White Chicken Red Hat

Most were uncertain why she left her family to strike out on her own but personally I heard her say it was "Boyfriend" and his harem of females.

"He's not particularly kind. He talks a lot about himself and his beautiful white "Silkie" feathers but he doesn't bother telling me how pretty MY white feathers are and he has never, not even ONCE mentioned my beautiful red hat."

She had had enough.

The minute she arrived at the Mother Ranch in their moveable house she ran for it. In all the chaos of the big move everyone was in a tizzy, talking about what had happened and wondering what was going to happen next. In a frenzy of homemaking, six of the harem laid eggs almost immediately. Boyfriend strutted around the house yelling at the girls to stop talking so loudly, they sounded like a bunch of...well, you know.

Watching the hubbub, White Chicken Red Hat knew. She had been all broody with her plan to escape at the old house but with the big move, the time was now. Acting exactly the same as the harem she shrieked and carried on with all the drama she could muster, "I don't know what we're going to do! That was the scariest thing ever! What if...! Oh no...! And then...!" And before anyone knew what was what she had slipped out the chicken door and took off at a dead run. She ran like a chicken with her head...well, you know. 

to be continued...

Laura Longtail's lambing story

Brad and I were finishing prep for a class that another coach was going to hold at our ranch-including evening chores and moving the sheep and their dogs to pasture 3.

The coach arrived along with one student and the guardian dogs were barking up a storm. I passed Brad in our work and he said quietly, "We're missing a mama sheep." Three ewes and their lambs were nearby but I didn't see Laura Longtail. I looked way out in the pasture and could see her standing completely still out in the middle of the tall grass. That was odd. Tess and Duke saw her and went barreling toward her. They stopped about 50 feel from her and became statues themselves--tails high and stiff.

By that time I was walking out because it all felt really weird. As I got closer I realized that Laura Longtail's tail was sticking straight out. Huh. She started walking toward me and as she got closer I saw her udder was huge and the teats were bright pink! Wha?? She passed me and I saw what the problem was, there was a lamb, stuck. It's nose, part of his muzzle, and one foot.

We didn't even know she was pregnant. 

Laura Longtail is a first time mom.

I called our friend Nancy and asked her for advice. She said not to worry too much, sometimes stuck lambs can survive. She said to find the other foot, pull it out, pull the lamb out, swing it by it's back legs and give chest compressions if needed.

I called Brad out to the field and with some tricky maneuvering we were able to get the flock and their dogs out of the pasture while keeping Laura Longtail in. Brad caught and wrestled Laura Longtail onto the ground and I got to work. I was able to just fit half of my right hand inside, right next to the lamb's head--what a tight squeeze! In a few minutes I found the lamb's other hoof and using her contractions was able to get the foot out. With a few short pushes by Laura Longtail, the baby lamb slid out onto the ground. No heartbeat. I quickly scooped him up and swung him (a giant ram lamb) by his back legs, trying to get things moving along. All I could think of was, "Come on little lamb, please survive." Placing him back on the ground and still no heartbeat, I did chest compressions. Nothing. I tried swinging and chest compressions one more time. Still nothing. Sigh. 

Okay. This is the hard part of ranching.

Brad brought the flock back in, they went out to graze, and I brought the lamb up to his mom's head and she began licking him. This was the saddest part. I wasn't sure how long to leave him with her. Do I take him away? Do I wait until he's clean and dry? I decided to wait and sat down next to her. Tess, their livestock guardian dog, waited with me--laying on the other side of the fence, holding space for us all. She was very calm and her calm seeped into me. Laura Longtail gently cleaned her baby for about five minutes. She stopped to look at him for a moment and then placed one of her nostrils directly onto one of his. Waited. A few seconds passed and she repeated it. She breathed. He didn't. She slowly got to her feet and walked away, back to the flock. 

As a child and into adulthood I've always loved the James Herriot books. Living on this ranch, one of my dreams was to assist an animal giving birth. I'm so glad I could save Laura Longtail. I'm sad I couldn't save her lamb.

Early Morning Sogginess

5:00am. Wake up to a downpour. Think it sounds pretty...

Really hear it. Wonder about the animals. Decide everyone is fine. 
Realize all the windows in the small goat barn are open! 

Listen. Doesn't seem windy. Seems to be coming straight down. 

Drift toward sleep...

Hear the wind. Shit. It's now coming into MY open windows! Get up, close my windows. Dogs don't stir. Even the pup. No one wants to go out. 

Put on socks and heavy robe. Walk around house, closing all the windows, most were just cracked. Whew. 

Go to mudroom to get my boots. 

!!!!!!

I had left ALL the windows WIDE open. Slate (thank God) floor soaked, along with the wood windowsills. Ugh. Add heavy Carhart hooded jacket to my robe and boots. Big white livestock guardian dogs ERUPT IN FURY the second I step out of the house. Obviously an intruder is escaping OUT of the house. I whistle. The screaming continues. I call to them. Nothing. They are pretty damn scary when they don't know who you are. I'm happy about this :-). 

Slosh through puddles to goat barn. How long has it been raining?? Goats are bedded down and completely dry. Yay. Slide windows nearly closed and slosh back. 

At least my worry for the goats saved my mudroom from flooding!

My ManChild and my Rayn

Our first Goat Yoga class at the Mother Ranch!

 
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :-)

Silence of the Lambs

 
I expected a ruckus but I guess lambs are pretty quiet in order to hide from predators. On Thursday morning I went out later than usual for chores and found Honey and her twin girls! Oh happy day!

After admiring Honey's babies I picked one up, put it in front of her face and led her into the "jug" (a little temporary stall where they live for about 24 hours to bond) Honey followed her right in with her other lamb following right behind. Success! My sheep are not interested in having any relationship with me so I was worried about how to get Honey in her jug but this worked perfectly.

I had a hard time getting anything done yesterday what with all the oooooing and ahhhhing over the babies. I snuggled each of them for a minute or two but otherwise left them all alone--watching from a distance. So precious!

Last night Brad woke me up after spotting a head emerging from No Name (my brother was so upset by this and promptly named her Suzy) on the video camera he had set up in the barn. We went out to see and found the first one had been born--a little boy with a black head, brown edging to his ears, and white markings under his eyes.

After about 30 minutes of meticulously cleaning this new baby boy lamb, Suzy gave birth to a little white girl! This little girl was smaller than her brother and at first seemed very strong. She stood faster and went searching for Suzy's udder right away but never seemed to get anything from it. This morning she seems cold, tiny, and uncertain. Every time she tries to nurse, she can't find the teat. She does the head butt to the udder thing but then doesn't get the teat in her mouth. After talking to our sheep friend we went off to the farm store and bought milk replacer, nutria-drench (vitamins and molasses) and nipples that go on a water bottle. I gave baby girl a few cc's of the drench and then bottle fed her some milk replacer and put her back in with her mom. We'll see how it goes. Maybe she just needs a little bit of food to build up enough strength to nurse from her mom. That's the hope anyway!

Update--little white girl is doing great! 

Zaaaaaaap!

I can't tell if the fence is on...lean over to see if the light is flashing...
and rest my hand DIRECTLY on the wire going into the charger. 

"F*$!#!!!!"

Yes, it's on.

Ow!