Ribh's D'Coopage

[BY Bob]

One day I hope to learn to edit the videos so I can take out the chatter and put it all in one slightly longer video. DH just won’t be quiet sometimes, and I’m not exactly starting a you tube career.

My wife is the same, yammers on through every video.

 

[Shadrach]

Everyone shut in and accounted for.

Means more to do later... but sometimes it just goes that way... are you sheep lambing, or do you wait until spring proper? I would rather late February and March for birthing here, with the climate and such, but for convenience and because “it’s the way we always have done it” since expanding the sheep they like to have them birthing in January and February. We still have 50 more ewes to go. And the cows (yes, I’m still watching and taking notes when no one is looking) are 1/4 through.

The sheep are a bit of a tragedy. I expect you'll understand.
We used to have a Ram. The people who own the sheep wouldn't manage the sheep and the ewes produced one lamb after another. The ewes who lambed the most got mastitis and couldn't feed their lambs. Towards the end I was getting goats milk from the farm down the track so the lambs had a least some colostrum. That's four feeds a day minimum and of course there are some you end up having to tube feed.
I'll whinge a bit here.
Every fool knows that sheep need shepherding. You keep them in a small field, fenced in and they strat getting ill and lazy. I started taking them out myself after a while. The Ram was a bit difficult. One day I got told that someone else was going to look after the sheep and take them out as a form of exercise for that person. I saw their first attempt. They had gone to walk the sheep and the Ram had said no.
They had the Ram shot a few days later.
So no, no lambing for the foreseeable future. The ewes are overweight but well fed and generally cared for as well as one can when the don't get walked and grazed.

 

[Shadrach]

Forgive my media overload... Yesterday’s trip up the mountain for firewood for Wayne. Note the “up the mountain”; that’s not fog, it’s basically a low cloud. The first two videos are going up, second two are coming back down. I think the third one shows off the trees the best (and has less reflection and mud spatters from the windshield) the road goest through the national park land. The only private property up there is DH’s family’s which is along the ridge of the cliff to the road along about 2/3 of our farm.

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At the top, it was cold, wet, and windy.
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We got the truck stuck at one point on the family property, it was a miracle DH was able to get her back out. All for 20 small round of wood too
We are encouraging Wayne to cut lots, so we can brin next winter’s wood down for him as well... we will see how it goes.

That looks sort of familiar.
This is the sheep field track before it get 'adjusted' by storm Gloria.
That edge isn't where it was.

 

[LozzyR]

I've achieved a bit less than nothing today. Even Fat Bird went back to bed today. 4 degrees centigrade, misty, drizzling all day. Muddy and treacherous underfoot.
Due to a large section of track to the sheep field being missing since the storm anything going up it has to go by hand. I did eventually get some fence posts up there for the repairs with a very unhappy Treacle following along.
A corner of the sheep shed base has cracked away from the main floor where the soil has been washed away from underneath.

Sounds like Fat Bird had the right idea! And I hope Treacle offered to lend a claw.

Whilst we haven’t had anything wash away, it’s still raining which makes it virtually impossible to do anything outside. I only just managed to clean out one henhouse and give it a spray (it was wet through!) The grass is getting so long the girls are going to think they’re jungle fowl before too long!

 

[Ribh]

I am so happy for you! This is so exciting! I owed you one for Sydney.

Lots of pictures required.

I am so happy you are enjoying your Barred Rock. I can't resist. I just have to say: Told you so! I've just heard they have 2 Araucanas. I've asked them to hold them as well. No Wyandottes but... blue eggs. I can see I'm going to be very unpopular. Now there are no hiccups, they have actually held these birds & it all works out according to plan ~ especially as the man is coming as YD was not available. I would rather YD. She is totally calm & unflappable.

 

[Kris5902]

Everyone shut in and accounted for.

The sheep are a bit of a tragedy. I expect you'll understand.
We used to have a Ram. The people who own the sheep wouldn't manage the sheep and the ewes produced one lamb after another. The ewes who lambed the most got mastitis and couldn't feed their lambs. Towards the end I was getting goats milk from the farm down the track so the lambs had a least some colostrum. That's four feeds a day minimum and of course there are some you end up having to tube feed.
I'll whinge a bit here.
Every fool knows that sheep need shepherding. You keep them in a small field, fenced in and they strat getting ill and lazy. I started taking them out myself after a while. The Ram was a bit difficult. One day I got told that someone else was going to look after the sheep and take them out as a form of exercise for that person. I saw their first attempt. They had gone to walk the sheep and the Ram had said no.
They had the Ram shot a few days later.
So no, no lambing for the foreseeable future. The ewes are overweight but well fed and generally cared for as well as one can when the don't get walked and grazed.

Well, perhaps the sheep can consider themselves “retired” and hopefully there won’t be any more “Pastoral” additions to the property. Sheep are awfully high maintenance thanks to the centuries of breeding. I do feel sorry for the ram though, he was probably just doing his job, and someone without a lick of common sense took it the wrong way. That is almost the way things are going here with the cattle. Afraid of the bull, but won’t take the time to understand herd dynamics or the natural behaviors, then getting scared and angry when he doesn’t do what they think he should. Gus wasn’t raised roughly and has never worn a nose ring, so he doesn’t react quite the same as the last three bills have. And they don’t like his color, they think he looks “mean”, even though he’s just a big sweetie

 

[Ribh]

Everyone shut in and accounted for.

The sheep are a bit of a tragedy. I expect you'll understand.
We used to have a Ram. The people who own the sheep wouldn't manage the sheep and the ewes produced one lamb after another. The ewes who lambed the most got mastitis and couldn't feed their lambs. Towards the end I was getting goats milk from the farm down the track so the lambs had a least some colostrum. That's four feeds a day minimum and of course there are some you end up having to tube feed.
I'll whinge a bit here.
Every fool knows that sheep need shepherding. You keep them in a small field, fenced in and they strat getting ill and lazy. I started taking them out myself after a while. The Ram was a bit difficult. One day I got told that someone else was going to look after the sheep and take them out as a form of exercise for that person. I saw their first attempt. They had gone to walk the sheep and the Ram had said no.
They had the Ram shot a few days later.
So no, no lambing for the foreseeable future. The ewes are overweight but well fed and generally cared for as well as one can when the don't get walked and grazed.

Oh, gosh. You & Kris do get some live ones, don't you?! words fail me...

 

[Ribh]

Sounds like Fat Bird had the right idea! And I hope Treacle offered to lend a claw.

Whilst we haven’t had anything wash away, it’s still raining which makes it virtually impossible to do anything outside. I only just managed to clean out one henhouse and give it a spray (it was wet through!) The grass is getting so long the girls are going to think they’re jungle fowl before too long!

Agreed. I need to tidy up the small coop for my newbies but the amount of water falling from the sky....🌧🌧🌧

 

[Ribh]

That looks sort of familiar.
This is the sheep field track before it get 'adjusted' by storm Gloria.
That edge isn't where it was.
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Your soil looks terrible. I imagine that gets vert nasty & dangerous in the wet.

 

[Shadrach]

I am so happy you are enjoying your Barred Rock. I can't resist. I just have to say: Told you so! I've just heard they have 2 Araucanas. I've asked them to hold them as well. No Wyandottes but... blue eggs. I can see I'm going to be very unpopular. Now there are no hiccups, they have actually held these birds & it all works out according to plan ~ especially as the man is coming as YD was not available. I would rather YD. She is totally calm & unflappable.

Do you know what they've got there yet Ribh?