Mini Horses
Herd Master
Just wait. -- you've gotta few years. I have 10+ on you guys, I'm telling you, it happens! 
. Little touch up every 6 months or so. 🤷🙄
. Little touch up every 6 months or so. 🤷🙄
Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along
- Thread starter Ridgetop
- Start date
Bruce
Herd Master
Fortunately I've not landed face first in the paca poo so it can't be that
- Thread starter
- #2,283
Ridgetop
Herd Master
We had a very quiet July 4th, with millions of fireworks all over the SFV - most of them illegal. Very pretty though.
Colene, the South African Dorper judge and inspector, has just gone to the airport and is heading to Reno to judge the Dorper show there, then on to Utah for more flock inspections, and then to Cookeville, TN, for another big Dorper show before returning to Capetown. She is a lovely person and a lot of fun as well as a wealth of information on breeding, flock maintenance, etc. etc. She said that she had sold her farmland and moved her cattle, sheep and goats, to other stud farms since she had to move into town for safety. Too many white ranchers are being murdered by the blacks in South Africa. Horrible. She also said that they lose a lot of giraffes every year due to lightning strikes! Because they are so tall they apparently act as living lightning rods!
Anyway, on Tuesday, July 5, we headed to the Burbank airport to pick up Colene from her arrival at 2:35 pm. I had told the planners to book her on Alaska to Burbank and they had sent me the flight numbers. Their email did not give the airline so I gave the flight number to the Alaska person at their counter to find out what gate to meet her at. Was told the flight number was not theirs?! They checked and 15 minutes later were able to tell me it was a Southwest flight number which should be met at the other side of the airport! I really wish the email had stated on which airline they had booked her! I will have to send a review to the arrangers since it also did not have any contact information for her. I headed to the other side of the airport and no Colene. I did not know what she looked like, but I had made a sign which I kept waving at people who hurried away from me (in case I decided to hit them with my cane?). After walking back and forth across the airport my knee was beginning to ache badly. Thank goodness it was Burbank airport and not LAX which is the size of a small city and 2 hours from our house. Burbank Airport is not large but still I walked at least 3 miles by the time I went back and forth several times from the baggage claim and Southwest unloading gate area to the Southwest counter at the opposite end of the airport. On my cane. At the Southwest counter I asked if the flight had been on time and got a different answer each time - yes, no, and who knows. I love the airlines. 
Not! Finally, on my second trip the lady at the Southwest ticket counter told me that they could not give me any information about the flight, or if the passenger was on it, or even if it had left San Jose because (a) I had not booked the ticket, and (b) I was not the passenger! This is ridiculous since if I was the passenger I would know if I was on the flight. right? Finally, I had to call home and have DS1 look up the phone number for the people in Tennessee who arranged the inspection. They had to call the person in Georgia who booked the flight. Those people texted me a copy of a letter from Southwest saying that the flight was delayed for 5 HOURS! At this point Colene was still sitting in Spokane WA waiting for her delayed flight! Marv had been circling the airport since we didn't want to pay $30 in parking. I called him to come and pick me up and we went home - it had taken an hour. A few hours later I got another text forwarded from Colene that she was getting on the San Jose flight right then and would arrive in about 1 hour. Burbank is only 15 minutes away. Back to the airport and picked up Colene who said that the flight from Spokane was cancelled, and she had to wait 5 hours at the airport. She was afraid she would miss the connection in San Jose but was able to catch it. She kept apologizing for the delay and making us wait, but I told her I was worried that she was wandering around the airport looking for me!
We got home and walked around our place a bit and looked at some of the sheep. Then showers, dinner, chatting, etc. DS2 made hamburgers. We sat out on the patio for a while. We were surprised to find that in South Africa they don't use any guardian animals. Their main predators are hyena packs and jackal packs BUT their ranches are too large. Hyenas are the worst since they hunt with their cubs and the cubs maim and injure as many sheep or lambs as the adults kill.
Next day we started inspection of the flock around 7 am. The weather was very pleasant and remarkably cool, and we finished all 4 pens around 1:00. Back inside for lunch. I had made large bowls of crab salad, chicken salad, potato salad, and green pea salad which I served with avocado and croissants. These are my go-tos for summer to avoid cooking.
