A Good Day...

April 27th will go down in history as a good day at Ugly Dog's Farm...

It rained most of the day and the mud is rediculous.  But the grass appears to have grown an inch and we have some new additions to report...

Doe Eyes had a beautiful ewe lamb around 11:30 am.  I couldn't get a good picture because this little lamb was immediately on the move.  It is usually day 2 before a lamb is playing and jumping as much as this girl was - I guess she is an over-achiever (I can totally relate)...

Covergirl followed up with a fiesty little girl of her own around 2:20 this afternoon.  This one likes to pose for the camera (again, I can relate)...

And at 4:00 Wayne found that one of the Clun Forest ewes had just finished giving birth to a handsome set of twin boys (once again - handsome, I completely relate!)...

It appears that a few other ewes will soon add to the lamb count...

Sunshine!!!

It is a beautiful sunny day!  Spring has been slow to arrive this year, but today is gorgeous and it's not just us humans who are basking in the sunshine... (click on any picture to enlarge)

The peacocks are struting their stuff...

The rhubarb has shot up out of the earth...

AND - the lambs are having a blast!

 

 

 

 



RUN BABY, RUN!

 

 

 

It's a GREAT day to be a lamb!

 

 

 

 

 

AND - a great day for a kiss!

Clun Forest Ewes - Ready for lambs...

I mentioned that we finally got around to vaccinating, de-worming, trimming feet, and shearing the Clun Forest ewes this past weekend...  I had wanted to get some nice pictures posted of the girls in their birthday suits but we have had nothing but snow, rain, and wind for the past few days.

The girls look great and their udders are filling up nicely, indicating to me that X63 (the Clun Forest ram) got his job done in record time...

one of my older girls carrying some lambs...

I am especially excited about how well the yearling ewe looks...  This is the first time that we have ever bred a ewe lamb.  It is a standard practice among Clun Forest sheep breeders to breed ewe lambs and since this ewe looked mature enough when fall arrived, we decided to give it a go.  That being said, we have been extremely diligent about trying to monitor her body condition during pregnancy... (this can be a challenge when looking at a sheep through 3 - 4 inches of wool!)

Too skinny and her growth and health could be compromised, too fat and she may have problems lambing... 

After shearing on Saturday, I think she looks PERFECT!!!  I love it when a plan comes together!

she has nice length of body and a beautiful topline...

beautiful little udder started and nice width of body as well...

I really like this girl... (can you tell?!?!?!?)

Checking off the "To Do" list...

It was an eventful weekend at Ugly Dog's Farm.  Many tasks which have been working their way up the "to do" list are now complete and checked off...

On Friday morning, two card carrying members of the "Procrastination Club" finally finished their income taxes and sent in the paperwork to Uncle Sam.  I always have the best of intentions to get my taxes done early - however, I usually have to settle for "on time" instead.

Our Clun Forest ewes are due to lamb in 2 or 3 weeks so it was high time we caught them, trimmed their feet, gave them their yearly CD&T shot, and dewormed them with injectable Cydectin...  While we were at it, we also did the same to our rams and yearling ewes.  My legs and back are still a little sore from bending over the 12 sheep we worked on. 

A trip to town to visit the bank, the feed store, and an early dinner (with a margarita) at the local Mexican Restaurant rounded out a busy Friday.

Saturday started out with 9AM ZUMBA!!!  Afterward, I drove out to Flushing, Michigan to pick up the Amish guys who were trimming feet at a friend's farm.  Usually, we will meet this friend halfway to do the "Amish exchange", but since I begged and pleaded to go 2nd in order to attend Zumba, I offered to pick them up instead.

We got all of the horses and donkeys feet trimmed in record time and I drove the boys home to Brown City while Wayne stayed home to watch for the sheep shearer.   Usually we have shearing planned well in advance, but Spring has been slow in arriving and we have been holding off getting the Clun ewes sheared.  If we were going to get the girls sheared before they lambed, now was the time...  Luckily, the shearer was able to fit us in at the last minute and shear the pregnant girls on Saturday afternoon.

By the time I returned from Brown City, the Cluns were naked and enjoying their dinner...  They look great and all 5 ewes have beautiful udders!  Will post some pictures this week once the sun returns.

Saturday evening finished off with dinner and wine at Pitchfork Ranch in Swartz Creek...  We had an amazing beef roast cooked on the grill, mashed cauliflower with sour cream and crumbled bacon, carb-free ice cream bars, and a few other odds and ends that escape my memory at the moment.

On Sunday we awoke to snow flurries...

We had breakfast in town, stopped to buy Barney some feed, and went to Kroger to do some serious grocery shopping.  The power was out when we returned home so we went to visit our weaving freind and mentor Cathy Phaneuf from Phaneuf Pharm. 

Cathy had a Harrisville Designs loom that Wayne was interested in and she also had newly born miniature goats to visit.  There is never a shortage of fun and entertaining things to see and talk about with Cathy.  She is in the process of setting up her brand new, monster-industrial, super-loom!!!  This thing will be big enough to weave blankets that are 10 foot wide and has an air compressor that lifts and lowers the harnesses...  It is truly amazing and I can't wait to see it completely assembled.

We got home to the power being restored, and after such a busy weekend, it was the perfect time for me to take an afternoon nap!  After feeding time, our friends Mel and Roberta joined us for a nice home-cooked meal which Wayne had prepared.

