Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

(but sad CA is losing yet another good person)

Come with us! As the sheep and goat industry grows in Texas, people will need dogs like yours and training for them. Most cattle dogs are harsher with ewes and lambs - that is what makes them good for cattle. LOL

 

[Mini Horses]

I'll feel good ONCE THE SHEEP ARE LOADED and on the road!! Then I'm sure you'll spend more time in TX

ETA -- until them, you're like a goat in a chute, looking for a way out. But a little prod and all's well.

 

[SageHill]

Come with us! As the sheep and goat industry grows in Texas, people will need dogs like yours and training for them. Most cattle dogs are harsher with ewes and lambs - that is what makes them good for cattle. LOL

I’ll keep it in mind. I still love this ranch and will pray for more red in CA. If it gets too bad I’ll start looking, but you are 100% right.

 

[Ridgetop]

I'll feel good ONCE THE SHEEP ARE LOADED and on the road!!

Absolutely!!! Once they are on the road I can relax a bit. The transporter will drive through the night, but I have to stop at night since I don't like driving all night. (I don't think I see as well anymore at night either although I am still in my Prime!) I will have to leave a day or two in advance to be there to unload animals.

We are counting how many are close enough to lamb before transport, and how many might lamb in the trailer. Lambing in the trailer might cause problems so I am worried. We have not decided about taking some separately in the gooseneck later after they lamb. There are some that are not bred - the 5 maiden yearlings, the 2 new older ewes, and possibly several that have no udder development yet. Those can ship with the horses, rams, and ewes with lambs.

This is one of those word math problems that I had to figure out way back when. I have 42 ewes to ship. So far there are 7 definitely not bred, and 5 that have already lambed. That leaves 30 ewes. 15 ewes have udders in various sizes, most probably due to lamb between Apri 21 and May 8. That leaves 15 to lamb later, or possibly open. MAYBE.

BUT here is another problem. The vet came out o the 16th of April so we MUST ship before the 15th of May. The CVI is only good for 30 days and it will be too hot after mid-May. DH will have a fit if i tell him we need another vet call for CVIs. If I had planned to breed for lambing during transport I could not have done a better job! DH and DS1 are not making it any less stressful for me by demanding to know why I bred for these lambing dates! They completely ignore that I planned to move last October-November, be there over the winter, and be lambing in Yantis right now. Otherwise, why else did I buy 70 bales of hay?!

Other than fretting and going crazy about ewes and/or lambs dying in the trailer, everything is on track. I am making a written list of what furniture needs to be loaded. DH has asked at least 15 times and been answered but that testosterone poisoning keeps the answer from reaching his brain. Maybe his hearing aids are on the blink each time. A written list will be harder to ignore although he will give it his best shot.

The truck trailer plug for the 5th wheel and gooseneck WAS bad. The guy had to rewire everything for that plug. The one for the bumper pull was in perfect shape. The guy at Ekhart's Trailer Hitch also found a 3rd blown fuse for the signals! Don't these mechanics check anymore? We had it in 2 shops and they each replaced ONE fuse. A different one each time. It is just as well we are leaving CA before I go postal on Galpin. The Ekhart guy also said that one of the wheels on the gooseneck seemed to have a bad magnet in the brakes. No idea what that means other than the brake on that wheel isn't working. Since the trailer is already there and DH will be pulling a heavy load, we decided to replace it which means replacing the entire brake on that one wheel.

I am never moving again (I know I have said this many times) but I AM NEVER NEVER MOVING A RANCH AGAIN! If I have to move, I will sell out everything and just take what will fit in a 5th wheel trailer!

 

[SageHill]

Are the sheep loaded into the transport enmass? Or are there (for lack of a better word) some jugs in there? When we were looking at stock trailers there were some that had pens inside. Looked very cool - but not what I needed. Just a thought - you could put the most likely to lamb in that if they are available. Just thinking outside the box.

 

[Ridgetop]

Another update - have made new appointments and rescheduled some.

DH has upcoming cardio and pulmonary appointments, along with eyes. I have eyes, 2 pre-ops and surgery on knee along with rescheduling annual oncology appointment. All are now scheduled between June 21 and July 15. DH will need cataract surgery after seeing the eye surgeon on June 21 so hopefully he can get it scheduled during the 2 months we have to be in California. By doing the knee and cataract surgeries in CA they are paid for 100% with n co-pay. Then we will have to switch our health care to a PO instead of HMO and get doctors in Sulphur Springs, Dallas, or Tyler. Dental too, but Mrs. McDonald's grandson is a dentist and has a good reputation so we will try him. Our dental insurance is easier to transfer and is nt 100%, we have co-pays.

