An easy day...?

Today was supposed to be an easy day on the farm. The plan was to have brunch with my friend, Karen, then pick up some bigger water tanks for the sheep on the way home, and finish up the day by writing and posting the blog. Compared to most days, that sounded pretty "light," so I awoke eager to start the day!

Before I could leave for brunch, I, of course, had to do the morning chores: exercise the three dogs for twenty or thirty minutes and feed the lambs a five-gallon bucket of grain. I figured I would do the grain first and then finish with the dogs and leave for brunch, but I was wrong. On the trip out to the lamb pasture, I noticed one of the lambs drinking from a puddle - not a good sign! I checked the water tank and discovered that it was bone dry. I should have guessed that this small tank wouldn't keep up with all the sheep that drank from it! For a while now, we have been planning a trip to buy bigger tanks for most of the pastures. Once I saw the lamb and puddle, I had to readjust my plans.... I now had to exercise the dogs while filling the water tank in the back of the truck, and then fill both stock tanks (the lambs' and the ewes') from the truck's water tank before I left for brunch - thank goodness Karen called and was running late!

I had the presence of mind to throw my clothes and shoes for brunch into the truck and drove out to the pastures to fill the sheep tanks with water. I didn't dare wear my good "brunch clothes" until I finished because, inevitably, I end up fixing a coat, moving a lamb, or in some other way getting mud or manure all over me. I was pleased with the fact that I had thought to bring the clothes with me to change in the field. As I changed, I noticed that the pasture was eaten down to the point that we needed to move the lambs into a new pasture and shift the ewes into this one. Well, OK.... Later. I would have to find time later. Right now, I had to get changed and get over to meet Karen. Basically, the clothing switch all worked as planned, but then I opened the gate out to the road and unknowingly got dirt on my hands, which I then quickly transfered to my clothes as I brushed them off.... Oh, well. Maybe Karen wouldn't notice....

So, off I went to brunch at Perkin's. Our brunch is always full of laughs, lots of catching up, and just general good things, and today's was no exception. While I was there, my hay and straw supplier returned my call and made arrangements for me to stop by later today to pick up four bales of straw for the weekend. OK - no big deal. I figured I could pick it up later this afternoon, after the blog. I left Perkins at about 1:15 p.m., planning on a quick stop at Tractor Supply to pick up the three stock tanks we obviously needed, and then home to the dogs by three.

Unfortunately, Tractor Supply had only one tank that was one foot high, two feet wide, and six feet long, for a total of seventy gallons. We can't get the two-foot-high version because the smaller sheep can't reach the water. Well, I figured one was better than none, so I payed for it and pulled up to have it loaded into my truck. Darn - the stupid tank had a hole in it! There was really no point to buying even the one tank if it had a hole in it! I had to go back inside to return my purchase... another twenty minutes wasted! It was now nearly two thirty, and I still had no stock tanks.

All I could think to do was to call Theisen's in one of the outlying towns - I was afraid the one in Cedar Rapids would cater more to townfolk than to those of us who have farm animals. The one in Anamosa is located right in the middle of farm country, so I figured I had a better shot there. According to the guy I talked to, though, they had no "short" stock tanks at his store, but the Cedar Rapids branch had two in stock. I had done all my calling sitting in my truck on the shoulder of the road, so I put down the phone and headed for the Cedar Rapids Theisen's in hopes of still getting at least one sheep stock tank for the pasture and getting home by three.

Well, as I drove up, I was lucky enough to talk to one of the Theisen employees in the parking lot, who assured me that they had what I was looking for. I rushed into the store at quarter to three, and headed straight for the farm equipment section. After looking and finally finding help, I was told that they didn't carry the size I was looking for and never did! Now, what was I going to do? Amazingly, the lady who was helping me suggested we look at the catalog from the company that supplies their stock tanks - maybe they could 'special order' what I needed, and then I could either wait the four weeks to get it or I could go pick it up myself.

Long story short, the company did have exactly what I was looking for. All I had to do was pay for three tanks, then bring the receipt to them and they would load them into the back of my truck. No problem. Except.... I did have to drive up to Manchester to pick them up today. I had to be there by 4:15 p.m. or it would have to wait until...next Wednesday. It was now three o'clock. Manchester is a good hour's drive from Theisen's, and I had no idea where in Manchester I was going. I still had dogs to deal with at home - they had been in their crates for nearly five hours. I called a friend to let the dogs out, and I went to pay for the tanks. Timing was going to be tight!

I should know by now that when I'm in a hurry, everything goes wrong! I have an ATM card for farm purchases. The machine at the check-out wouldn't take my card. No, there was nothing wrong with my card - the machine had been "acting up" all day, I guess. We ran it five times. We had the same problem each time. Minutes were ticking by, and I still had to be in Manchester by 4:15. It was beginning to look hopeless...until I thought to use it as a credit card. Eureka! That did the trick, and I was on my way to Manchester with my receipt in hand!

The trip was uneventful. I made it there at exactly 4:15 p.m. The guy loaded up my stock tanks, and I turned around and left for home. It was nearly five-thirty when I arrived. Still on my list to do: move the lambs into the timber, move the ewes into the rock pasture that the lambs just left, then move the lambs into the fire-circle pasture (I couldn't move them directly there because the ewes had to pass through the fire-circle to get to the rock pasture). Coda was ready to go, but Martin (our new llama) was not. We got all of the lambs and their llama, Vinnie, moved into the timber in short order, but the ewes and Martin were another matter entirely. Martin was sure that they were under attack by Coda, and he defended. It took us nearly two hours to move all of the sheep and fill two of the three troughs (the ones in the occupied pastures).

At 7:30 p.m. I came inside to write the blog. I have yet to pick up the four bales of straw for the barn cleaning tomorrow - that's my next project. Then I think I am done for the day. My "brunch clothes" are now dirty and stained - I forgot to change them when I brought the tanks back. I'm sunburned from my time outside, and I'm a little hungry - brunch ended quite a while ago. I'm looking forward to a hot shower after I get the straw....

This was supposed to be an easy day, and it has been absolutely crazy! Hopefully tomorrow - which is pretty full - will be easier than this! Tomorrow's list is twenty-four items long, but we have a couple of teenage boys coming to help out.... At least that way, I know I'll get lunch!

An early morning scare

There are times when I make a decision that seems so good, reasonable, and well thought out at the time, only to have it blow up into a mess when it actually plays out. That's exactly what happened this morning. Let me explain....

Lisa is no longer much of a herding dog. She was my first working dog, and I made all of my mistakes with her. Even after training and retraining, I realized that the biggest mistake I had made was in the disposition I had chosen for my dog, and so I eventually retired her at the ripe old age of about six years. Lisa has a mind of her own and, unlike Coda or Chance, is not at all interested in working as a team with a human partner. Actually, I don't really think she wants to work with any partner. Lisa likes to do what she wants to do at any time or place that she wants to do it. She has finally agreed to generally follow my household rules, but not in order to please me (which seems to be more the case with my other two dogs) - instead, she follows my rules because she knows that punishment awaits her if she doesn't. She will still push the envelope as far as she can, though, punishment or not!

