Lambing Season 2015

We're still around even though I haven't posted much lately. Things have been happening in all this time so hopefully you won't mind a long post.

Winter ended with a lot of rain. Spring came with even more rain. We had flooding in the creek bottom which damaged the electric fence opening system. We got it working again but it still has issues. The tulips have come and gone. Barry and Alesia came to visit over the Easter weekend with their lovely daughter Emily.

We have 16 ewes ready to lamb so it should be a busy season. We did hooves and worming a few weeks back so everybody was ready for the lambing. So far there has been one serious problem with a ewe while the rest have gone fairly cleanly. Lisa did have to pull a big lamb from one of them.

The dogs are doing well. Piper had a nerve problem in one of her rear legs. Lisa treated it with essential oils after the vets said they couldn't do anything medically. She is walking on it now with a limp but it's a great improvement. Lisa is showing Tinks in obedience and they are doing great! We have a new rescue, Jules, another brown one. She has some medical issues but she is a nice dog with a great disposition.

Leo and Betty are still around. They like spring too, lots of baby wild bunnies to torture to death.

We made it through the winter with four head of cattle. It was nice not having to put out so much hay. We started the winter with five but Cathryn ate one.

Cathryn and Barb came for a dōTERRA® class. Barb had another class to get to so she only stayed a day. Cathryn stayed a few more days so we got a nice visit.

We used a lot of firewood over the winter. More than we thought we would. Andy found a guy in Bath county who is clearing his property and giving away the wood. Someone came in and logged it but left the branches and tops. The guy has been cutting it to firewood size so its mostly ready to go. We've made a few trips over there to collect it.


 This wasn't even the worst of the flooding.

 The next storm had the water pouring up over the bridge.

 The gate opener had some problems with the flooding. The electronics and charging systems are fine but the flood loosened the soil around the posts and the force of the water shifted the alignment of the gate. The hydraulic cylinder crushed the tubing on the gate which caused the whole thing to become racked. I couldn't get it squared up so we moved one of the 16' orange gates from the cattle pasture. I put in a guy wire and anchor to support the post but we had another flood and the post is out of plumb again. I think we'll need to replace it with a long post and pile driver. In addition to 500lbs of concrete.

 The tulips were nice. They have such vibrant colors.

  We colored eggs this year. We have white chickens so we didn't have to buy white coloring eggs. Barry and Aleshia helped color them. Emily was still too young to care.

 Lisa made a bunny cake. When she first told me I was thinking it was going to be some sort of rabbit meat pie/cake thing. It was not.

 Aleshia eating Easter eggs for breakfast.

 We didn't let Barry eat at the table after The Incident.

 All the ewes patiently awaiting their turn on the table.

 Worms and hooves. It was a nice cool day so not too bad. It was still a lot of work.

 Tinks took second place in Huntington, WV in Rally Novice.

 We sold the old rabbit cage. It was too small for New Zealand rabbits. We advertised on Craig's List and a guy from Franklin came and got it. He's going to raise rabbits to teach survival skills to under-privileged youths. He was an instructor in the Army teaching advanced survival to special forces troops in Alaska. One of the skills is how to kill and prepare small prey.

 Cathryn and Barb came up to give a dōTERRA® class.

 I think we were having eggs for dinner. Free range eggs are always good.

 The wood collecting site. We met Johnny through Craig's List. He's clearing the land for a house and didn't want all the wood to go to waste. He offered it for free to anyone who wanted to pick it up. We were the first ones to show up.  The first trip we took the truck with the trailer and pulled down next to the wood piles. We were loaded pretty heavy and the truck got stuck. Luckily Johnny has good neighbors. The guy at the bottom of the hill heard us and came over with his big tractor to pull us out.

 The next two trips we changed methods.

 Lisa drove the four-wheeler and Andy loaded it.

 I stayed up top and unloaded the trailer. Cathryn was there helping the first time.

 Lisa's mother was there supervising. We didn't make her work too hard.

 The first trip we had a trailer and a truck full. After that it was just the truck since we had to haul the four-wheeler.

 A lot of the wood is branch wood and doesn't need splitting.

 It's mostly hickory and oak.

 One of the ewes was having problems yesterday. Lisa noticed she was in labor but had a prolapsed uterus. It was too serious for us to handle so we loaded her up and called the on-call veterinarian at Boonesboro. These things never happen on weekdays. This is Patrick waiting for Heather to subdue the ewe so he can get to work on it.

 The lambs came out alive and Patrick got the ewe stitched back up. I got the whole thing on video. Patrick explains the condition and the process in clinical terms but the video is quite graphic. I decided to link to it rather than embed it in this post. Watch here at your own risk.

 The three-day old lambs got tails and testicles done so they got released on day four.

 Lisa has been setting up the lambing pens in the barn as the ewes come into labor.

 Molly had three healthy lambs this year. So far she is still nursing them all.

 I think this is Spot from two years ago. She has two black lambs.

 They follow their moms around and try to munch grass.

 We like the little brown one with the dark points.

 Since this is the Internet there has to be a cat picture. Leo and Betty have turned out to be good barn cats. They are always bringing us evidence of their hunting skills.

 Jules. She is a lovely eight year old rescue. It's sad to say that her health condition is too grave to make her acceptable for adoption. She has been a joy to have in our home even for such a short time.

 Paige!