Thank goodness for Monday!!!  I can sit down...

Barney Update:

He is hanging in there.  The bute continues to keep him feel good and Norman the horse-shoer took his heels down lower to try to keep him comfortable.  He is eating great and trying to graze on the little bit of grass that is sprouting between snow flurries...

He got a bunch of carrots this weekend and his best friend Sophie is sticking to him like glue.

Hanging in there...

Thanks to everyone for your best wishes for Barney...

We are treating him with bute which is an anti-inflamatory and it seems to be helping with his sudden onset of pain.  We have also bumped up his grain at feeding time and Wayne is hand feeding him in the morning now too in order to try to put some weight back on him.  I think the warmer spring temperatures may be helping too.

He is still braying for his food at dinner time and it is good to know that he still looks forward to his meals and keeping me on schedule.  We'll see what happens, but for right now he seems to have rallied. 

We will enjoy whatever time we have left.  He will get his favorite treats, lots of attention, and I will make sure that when we spend our time together each evening that I tell him all of those things that need to be said...

Thanks again for all of your support - will keep you updated on the old boy...

A Chance to Survive...

Last night I attended a 3 hour CPR certification class.  I thought it might be a good thing to know since I attend a lot of group fitness classes and I am also around a lot of horseback riding functions.  CPR is one of those things that nobody wants to have to use, but everyone should know.

The class was taught by a local guy who is retired from the American Red Cross but still wants to be involved with teaching the public valuable life-saving skills...

It was a very interesting class...   I learned that someone responding to an emergency who is not being paid to provide care is protected from liability lawsuits by "Good Samaritan" laws.  The instructor also said repeatedly that a person who is unconscious and not breathing is essentially dead, so anything you do to help gives them a "chance" to live.  If you do nothing, they are almost assured to die.

This reminded me of life as a farmer - an animal in distress is as good as dead.  You can help them and possibly save them... you can give them a chance.  Doing nothing gives them NO chance.  Essentially you can't HURT them because they are as good as dead.  It is completely possible that you may try to help and they die anyway, but doing nothing ensures they have no chance...

Thinking about the people in my life that I care about, I am glad that I might know something now that could give them a chance to live.  When it comes to my livestock I have been tested... I know that I have given some of those animals the chance to survive.

I hope that I am never tested to give a person a chance to live, but I will perform CPR if I am faced with the situation...  

I hope someone might do the same for me.

And a Down... WAY down...

And the roller-coaster takes a swing in the other direction...

Poor Barney is not doing well and I fear that he may not be with us much longer...

A few weeks ago, during one of the many plunges back into winter temps we have seen many of this spring, Barney came up very lame.  He was limping around badly and he was very uncomfortable...  Daily doses of bute seemed to alleviate his pain and within a week he seemed back to normal

Unfortunately, yesterday Barney was not good at all.   Out of the blue, he was walking VERY sore on all four feet and looked miserable.  I bedded his lean-to thick with straw, we got him a bucket of water so he wouldn't have to travel far to the water tank, and we put lots of hay in there for him to eat.  I hand feed him every night with his equine senior and I hate to say that he is also losing weight.

I will not let him suffer.  I will not let him be in pain if I can help it.  I don't want to let him go - he is a link to my childhood and to my late uncle and is a friend I talk to every day...  but friends have to do what is best for each other and I think my friend will soon be with me only in my heart.

Perhaps a few days of bute and an increase in feed will give him a last hoorrah...  Perhaps not??   Barney has lived a long and full life either way - I know it will be a hard day when we say goodbye.

It is a hard thing to do, but be it a bird, a sheep, a horse, a dog, a donkey - any animal in my care...   I will always be able to look myself in the mirror and say that I had the strength and character to do the right thing when the time comes.  No animal will ever needlessly suffer because I don't want to make the hard choice.

Will keep you updated on Barney...  in the meantime, you can go back and read about my good friend here: One Mighty Fine Ass

Another UP... WAY up!!!

As if watching lambs play was not therapy enough, I have become even more addicted to ZUMBA!  It is fun, it is dancing, it is a party...   it is EXERCISE IN DISGUISE!!!

Over the past few weeks, my Zumba instructor was off with her family on a Carribean cruise and I got the opportunity to jump into her job while she was gone.  I imagine that nerves may have been something to overcome had it been any other time of year, but life and death happening at home in the lambing barn really has a way of putting things in perspective, right?

Things went awesome...  not only did I get to go and dance and work out, but I got to motivate others and get them excited about an activity that has changed my life.  One of the nights I got to lead a class of over 40 people!  The energy and excitement in the room was absolutely electric...

This past Saturday was my official training day and I spent from 8:00 in the morning to 6:00 at night getting my Zumba Basic 1 Trainer Certification.  What an amazing day...  started out with a Master class led by one of the country's leading Zumba instructors, but then we got to learn all about Zumba, the history of the dances, etc.  They broke down four different dances and we learned all of the "ins and outs" of the merengue, salsa, cumbia, and regaeton.

Needless to say, I was exhausted, tired, and very sore by the time the class ended, but so pumped up.  I did not think it was possible that I could be any more addicted to Zumba than I already was...   BUT I AM!!!!

Ups and Downs...

Life is full of ups and downs...  Sometimes the roller-coaster gets going so fast that I need to take my fingers off of the keyboard and hold on for a little while.  Thanks for being so patient while I roll with the punches for a little while!