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purplequeenvt
Herd Master
It was much easier to update this when I was unemployed. I've still been silently (mostly) keeping up with posts, but most days I'm either too busy or don't have the mental/emotional strength to post anything. Nothing bad going on, just not a big talker in general. I'm an introvert and too much social interaction (even online) takes a big toll on me.
On the job front:
I had been unemployed from just before Christmas up to the beginning of June. I finally got a job as a screener at our local hospital. Not great pay, but I was full time and got health benefits. And any pay was better than the no pay I had been getting. The job was listed as a "temporary" position (covid created job) so when a phlebotomy position opened up at the hospital, I jumped at the chance to apply. I was hired and started back as a phlebotomist in September. I work four 10 hour shifts a week on 2nd shift.
Farm stuff:
All the lambs on the sale list were sold. All went as breeding stock. I kept 3 ewe lambs, a natural colored BL, a white BL, and the only Shetland ewe lamb. I ended up keeping one of the BL ram lambs when his buyer flaked out on me. She paid to get his scrapie codon tested (he came back RR, which is what she wanted) and then never made arrangements to pick him up. I found out through the grapevine that she bought a different ram elsewhere.
I lost my nicest natural colored BL ewe in a freak accident this summer. I thankfully have 2 of her daughters still in the flock. I thought one of my older girls had meningeal worm, listeriosis, or something else neurological, but it turned out to be an ear infection. Everyone else has been healthy and all the lambs grew well. A couple minor parasite issues in a couple lambs, but those were swiftly dealt with and haven't reoccured.
I sent 4 lambs off the butcher a few weeks ago and got them back in vacuum-sealed packaging last week. Roasted a leg for Sunday dinner.
I found a nice Shetland ram. He's got a very fine fleece and really nice structure. He is a scurred "half-poll" ram which means that he could throw polled ram lambs. He is more than a little sexually frustrated at the moment because he only had 2 girlfriends who both cycled (and were very thoroughly covered) in 2 days. When he started escaping into the other breeding groups, I confiscated his 2 girls and locked him in the barn (which he then managed to escape a couple times). So there may be more Shetland cross lambs showing up in the spring than I'd like.
All the rams are out of their breeding groups. Lambs could start as soon as the end of January, but those ewes were re-marked when I put them all with one ram as clean-up. It's unclear as to whether they were actually cycling again or if they just weren't annoyed enough by the ram jumping them to walk away. All the dates are written down, so we shall see.
I'm still wanting to add chickens/ducks, but that project has to wait until things are more settled around here and I figure out the best place to put a coop.
One thing on my list was barn cats. I had a mouse problem in the barn and the dogs weren't able to get to them well. My youngest sister was coming from DE with a load of sheep that she was dropping off/picking up along her way and she knew of a litter of barn kitties that would be ready at the right time to make the trip. I am not a cat person, but I have a thing for orange cats. I asked for 2 orange males and that is what she brought me. About a week later, someone local asked me to take in a kitten that had been dumped at her place. A few weeks after that, I found a kitten in the bushes at work. He was skin and bones, covered in fleas, and had a botfly larva in his neck. So now I have 4 of the most obnoxious barn cats. If I break my ankle or leg, it's most likely going to be from tripping over one of those poop-heads.
Abe (his orange brother is Truman)
Crockett is the most likely to be stepped on or kicked. He was REALLY bad about getting underfoot a month ago, but he got a hay bale dropped on him (accidentally, I swear!) and that temporarily fixed things.
Little Simon who's come so far from the sick semi-feral kitten I chased through the bushes.
It's been a busy year for the dogs. My sister, G, who lives next door, lost both her old male BCs within a very short period of time. Brain tumor suspected for one and lymphoma for the other. Her female BC went into heat shortly after losing the boys and she decided to breed her. She's been planning this litter for a very long time, but previously the timing hadn't been right for puppies. She'd been scoping out potentially mates for a long time and picked a sweet boy in IA. Both parents were extensively health checked and she had potential homes for all puppies before they were even conceived. She had back-up homes for the back-up homes.
The puppies were born 7/19 - 4 girls, 2 boys. It was a blast being there from day 1 and watching them change overnight. In September all the puppies went to amazing homes. My sister kept one of the girls and one of the boys came to live with me. His name is Twist and he's the only pup in the litter with a blue eye. Plans are to train him to herd and maybe do some basic backyard agility. ***Before anyone asks, the stuff in his ears are braces to help train his ears to go up. They are glued in with ostomy glue and are changed out frequently.***
On 9/11, my sister (the one who lives with me), E's JRT made a really bad decision and picked a fight with a dog 3x his size. His right front leg was badly broken in a couple places, the elbow was dislocated, and he had multiple deep cuts on the leg. He had some small punctures elsewhere, but the leg was the worst. He eventually (after some drama with the more local emergency vets) ended up at the Ohio State Vet Hospital where we made the decision to amputate his leg. The option to fix his leg was high risk for infection (which would have ended in amputation) and the recovery process would have been long and drawn out. He is not a dog that handles confinement well and we were concerned for his longterm mental health. He is about 6 weeks out post-surgery and we have daily confirmation that we made the right choice for him. He is right back to full activity and has barely slowed at all.