Dorper inspections have 5 categories on which the grades are based:
Conformation
Size and Growth
Distribution of Fat (Dorpers have uniform fat covering - pockets of fat are not good )
Color Pattern/Color - in Dorpers (black heads) color in any shades of brown instead of black, or color anywhere except head and neck is downgraded heavily. In White Dorpers the pigment of eyelids is checked and lack of pigment or any other black spots are heavily downgraded. Pigment is important since lack of pigment can lead to cancers.
Covering - which is wool/hair combination, type of wool/hair and pattern of wool/hair growth on the body, The belly must be clean. The South African standard does not call for complete shedding since some wool covering protects the sheep from sunburn and thorn bushes.
Each of these 5 categories have 5 levels of scores. Then all these scores are combined into a Type score. Only Type 5 and Type 4 animals can be tagged with their score number. Type 3 and under receive a recorded Type number which is registered with the Dorper Society, but are not tagged. Type 3 and Type 2 animals are good commercial flock sheep, Type 1 should be culled from Dorper operations. Only sheep over 10 months old can be tagged.
Colene inspected 31 sheep, 4 rams and 27 ewes older than 10 months. She also looked at the 6-8 month old lambs and 2-3 month old lambs. She really liked the young lambs and said that as of now they should become Type 5 which made me extremely happy since ost of them are home bred. She recommended that we keep one ram lamb that she said was really beautiful. He has been docked South African style now - tail banded and then cut off with a knife below the band!
She said that in South Africa they don't dock too early since the sheep are out on the veld until they do a round up. They often don't dock until 2 months old and this is the method they use - band and cut. We also tagged him to register. I gave him an extra dose of CDT. Two of the 6-8 month old lambs will be culled. One for too little eye pigment which we will sell. The other we plan to slaughter since she has a recurrent rectal prolapse.
Of the 4 rams she loved Lewis. She said he had a perfect head and neck, his forequarters were also perfect. He would have been a 5 but she felt he needed a little more meat in the outer twist so he is a 4. Smalley was also a 4, with good length of body and depth. He had the meat in his twist but she would have liked to see a longer, more elegant neck on him. Axtell got a 3 - due to lack of pigment, and needs more length. Moyboy got a 3 since she felt he needed more neck as well. However, he is the sire of 5 ewes that received Type 5 so I discussed it with her and she agreed he should stay in the flock for a while longer since he produces much better quality than he is himself which is a big plus in a ram. I will eventually replace him. I will repeat the breedings that produced those Type 5 ewes.
Then on to the ewes. One purchased ewe received a cull score due to bite (overshot) and too many tiny black spots. One home bred ewe received a cull score for bite (slightly undershot) but was in other respects a very good ewe. One of my home bred ewes received a 3 based on poor eye pigment although again good body type. All of them will be sold.
5 of my remaining 10 purchased ewes received 5s, and 5 received 4s. Very good news.
Best of all 8 out of the remaining 14 home bred ewes received 5s! The other 6 ewes received 4s!
And the 6-8 month olds and younger lambs she felt would be 5s as well. Colene picked Snowflake out of the flock at first sight and said she was a "perfect ewe". 5s all across the board!
My breeding program looks to be producing good quality sheep so I am thrilled. She liked them and said that they all had great uniformity of type which is what you look for in a breeding program. We still don't plan on showing, but at least I know that I would be competitive. Colene has the reputation of being a very strict grader too. And knowing that my sheep are conforming to the South African ideal is the best news since their standard is the strictest.
Back again, just sold the 4 ewes and Axtell ram. I told the buyer that I would breed the 3 older ewes first to Smalley. The buyer will pick up in a month, giving them time to remark, by which time he will have his pens up. It is our hay supplier who is buying them and he will use the fallen surplus hay to feed (broken bales, sweepings, etc.) 5 hay eating mouths will be gone in a month. Any ewes he gets will be able to be bred to Axtell next year.
