Farm

Puppy wounded

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Its cold outside

It’s really cold outside!!  Sarah got me this woven ski mask thinking I would not wear it.  Oh how wrong she was!  I wear it all the time, it has been consistently under 20 degrees F, it is definitely ski mask weather.  Annmarie had let the sheep out onto the back hillside but I was afraid one of them would have a baby while out on the back hill. So Zeke, mouse and I went out to chase them back into the barn lot.  There is a definite learning curve associated with working two dogs.  Even though I had mouse on a retractable leash he kept trying to get out and chase the sheep.  Zeke was a terror.  I had to resort to much swearing and yelling to get him to do what I wanted.  Half the time mouse thought I was yelling at him.  It took some practice to say “Zeke” before every epitaph but I caught on quickly!!

I noticed blood on the snow and thought one of the ewes was in labor.  It wasn’t until I saw Mouse leaving bloody footprints that I realized it was him.  He was off the leash and running the sheep all over the ram pasture.  You could not tell his foot was injured by the way he moved.  Once we had the sheep all settled into the barn he started to limp.  So I took him inside, he had cut one of his pads on his back foot.  Once it was all dressed Zeke and I went back outside to feed the alpaca and cows.   

Barn during day, I was loading the feeders.  I could even sleep out here with a blanket. 

injured puppy

ready to go

I broke out the hooks to move the large bales after trying to push some bales off the top.  The bale I was using as leverage kept moving.  So I found the two hooks I got from the scrap yard, slammed them into the side of a low bale and hooked a chain up then ran a long chain out to the tractor so when I pulled the 800 lb bales would not crush my tractor.  It worked perfectly.  I then pushed the bale way out away from the machine shop.  The cows were happy. We spent 3 hours out in the bitter cold. 

The mule deer think it is cold and snowy also.  We have 30+ living on the back hillside.  We have started looking out for the elk now.  They can be very destructive on the young wheat plants. 

First bummer of the year

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First bummer, a boy.

The first day of the new year netted us our first two lambs of the year!  One of our first time mothers had the first set and most likely they were early.  She wasn’t really accepting the second baby and Annmarie went out to the barn multiple times to check on the bonding process.  She rejected the little boy.  He came inside the house to get warmed up and some milk.  We called Tisha and she came to pick him up and take him home.  She takes all our bummers.  Annmarie was unable to get near the momma so she waited until I got home the next day.  I slowly waded into the sheep pile in the barn and did my patented leap/dive/grab to control the ewe.  I managed to grab her on the first try and only got drug through the straw and poop for about 8 feet.  Luckily, I am larger than her and she was unable to get away.  I drug her into one of the two jugs, turned my back to get some straw and she was gone!  We settled on moving some of our sheep sorting panels around and creating a new momma area inside the barn.  The only reason we cannot use our normal momma area is the baby is too small.  We are afraid it cannot jump up the single step to get back into the barn.
Unfortunately, this means we have to carry water into the barn twice a day.  Not a chore we enjoy.  The babies should start popping out every day, January is going to be a busy month. 
January 1, 2016

Chicken Education

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I went out last night with the dogs to feed all the animals.  Mouse had to go on a leash.  Annmarie had multiple issues with him helping herd the sheep the night before.  He is now fast enough to keep up with Zeke so as the sheep were driven to the barn, Mouse kept getting in front of them and balling them up.  This resulted in the sheep finally scattering and Mouse getting carried while the actual working dog put the sheep into the barn. 
I took mouse out on a short leash.  We walked up onto the hillside and stood still while I directed Zeke to push them into the ram pasture and then into the barn.  Zeke did do it with a minimal amount of swearing.  He wasn’t perfect or the swearing would not have been necessary but it wasn’t painful and my throat didn’t hurt from yelling.  Once the sheep were headed to the barn, I turned mouse loose and told him to “put them in the barn”.  He ran right for the sheep and Zeke was pushing them into the barn so I am sure he thought he did it. 
We fed the sheep.  Mouse has decided that since the sheep poop in the barn he should also.  We are still working on discouraging this. So it has to be thrown out the window so a human doesn’t accidently step in it.  Sheep poop is not like dog poop!  I cleaned up the momma area in the barn, added some more straw, pulled in a hay feeder and tossed out the eggs some chicken had laid in a secluded corner.  I was impressed I managed to throw the eggs 15 feet through a 2×2 foot window and never splatted one on the inside of the barn!  I wasn’t sure that was possible when I started.  I am not known for my baseball skills.  Tomorrow, I will fill all the feeders in the momma area.  I even propped open the back door so they can get out to water on their own.  Our mommas should start dropping babies any time now, January is going to be a busy month. 
I told the dogs we were done and they ran over toward the house.  I still needed to collect eggs and check on the chickens.  My annual chicken report is coming up next week so we will see how I did.  I am not really sure how I did for the year actually.  I heard this poor chicken hollering in distress on my way to the coop.  I started running to the coop and hollering a generic “NO!” at the top of my lungs.  It didn’t matter I could not see the offending parties, I knew someone was at fault.  The automatic chicken door was closed so the chickens should have all been inside the coop.  Mouse had a chicken cornered in the chicken yard, the chicken had its head through the chicken wire and was trying to get away from the dog.  He was tasting the chicken with his mouth, no blood but pure chicken terror was involved.  I hollered “NO” and threw my gloves at the dog.  I scooped up the chicken who then started flapping and trying to get away.  I had to grab a leg to hold onto it, so it ended up hanging upside down flapping and screaming.  Mouse thought this was fantastic!  He kept trying to run in and bite the chicken.  I kept hollering “NO” and smacking him every time he lunged at the chicken.  We walked around the side of the coop and Mouse was circling me four feet away out of reach.  I shook the chicken so it would flap and make noise.  This excited Mouse who came in a couple of more times for some chicken tasting.  All he got was a couple of more smacks and “NO!”.  By the time we made it to the coop door Mouse was keeping his distance.  I shook the chicken one more time so it would squawk, Mouse looked at the chicken and exited the chicken yard.  He wanted nothing at all to do with the chicken.  I tossed the stupid bird into the coop, fed the chickens and collected eggs.   I know this is not the end of the chicken terrorizing but one small victory at a time is needed to teach him to obey and avoid certain things. 

