On A Dreadfully Cold And Dreary Day

Here are some sunny shots from the other morning.

Maisie and Andy having a hay eating contest ;-).

I haven't noticed Baaxter's X in a long time, but there it is!  In real life it just looks like some random spots to me, but I guess the straight on head shot via the camera brings it out.  Sometimes you "see" less with the camera and sometimes you see more.  I'm glad to see the X :-).

Sadly, just a head's up....fleeces :-/.  We had a ton of trouble getting enough winter hay in the barn this fall.  The weather (mostly too much rain) was just against the local farmers all spring and summer.  The hay we normally buy (orchard grass) didn't produce well.  They hay we finally found (panic late in the fall) is a mixed grass...with a lot mixed in.

Orchard grass is a clean single blade with nothing to really grab and stick to anything, perfect for fleece protection.  This hay is a mix of blades, leaves, flowers, some weeds and even some prickly bits.  It goes everywhere; however, the sheep love it.  They eat nearly every single bit.  I've had waste as high as 40% with orchard grass in years past.

The denser fleeces are holding up pretty well.  Not much gets down through the thick coats of Blossom, Liddy, Chocula, Woody, Lila, Maisie and most of the Jacobs...  The long wools (Hershey, Murphy, B. Willard, Keebler, Rebecca Boone, Graham...) look awful.  The sheep, however, are all much happier and, bottom line, that's more important to me.  

So why is Hank sitting over here by himself?

So he can keep a close eye on those dastardly horses!  I cheated and tossed the horses hay over the fence at the sheep end of the barn the other day.  I was out of bales in the side shed.  Sorry, Hank.  I won't do that again.  You are a good dog.

The Grass Is Always Greener

If you look closely you'll see Blossom has crawled under the fence and is out in the front field.  With the stupid horses.  Hank has come out there with her.  Because he doesn't trust those stupid horses!

Scenes From The Iknitarod Trail

I started on one porch, moved to the Wool House porch and then out to the field.  If it's got to be stupid 73 degrees, I guess you just embrace it.  At least the sheep were happy.

I'd just opened up the bottom paddock for them, also known as a sheep party ;-).  Maisie and Keebler out front.  This year's Iknitarod sheep and last year's.

Maisie and Blossom, still her best friend.

Besides Hank.  Hank is sitting between me and the sheep.  Sort of like he frequently sits between his sheep and the Stupid Horses.  Remember that for later.

The sheep and the sweater.

Working their way around me in circles.

Tall Paul (Ewen McTeagle ;-) and Rebecca Boone, Burrnie, Emily, Billy Belly and Casper Belly.

So Hank guards the sheep, but he also guards me.  He doesn't like when the Stupid Horses to come near me, but he's okay when the sheep do...unless I'm knitting.  If I'm knitting and a sheep gets too close to my knitting bag, he races over and yells at them.  He's done that since the early days.  I have no idea how he decided messing with knitting was bad, but I appreciate it :-).

That is what had happened a minute before this picture.  A mass exodus to the barn.  Maisie followed for a couple seconds and then stopped.  

"Wait just a minute."

"I ain't going in yet!"

And Keebs came back out too.  Remember his brown leg?  Still brown :-).

Crazy Maisie

The sweater is coming along, but I know my days are running short.  I stayed at it until almost midnight last night.  The body is at 9 1/2" and the sleeves are 11". I need 16 1/2" and 18 1/2" respectively before I put them together and knit the yoke and collar..  I'm hoping for a big push today. 

Buddy And The "Porcupine"

Buddy stuck his nose through the gate as I was feeding Del Boca Vista this morning - begging for a wee nibble "just one pleeeeaaase?" from the old sheep's food ;-).  As the sun (what the heck is that?) hit the side of his face, I saw bright shining straw seed heads sticking out everywhere. Like porcupine quills!

I grabbed the camera and tried to get a good picture, but once he figured out he was the center of my attention, he ran over too close for any more pictures and I've learned that when Buddy wants a back scratch, you'd better give him one because he'll take his front foot and stop you in your tracks if you don't ;-).

You can sort of see most of them in this cropped close up, but really, it doesn't do him justice.  They are all around his face.  Luckily one of the other sheep will probably eat them off his cheeks unlike if this was a real sheep ranch with real porcupines.  We've got it pretty easy here.

And Hank can rest easy :-).

I had a question about Hank and the coyotes and if they were still around, and yes, they are always here.  We aren't wild like ranches out west, but wild enough that there is plenty of room for predators. Hank works hard every night.  

The sheep sleep in the barn and barn lot at night.  Hank stays nearby, usually "resting" on the other side of the short fence between the barn and the arena.  This gives him a good vantage point to monitor the back of the farm but also allows him access to Del Boca Vista and the side field through gaps cut in the wire fence.  We also leave the gate to the front field propped open just enough that he can zip through there if need be.  

I believe Hank works by establishing his territory and then maintaining that territory.  "I'm here. This is MY farm.  You coyotes (and stupid horses! ;-) stay BACK!"  And for us, in this situation with not very many sheep, no lambs and the sheep coming up to the barn at night, it's a job manageable by himself. Bigger farms use multiple dogs and it's fascinating how they work together.