DS1 will have to fly or drive back to Texas to stay at the ranch for a minimum of 2 months while we take care of all these appts and start my rehab. He will need to take care of the sheep and dogs. No one will be lambing although I might have some divided into breeding groups. He is good with changing crayons, writing down tag numbers and dates, and health emergencies. I will talk to the new vet in Sulphur Springs and Rick has a credit card for emergencies. As long as we have the internet and satellite TV hooked up by then he will be fine. I would like to transfer PT to Sulphur Springs if possible and pay the difference between what Medicare allows and what is charged at the TX rehab. I plan to schedule a vet ranch call when we arrive in Yantis so the Sulphur Springs vet has us on his patient list. We will leave the truck in case DS1 has to hitch up to take an animal to the vet if they can't do a ranch call.

I need a new large refrigerator when we get back there. I can fit it in the laundry room for now. The problem is that I have so much animal antibiotics, vaccines, wormers, etc. that I won't have any room for food in the small fridge! Since we have to be back in CA from June 20 to the end of July, I will leave most of the meds here and only take enough with me to get by until we can bring the rest back in July. LOL Eventually, I hope to move the small fridge to the barn for meds and cold water.

The closer it gets, the more I feel completely unready to move. I need to do more packing.

 

[Ridgetop]

Are the sheep loaded into the transport enmass? Or are there (for lack of a better word) some jugs in there? When we were looking at stock trailers there were some that had pens inside.

According to Bob May he has separate compartments. Rick will check the ewes and see how close he thinks they are close to lambing. He knows sheep and is as good at it as I am. With luck some will lamb before shipping, and some will wait till they arrive. If some of the tricky ones don't lamb before the transport leaves, they may have to go in the gooseneck stock trailer heavily bedded in straw. The gooseneck has some sort of special axle springs??? to make an easier ride for livestock.

 

[Baymule]

I moved my farm twice and thought I had a lot of stuff. Nope. Next to you and moving your farm, mine was a cakewalk.

 

[Ridgetop]

Just ordered another pint of Valbazen to worm sheep before shipping. Did first worming when vet was here so add 14 days and worm again on April30-May 2. Also ordered more ear tags in colors but blank tags so I can write in the number to replace tags that have gone AWOL. Vaccinated all the new sheep for CL and also the 2-month-old ram lamb. In a month they will all receive a booster, and the little babies will receive their first vaccination. I have decided to vaccinate all lambs and new members in my flock for CL. Did my research and in sheep the vaccine has an 80-90% efficacy so decided it would be worth it. Not all breeders vaccinate for CL, but sheep people don't seem to get hysterical about it like goat people. There is a good article about CL in flocks by TX A & M and what to do to control it. The vaccine is no longer recommended for use in goats.

Managed to vaccinate new lambs for CDT and Tetanus before docking, then got out the syringes for the CL vaccinations and realized that I am OUT of syringes. I am not really out since I have 400 in Texas! I am so busy loading everything I can lay my hands on to move that I forgot to refill my syringes in the med box. Oh well, no need for more vaccinations until we reach Texas. I did order some 60cc syringes when i ordered the Valbazen since those drenchers are pieces of cr*p! The metal drench ends don't stay on. I have about 6 and they all fall apart when using them. I decided to invest in a mechanical one that would feed from a large bottle of wormer but half of the reviews was that the plastic parts broke very fast and recommended ordering multiples. The only one that got really good reviews was the Phillips one from Australia and it was a couple hundred dollars! I thought i had found a place that had it for $63 until I noticed that it was 63 pounds! I may have to dose 50 head, but for that much money a $2 syringe will do. LOL

The reason I needed the blank ear tags is because I am having the flock inspected the end of May and the ear tags MUST match the registration papers. I can't just replace the missing tag with another one and make a note on the paperwork. I will have to remove the new ones that we put in for transport and replace them with ones with an identical number to the registration.

Tomorrow I am going to try to bring my farm logs up to date with expenditures and income. Also have to pack up everything ready to load next week. I wrote out a list of everything we are taking with us and remembered that I want to take my grandfather's old fashioned rotary pencil sharpener off the kitchen wall and pack it. Love that thing and it works better than any electric one. Only those of us who are Prime can probably remember them hanging on the cloakroom wall in the classroom. LOL

I remembered that I have to go cut off the small grain feeders I have zip tied to the corrals. I use them for feeding minerals. Also need to collect all the black rubber tubs we use for water and hay, and any feeders that we have not already taken to Texas.

I think my head is going to explode! but soon we will get to Texas! Blue Bell here I come!

 

[Baymule]

Heavy on the Blue Bell, you will need it!