That's it for now.
On the job front:
I had been unemployed from just before Christmas up to the beginning of June. I finally got a job as a screener at our local hospital. Not great pay, but I was full time and got health benefits. And any pay was better than the no pay I had been getting. The job was listed as a "temporary" position (covid created job) so when a phlebotomy position opened up at the hospital, I jumped at the chance to apply. I was hired and started back as a phlebotomist in September. I work four 10 hour shifts a week on 2nd shift.
Farm stuff:
All the lambs on the sale list were sold. All went as breeding stock. I kept 3 ewe lambs, a natural colored BL, a white BL, and the only Shetland ewe lamb. I ended up keeping one of the BL ram lambs when his buyer flaked out on me. She paid to get his scrapie codon tested (he came back RR, which is what she wanted) and then never made arrangements to pick him up. I found out through the grapevine that she bought a different ram elsewhere.
I lost my nicest natural colored BL ewe in a freak accident this summer. I thankfully have 2 of her daughters still in the flock. I thought one of my older girls had meningeal worm, listeriosis, or something else neurological, but it turned out to be an ear infection. Everyone else has been healthy and all the lambs grew well. A couple minor parasite issues in a couple lambs, but those were swiftly dealt with and haven't reoccured.
I sent 4 lambs off the butcher a few weeks ago and got them back in vacuum-sealed packaging last week. Roasted a leg for Sunday dinner.
I found a nice Shetland ram. He's got a very fine fleece and really nice structure. He is a scurred "half-poll" ram which means that he could throw polled ram lambs. He is more than a little sexually frustrated at the moment because he only had 2 girlfriends who both cycled (and were very thoroughly covered) in 2 days. When he started escaping into the other breeding groups, I confiscated his 2 girls and locked him in the barn (which he then managed to escape a couple times). So there may be more Shetland cross lambs showing up in the spring than I'd like.
All the rams are out of their breeding groups. Lambs could start as soon as the end of January, but those ewes were re-marked when I put them all with one ram as clean-up. It's unclear as to whether they were actually cycling again or if they just weren't annoyed enough by the ram jumping them to walk away. All the dates are written down, so we shall see.
I'm still wanting to add chickens/ducks, but that project has to wait until things are more settled around here and I figure out the best place to put a coop.
One thing on my list was barn cats. I had a mouse problem in the barn and the dogs weren't able to get to them well. My youngest sister was coming from DE with a load of sheep that she was dropping off/picking up along her way and she knew of a litter of barn kitties that would be ready at the right time to make the trip. I am not a cat person, but I have a thing for orange cats. I asked for 2 orange males and that is what she brought me. About a week later, someone local asked me to take in a kitten that had been dumped at her place. A few weeks after that, I found a kitten in the bushes at work. He was skin and bones, covered in fleas, and had a botfly larva in his neck. So now I have 4 of the most obnoxious barn cats. If I break my ankle or leg, it's most likely going to be from tripping over one of those poop-heads.
Abe (his orange brother is Truman)
Crockett is the most likely to be stepped on or kicked. He was REALLY bad about getting underfoot a month ago, but he got a hay bale dropped on him (accidentally, I swear!) and that temporarily fixed things.
Little Simon who's come so far from the sick semi-feral kitten I chased through the bushes.
It's been a busy year for the dogs. My sister, G, who lives next door, lost both her old male BCs within a very short period of time. Brain tumor suspected for one and lymphoma for the other. Her female BC went into heat shortly after losing the boys and she decided to breed her. She's been planning this litter for a very long time, but previously the timing hadn't been right for puppies. She'd been scoping out potentially mates for a long time and picked a sweet boy in IA. Both parents were extensively health checked and she had potential homes for all puppies before they were even conceived. She had back-up homes for the back-up homes.
The puppies were born 7/19 - 4 girls, 2 boys. It was a blast being there from day 1 and watching them change overnight. In September all the puppies went to amazing homes. My sister kept one of the girls and one of the boys came to live with me. His name is Twist and he's the only pup in the litter with a blue eye. Plans are to train him to herd and maybe do some basic backyard agility. ***Before anyone asks, the stuff in his ears are braces to help train his ears to go up. They are glued in with ostomy glue and are changed out frequently.***
On 9/11, my sister (the one who lives with me), E's JRT made a really bad decision and picked a fight with a dog 3x his size. His right front leg was badly broken in a couple places, the elbow was dislocated, and he had multiple deep cuts on the leg. He had some small punctures elsewhere, but the leg was the worst. He eventually (after some drama with the more local emergency vets) ended up at the Ohio State Vet Hospital where we made the decision to amputate his leg. The option to fix his leg was high risk for infection (which would have ended in amputation) and the recovery process would have been long and drawn out. He is not a dog that handles confinement well and we were concerned for his longterm mental health. He is about 6 weeks out post-surgery and we have daily confirmation that we made the right choice for him. He is right back to full activity and has barely slowed at all.
That's it for now.