You should also know that all of our dogs are afraid of thunder - mightily afraid. We do medicate them for storms, and we actually began doing so early enough in their lives - in the case of both of the boys, Coda and Chance - that they will actually work the sheep in a storm if need be. It doesn't happen often, but it sure is comforting to know that if I need to bring the sheep in during a fierce storm, I won't be trying to do it myself! Of the three, Lisa is the most storm phobic - there is no way she would help me in a storm.... no way!

So, this morning, thunderstorms were popping up on the weather radar all over our state - most were very limited in size, but they created a lot of thunder and lightning as they went by. I was gettting ready to go outside and finish my chores when I saw the western horizon darkening - I knew a big storm was on its way in a short period of time. I still had to exercise the dogs for at least twenty minutes before they went to relax for a while in their crates, and I also needed to fill the creep house with grain for the lambs to eat at their leisure during the day. I didn't want to get caught in a downpour walking the dogs, but I also didn't relish the idea of filling the creep house as buckets of rain dumped down around me, either.

I decided that the thing to do was to try something I had done many times in past years when I had a similar situation: take the dogs on a walk and frisbee-catching session as we moved closer and closer to the rock pasture where the lambs were grazing. Once I got near the pasture, I could put them all into a "down-stay" and go in myself to fill the creep building. Once I was finished and out of the pasture, I planned on releasing them from their stay and continuing on the walk. This way, I could kill two birds with one stone - both walk the dogs and feed the lambs - before the worst of the storm hit!

Unfortunately, Lisa had her own plans for the morning.... We began the walk as usual for our morning routine: I threw the frisbee and walked, while the dogs retrieved the frisbee and did their 'business.' We all slowly worked our way away from the house and towards the back of the property. This time, however, I was carrying the bucket of grain for the lambs as I walked, and we were accompanied by the sound of distant thunder. The thunder was obviously making the dogs ill at ease, but they were still willing to walk and fetch, so we moved towards the rock pasture.

It didn't take long before Lisa figured out that we were headed for the rock pasture and the lambs, and decided to "help out." As she raced into the pasture where the lambs grazed, it was obvious that she was up to no good: our dogs are taught to wait at the gate for us to enter first, but she threw herself under the bottom wire of the fence and immediately ran for the lambs, barking all the way. The commotion caught the attention of the other two dogs, and all three began running around and through the group of lambs, panicking the flock. What a mess!

I called. I threatened. I tried not to scream at them (it gets the dogs too excited and tense), but I can't say that it didn't happen. I ran to try to catch them. When something like this happens, there isn't really much you can do.... The dogs are too fast and too smart to be caught. Eventually, the fun for Coda and Chance wore off, and they obeyed when I asked them to lie down and then to leave the pasture. Lisa, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with me! This was fun for her and she had no plans of stopping!

I watched, helplessly, as she charged the group of lambs again and again, scattering them to the corners of the pasture, only to regroup them and start again. It was hot and muggy, even for morning, and this crazed running was really not good for any of them, dog or sheep. I was getting more and more worried.... And then it happened. I watched as Lisa charged the group of lambs yet again, and this time, one of the black ewe lambs dropped onto her side in the tall grass and did not get up. Oh, I had to stop this, and fast!

It took me several more minutes before I could get Lisa's attention - it was finally a good strong clap of thunder that drew her attention away from her quarry. When it broke her concentration, she suddenly felt the rain and wind, and heard the storm all around her as it gathered strength. Suddenly - and thankfully for the lambs - all she had on her mind was to race for home to get away from the storm, and that's just what she did!

Oh, ... and that black ewe lamb? Well, as soon as the coast was clear, she lifted her head to take a good long look around. Seeing that the crazy dog had indeed left for home, she hopped right up and rejoined her flock-mates like nothing had happened. When I, too, turned away and left for home, she was the only sheep in that pasture that wasn't panting heavily after the early morning run. Who says sheep aren't smart?! At the ripe old age of two months or so, she has already figured out that the best way to avoid trouble with Lisa is not to play her games! If only I could figure out a way....

A bittersweet weekend of travel

After loading up both lambs and yearlings late Friday evening, we left Saturday morning for Wisconsin to begin our deliveries. Our first stop was the delivery of just one yearling CVM ram in Belleville, Wisconsin. He, thankfully, hopped right out of the trailer, happy to see fresh grass! There were also a number of other sheep in the pasture with him, so we had no problems convincing Ignatius that this was to be his new home. Within less than an hour, we were back on the road to our second stop - right on schedule!

Happily, our second stop took us to Brodhead, which was less than an hour's drive. There were three Romeldale lambs and a yearling CVM ram to drop there as a starter flock. The lambs were easy to move out of the trailer - they are still small enough that we could carry them to the paddock where they would live (see photo on right). The yearling ram was not so simple.... It did help that his traveling buddy, Ignatius, had already left, and now most of the lambs had also been taken from the trailer. We opened the side door to his compartment, and with a little coaxing, we got Iverson to jump out of the trailer and into the paddock that will be his new home for the time being.

Sheep don't much like to be alone - they are flocking animals and feel very uncomfortable without a group around them. Iverson called and called to find other sheep, but for whatever reason, the lambs that we had just off-loaded into the adjoining paddock did not answer - they were too interested in eating the tall grass! Iverson was getting more and more nervous as he called and called to a seemingly empty field. Just as he seemed about ready to give up hope, the three lambs that we had just delivered ate through some of the vegetation between the two adjoining areas. They could see him, and he could see them! The lambs were much more comfortable with an older sheep there with them, and Iverson was no longer alone! Once the paperwork was done and all questions were answered, we hopped back into the truck for the drive to our next stop in Sheridan, Illinois - our last stop of the day.

Although it took us several hours to travel this leg of the trip, it was a good time for Rick and me to discuss all of those things we somehow never seem to have time to get around to hashing out at home. Before we knew it, we were at our last stop to deliver twin Romney ewe lambs - one black and one white. Carrying them to their new home from the trailer was easy enough at this age. We had delivered a ram lamb, Grissom, to this same farm in the summer of 2007. It was especially fun to be able to see Grissom again, as we had only seen one picture of him in the spring of 2008. It is always interesting to me to see how our breeding animals grow up because we often only see them as lambs.... Grissom has grown to be an impressive Romney ram - quite muscular and well-built, with a gorgeous gray fleece! It was hard to take my eyes off him as we stood at the fenceline - but we had to be on our way home to spend the night and to reload the trailer with lambs for Sunday's trip!

We got home late (nearly ten), so decided to load up Sunday's lambs in the morning before we left. Unfortunately, because we knew we were going to be gone much of the weekend, we had put all three dogs into the boarding kennel for the weekend - that way, we didn't have to worry about arranging for someone to let them out during the day. Well, with no dog available Sunday morning, loading the lambs we needed into the trailer became quite a project! If Coda had been home, we would have been finished in ten minutes. As it was, the loading process took us over an hour as we tried to outwit rather than outrun the lambs we needed.

