The Last Weekend in January...

We woke up on Saturday morning to find 8 inches of new snow on the ground.  It was beautiful powdery snow that sparkled in the sunshine.  I really enjoyed the day, plowing the drive to the road and the drive back to the horsebarn.  Twice we had neighbors stop in to visit...  it was a very rare winter day where the sun brought people outside who have spent most of the last month holed up inside avoiding the cold.

We made it to the Shiawassee Trail Riders meeting on Saturday Evening and had a good time...  A few unsuspecting folks made the mistake of asking about our sheep and they got an earful about eating locally, knowing your food, and the virtues of raising your own meat.  I really think it is important for people to think about where their food comes from, how it lived, and what it ate.

Sunday was a very eventful day, we penned the 19 ewes who are in the barn and one by one caught them, tipped them on their rumps, vaccinated them with CD&T, wormed them with injectable Cydectin, and trimmed their feet.  CD&T is a vaccine against tetanus and several other clostridium toxins, we give this to the ewes 1 month before they are due to lamb and the ewes will pass some immunity on to their lambs.

We did have one mishap during the procedure...  poor Annie, our white Merino ewe who is arguably our most spectacular ewe got a sore leg thanks to my mistake.  Tipping ewes up can be a hassle (especially for those of us who are challenged in the height department) she tried to get one of her back legs underneath herself on my first attempt to flip her and that leg got bent back uncomfortably.  She was limping a bit yesterday but is moving much better today.

I just feel terrible when I hurt them needlessly... I know it is part of farming and mistakes will happen, but my forementioned need for approval from my peers is second only to my need to beat myself up with guilt when I do something stupid.  In the long run, I think guilt makes me more careful and more thoughtful about how I handle my animals so it is probably a good thing.

On my way out the door to work this morning, I made a sidetrip to the barn to check on Annie...  although my vivid imagination had produced images of a leg swollen to gigantic proportions turned black with gangrene, reality was much less dramatic.  A very slight limp which was even better this evening.

This Friday the shearer is coming to shear the ewes...  In an ideal world, it would be nice to combine giving shots, foot trimming, and shearing all at one time so as to avoid the stress of penning and catching the ewes twice, but I think it is important to respect the shearer's time and have these extras done so all he has to do is shear and not wait on us.  Plus, the more we handle our ewes in the month before they lamb, the calmer they seem to be when lambing time arrives.

The weather forecast is calling for massive quantities of snow for this week.  The latest reports called for snow accumulation of 8 to 15 inches by Wednesday.  We shall see...  February might start with a whiteout!