This morning after letting the sheep out of the barn I had to holler at Mouse, he was tearing around the outside of the chicken coop fence, scattering 30 chickens every which way.  He was having a grand time!  I was able to call him right over to me at the barn.  See he is learning. 

Christmas with the puppy.

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Fenced in Christmas tree

We opted to not put any glass or breakable ornaments on the Christmas tree this year.  We knew the puppy would offer challenges to the tree integrity.  So only plastic and fabric ornaments were used in the creation of our holiday tree.  Our first problem was the tree skirt.  If you run really fast and jump on the skirt it acts like a sled and slides across the floor.  Great fun if you are a puppy.  Next was the foot button cord for the tree lights.  This makes a great chew toy.  Finally there are the ornaments themselves.  He took an immediate liking to the Disney plastic characters.  After Tinkerbell and Pluto were slayed we put up the dog fence to protect the tree.  He then proceeded to get up on the couch and reach over the arm and pluck ornaments off for destruction.  All the good ornaments are dead and he now leaves the tree alone. 
 
Offending party

Near Calamity of epic proportions!

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Heat lamp fire in chicken coop.

The chicken coop caught on fire!!  I went outside just at first light to let the sheep out of the barn when I started to smell smoke. I looked over at the chicken coop  and saw smoke pouring out of it. I ran over to the coop in my tennis shoes, dress slacks and leather coat. I did check the door to see if it was hot before opening it. If it had been hot I would have had to just call 911.  It was cool so I opened the door. My heat lamp had been knocked down and was hanging three inches above the wood pellets. A two foot area was blackened and hot.  I immediately unplugged the heat lamp.  Surprisingly, the chickens looked alive.  They were clucking and throwing a fit but the outer chicken door had not opened up yet as it was still too dark.  I left the door and ran for a bucket of water, I had not gone ten feet when I realized I had left the door open and was now feeding the fire much needed oxygen.  I went back to shut the door and there were now flames shooting out of the floor of the coop.  I shut the door and ran for the old house to retrieve a five gallon bucket, along the way I found an old metal watering can I filled also.  I used the old metal watering can to put out the fire.  I then raked all the hot coals and wood pellets outside the coop onto the ground.  Once I had those cleaned out I went and got my sawzall and cut all the burned wood out of the coop.  I then took a small axe and whacked on the wood floor to get all the hot charred wood out of the floor.  Once all that was done I soaked the area in water again.  Once I was certain it was all out I went inside and told the family of our near miss.  Sarah wanted to know why I did not get a picture of the coop with smoke coming out the door.  I told her that there is a time for photography and a time for fire fighting and they don’t always coincide.  Priorities in life are a necessity. 
I had been wanting to update my baby area but it was working for me so I didn’t really see a need.  This is a good reason to make some improvements.  The first one is going to be lining the area with concrete board.  No more fire hazards after that, and I will be screwing my heat lamp in place so it cannot be knocked down.  Funny thing is I unscrewed it two years ago, I used to have it permanently mounted on the wall so it could not fall.  I guess I should have left it that way.  I will also use some hardware cloth on inside so the little birds cannot get in and eat any of the food. 
Amazingly, no chickens were killed in the fire or from smoke inhalation.  They have started laying better!  I am getting way more eggs than I was prefire. 

Sawzall all burned material out of coop even though it was still hot.

floor of coop burned.

Outer wall of baby area.