Eventually, we had the five lambs rounded up (plus two extras), and we were on our way to Reinbeck, Iowa. We arrived just after lunchtime, and almost immediately unloaded the lambs. We had brought two ram lambs for a final decision on-site, and also January to keep the unchosen lamb company on the trip home, so we only had to unload five of the seven we had brought. Once the five purchased lambs were carried to their new barn and pen, Rick and I were able to sit down with the Heistads to finish paperwork and talk sheep for a bit. Buying a starter flock is a big deal, and we try to share as much information and answer as many questions as possible before we leave. If we miss anything, there is always e-mail or the phone - we try to be available as questions come up during that first year or so.

By mid-afternoon, it was obvious that they had just about hit information overload, so we said our good-byes and headed for home, knowing that all of the lambs delivered over the weekend had gone to wonderful new homes. This is always a bittersweet time of year for us: saying good-bye to the lambs that we have worked so hard for, yet knowing that, unless they go to new homes, there will not be room for any more lambs next year! So, as we made our way across Iowa, bound for home, we began our list of "K" names for the 2011 lambs. It really helps to keep looking forward.....

The first lambs ready for delivery

This weekend is a big one for us - many of our lambs will be going to their new homes in the next two or three days! As simple as that sounds, there is a lot of preparation that goes into getting them sold and settled in, and it started weeks ago....

Beginning at about five or six weeks of age, we gave our lambs their first immunizations for tetanus and a couple of common sheep diseases. Trying to catch lambs of that age for anything can be a trick: they run so quickly and jump so high that we've had to develop a method to our madness in trying to catch them! We have found that locking them into a small area - like a stall in the barn - works much better than any other option. We need to give them a booster shot after about three weeks, so, between coats and shots, we handle the lambs a lot in those first weeks!

We also try to clean them up a bit before we turn them over to their new owners.... We make sure that if they are going with coats, that the coats will still fit for at least a couple of weeks, and that they are not torn and fairly clean. If the lamb has manure tags from grazing rich grass, we try to trim them off - it is important to make a good first impression, even if you are a lamb!

There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be put in order before a sale, too. Every lamb we sell comes with not only a registration, but also a print-out of all of the computerized information that we have collected on that lamb since birth. That includesweights every month (beginning at birth), every notation we've ever made when handling the lamb (when it was dewormed, immunized, medicated, etc.), any color genetics that we have been able to figure out from the sire and dam, any illnesses or injuries (not common), etc. Thank goodness the paperwork is computerized! I can't imagine having to sit down and write it all out longhand - including the five generation pedigree!

My last task, besides loading the lambs up for transport tonight, is to mix up creep feed for their first week or so in their new home. Sheep, and especially lambs, require a pretty consistent feed ration - dramatic changes will really throw off their digestion. Because of that, I make sure each lamb goes with about seven pounds of creep feed to slowly make the transition over to whatever their new owners will feed them. Our ration is not a ready-made mix - we mix it ourselves for our lambs each day. That means that I now have to mix enough in my little buckets for well over a dozen lambs for at least seven days or so. Needless to say, it's going to take a little time!

Once we leave tomorrow morning to deliver the first lambs, it will be exciting! There is nothing like watching a family welcome home a small flock of little lambs - especially when there are children involved! At that point, all of the preparation is suddenly worth it, and we drive away knowing that not only are our lambs in good hands, but we've also likely made new friends with their new owners in the process. It won't be long now....!

Our working dogs

I have to admit that I couldn't do what I do with my flock of sheep without my dogs. I know that a lot of shepherds say that they can move their flocks using a bucket of grain, but my sheep are too wary to fall for that. Most of them will come in, but a few stay back and watch to see what we have planned. When the others see the few outside, they become nervous and run out of the barn, too, so that we then need to get more grain to try to bring them back in. We eventually got to the point where we knew we could not move the sheep reliably, so we got our first dog, Lisa.

Because she was our first dog, I made a lot of mistakes with Lisa - both in selecting her and in her training. She is still around now, seven years later, but retired, having gotten to the point where she is more trouble than help. Because border collies need a productive job to maintain their sanity, she has developed the task of protecting me from the rooster when I collect eggs from the nesting boxes. This isn't something I would have thought of on my own, but she has embraced it as her task in life since her retirement and, since it has created a kind of peace in the household, we go with it.

Coda was the next dog to arrive and is now, at five years of age, our main dog. Although I am constantly reminding him to slow down while he's working, he can do just about anything I need with little instruction. He is tough enough to move the most ornery rams, and yet can be gentle and patient enough to move even the youngest weaned lambs. I am afraid that he is a once-in-a-lifetime dog: he is just that easy to work with. I used to think that he read my mind, but I have come to realize that he must read my body language and often knows what I need him to do even before I even tell him.

Besides being so good with the sheep, Coda also knows to steer clear of the llamas. We have one llama protecting each group of sheep. When I take Coda into an area to move sheep, he keeps an eye open for the llama and, although he will move my sheep as needed, he will also keep from being killed by the resident llama. Chance isn't so savvy and the llamas are my major issue with him right now....

Chance is the youngest and also the smallest of our three dogs. Being two years old, he doesn't yet have the experience that Coda has developed, and I don't think he realizes that being too close to the llamas is a danger. He becomes so involved with working the sheep that he loses track of where the llama is - and that can be fatal! When I take Chance into the flock of sheep, I have to keep an eye out for him, to keep him away from the llama. I am hoping that, eventually, with more experience, he will figure all of this out for himself the way that Coda did - but he hasn't done it yet. Right now, it can still be a heart-stopping experience to let Chance work the sheep.

Of our three dogs, Chance has the most unusual personality. If you were to meet him in the house, you would think he's still a puppy - he's much too playful and immature for you to consider him a working dog. Yet, if you take him in among the sheep, all of that silly puppy behavior drops away, and the working dog comes to the fore. If you met him in the pasture with sheep, you would have a hard time reconciling the dog you saw indoors with the one you met in the fireld - he is that different.

Many people ask me if I have a favorite from among our dogs.... In fact, I do have a favorite. The problem is that my favorite changes by the day. Actually, it probably doesn't take that long to change from one to another - it can be minutes! Coda is definitely my favorite for certain tasks with the sheep, but Chance is actually better at other times in moving the flock. Lisa can be a doll - or a stinker, depending on her mood. Overall, life with three border collies isn't easy - they have way too much energy to simply be household pets. Yet, for our lifestyle, I can't imagine doing what we do without them. Their intelligence and drive make working the sheep infinitely easier, and our lives away from the flock infinitely more interesting.....

A bittersweet reunion

Saturday marked the final weaning date for all of our lambs. The oldest lambs were done a few weeks ago, but since we wean in two groups, the lamb flock still had the mothers of the youngest lambs in with them. The project this past Saturday was to pull out all of the adult ewes - except for Zoe, who would act as "granny" and provide leadership for the lambs - and put them into the timber with the rest of the ewes.

We then planned on splitting the lambs into two groups.... The youngest lambs who would be weaning this week would stay in the barn with the lambs who will be leaving for new homes next weekend - both of these groups would get a little extra attention this week, so keeping them close just made sense. The rest of the lambs went with Zoe to a new, fresh pasture.

