.

Hungry lambs were common among some very good mothers.  I saw ewes pushing lambs away and in the past they have been such great producers I was so surprised.  I realized that they are not poor mothers but they did not have the nutrition to produce the quantity of milk needed for their lambs.

In addition, we had two groups of early lambs and then a cold spring.  That meant that all through lambing we dealt with cold temperatures.  We had baby lambs in the house on numerous nights trying to get them warmed up.  We had a collection of baby jackets in use on a fairly regular basis.  

At one point I was supplementing 12 lambs.  Three times a day I would bottle feed 12 lambs.  For several months there were large pitchers of milk replacer in our fridge.  I wore out a blender.  After the last ewe lambed on May 1st and I no longer had to go out to the barn late at night, or during the night, I cut back the bottles to two feedings a day.  When the sheep were finally at pasture, without any hay, I dropped the bottles.  By day two on pasture my barn became noticeably quiet.  Everyone - moms and babies - was getting enough to eat.

Two of Chloe's three.  I started off feeding both of these lambs and then just the one with the dark nose.  He was the chilled lamb in an earlier blog.  All three are doing very well. 

We had eight sets of triplets this year.  One from each of 4 sets was dead when found.  Two were rejected from their set - well, sort of.  One, yes, he was rejected as I observed mother bashing him.  She was not treating the other two very well either, but this one was going to get hurt so I removed him.  In the other set of triplets, this lamb could not stand.  His mother was a quadruplet from a previous year and she had floppy legs and now passed that on to her lamb.  He could not stand.  Therefore he could not nurse.


These two rejected boys were given to a neighbour to raise.  They were spoiled and received excellent care.  The lamb that could not stand did so at about one week of age.  His new family actually put a diaper on him as he was always in the wet.  Once he was able to stand on his own the diaper was no longer needed.  These two boys were returned to us when they were older and have done quite well.


Later there were two other orphans which went to the same neighbours.  These were both females.  One was rejected by a yearling after a difficult birth.  The other was born of an ill ewe who never recovered.  The neighbours are keeping the ewe lambs to raise for their own small flock.

Two other sets of triplet births required lifesaving intervention.  Duchess presented the first lamb tail first.  I had to push the lamb back and find the the feet to present first.  The lamb tried to breath but could not; it was dead.  The next two lambs she delivered fine.  All three lambs were quite large.  Duchess has managed well with her two.

I happened to be there when Bertha lambed.  The first lamb was a very good size.  The next one was a bit smaller.  I was shocked when I realized a third had arrived.  It was breach and she stopped pushing as the head emerged and I noticed.  I quickly grabbed the lamb and got its face cleaned up so it could breathe.  I do believe if I'd not been there the lamb would have died.  A breech birth can be tricky as there is a period of time when no oxygen gets to the lamb.  This third lamb was small.  The trio made me think of the three bears as all were significantly different in size.  All are doing very well at this point.

Bertha's smallest triplet taking the largest leap!

 In all we had 65 lambs hit the ground.  Five were dead at birth.  Two died after day one, one from the cold and the other for unknown reasons.  And two more were given away to the neighbours.  So, we had 56 and then 4 went to auction early, so we have 52 in the flock.  Our lambs per ewe ratio is quite high at 1.8 for live lambs.  You want 1.5 or higher, so we have done very well.

I am disappointed with the 4 yearlings we kept from last year.  All 4 had problems and 3 have already left the farm as not worth keeping any longer.  I don't think I'll keep the last one.

I had the vet twice in the middle of the night.  In one case it was a mal-presentation that I could not deal with.  The result was one of the finest sets of twins born this year.  In the other case a yearling was aborting a dead lamb and required greater intervention than I could manage.  The Vet's advice was to cull the ewe.

It's been challenging managing things while working but we have managed - barely on some days.  The plan is to reduce the flock significantly this year.  We can increase it again later.  So, for now, I am culling hard to remove any ewes that are poor producers or problem producers.  For now, they have lambs to raise and will spend the summer on pasture.

In addition, we will plan lambing to occur in early May when it is supposed to be warmer.  We will pray for good weather. We are monitoring the rams very closely to ensure there are NO early lambs again.   Already the local farmers have taken off a good first cut of hay.  I will be able to schedule time off work for a concentrated period of time so that I can be very present during lambing.

More photos are below, just because they are lovely (thanks to Hubby!).  Enjoy!

