2020, Waiting on Lambs!

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Your lambs look so cuddly, do they let you pet/touch them or are they skittish? They look like they would be soft to hug.

That's awesome you have confirmation of the sires, and that you knew your stock so well you could figure out the probable parentage before the tests came back.

 

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Your lambs look so cuddly, do they let you pet/touch them or are they skittish? They look like they would be soft to hug.

That's awesome you have confirmation of the sires, and that you knew your stock so well you could figure out the probable parentage before the tests came back.

Some will let me pet them, others won't let me within 10-15ft of them.
Some of them have 3/4-1" of wool, those would be fluffy & soft to hug, if they let you. Lol.

I don't have a highly consistent flock, as I'm sure some have noticed. Makes it a bit easier to guess who they may be related to.

Thinking back, makes sense Billy didn't sire any, he wasn't interested in them like Mich & Seb were. But kinda surprised OreoChip didn't sire any, he was trying to steal some ladies for his own flock, too. But I did loose one lamb, so who knows. Apostle has no confidence when in with other rams, lol, he only recently managed to become tolerated by them. Krillin was with Billy chilling, then somewhat with ewes.

 

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As far as Hirola is concerned, I've been tube feeding her. It's hell on your palms when you have nails and trying to hold things n shove the plunger down. Used the blender to pulverize alfalfa pellets, sheep pellet, probiotics, Dyne, nutridrench, lamb milk replacer together. Then soaked it in water. You have to use so much water...ugh. Daily shots given, too. She ate minerals on her own today, ate a little pellets yesterday on her own. Still weak, but it seems like as long as I keep up supportive care, she may recover.
Getting the tube down is easier than I thought that it'd be, but getting the food down is harder. Need tons if water & not letting it settle even for a second in the syringe. You'd think there would be a powdered formula for adults in serious condition, but no.

 

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After tube feeding, the first cud chewing in days! Not out of the woods, but all good signs.

She ran away this time, but stays put, annoyed at the tube, while feeding. So it goes by quickly. I need to duck tape that section so she doesn't chew through it...She's getting good at moving it to chew on it.

 

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Back to The Pit...lol...
Gotta fix this....

 

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Played "musical chairs" with the critters.
Checked every ewe + lamb & dewormed who needed it. One other Cali ewe & lamb were left behind with Hirola. More green & space, hopefully, I won't need to mess with them again until it's time for breeding.
Ewes moved out to the big field, studs moved onto rotational paddocks & ponpons moved onto previously occupied rotational paddock.
They went up to the top of the mountain, then came right back to hide under the tree...
The ewes.

Ponpons.

Studs.

 

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Hirola seems more active today, still tube fed her. Will tube feed tomorrow, at least in the morning & watch to see if she's really eating or pretending.
Caught her laying back down, she was wandering, nibbling grasses.


And Rosko with Magnemite.

 

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Had to add a fence to keep them off! A real fence will eventually go up.


Caught her eating grass, so didn't tube feed this morning. Watching to see if she keeps eating on her own or will need tube feeding tonight.

 

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First step in building site prep is nearly done! Adding trench for water diversion, a trench on hill for the same thing & lowering ramp angle.
Next step is the 21A for the building base to sit on + boards w/rebar to contain it. Its enough to fill whole 24x50ft area.
After that comes stone dust for arena area.
Lastly, 3" of sand, but that'll be much later on.
Then comes beautifying it with round pen panels & regular fencing to keep out sheep.
Need to spread cheap grass seeds onto slopes for erosion control.


Looks like I may be able to get 21A next week. Then two loads of stone dust another week for the arena.

 

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Draining out.

Eating her tube feeding meal dry by herself.

The supplies to contain the 21A mix in the building section. There will be 10ft of space on the opposite side of the building, because of zoning, that I can use for general storage or w/e.