Our bottle lambs, Jasper, January, and Jareau, were weaned with the first group in late April, so they ended up being split up between the two groups: Jasper stayed in the barn because he is leaving next weekend, and January and Jareau were intended to go with Zoe's group out to the pasture. At the last minute, January got in with the barn group, so we decided to leave her there as a companion for Jasper. One more lamb eating hay is no big deal, and she seems like a fixture in the barn - it would almost be odd to go to the barn and not find January there, getting into places and things that she wasn't supposed to!

That left Jareau in with the older lambs in Zoe's group, going down across the lawn, through the orchard, across the ram pasture, out across our small foot-bridge over the wetlands, to the newly opened south pasture. All of the lambs moved easily, following Zoe with llama Vinnie in the lead. The remaining lambs at the barn were given lots of hay and water, and then barricaded in so that they couldn't take off to find their mothers in the timber. The day's project seemed done, and I went inside the house to call it a day at about five in the afternoon. However....

It wasn't long before I noticed that there was a lamb outside of the enclosure around the barn! This really couldn't be possible, as we had used the same barricade that we used a few weeks ago, and that we knew was lamb-proof! How could a lamb have gotten out? I turned off the TV news and went to investigate....

It turns out that our barricade is indeed escape-proof - no lambs had gotten out: they were all still inside their enclosure. There was a lamb outside, though, poking her head into every nook and cranny, but she had not come from inside - she had come from Zoe's group in the new pasture! It was Jareau! Missing her two bottle-lamb friends, she had decided to strike out to find them, rain or shine, over high ground or wetlands. She had obviously taken the hard route, as she was wet and filthy, but happy to have found her friends. Her biggest issue now was that they were inside and she was out - but she was determined to change that!

January and Jasper, on the other hand, were the cheering section inside the panelled fence, calling and calling to their friend, Jareau. By the time I got up to the barn, Jareau had put her head into the only opening into the area and gotten stuck there with Jasper and January jumping onto her and rubbing against her, encouraging her on. The whole scene made me smile - these three friends, of two different breeds, had become 'family' only because of chance - they all had to be bottle fed to survive. Yet, they are now so connected that separating them into distant pastures had caused such a scene.

So what could I do?! Jasper leaves next Sunday for his new home, so I decided to let them have their time together this week - what is one more lamb eating hay in the barn? So now, January, Jasper, and Jareau have one more week to celebrate their friendship. When I went out this morning, the three of them were busy chowing down a flake of hay from the same hay feeder, keeping all of the other lambs at other feeders - this was "their" feeder, and they worked in unison to defend it. I know that their time together is short, and that this is the way life on the farm goes, but I am going to be sorry to break up this little trio.... I am happy that two of them will have a permanent place here, and that Jasper has found a good home, but I can't help but feel just a bit of sadness each year as our lambs leave our care and disperse to start their new lives. As always, I wish them well.

Into the shepherd's arms....

It was a pretty typical spring storm in Iowa: the wind was bending the trees to the point of breaking, the rain was hammering down in sheets, interspersed with bits of hail, and arcs of lightening lit up the sky. It was evening, and it was beginning to get dark - I knew that the lambs had to come in to the barn to get out of the storm.... Cold rain is not good for young lambs, and several years ago, we lost a lamb in a lightening storm - I certainly didn't want a repeat!

Most of the lambs had come in when the storm first began, but a few of them had gone to graze in outlying areas earlier in the day, and now couldn't get back on their own. So, there I was in my yellow slicker, trying to bring the lambs home for the night. The first one that I noticed had obviously crawled under the seven-wire fence and was grazing with the rams. Jake had figured out how to get to the 'greener pastures' on the other side of the fence, but now couldn't figure out how to get back. I quickly turned off the power to the ram's fence, hopped it to pick up Jake, then came back over it with Jake in my arms. It seemed easier to carry him to the barn than to get one of our herding dogs out in the storm to teach Jake how to cooperate with a dog - a lesson better left for a calmer day! When I got to the paddock at the barn, Rick opened the gate, and I set the ram lamb on the ground to run into the barn. One down, and five or six lambs to go....

Next came the group of lambs who had crawled under the west pasture fence into what we call the Rock Pasture. I was hoping that all I had to do was to open the gate adjoining the two fields and the lambs would be smart and run for the barn. The rain and hail was now really pelting me, and although the slicker was keeping my sweatshirt dry, my sweatpants were soaked through, and I was getting cold.

As I opened the gate that I hoped would bring the lambs in, I realized that Gianna and her daughter, Jezebel, were two of the sheep in the rock pasture, and rather than come back up to the barn, Gianna slipped back under the fence to the timber where her fellow flockmates were riding out the storm. That was fine for her, but Jezebel followed her into the timber.... I would have to find her later. There were still three other lambs in that same rock pasture who I had to bring in - and this time, I couldn't just carry them!

As I walked into the middle of the pasture, with one lamb to the west, and two more in that same field to the south, I was trying to figure out how to get all three moving towards the barn. I was afraid that the single lamb who had been grazing with Jezebel and Gianna would try to follow them into the timber. And as I walked towards him or her, that was just what he/she was trying to do!

Then, I noticed that this lamb was pretty small in comparison to our other lambs.... And it was wearing a new, white coat - I had just yesterday changed Jareau's coat for a new, bigger one. I wondered, could this be my little Jareau - the bottle lamb who, at one point, would come to the sound of my voice calling her name? As I walked, I began to call Jareau in the high-pitched call that I had always used to call her for her bottle, hoping against hope that maybe it would convince this little lamb not to take off for the timber in this nasty weather.....

Believe it or not, it worked! Fighting my own disbelief, I continued to call, and not only did Jareau stop trying to find a way under the fence, but she also turned to look in my direction. As I called again and again, she began to run as fast as her little legs could carry her in my direction! When we met in the middle of the rock pasture, she was so excited to see me that she was like a gleeful pet dog, jumping up on me and rubbing her soggy head against me - all she wanted was for me to pick her up!

I popped open my slicker and tucked her under as much of it as I could manage, protecting her from the worst of the downpour, while she nibbled on my chin and nose - Jareau was obviously happy to be at least partially out of the storm. Now, I had to shift my attention to the other two lambs to the south.... As I began to walk towards them, the oldest of the two suddenly realized that I had opened the gate that stood between them and the barn. All it took was for me to give them a little incentive to get moving (by walking towards them), and the two ram lambs took off for the barn, with Jareau and me bringing up the rear.

It wasn't long before all of the lambs were safe in the barn and out of the nasty weather. With all of the lambs warm and dry for the night, I headed for the house, reflecting on all that had just happened. It still amazes me that even weeks after her last bottle, little Jareau heard her name, knew that it signalled an end to her misery in the cold, and came running to me for help. This is just another one of those stories that makes the tough parts of what I do completely worth it.

The ewe lamb clubhouse

You wouldn't believe how often sheep do things that remind me of the human experience. Actually, that is probably why the Bible draws so many parallels between people and sheep, but that's a whole other blog....