Star, born at the end of January is getting quite big

Ruby, pressed into her garden spot.  Her eyes followed the photographer as he took shots from different angles.  She did not lift her head.

Newly shorn sheep on the side lawn in early May.

Spring apple blossoms near the cabin

Happy looking sheep

Catching Up

I'm catching up on posting on the blog.  And this phrase just fits for life right now.  So, here it is, life right now...

I worked full time through the summer.  I had a blast working as a Historical Interpreter, telling visitors about life in olden times.  The day was reasonable until you added on the drive.  Thankfully I was able to car pool most days and my car pool buddy is remaining a valued friend.  Seasonal and the tourist industry, it was not a Monday to Friday job.  I find with farming that since you basically do the same things every day it is hard to know when the weekend arrives.  And this job compounded that.

At any rate, it was a blast.  It's over now.  I was scheduled to return but found other full time work in my field of social services.  I am REALLY enjoying this work.  I was hired to cover a maternity leave and in short order things changed and the terms became full time, permanent. Our family life is more predictable now as we both work Monday to Friday - except for the farm work.  The hardest thing for me has been the lack of daylight.  I would see my animals in the dark in the morning and in the dark in the evening.  The longer days now leading us to spring are most welcome.

We have over-wintered about 40 head of sheep.  This is probably too many.  I don't know yet.  I know several people who work full time and keep a reasonable number of livestock.  I need a year to go through all of the seasons and to learn what I can manage while working full time.  Some unplanned things are happening too, and we are rolling with it.

"Star" was born at the end of January.  Surprise!

Unexpected lambs have arrived with lot number two having begun today with TRIPLETS.  We already have five lambs from a month ago.  Triplets are cute but often a lot more work for little return.  Mother Chloe has had a single each year until last year when she had twins.  It's a new counting game when there are three - or - Please, Lord, no! - quadruplets.  Chloe is an experienced mother and should manage triplets well, however, we got off to a challenging start.

I was returning from an outing and heard new baby lamb noises while in the driveway.  A yelling newborn is a strong newborn.  I changed outerwear and leapt up to the barn.  All three had been born.  The second lamb was not really making progress.  After about 30 minutes I gathered up baby number 2 and headed to the house.  I wrapped her in a towel and set her by the woodstove.

Beau dog minding the lamb wrapped in a pink towel and placed in front of the woostove

In twenty minutes she was trying to get up.  I thawed cow colostrum for her.  This took most of the twenty minutes.  She gobbled that right down, much to my surprise.  She was just so aggressive about sucking back this bottle.  All of this was encouraging.

She surprised me with how aggressively she took the bottle of cow colostrum

Hubby reminded me to put a jacket on her.  In her new blue fleece fashion I wrapped her in a towel and off we went back to Mamma.  My fingers were crossed that she would take this lamb back.  And, yes - BIG SIGH - she talked to the lamb and welcomed her back.  And the lamb began to yell at mother for food. 

Sporting her blue fleece jacket, baby was returned to the barn and happily greeted by her mother.

The other two were standing and had nursed.  Mother Chloe had drained a small bucket of warm molasses water and was part way through a flake of second cut hay.  It was all looking promising. 

You'd think I'd had the baby myself, as now I needed a nap.

Pics

Pictures can tell a story well.  I am working full time, loving it and have limited time to tell my stories.  So, here are some pics....  Enjoy!

Newborn sporting a homemade coat for a few hours.

Charlotte is one of several sheep who usually have one lamb and had twins this year.

Happy calves in the sunshine

Ruby-Dooby!

Olive's triplets.  This year two boys and a girl, while last year it was two girls and a boy.  But, wow, triplets two years running, following a single.

Olive's three competing for two teats.  The happy tail wagging indicates success.

I can reach, can you?

Million Dollar Millie.  The hair is growing back after surgery on the back leg.  And then the two Maremmas got into a fight and the vet clipped the hair on the wounds giving her a bad haircut on her head.  She's healed up just fine.

Sally giving birth in the afternoon sunshine on Easter weekend.

Ruby looking for the highest spot on the pile of hay.

Race time!

I was hoping for more black progeny from a coloured ram and here is what we got.  The female twins with the yellow ear tags I will keep.  The mothers of each set of twins are white.

Hanging out under the lilac bush.

There seems to be a regularly scheduled play late after and early evening.

Twelve hours

Yes, it all started twelve hours before, I noted as I was giving Hubby a telephone update.  I wanted to try and nap and thought I should call him before he called me.  I lit a fire in the wood stove to ward off the dampness as it continued to rain, and heavy at times.

