Rabbits

Today my plan was to shear our Satin Angora rabbits.  But first I decided to check the fence to make sure the sheep hadn't found another way out.  So I went out back and walked the fence-line and didn't notice any breaches, but when I went back toward the gate noticed that there were only 12 sheep, and I hadn't noticed any in the wood where I was walking- there are supposed to be 19.  So I walked the entire back again- still no sheep but when I came back the missing sheep had appeared.  Not sure where they were but hopefully not at the neighbors!

I then decided to do a little gardening since I was near the garden anyway.  I pulled up some nettles and covered the potato plants coming up.  Besides potatoes we have carrots, peas, onions and beets sprouting.  It is cool and raining so I still cannot plant the other veggies.

I then decided to make a place in the feed shed for our brown Leghorn hen and her chick.  She stopped setting on the rest of the eggs so it looks like just one chick this year.  The pheasant eggs in the incubator aren't hatching either.  So I also tried to make some nests for the melanistic mutant pheasant hens in hopes they might start setting on their eggs.  I also made a duck nest that perhaps a duck will start setting, and we can slip some pheasant eggs under her. Maybe I can even slip some under the setting geese.  We sure don't need any more goslings or ducklings though!

After dilly dallying I finally got to the rabbits.  I sheared our four Satin Angora rabbits- Pepe, Louise, Susan and Geena.  Geena is in the photo- she has a gorgeous grey and red wool that I cannot wait to play with.  I usually blend the angora with my Shetland wool since Angora is so warm to wear.  I also sheared our black Jersey Wooly rabbit Rocky and trimmed all of the rabbits toe nails, including Foo- the mini- Rex we inherited when my adult step daughter found out that rabbits chew electrical cords.

I then did the rest of the animal chores.  Still no lambs- just 5 fat, lazy ewes.  I am quite sleep deprived at his point with the middle of the night barn checks and wishing lambing would get under way.

Marauding sheep

Yesterday was unplanned fencing day.  Friday evening we got a call from one neighbor that another neighbor had three sheep in their yard.  It was dark, but Tom and I put on boots and headlamps and wen tout and counted sheep.  None were missing. 

The next morning we walked the perimeter fence around the back area of tree, blackberries, brush and patches of grass where the sheep and goats have been grazing recently.  We found two areas where large branches had fallen on the fence and another area where the fence had been lifted up and there was telltale wool on it.  There was also sheep prints all around outside the fence.  This area of fence was older and had been so overgrown the sheep (and us) were not able to access it.  The sheep changed all of that.

So we ate breakfast, gathered up tools, put them on the quad and trailer and headed out and did some fencing.  This involved clearing the brush around the fence, removing the attached wire from rotten wood posts and pulling up the woven wire fencing.  The fencing was remarkably intact- just one hole that had to be patched and the metal posts were all in good shape except one that had to be straightened.  We put in one new wood post and attached the fence to two living trees along the line.  I know you are not supposed to do that, but two of these are eight inch diameter tree that some of the fence strands were embedded right through the middle.

  Then we collected our supplies, headed back and let the sheep and goats out.  The sheep (with Lou in the lead) headed immediately for the area we were fixing.  He went right to where the hole was and started baaing loudly.  So we guess that our fencing worked!

Tom found the neighbor's number in the phone book and called.  We apologized for our sheep getting out.  Apparently they had been seen in the lower pastures next to ours for 3 days and then Friday had been in these neighbors back yard- this is three properties away!  Again we apologized and gave them our number to call if they ever spot any sheep again.  We told them we fixed the problem, and it shouldn't happen again.  So hopefully this is the end to our escaping, marauding sheep!

Spring babies

Spring is definitely the time for babies here.  We are expecting lambs any time.  I've been getting up at night for a week doing barn checks- nothing yet- that is except the unexpected surprise of last month- Jet.  She's doing quite well despite her aged and thin mother and is quite friendly.  No idea who the father is though.  Five ewes (that we had planned to breed) do look pregnant and two have developing udders.  Today is the first official due date- I've been checking in case one went early.

Our brown leghorn hen is a great setter.  She's hatched a couple of chicks this week- an araucana mix and a leghorn mix.  She's still setting on eggs- some chicken and some pheasant.  I moved her from the nest box into this kennel so I can provide food and water to the chicks while she is confined to continue to set on the eggs.  Hopefully this will work out.

Lastly the kids born 2 months ago and doing well.  They are getting bigger and playful.  They've finished their shots but will still need one more coccidiosis treatment and copper injection before they go to their new homes at the end of the month.  I'm trying to spend some more time with them with animal cracker and grain treats to get them friendly- made good progress today.  I took new photos of all of them and posted them on the goat web page at:

http://www.schoonoverfarm.com/Goats

Roscoe

We had bought Roscoe, our Dexter bull as a calf in November 2005.  We wanted to breed our 2 Highland cows with him for small, more docile cows.  He bred our cow Hana twice and our other cow Dana once to produce a total of 4 calves- 3 bulls and 1 heifer (free martin).  In recent months he has become ornery so we decided to butcher him and keep the last bull calf intact as a potential future breeder.  So today was the day he was butchered.

Now you have to understand that I am a vegetarian, but my husband Tom is almost a complete carnivore.  So I have mixed feeling about this.  If Tom is going to eat meat I would much prefer it be from humanely and healthfully raised cattle.  But I still have issues with butchering, especially when it's an animal I know and like.  So I helped Tom catch Roscoe with the help of a bucket of grain and then I took off.  When the going gets tough the tough go shopping- so I headed to La Conner for breakfast and shopping while Tom and two butchers did the deed.  Tom called me when the coast was clear, and he had cleaned up the driveway.  So that's how I deal with it.  I'm not sure how mature it is, but it is more so than I used to be in my self-righteous teen years.

Roscoe will make really good beef though- he was gorgeous to look at and even bigger than when this photo was taken last year.  The butcher was even impressed by him and estimates he will make a 750 pound carcass.  So Tom will get healthier meat, our food bill will go down, we'll have some surplus meat for friends and family, and there will be more grass for the remaining 2 calves and cows.  All's well that ends well, I guess.

Skein Winder!

Guess what my wonderful husband did for me?!?  I was having a crappy day at work yesterday, and he called to leave me a voice mail that he was at an estate sale and saw a spinning wheel and did I want it.  I have two wonderful spinning wheels and limited room so I called him back expecting to tell him no.  But when he described it to me it sounded like a skein winder which I don't have.  So far I use the back of the rocking chair to wind my skeins from my spun yarn- not much fun.  They were asking $45 so I told him I'd like it but see if he could get it cheaper.  Well he got it for half that price, and when I came home from work was thrilled.  I couldn't figure out what all the wooden gears were for but had to do chores so didn't have time to check it out completely.  So this evening after work I got to look at it.  It looks antique with iron square headed nails, wooden pegs and wooden homemade gears.  I looked on the web and found a similar one in Norway at http://www.lowlandslegacy.com/afbeeldingen/photos/wheels3/jpg that has a counter attached to it.  Then we fixed one of the gears which had come loose, spun it for a while, and a thin strip of wood on the side slapped.  So I have a yardage counter!  I am so thrilled by this skein winder- we glued some loose pieces and cleaned it up.  Nothing is missing, and it's perfectly functional.  And most importantly I have the best husband in the whole wide world (sorry to other husbands out there) and am a very happy spinner woman!