Yesterday, I went walking out in the west pasture to check on one of our ram lambs who recently has had a cough. I noticed that there was quite a group of lambs hanging out under the mulberry tree, so I thought he might be there with them. The lambs were resting under the tree - most just lying there, snuggled up close to another lamb on one side or the other, and cudding (chewing their cud). It was a little unusual to see such a big group of lambs and not see any playful head-butting or mounting behaviors.... They just seemed very relaxed, enjoying the spring weather!

Unfortunately, as I drew closer I startled the group (even moving slowly), so many of the lambs stood up, ready to flee at any sign of 'equipment' - dewormers, needles, fresh coats, or anything else that required them being handled. That's when I snapped the above picture, because as I drew near enough to see who was under the tree, it surprised me.... All of the lambs lying around the mulberry tree were girls!

I had obviously stumbled across the ewe lamb clubhouse! No wonder there was no tussling going on! We tag all of our ram lambs in their right ears (we remember it with the statement, "boys always think they are right"), and it was easy to see that none of the lambs under the tree at that moment had a right eartag! As I scanned the pasture, I could see many examples of typical rough-and-tumble lamb play - by the ram lambs - but not under this tree. These girls had decided that they wanted some time to themselves with no boys alllowed!

I eventually did find my coughing ram lamb (who was fine), but I couldn't stop thinking about the group of ewe lambs under the tree.... It reminded me of days gone by when our kids used to make forts that allowed entry to only their own sex. I guess the ewe lambs decided yesterday that enjoying the spring day did not include playing with the ram lambs. I bet they will be changing their tune by fall when breeding season begins!

The continuing saga of Jezebel and Jewel....

As most of you may remember, Jezebel and Jewel have been our escape artists this year, finding their way to their mothers so often after weaning that we had to "jail" them to keep them from finding the ewe flock and nursing. The last time we let them out was last Monday morning, and by afternoon, they had again found their way back to the flock of adult ewes.

Well, it has been one week since their last release and, according to my vet, ewes dry up their milk if they are not milked for a week, so we thought we would try letting them out of their pen again. It has actually been over two weeks since we weaned them, but now it has been a whole week since they've last been with their mothers. My normal routine is to fill the lambs' creep feeders in both the morning and early evening, so I thought I would open Jewel and Jezebel's pen after I filled the creep this morning. My thinking was that they would, hopefully, become so engrossed in the creep feed that they would forget about going to look for their mothers....

The plan seemed to be working when I opened up their "jail" this morning - as you can see in the photo at right, both Jewel and Jezebel headed straight for the nearest grain feeder and away from the door (behind me as I took the photo). As I went about my routine, I could peek in and see them filling up their tummies - a good sign!

Unfortunately, it didn't last long, though. When I finished my barn chores and took the dogs out for some exercise, I suddenly noticed two little lambs - one black and one white - making their way across one pasture after another, running full-speed for the adult ewe flock in the timber. It took only minutes, and by the time I got my camera out of my back pocket, they were just reaching the last fence, with llama Martin standing guard, ready to greet them! If you look closely at the photo on the left, you can see two little white dots (their coats) running towards Martin, who is just to the right of the big group of trees - they were already nearly a quarter-mile away!

Quite honestly, I'm not planning on fetching them back again - I am done with that game! Their mothers' milk is drying up, so I don't have to worry about having to wean them again. We will be weaning the last group of lambs this weekend, so we will move Jezebel and Jewel back with the lambs at that time - until then, they can graze with the ewe flock, I guess. When you work with livestock, sometimes you just have to call it good enough and move on - I think this is one of those times... but wait until this weekend! I'll get them back then!

Jubal likes his grain

When I got out to the barn for my morning check of the lambs, I noticed that one of our lambs had lost its coat: the leg strap of the coat had obviously gotten caught on one of the posts of the hay feeder and somehow the lamb had struggled out of it - the coat laid there where it had been abandoned. The problem here is that the lambs like to stand in the feeder to eat - not really how it was intended to work - and as the level of hay goes down, their leg strap can get caught on one of the upright posts. Some of you long-time readers may remember that we had this problem almost daily with Ivy last fall, and she seems to have finally figured out that she needs to eat from outside the feeder! Well, obviously we now have another lamb who is doing the same thing, again!

So, with the untangled coat in hand, I went out to find the "naked" lamb. Since I also had a bucket of grain for the lambs and the few ewes who are still lactating, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and feed the sheep, drawing them all in towards the barn so that I could recoat the lamb at the same time. Well, the grain did the trick, and the entire flock of lambs and lactating ewes came running to the paddock near the barn to gobble their daily grain.

You have to understand that there is grain available at all times in the barn for the lambs. It's even sweetened grain, with molasses in the mix, to entice them to eat, so there is no reason why they should run like the wind to come and eat what I am feeding the ewes. No reason, that is, except that they are sheep, and sheep do things together as a flock.... Plain grain eaten with the flock is so much more enticing than sweetened grain eaten alone in the barn. So they all run in and help the ewes eat up their grain, and then the lambs will run into the barn and finish filling up on the sweetened grain with their lamby friends. I'm sure the ewes would rather that the lambs didn't help them eat their grain, but there isn't much to be done about it.

My plan this morning was to try to catch the naked lamb while he or she was eating, unsuspecting, at the trough with the rest of the lambs and ewes, and then try to put the coat back on. This isn't always easy to do by myself because the lambs aren't always as cooperative as I would like! They usually struggle to run away, pulling and pushing in my hands.... I was game to give it a try, though, so I poured the grain and watched the flock mob the feeders, looking all the while for a lamb with no coat.

Well, he wasn't hard to spot, with his dark wool exposed while the other sheep passed me, all coated in white - Jubal was missing his coat! I grabbed him as he lowered his head into the trough for the grain, and instead of struggling to run off, he stayed put and just ate! I pulled the neck of the coat over his head and found that as long as I continued to let him eat, he really didn't care what I did! I pulled up one back leg to put it in the strap, and he stood there, eating on three legs. I pulled up the second back leg for the other strap, and he still stood there, eating. When I finished, I straightened the coat on him and, believe it or not, he hardly moved - other than his lips and jaws, of course, which continued wolfing down grain from the trough!

It wasn't until the grain was gone that he looked up, saw me standing nearby, and ran for the barn to get away from the "threat" I posed - and, of course, to find that sweetened grain that his friends had already found in the creep area! I don't know what he thought I might do that I hadn't already done, but I guess now we know that Jubal sure likes his grain - a lot!

We win weaning, round one!

Weaning time is a difficult time for us - we want to let all our sheep go out into the pastures and enjoy that great grass that is growing all around our acreage, but at the same time we know that if we get the lambs too close to their mothers, they won't stay put! They will take off under our fences and end up in the adult ewe pasture with their moms.

Right now, the ewes are all the way on the opposite side of the property in the timber, and the lambs have been a quarter-mile away in the east pasture. The problem is that the lambs (and the ewes still nursing their lambs) have eaten down what was in the east pasture so that there is really not much left for them there. I have had the option of opening the west pasture gate for them so that they could graze there, but I've been reluctant.... You see, if they go into the west pasture, they are in direct sight of their mothers in the timber - only two high-tensile wire fences stand between the west pasture and the timber, and most of the lambs have already figured out how to scoot under the bottom wires.

