Winter Farm Calls

Look a little like this:

"I'll meet you at the church, you can follow me from there..."

Yes, that is a Chick-Fil-A cow on the dash

with a sign saying "Eat Mor Chikin"

Going out to find the down steer

He had an injured leg, wonder if he slipped in the snow and ice, or was bullied by somebody.

Off-road driving is FUN, but not so much in the snow and ice. Though we did have a lot of melting this week, and driving in the mud isn't fun either. Poor truck looked like a disaster with all the splatter kicked up on it.

More cold on the way. Eh.

Livy-less

Yesterday I went up to Tommy Wilson's International Shedding clinic and handed the squirt off for some training. She was good and wild for the 7 1/2 hour trip ahead of her after watching her pop's turn! Poor Liv hasn't been worked in the last 2 months, I just haven't had the time or the sheep (ie non-lambing ones!) for her to work. The house is already noticeably quieter without her and Ella romping about.

Don't know why that would be.

Be a good girl, Livy!

Gabe continues to be The Man. We've had a minor hiccup in that I've managed to reign him in a little too much. Oops. He's learning to work ewes with lambs and even had a lesson on rams to get him jazzed up again. He is not a soft dog, just VERY biddable and a total team-player. My cranking on him and confusing him left him a tad hesitant. 100% my fault, but thankfully he's so forgiving and malleable that he's back to his old self! I'll continue to keep him free and happy...we'll trial someday and whenever that day is will be fine. His outrun is big and beautiful, flanks are pretty, and is starting to really *understand* driving. He is beginning to hold lines, a cool development for a dog with little eye. He feels his sheep well even though he doesn't yet exhibit much eye. Our current related project is to correct over-flanking on the drive. If I'm not pro-active he tries to slip up the side to catch the leader's eye. All in all he is coming along great, especially considering that I don't know what I'm doing and he's my first dog to train! What a boy!

Yay for me!

Holidays Are Over

Being on-call for the holidays has gotten a little old: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve all in a row. Thankfully NYE was rather uneventful with only one trip in to the clinic to see a rat terrier who was attacked by another dog.

Some more lambs this week, and the most beautiful pair arrived on 1.1.11. Two black ram lambs were born to a doper-looking wool cross, and they are just so handsome that I may need to keep them for myself.

Gabe's been doing most of the chores and he's enjoying it immensely. I am letting him work freely and figure things out for himself. Good experience for him, but when I took him out in the open field the last two days I could see some sloppiness in the "do as I say, not what feels right to YOU" department. He had some trouble with inside flanks and off-balance flanks, so we'll have to have some refresher sessions. I took Rae out to work the new moms and I was quite pleased with her. She's pretty much been a couch potato since her surgery, so it was good to see her back working.

Katahdin ewe and her ram lamb.

"The House:" she's looked like this for weeks.

Happy Birthday, Liv

A whole year old!

Waiting for Santa

...or, Why The Blinds Need Drawn

Bored

Ice everywhere. Been like this for the past week. It's treacherous just for the dogs to go out to the bathroom. Sheep are locked in the back field so that they have access to the barn, but I'd really like to get them out front where some of the field is bare and graze-able. Instead, they tip-toe to and from the round bale out back, nibble at the burn pile, and attempt to dig through the ice to get down to something edible. I tried to move them sans dog, verrry carefully across the ice and down the chute, but upon arrival at the entrance to the front field, I had bodies flying everywhere and panicked bleats for help; too steep, too slippery.

"Please help...can't walk!"

Bored.

Last year at this time we had a foot and a half of snow on the ground. Pretty sure I'd rather have snow than ice.

They must really like being pregnant

It's been a week and no new lambs. There are some ewes that are gigantic and have udders like Jersey cows, plus we're in the midst of a winter storm coming through, so I would've sworn that at least ONE would go! But, no.

Only mom with the ram twin

Gabe on lambing watch

"What drop in barometric pressure? We're holding them in."