I am so far behind on posts it ain't even funny. Quite a few social/political or prepping related topics I have wanted to post about and I just don't have time. So many brush fires to put out besides normal chores and attempting to make progress on the fence leaves me little to no time at all for anything else.
I did get the gates hung, the support boards and most of the panels cut for the new section. Cut another load of firewood and got all the lambs shot, tagged and banded that were in the birthing stalls.
We did end up needing a vet visit for the ewe with the huge UDDER (there I remembered to spell it correctly this time). Her lambs couldn't figure out the nipples were so low and she was getting mastitis because we couldn't get her milked. I think the lambs may have figured out whats going on now though but we are still bottle feeding them. This is her last year to be bred though that's for sure. Can't be having vet visits and this many issues and time sinks and expect to stay in the Black with sheep. Even with three lambs the margins are just too close.
I got my first swarm call Friday night but nothing I could do about it since I put in a 10 hour shift every Saturday. By the time I got off work the swarm was long gone but at least I know we are getting swarms locally now.
As I said I shot tagged and banded the lambs that were in the birthing stalls today which amounted to four rams (All black of course) and three ewes (two were black). This brings us up to.....
Twenty lambs so far this year. 14 Rams and 6 Ewes to date. After I got all the lambs finished and let them and their moms out to mingle I was standing there and looked down on a little white lamb who was looking up at me and it didn't have a tag in it's ear. That was rather odd as I was sure I had tagged every lamb before letting them out in the world. Then I figured it out. While I was in tagging the one's in the stalls another ewe decided to go into labor and had two right out in the barn lot. They were already up and bouncing around.
I quickly gathered up the two new babies and put them in a recently vacated stall with the new mom.
Only two more ewes to give birth and lambing season will officially be over once again.
I seriously can't wait.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!!
Got the swarm that moved into the barn wall hived. Sure is easier before they find a home.
ReplyDeleteSwarming wont start over for another good month, our lambs are now off the bottle and I was pleased at the lessening work load
ReplyDeleteI have had to let some stuff wait for later, it just doesn't seem to be enough time especially with the part time job. I haven't seen many bees other than bumble bees and some kind of little native varieties. I have been watching the weather out your way and the nasty stuff seems to be staying to your west.
ReplyDeleteIt's the time of year when things get really busy. I have seen a number of bees lately. No swarms though. That would probably freak me out - I'd call my neighbor who has all the bees if I saw one. He'd probably want it.
ReplyDeletewe have seen a few bees around here, but I suspect once my squash and other stuff in the garden start blooming we will see more. They were pretty active last summer, and it was kind of cool watching them go from plant to plant...
ReplyDeleteholy moly - you have been busy and up to your eyeballs in lambs, mastitis and all kinds of stuff! don't work too hard buddy - yer not 20 anymore. i only say that because me and jam have learned recently that we're not 20 anymore. it's hard to believe but it's true. so we are learning to go at a pace that we can handle.
ReplyDeletehow many lambs, sheep, ewes are you intending to keep for next year?
sending much love, my nutty little bro! your friend,
kymber