Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Yikes! More sheep still...
Ok, now we be sheep herders for sure!
Last weekend our neighbor, who has been so helpful to us came for help from us. She and hubby are giving serious thought to leaving the desert for Colorado. Her kids are settling there and she'd love to be closer to them. Also, employment for hubby (a welder) would be much better.
Anyways, she offered us her four Merino ewe's at a really good price. The original plan was that we'd get them when they move and could make payments on them.
Wouldn't you know it? She lost her "trade hay for horse training" deal, so no more feed means she has to disperse her flock immediately. She got a really sweet deal on her PolyPay flock and we are now moving the Merinos and lambs to our pen.
Yesterday was the first "roundup" day... No pics as it's wasn't the least bit pretty. Cindy got a good trampling and will have some 'splaining to do at her next mammogram (this week).
Here are pics of yesterday's success.
This is Annie. She's a yearling Merino. Until we get Dixie over here to clearly identify each one, I'm at a loss to say if she's bred, had a lamb and lost it, or has not yet been bred.
This is Beulah. She's a real prize as she dropped quads this year. She's "Freezer's" mama and those are his surviving brother (black w/white face) and sister.
We'll be keeping the sister for our flock, while raising the little boy for Dixie's freezer. In return, she'll give us some of her lambing equipment. Ain't it nice to have good neihbors?
Monday we enlarged the brooder as the peeps are now a week old. They've nearly doubled in size. Next week, they'll get pretty much full run of the chicken coop... This is gonna be fun.
We've added some boards for roosts and the concrete block for a combination roost/toy. They now have almost 27 square feet of space.
In time, we'll name the hens, but the cockerels (save one or two) will be nameless and headed for our dinner table and freezer by fall.
Don't hold me to this... but we may be adding another horse, too. Eventually we want to have 3 horses so we can all ride together. I'll need to find a Welsh Pony for myself as my legs are too short to hoist my lead-filled butt into the saddle on a full-sized horse.
Last time I rode (in 2000) I had to stand on the wagon tongue to mount a beautiful Appaloosa. At that time a friend and I were traveling The Oregon Trail and were doing a short Wyoming segment by covered wagon and horseback.
Ok, time to get out of here and start digging holes for fence posts. We have to enlarge our pen and get some lambing jugs built as our own ewe's are both preggie. Don't ya just love it?
Labels: Sheep
Read or Post a Comment
<< HomeSubscribe to Post Comments [Atom]