I had driven up to the "Big O" to attend a guild meeting and when I arrived home and was unloading the car I heard a sheep bleat.  It was just past 11:30pm.  It had been raining lightly for most of the drive home.  It wasn't cold; just damp.  It was Monday and lambs were due on Friday but it's all a range of estimates so it was a good idea to check the barn.

Sheep don't usually bleat without a reason.  And there is a certain tone to a mother looking for a yet unborn lamb.  I took off my city coat and shoes and donned by overalls, winter barn jacket, muck boots and light winter hat - the one with the head light built into it.

Duchess was  outside at the back of the barn where the overhead light was bright.  It rained lightly.  She was obviously in labour but I could not tell for how long.  I let time pass by preparing a pen for her, fetching a bucket of water, and putting hay there for her.  I worked a bit at setting up some other pens for later in the week.

After awhile I headed back to the house to get warmed and give her a bit more time.  When I returned to the barn at about one o'clock, I got out the intervention gear.  I got out my OB gloves and lubricant.  There was a lamb's head, but no legs.  Oh dear!  I struggled with this for some time and eventually delivered a dead male lamb.  It was followed by a belch of gas of a disagreeable odour.

Poor Duchess.  She was a long time getting up.  By then I had the little guy wrapped up in a plastic bag for disposable.  She followed me as I held a soiled towel and the bag of dead lamb.  I put her in the prepared pen.

I observed and waited to see what would happen next.  I expected she would have at least one, if not two, more lambs.  She was large enough and it was her mother, Smudge, who had the quadruplets last year.  One can never know however, as Duchess herself was a single who had twinned last year.

I went back to the house for another break and had a quick snack and tea that was already in the pot.  Back to the barn and intervention mode.  I could feel a large ball which turned out to be a sac of fluid.  What I observed could be another lamb or just afterbirth.  But I could not feel another lamb.  The sac wasn't right.  It was thick and hard to break but I did succeed in doing so.

It was three o'clock and I was three hours short of being up for twenty-four hours.  I went to bed.  I mostly slept but it was a worried sleep.  When the alarm went off at six I bolted, dressed and went to the barn.

In Intervention mode I could feel a lamb head but the feet were far back, but they were there.  I pushed it back.  Were there more feet?  Was that another lamb?  This was too much.  And in consideration of the long labour and dead lambs I decided to call the Vet.

First I consulted my neighbour who I knew would be up.  She agreed with my plan.  I got the Vet's answering service as it was just before seven.  The Vet phoned me back a short time later.  I had long enough between phone calls to put on the coffee and make myself some breakfast.  Oh, I made Hubby's breakfast too.

I had a quick peak at Duchess and all was the same.  I carried on with my chores.  It was pouring outside and the flock was out.  I then realised - and observed - that Millie was keeping everyone out.  I also saw Ruby - in a more kind way - chase a few ewes outside.  But not Fleur, neither one of the Maremmas bothered last year's bottle baby.  My neighbour's dog does this too.  They are keeping the others away from the lambing ewe.

Dr. K arrived and delivered Duchess of another dead lamb.  We discussed follow up.  Then we went to the other barn and I had Dr. K look at the Holstein calf.  As Dr. K. drove down the road I carried a bucket of water up to Duchess.  As I neared her pen I was shocked to see a mass of red at her back end.  I quickly put down the bucket and jogged to the house as Dr. K's truck disappeared around the last bend.  I called the Vet's office and they called Dr. K who returned in less than ten minutes.

She gathered together the equipment necessary to replace a prolapsed uterus.  As we gathered at Duchess' pen I began to lament the end of her reproductive life.  Then Dr. K looked closer and said, "Wait a minute!  It's another lamb!"

She pulled the dead lamb out of the red membranes, and tossed it into the corner.  Dr K examined Duchess again and I saw her off once more.

Duchess drank lots of water in the day and was eating hay.  She was bleating for more food.  I checked her udder but as of yet it was not a problem.  I needed to monitor this over the next few days.

My neighbour came by for coffee and we had a nice visit.  She brought me a partial bag of calf milk replacer, a kind of trade as I'd given her a partial pail of lamb milk replacer.  It worked for each of us.  After she left I decided to call Hubby....

Twelve hours and the Duchess ordeal was done. She will continue to be a productive member of the flock, next year.