Purplequeenvt - New Journal

[purplequeenvt]

Did a bit of group shuffling this afternoon. I pulled one of the Border Leicester ewes out of her group and put her in the barn with the Shetlands. I sheared her right before putting the rams in and she was chilly this morning. We went from high 60s down to 40s and rainy. She got marked on the 11th and hasn’t cycled again, but it’s not the end of the world if she does re-cycle and gets bred to the Shetland.

I moved Stanley the Shetland ram lamb and his wether friend into a pen next to the Shetland breeding group so that I could let the ewe lamb/retiree group have access to the barn. I pulled another wether and added it to their little group.

I may throw all the breeding ewes out with Burton next week before NAILE. They’ve all been marked and I’ll change his crayon to green so I’ll know if anyone cycles again. There’s enough grass in the front pasture to keep them busy for another few weeks.

 

[purplequeenvt]

32 degrees when I went out to do chores this morning. Kind of a rude shock. It actually didn’t feel too bad, but I have Raynaud’s and some of my fingers pitched a fit about the temperature/humidity change. They are painfully thawing out right now.

 

[farmerjan]

39 here this morning. We are going to get @purplequeenvt colder temps tomorrow... where they are saying hard freeze of mid 20's.
Growing season is done...HAY SEASON is done... hunkering down season getting started. It will get back up into the 30's at night and 60's days by the end of the week.
Cloudy and dreary out... and we got sprinkles at best out of this...

 

[SageHill]

55 going to 83 here and dry ugh.

 

[Baymule]

I had to look up Raynaud’s. No known cause and really no treatment. Recommend fish oil, vitamin D, ginkgo biloba , calcium blockers and magnesium. Cold affects it.

Maybe some battery operated gloves? Gheesh, what do you do for that if cold brings on spasms?

 

[purplequeenvt]

Sheep groups got inadvertently rearranged again today. Hazard (Shetland ram) broke open the gate and let Stanley (Shetland ram lamb) and his wether buddies into the pen with him and his ladies.

I briefly considered separating them again, but Hazard is just going to ruin the gate. His ewes should all be bred and he’s not being a complete jerk to Stanley. He chases him away from the girls, but he’s not beating him up and as soon as Stanley is away, he stops going after him.

It’s actually helpful having the 2 together now. They’re both going to NAILE and I don’t really want to pen Hazard with 2 yearling ewes and Stanley by himself, but I also didn’t want to subject Stanley to Hazard when they aren’t used to each other in a small pen in a strange environment.

Stupid rams.

 

[Baymule]

Rams will always do what you don’t want them to do. Glad it worked out for the better.

Will Hazard and Stanley be up for sale?

 

[purplequeenvt]

Rams will always do what you don’t want them to do. Glad it worked out for the better.

Will Hazard and Stanley be up for sale?

Stanley, yes. Hazard, no unless someone has a nice ram they want to swap.

 

[purplequeenvt]

The weather is back to gorgeous again and is supposed to stay warmer for the next week or so. I was originally supposed to work for someone today, but last night I found out that someone else was wanting extra hours so I gave her the shift. Instead of going to work, I got stuff done outside. I sheared 9 sheep - 4 Shetland ewes, the 4 wethers, and Burton (the white BL ram). There’s another 10 to shear, but I won’t do them until the rams are out and everyone is in the barn for winter.

 

[Baymule]

Do you sell any of the fleeces? Do you process the raw fleece yourself or send them out to be done? I’m fascinated by the whole process but I don’t know much about it. I can’t even knit or crochet.