Colene, the South African Dorper judge and inspector, has just gone to the airport and is heading to Reno to judge the Dorper show there, then on to Utah for more flock inspections, and then to Cookeville, TN, for another big Dorper show before returning to Capetown. She is a lovely person and a lot of fun as well as a wealth of information on breeding, flock maintenance, etc. etc. She said that she had sold her farmland and moved her cattle, sheep and goats, to other stud farms since she had to move into town for safety. Too many white ranchers are being murdered by the blacks in South Africa. Horrible. She also said that they lose a lot of giraffes every year due to lightning strikes! Because they are so tall they apparently act as living lightning rods!
Anyway, on Tuesday, July 5, we headed to the Burbank airport to pick up Colene from her arrival at 2:35 pm. I had told the planners to book her on Alaska to Burbank and they had sent me the flight numbers. Their email did not give the airline so I gave the flight number to the Alaska person at their counter to find out what gate to meet her at. Was told the flight number was not theirs?! They checked and 15 minutes later were able to tell me it was a Southwest flight number which should be met at the other side of the airport! I really wish the email had stated on which airline they had booked her! I will have to send a review to the arrangers since it also did not have any contact information for her. I headed to the other side of the airport and no Colene. I did not know what she looked like, but I had made a sign which I kept waving at people who hurried away from me (in case I decided to hit them with my cane?). After walking back and forth across the airport my knee was beginning to ache badly. Thank goodness it was Burbank airport and not LAX which is the size of a small city and 2 hours from our house. Burbank Airport is not large but still I walked at least 3 miles by the time I went back and forth several times from the baggage claim and Southwest unloading gate area to the Southwest counter at the opposite end of the airport. On my cane.
At the Southwest counter I asked if the flight had been on time and got a different answer each time - yes, no, and who knows. I love the airlines. Not! Finally, on my second trip the lady at the Southwest ticket counter told me that they could not give me any information about the flight, or if the passenger was on it, or even if it had left San Jose because (a) I had not booked the ticket, and (b) I was not the passenger! This is ridiculous since if I was the passenger I would know if I was on the flight. right? Finally, I had to call home and have DS1 look up the phone number for the people in Tennessee who arranged the inspection. They had to call the person in Georgia who booked the flight. Those people texted me a copy of a letter from Southwest saying that the flight was delayed for 5 HOURS! At this point Colene was still sitting in Spokane WA waiting for her delayed flight! Marv had been circling the airport since we didn't want to pay $30 in parking. I called him to come and pick me up and we went home - it had taken an hour. A few hours later I got another text forwarded from Colene that she was getting on the San Jose flight right then and would arrive in about 1 hour. Burbank is only 15 minutes away. Back to the airport and picked up Colene who said that the flight from Spokane was cancelled, and she had to wait 5 hours at the airport. She was afraid she would miss the connection in San Jose but was able to catch it. She kept apologizing for the delay and making us wait, but I told her I was worried that she was wandering around the airport looking for me! We got home and walked around our place a bit and looked at some of the sheep. Then showers, dinner, chatting, etc. DS2 made hamburgers. We sat out on the patio for a while. We were surprised to find that in South Africa they don't use any guardian animals. Their main predators are hyena packs and jackal packs BUT their ranches are too large. Hyenas are the worst since they hunt with their cubs and the cubs maim and injure as many sheep or lambs as the adults kill.
Next day we started inspection of the flock around 7 am. The weather was very pleasant and remarkably cool, and we finished all 4 pens around 1:00. Back inside for lunch. I had made large bowls of crab salad, chicken salad, potato salad, and green pea salad which I served with avocado and croissants. These are my go-tos for summer to avoid cooking.
Dorper inspections have 5 categories on which the grades are based:
Conformation
Size and Growth
Distribution of Fat (Dorpers have uniform fat covering - pockets of fat are not good )
Color Pattern/Color - in Dorpers (black heads) color in any shades of brown instead of black, or color anywhere except head and neck is downgraded heavily. In White Dorpers the pigment of eyelids is checked and lack of pigment or any other black spots are heavily downgraded. Pigment is important since lack of pigment can lead to cancers.
