Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Beginnings

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. Janice went into labor on May 1st and Hazel Lillian Marquardt was born at 3:41 AM on the 2nd.

Ryan & Hazel

At the same time that Janice was wanting to go to the hospital, I was outside with a lamb being born. I ended up leaving the ewe with feet poking out of her and called my neighbor for help. Good neighbors are awesome to have. He came out and pulled the lamb and built a small fortress out of gates and pallets from the stack I keep. The structure let him separate ewes and lambs from the rest of the herd of cattle and sheep. It was also need to prevent the ram from killing my neighbor.

Jesse's Fortress

Not only did Jesse get those items all the way out into my rugged pasture, but he also nursed a bottle lamb three times while I was away. We were unfortunately unsuccessful with the lamb and lost it that night. Oboe the mother lost all of her triplets and will be going to the locker this week. I am trying to think of some way to properly thank my neighbor for all the work he did.

The rest of the lambs are looking good. We have the twins that I assisted with in an earlier blog post from one of my best looking purchased ewes. We also have the little black ram lamb that Jesse saved.

Twins & Mother 



Newest Ram Lamb & Mother

Very Pregnant Ewes


Yesterday, I went and picked up cattle in Earlham. I also got to visit my great aunt over there. I brought home 5 to 6 year old cows with heifer calves on their side and a 3 to 4 year old cow due anytime June or July.  I have them in a separate pen and will work over the next week or two to introduce them to the rest of the cattle and eventually the sheep. After I got them unloaded, I raced to town to have dinner with Janice and see Hazel. 


Five New Ladies to Add to the Herd (one calf is hiding)

We have a busy week ahead of us. Janice and Hazel come home today. Chickens have to move outside tomorrow, 180 more chickens come Thursday morning, we need to tidy the place up because family is coming for mother's day on Sunday, and some where in there we will likely be lambing. Wis me luck, I hope I don't need it. 

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