So, I've been procrastinating moving the lambs and have been feeding them alfalfa hay instead. All good things come to an end, though, and the alfalfa is almost gone. I don't want to use it all up because in a week and a half, I will be weaning the rest of the lambs, and I will want to close the lambs into the barn again for the first couple of days. No more alfalfa to feed now means the lambs and the few ewes with them needed to be moved, but oh, I was scared!

I never move sheep in the early morning - the old-timer's rule of thumb is to never move sheep into a fresh pasture when the grass is wet. The point here is avoiding the dew, not rain, and the idea behind it is that if they are coming from a low-nutrition area (as they would be in an eaten-down pasture) into a high-nutrition area, you want them to do so after they have filled themselves up a bit on the poorer stuff. Too much high nutrition feed on an empty stomach can make for digestive problems in sheep, so I waited until about noon yesterday before I opened the west pasture gate and closed off the east pasture to regrow.

My fear, of course, was that as soon as I opened the gate, all the lambs would run to the far side of the west pasture, see their mothers in the timber, and then scoot under the two fences to be with mom. I watched and waited, but it seemed like all the lambs who moved into the pasture were too busy eating to look for mom - a good sign, but not necessarily an indication that all would stay put! The question was, what would they do once their tummies were full?

So, it was with a lot of trepidation that I went out yesterday evening for a head-count in the ewe pasture. I fully expected to find at least a half-dozen of our lambs who had made it across the open terrain to mix with the ewes. If so, I would have to bring the truck and a dog, and begin sorting them out of the group to bring them back. I called my sheep to the gate and they came - and there were no lambs (see photo at right)! The rest of the group must have been grazing a great area, because they straggled behind the first rush of sheep, but they, too, had no lambs with them! This was incredible, but after most of the day in clear sight of their mothers, none of the lambs had made the trip to rejoin them! I couldn't believe my eyes! I was elated! We had won this round of weaning - admitedly with two lambs still in "jail" in the barn, but that was a small price to pay!

Even better, by dusk, the lambs in the west pasture rediscovered their old pastime: playing on the manure pile. It has been weeks since we've watched them run up and down the pile at dusk, playing king-of-the-mountain! Without access to the pile, they continued playing their version of tag in the east pasture, but no more running up and down, jumping and twisting in the air - until yesterday! No, they had not forgotten their fun times! So, after a long day outside, Rick and I spent the last half-hour or so of sunlight relaxing and watching the fruit of our labor - our 2010 lamb crop - celebrating spring!

Jewel and Jezebel are released - for now!

Well, Jezebel and Jewel have spent a few days in their homemade jail in the creep area, and I have begun to feel sorry for them. They stopped calling for their dams on Saturday, and they have been model citizens since then, resigned to their lives in their "jail." So after checking on them again this morning, I decided to allow a sort of 'parole' and let them out to see what happens! As with any parole, I expect them to check in with me - like all the other lambs - when I come out to refill the creep area twice each day. If they are missing for this afternoon's head-count, I will know that they have taken off to find their dams again, and will have to put them back for another few days....

Of the two, Jezebel is indeed the leader: whether it is new food and water or an open pen door with a chance to escape, Jezebel always seems to be leading the way. This morning, when I unclipped the many carabiners that held their pen door closed, it was Jezebel who came to investigate what I was up to - and Jezebel who took the first steps into the creep area to freedom! (see right)

Now, don't get me wrong - Jewel is not a stay-at-home! She was right behind Jezebel coming out of the pen! Jewel just isn't quite as brave as Jezebel when it comes to new things. Like a smart lamb, she would rather watch Jezebel take the risk, and then follow if things turn out well! Jezebel, on the other hand, has very little sense of caution - she will blunder in and face the consequences, hoping that they won't be too bad.... This is something we will need to watch until she gets older, to make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble that she can't find a way out of!

So, at least for the time being, all of our lambs are back together. It is nice to walk among them and see them all frolicking in the sun or filling up on creep feed in the barn. A flock of lambs is always good for a smile - there isn't a time that I go out to see the lambs that I don't come back feeling renewed and happy. It won't be long before people from all over the country begin to arrive to pick up their choices for breeding stock from among our lambs, so I guess I had better enjoy their antics while I can!

Well, a quick head-count at the afternoon check-in told me I was missing two lambs. I took a quick stroll around the grounds and found no lamb out of place or unable to come in for a check, so I had a strong suspicion that I knew who was missing.... Could it be my little escape artists, Jewel and Jezebel?

I took the truck out to the timber on the far side of the property - about a quarter-mile from where the lambs are currently grazing. This is the area where we've hidden the ewes - it has lots of grass, and is far away and out of sight of the weaned lambs. I had hoped that it would be enough to keep everyone where they belonged - I obviously underestimated the desire in these two lambs to find their mothers!

As soon as I got the truck out into the trees on the far side of the property, I noticed two very small ewes running among all of the big girls.... Sure enough, when I got close enough to see faces and read ear-tags, it was just as I had suspected: I could see that Jewel and Jezebel had once again escaped and traveled cross-country to get to their mothers - let me emphasize the AGAIN part! I still can't believe it! Even with that nice pep talk I gave them as they left their jail this morning!

So, I caught them both and put them into the back of the pick-up for the ride back to the barn, and the return to jail (see photo at left). Even though I hated doing it, they are back behind bars tonight for an unknown period of time - until I can be sure that the next time they escape, they will find their mothers dry. It is times like this that all I can do is sigh....

Jewel and Jezebel Go to Jail

All of our older lambs have been weaned for nearly a week now; all, that is, except for Jewel and Jezebel. No matter how tightly we build the barriers between them and their mothers, no matter how much distance we put between them, they seem to find a way into the ewe pasture and nurse.

This has been going on for nearly a week now. Every morning, I wake up to a beautiful view of our pastoral ewes grazing, and - WHAT?! - there are two lambs out in the ewe pasture! Once again, after a careful perusal, I realize that it is Jewel and Jezebel. Somehow, they have found a way back to their mothers - again!

So this morning I decided to take matters into my own hands.... Rick has been helping me catch the lambs and take them back every evening. No more nice shepherdess! I am determined for them to wean so that they can go to their new homes and greener pastures! That won't happen unless I can keep them away from their mothers. There is only one thing left to do - jail them!

So, when I saw them out this morning, I got the rest of my chores done and went to work building some kind of a container to house these two escape artists! I know that Jezebel is a jumper at her young age.... Many lambs will jump when this young and then later never leave the ground - Jezebel is likely one of them, since her mother, Gianna, was too. Whatever I built would have to have a top on it to keep Jezebel in.

Jewel's trick is to find any small opening and squeeze her nose into it, letting the wedge-like shape of her face open the space to allow the rest of her to follow. Her structure would have to have openings or spaces with limited ability to expand - otherwise, she would find a way out.

I headed to the barn and got creative. We still have panels left that were used to build lambing jugs. Most of them are currently being used to reinforce the board fences during weaning, but I had five four-foot panels left unused. With a little ingenuity and a lot of carabiners (those colorful little clips you can see in the photo below), I assembled a jail to house the errant lambs.