Covering - which is wool/hair combination, type of wool/hair and pattern of wool/hair growth on the body, The belly must be clean. The South African standard does not call for complete shedding since some wool covering protects the sheep from sunburn and thorn bushes.
Each of these 5 categories have 5 levels of scores. Then all these scores are combined into a Type score. Only Type 5 and Type 4 animals can be tagged with their score number. Type 3 and under receive a recorded Type number which is registered with the Dorper Society, but are not tagged. Type 3 and Type 2 animals are good commercial flock sheep, Type 1 should be culled from Dorper operations. Only sheep over 10 months old can be tagged.
Colene inspected 31 sheep, 4 rams and 27 ewes older than 10 months. She also looked at the 6-8 month old lambs and 2-3 month old lambs. She really liked the young lambs and said that as of now they should become Type 5 which made me extremely happy since ost of them are home bred. She recommended that we keep one ram lamb that she said was really beautiful. He has been docked South African style now - tail banded and then cut off with a knife below the band!
She said that in South Africa they don't dock too early since the sheep are out on the veld until they do a round up. They often don't dock until 2 months old and this is the method they use - band and cut. We also tagged him to register. I gave him an extra dose of CDT. Two of the 6-8 month old lambs will be culled. One for too little eye pigment which we will sell. The other we plan to slaughter since she has a recurrent rectal prolapse. Of the 4 rams she loved Lewis. She said he had a perfect head and neck, his forequarters were also perfect. He would have been a 5 but she felt he needed a little more meat in the outer twist so he is a 4. Smalley was also a 4, with good length of body and depth. He had the meat in his twist but she would have liked to see a longer, more elegant neck on him. Axtell got a 3 - due to lack of pigment, and needs more length. Moyboy got a 3 since she felt he needed more neck as well. However, he is the sire of 5 ewes that received Type 5 so I discussed it with her and she agreed he should stay in the flock for a while longer since he produces much better quality than he is himself which is a big plus in a ram. I will eventually replace him. I will repeat the breedings that produced those Type 5 ewes.
Then on to the ewes. One purchased ewe received a cull score due to bite (overshot) and too many tiny black spots. One home bred ewe received a cull score for bite (slightly undershot) but was in other respects a very good ewe. One of my home bred ewes received a 3 based on poor eye pigment although again good body type. All of them will be sold.
5 of my remaining 10 purchased ewes received 5s, and 5 received 4s. Very good news.
Best of all 8 out of the remaining 14 home bred ewes received 5s! The other 6 ewes received 4s!
And the 6-8 month olds and younger lambs she felt would be 5s as well. Colene picked Snowflake out of the flock at first sight and said she was a "perfect ewe". 5s all across the board!My breeding program looks to be producing good quality sheep so I am thrilled. She liked them and said that they all had great uniformity of type which is what you look for in a breeding program. We still don't plan on showing, but at least I know that I would be competitive. Colene has the reputation of being a very strict grader too. And knowing that my sheep are conforming to the South African ideal is the best news since their standard is the strictest.
Back again, just sold the 4 ewes and Axtell ram.
I told the buyer that I would breed the 3 older ewes first to Smalley. The buyer will pick up in a month, giving them time to remark, by which time he will have his pens up. It is our hay supplier who is buying them and he will use the fallen surplus hay to feed (broken bales, sweepings, etc.) 5 hay eating mouths will be gone in a month. Any ewes he gets will be able to be bred to Axtell next year.Mini Horses
Herd Master
congrats!!! You're doing great!!!I think we deserve a picture of Snowflake!!
There are those who produce better than selves! Just hide him🤫.
Blue Sky
Herd Master
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I refer to that as misplaced eyebrows. I’m misplacing everything elseI'll be happy not to have to shave my legs monthly. (zero in the winter).
But unfortunately, my chin has picked up the slack...........
farmerjan
Herd Master
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That is great about the grading. It helps to have a totally objective person to look at them... especially since you can get to where you "see things" that are good, or not, after awhile...and it goes to show that the direction you are going is really the right direction. Your instincts and understanding of the breed is obviously very much on the mark. KUDOS to you.
And selling 5, so less to feed, and good for someone with a commercial flock to raise some good animals for meat purposes.