One of my favorite books is Shepherds of Coyote Rocks by Cat Urbigkit.   If you love Hank and are looking for something interesting to read, I highly recommend it.  

Poor Gromit

For anyone who's a big Wallace and Gromit fan, you aren't going to need a close up to visualize the look on Hank's face.   And if you aren't a huge Wallace and Gromit fan, go watch some online videos (look for Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep) and come back later.  It will be much later because you'll get so hooked on them that you won't be able to stop :-).

There is a new horse on his farm - a boarder, so only a temporary member of the farm family. Hank, having years of experience in hating horses (remember sheep bowling?), isn't even going to give Talk a chance to make friends.  Not that Talk cares.  He has zero interest in Hank's sheep.

But Hank's not taking any chances!

"I Can Make It To The Fence In 3 Seconds"

Unfortunately (for Hank), no horses were harmed in the filming of this series.  He hates "those stupid horses".  They had followed me to the gate hoping I'd let them in the field with the sheep and I called Hank off before he got hurt himself.  He doesn't want them anywhere near his sheep...and he ain't super jazzed about them being near me either.  And that's kinda sweet, don't you think?  :-)

Shenanigans

Some more pictures from the foggy day last week.



Among T-Bone's many "skills"...grazing muzzle removal. Here he's working on Gato's, with Hickory watching.



Starting to get a little too shenanigan-y.



And this is where Hank (who hates those stupid horses thank you very much!) runs over to break it up and all the sheep ran back to the barn.



A few minutes later. On the other side of the fence. It's Hickory's turn.

Note the sheep grazing under the bottom board even though they have five acres of good grass on their side. Sheep...



Love the grass falling out of the muzzle.



Victory. I mean Victory!!! Horses... :-/



And everyone (including sheep) graze on.



This would be a really nice shot without the muzzle laying there, boys.

Horses...

Muzzled Mouths...Not

This is a picture I took a couple weeks ago. I've been saving it for a busy(ier that usual) day when I am going to try to get a lot of work caught up so I can go snorgle some more lambies ;-).

Saint Tim was cleaning out the sheep barn - think several trips out back with the manure spreader through a couple of gates, and trust me, these punks are not. helpful. It's easiest to just throw them in prison. This also gave me a good opportunity to fit the three fatties (Hickory, T-Bone and Gato) with grazing muzzles.

The super lush green grass can be very dangerous in the early spring and sometimes again in the fall. Overeating, while not good for any of us (unless it involves chocolate ;-), can kill horses by causing colic, founder... In the past I've had great luck using grazing muzzles - like a plastic and web bucket with a hole in the bottom that slows down their eating. All the horses wore them and stayed safe.

Now that Handy's gotten up in years, he actually needs all that grass. Which means he doesn't wear a muzzle. Which means he takes it off his best friend T-Bone. Who then takes it off his best friend Gato and then rips it off his new friend Hickory. Rinse and repeat.

I've tried adding tape to all the key parts. Tim wired up something on Hickory's last night. It's off again this morning. We're using the popular Best Friend Grazing Muzzle. Any suggestions?

In the meantime, I'm headed out to see if my saddle still fits an "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" bloated, lazy, fat piggy. And then I'm going to get a lot of work caught up so we can return to our regularly scheduled programming of more lamb cuteness :-D.

The Good, The Bad And The Clueless

You don't get much past a Saddlebred. Not much food gets past a Paint horse ;-).



Handy (the good) and T-Bone (the bad) immediately know something's up.

"Oh, this can't be good..."



Yep, while Handy has more than earned his pension, T-Bone and Gato have yet to clock in more than a couple bucks. Which didn't even cover the first two bales of the over 100 bales of hay we fed them this winter.

Since I'm mostly riding by myself, I'm quite a bit older, way less in shape and don't bounce near as well as I used to, I've been hesitant to throw a leg over these two young, green horses. I think having a smaller (60'), enclosed area to work - on the ground and under saddle - will help.



I still have plenty of room to ride and drive around the outside of the round pen...when I'm ready to take off the training wheels.

Cowgirl Up!

And stay up ;-)

Sunday Not Stills

It's been a long week and I wasn't sure I could come up with something original enough for this week's Sunday Stills "Landscapes" assignment. Landscapes, no. Lawn ornaments, yes.



At least every now and then they do something entertaining. Here everyone is worried about something up the road. T-Bone - you gotta love him - fearlessly mugging for the camera.



"Run away!"



"Follow Aria - she'll save us!"

Of course they spend the rest of the time picking on her. Boys.



Swinging back around.



And around. She's stepping out pretty good for an old lady and looking good for 28.



Down across the creek...



Showing some nice form there, T-Bone!



Well, until the landing...on all four feet at one time. Ouch!





And moving on to greener pastures.

That's the purpose for the black muzzles on the three boys. Too much lush, green grass. The muzzles limit (there is a hole in the bottom which slows them down) their grazing to a safe level so they don't over eat in the spring, founder and suffer a horrible death.

They make these in all sizes, including for miniature horses. I'm seriously thinking about trying one on Buddy and Woolliam. They are so fat I'm worried they might founder. Green grass is pretty, but...

Anyone out there with horribly fat sheep? Any suggestions?