I am hoping that they won't have to stay in their little jail long.... I hate having them separated from the rest of the lambs, but I could think of no other way to ensure that they would stay out of the ewe pasture. At least the pen is housed in the area where all of the other lambs come to eat. I am hoping that a few days in the pen will convince them that there is no use in trying to make a run for it - and that they will then stay with the rest of the lambs. I guess only time will tell....

Squawkers shows his true colors

Every few years, our chickens get old enough that they essentially stop laying eggs, and we know it's time to replace them. We drop the old chickens off with some friends of ours in October, and in the spring, we get a box of day-old chicks in the mailbox from McMurray Hatchery. We only order hens because we want the fresh eggs, but McMurray always throws in a free rooster with every order. When our order came last year, we had some school-age girls here to help get the chicks settled, and they named the rooster "Squawkers" because every time they touched him or picked him up, he would squawk.

Well, Squawkers grew up to be a fine looking rooster (see photo at right), and we had high hopes that he would live here for many years, alerting us when dawn broke and just generally adding his own personal flair to the chicken yard. Oh, we had no idea then of what was waiting in that little package!

Squawkers is now a full-grown rooster and he does, indeed, let us know when dawn breaks with a "cock-a-doodle-doo" that carries throughout the neighborhood. He also lets us know that the sun is out, in general - and I mean it! He cock-a-doodles the entire day, from sunup to long after sundown! If there is any light sighted from the chicken coop, he will let us know!

But worse than that is that Squawkers is not a friendly rooster.... He knows that I will check for eggs at least twice a day, and he lies in wait for me. As I come near the chicken yard, walking towards the gate, he walks along the fence with me, strutting and pecking at the fence. He lets me know that he is up for a fight, no matter how big I may seem!

Yesterday, when I went to collect eggs in the late afternoon, he was nowhere in sight - and I thought I might be able to sneak up and get into the chicken coop without his seeing me! As I opened the chicken-yard gate, a flying beast launched itself at my head from around the corner of the coop, claws and spurs extended! I don't know if you have ever seen the spurs that roosters grow on the back of their legs, but his are over an inch long - and very sharp! I ducked out of the way, but he got my arm on the way down - and I still hadn't made it to the coop for the eggs!

I quickly dove towards the coop door, but not quickly enough because Squawkers came back for another assault - this time, at my legs. I was wearing heavy jeans and I kicked back, figuring that a moving target would be harder for him to hit, but by the time I made it into the chicken coop, a circle of blood was slowly seeping through the denim. So much for the protection of heavy jeans!

I slammed the chicken coop door so that he would have to go around to the other side to enter the smaller chicken doors, giving me time to collect eggs. I finished quickly and cracked the door open to see if my path to safety was clear. He was nowhere in sight, so I decided to make a run for it - with thirteen eggs held in sling created from the front of my shirt! I must have been some sight: eggs bouncing in my shirt, my head down and running, closely followed by a crazed rooster with plans of mayhem on his mind. I don't suppose anyone has a need for a "spirited" rooster?

Weaning - or so I thought

Weaning day is always a big event - for the lambs and for us. For the last couple of years, we have split our lambs into two groups - the early group and the late group - and weaned each group at a different time. Because there is a six-week span from the first-born lamb to the last straggler, we thought it might work better to wean the first, larger group last Saturday, and then wean the last dozen or so lambs in three weeks.

There are a couple of advantages to dividing it up like this. First of all, when the lambs are weaned, they miss more than just the milk. In fact, the milk is the smaller part of what they miss, in my opinion. It seems that the biggest problem is the lack of adult leadership and "mothering" from their moms. By weaning in two groups, we leave the later-lambing ewes in with the lambs, allowing them to continue to provide that leadership for the whole group of lambs. That way, the lambs are not out there alone in the dark of night without an adult to assure them that it is all OK.

And, of course, they do miss the milk a bit. By six weeks, though, they are not drinking much milk at all, and what they drink has dropped in nutrition over the weeks to provide very little of what they need - they are actually better off without filling up on the milk, and instead filling up on the grain and alfalfa or grass.

So, Saturday we weighed and evaluated all of the lambs for breeding and pulled out about three-quarters of the ewes, sending them to the south pasture - which is almost as far from our east pasture as you can get. This was important because although we were locking the lambs and the remaining nursing ewes into the barn for the weekend, after that, we knew they would be grazing the east pasture - we didn't want any escapees making their way back to their mothers in the south pasture!

After sending the ewes off to their south pasture to "dry up," we enclosed the area right in front of the barn with sheep panels (42"high made up of 4" squares) to keep the lambs in for the weekend. We gave them bales of alfalfa and dishes of grain and called the job done - or so we assumed!

The first problem appeared within an hour, and it was named Gianna. All of our lambs learn at a very young age that they can get under our high-tensile fences because the bottom wires are not electrified. I actually kind of like this because they can get to very nice grass that the ewes can't eat up, and they always scoot right back when we come along. They never go far from their flock, so I don't really worry about them. Eventually, they grow big enough and old enough that they don't continue their fence trick - they stay within the fences...that is, except for Gianna! She learned the Houdini trick as a lamb and continues to this day to make her way out of the pastures to graze. Like the lambs, she doesn't stray far, and she scoots right back under when we come to "talk to her" about it, so we haven't worried about it much - until Saturday!

Gianna is a very protective mother - the kind we really like. She takes very good care of her lambs, and both she and her lambs always have exceptionally lovely fiber - which is why she is still here! This year, her daughter, Jezebel, is no different: she is our largest lamb with extraordinary fiber, and an overprotective mother! As soon as we got Gianna over in the south pasture, she began making her way under the fence, across the swamp, under another fence, across the pasture, under the last fence, and up to the enclosure where Jezebel waited, calling and calling. You have to understand, they hadn't even been separated for an hour yet!

Thank goodness, we had the foresight to enclose the lamb area within the panels (See the photo at left of Gianna outside the panels with Jezebel jumping inside, trying to get out!) Otherwise, moving Gianna back to the south pasture would have been that much harder! As it was, it took two people and a dog to convince her that it was time to return to the ewes.... And it took three more times before dark, as she kept making her way over to the barn. Finally, once it got dark, her better instinct prevailed, and she decided that it was too dangerous for a ewe to be traveling cross-country alone - but that was no longer true at sun-up on Sunday morning!

All day on Sunday, we had the same problem. Luckily I found that if I sent Coda, my main dog, out to push her back under the fence before she crossed the swamp, that he could do so without my even leaving the front porch. All of Sunday morning, that is exactly what we did..... And then, in the afternoon, I realized that he no longer even needed to go down into the swamp to push her back in - she would go in on her own when she saw him in the front yard, on his way over. Before long, she would pop back under the fence as soon as the front door opened - and then it got dark and we had a reprieve for the night!

I have to add that, during all this time of trying to keep Gianna in, the lambs were doing fine! The ewes called their lambs, and the lambs called their moms for the rest of the day on Saturday, but by Sunday the ruckus had pretty much stopped. By this morning, even Gianna had given up and all was peaceful, so I decided that I could let the lambs and the few ewes with them out onto the east pasture to graze a bit. What a bad move!

As soon as I opened the panels, a whole flurry of lambs ran for the west pasture gate and scooted under.... This was terrible! The rest of them moved into the east pasture as I had hoped - that was the gate that I had left open for them. Those that made it into the west pasture were only two fences and a swampy area away from their moms! What a mess!

I quickly put up panels over the west pasture gate so that no more lambs could get through, and took Coda out to convince the lambs that hadn't yet made it under the first fence that they had to go back. Unfortunately, he couldn't catch them all... six lambs had gotten all the way through to their moms in the south pasture. Grumbling, I hooked up the trailer, and Coda and I went for a "ride" (Coda's word) to the south pasture.

Luckily, the lambs are still young and small enough for me to pick up and carry. I caught each one, including Jezebel (who weighs nearly 50 punds), and put them into the trailer. While we worked, Coda and I had to keep watch for Martin, our new llama, who is now in that field. As one of the sheep's protectors, Martin is not used to the fact that Coda is allowed to work the sheep and is not a threat, so we had to begin that training, too, as we gathered up the lambs. Within about 45 minutes, all of the lambs were in the trailer on their way back to the east pasture.

So far, so good - no lambs have escaped since Coda and I dropped off the six about an hour ago. I can only hope that now, when I say that a good number of our lambs are being weaned, that it is still true, and that I have no more trailer trips in my near future! So, now to begin planning that final weaning group....

Vinnie goes to the vet

Last weekend, when Tom delivered Martin (our new llama) to the farm, he also brought Nick along to shear our other two llamas. It all went very smoothly until Nick discovered a lump on Vinnie's side as he was shearing. Now you have to understand that we haven't sheared our two llamas in a couple of years, so there was a lot of fiber there this year to shear off. There is no way that we could've seen this lump through all the fiber, but now that he was sheared, it was really obvious.

At the time, I kept trying to think whether I had done anything that might have caused an abcess in that place.... I had given them their immunizations for the year, but I knew it wasn't in the middle of his side! I usually give them just behind a front leg, so that the movement of walking will dissipate the fluid of the injection. I couldn't think of anything that might have caused this big lump - it was as large as a good-sized egg!

So, on Monday morning, I called our vet and scheduled an appointment for Thursday afternoon for Vinnie to be seen. Now, taking a llama to the vet is not at all like taking a dog or cat. You can just pop your dog or cat into the back of your vehicle and away you go - the llama, on the other hand, is too big to put into the back seat of the truck. He is even too big to put into the crate that we sometimes put together to transport sheep in the bed of the pick-up. Besides that, how on earth would we load him into the bed of the pick-up?! He must weigh over 300 pounds! So the answer seemed to be our trailer.

This, however, was no minor task.... We had to pick up the trailer from storage, then catch Vinnie out in the pasture and get a halter on him. Our llamas are used to having their freedom, and are not liable to walk right up to you when you are carrying a halter. They are pretty smart - they know the halter is not a good sign. It usually means a shot, or shearing, or any one of a number of not-so-nice alternatives. Yesterday was no exception - Vinnie did not want to be caught! We, on the other hand, had a secret weapon working for us.... We had a bucket with grain in it. Our llamas may like their freedom, but if there is one thing that they actually like more than that, it's grain! And Vinnie, in particular, is a bit on the thin side, so the grain was a major enticement!

Before too long, we had him in the trailer, and Vinnie and I were headed to the vet's. Once we got there, it didn't take long to determine that the lump was not an abcess - it was a tumor. Without cutting it out, there was no way to know for sure what type of tumor it was - benign or malignant. Having just lost Luca a couple of weeks ago, I was not ready to lose another llama! I felt we had no choice but to go ahead and remove it to find out what we were dealing with. I couldn't imagine Vinnie carrying around a malignant tumor without our knowing or doing anything about it.

Thank goodness, the tumor may have been large, but it was benign. Vinnie has a few stitches that will need to come out in a couple of weeks, but generally he is doing just fine. It was amazing how cooperative he was throughout the surgery and the ride home. We need to keep him well-protected by using fly spray for the next week or two, but it looks like our Vinnie will be as good as new once he heals up from the surgery. And let me tell you, I suspect that the next time I show up in the pasture with a harness, Vinnie will likely think twice about whether the grain is really worth it....

Rick's latest project....

It seems like every spring since we started our flock, we have had a fairly major project on the drawing board, and this year is no exception. As our flock has grown, we have had to graze pastures farther and farther from our house in the early spring to find enough grass for our ever-increasing flock. We have plenty of grass for all of them, but the problem is with what we shepherds call "the creep."

Because lambs are growing so much faster than even the yearling ewes (our lambs put on an average of nearly a pound a day), they need a higher level of nutrition than their mothers. To feed them this higher level of nutrition and prevent their mothers from gobbling it all down before the lambs can get to it, we set up what is called a creep area. The entry into this creep area is usually a panel with which we can adjust the size of the openings, making them just large enough for the lambs to enter, but too small for the ewes. This way, we can leave pans of grain and open feeders of alfalfa in the creep area without worrying that it will all be eaten by the ewes within minutes of our leaving.

The problem that we've had these past few years is that our creep area has been in our barn, and when the sheep graze in the more distant pastures, we need to leave all the pasture gates open so that they can move from and to the barn for the creep. When we leave all the gates open, the sheep graze not only the pasture we want them to, but also all of the pastures on the way there and back. This prevents those pastures from regrowing and reduces the grazing we have available for our sheep. It's hard to rotate the sheep among different pastures (to aid in preventing parasites) when most of your pastures are being eaten down by ewes and lambs traveling to and from the barn....

So Rick's project this year was to "invent" and build a creep building that would keep the ewes out, let the lambs in, be light enough for us to transport, and keep the feed inside dry if it rained. That doesn't sound so bad until you try to come up with one! He has been busy, hunched over his design and mumbling to himself for the past month or two - I knew enough not to interrupt his thoughts!

Last weekend was the culmination of all that muttering. Rick borrowed the truck on Friday night to get materials, and then locked himself into the barn for two days, coming out on Sunday night announcing that the building was ready to be moved into position after work on Monday. I was almost afraid to find out what he had come up with..... You see, I am more involved with the sheep than Rick is, and there are times when he comes up with great ideas that just won't work with the sheep because of the way that sheep are. I figured that I would find out very soon how this project would work in practice.

Well, as you can see from the picture on the right, he has come up with a wonderful little building for our creep feeding! It is light-weight enough that one person can move it by themselves. It keeps the creep feed dry from the rain, and allows only the lambs to enter either end via the same creep gates that we use in the barn (see the blue end panel in the photo). It is even tied down via stakes that are pounded into the ground, so we don't have to worry about finding it in the neighbor's field after a storm! It's a wonderful answer to a problem that has plagued us for years!

So now our lambs can still get their creep feed, yet don't have to walk the quarter-mile back to the barn to get it, and we can just fill the troughs in the little building once a day to keep them eating grain on demand. What a great job, Rick! Now, I've got this other idea for a project....