And selling 5, so less to feed, and good for someone with a commercial flock to raise some good animals for meat purposes.
Baymule
Herd Master
Wow! Grade 5’s!!! That’s awesome!!! You are doing great with your breeding and picking really good sheep at auction.
- Thread starter
- #2,288
Ridgetop
Herd Master
A cure will be coming. Animal pix are difficult since they turn at the wrong time or shift their legs or whatver to make the picture look like the animal is misshapen!
5's and 4's! Just have to keep it up now! Hope the little ram lamb we kept will be a good producer since I won't be buying any more rams for a while. DH and DS1 have forbidden the purchase of any more sheep until we move to Texas. 
Colene and I tried to convince them we should go to the Reno show with Colene, but they were adamant NO. maybe the fact that we were using our cell phones to look at some rams for sale gave them idea that I might have bid! LOL
I will try for a pix of the little ram lamb too since he is very nice. Long and elegant with tons of width and thickness which = meat. He is busy screaming for his mama at the moment and wearing a path into the dirt floor of his stall. Luckily he is getting hoarser and hoarser every day. He was 3 month old on July 5, the day she chose him as a keeper. I will try to weigh him tonight. The other lamb she picked immediately from the creep was the ewe with the black Cleopatra eyes. One side of the facial black eye outlines have completely vanished. Her other eye marking has faded down to one small mark. If it fades out I can register her eventually.
Anyway, DH called John the Electrician in Yantis and is buying the necessary electrical stuff to rewire the house when we get back there in September. John also has a guy that we can hire to help us put up the perimeter fencing and dig the ditch to run electrical to the barn and the pump. Then we will buy and install a water storage tank. Even with the pinholes in the well casing which produce the Sulphur flavor, storing the water in a large tank will allow the Sulphur to burn off.
Speaking of Sulphur Colene told me that she uses yellow Sulphur when switching pastures or introducing new sheep to new pastures. She gives each sheep a large tablespoon of Sulphur powder by mouth to avoid bloat. I never heard of this. It is easily available in South Africa, but not so sure where to get it here. Will check Amazon.
BTW. With the situation in South Africa of white farmers getting shot and killed by blacks, many farmers are interested in coming to this country to work on farms here. If anyone is interested, I will let her know. I told DH that we should put a trailer on the property and for some help with our sheep they could live there in return for help with the sheep. Free housing is worth a lot, but since we don't have that much work to do, the person could then work for others as well or get a job in town. We certainly can't afford to pay 40 hours/wk minimum wages at $15/hr!
5's and 4's!
Just have to keep it up now! Hope the little ram lamb we kept will be a good producer since I won't be buying any more rams for a while. DH and DS1 have forbidden the purchase of any more sheep until we move to Texas. Colene and I tried to convince them we should go to the Reno show with Colene, but they were adamant NO. maybe the fact that we were using our cell phones to look at some rams for sale gave them idea that I might have bid! LOLI will try for a pix of the little ram lamb too since he is very nice. Long and elegant with tons of width and thickness which = meat. He is busy screaming for his mama at the moment and wearing a path into the dirt floor of his stall. Luckily he is getting hoarser and hoarser every day. He was 3 month old on July 5, the day she chose him as a keeper. I will try to weigh him tonight. The other lamb she picked immediately from the creep was the ewe with the black Cleopatra eyes. One side of the facial black eye outlines have completely vanished. Her other eye marking has faded down to one small mark. If it fades out I can register her eventually.
Anyway, DH called John the Electrician in Yantis and is buying the necessary electrical stuff to rewire the house when we get back there in September. John also has a guy that we can hire to help us put up the perimeter fencing and dig the ditch to run electrical to the barn and the pump. Then we will buy and install a water storage tank. Even with the pinholes in the well casing which produce the Sulphur flavor, storing the water in a large tank will allow the Sulphur to burn off.
Speaking of Sulphur Colene told me that she uses yellow Sulphur when switching pastures or introducing new sheep to new pastures. She gives each sheep a large tablespoon of Sulphur powder by mouth to avoid bloat. I never heard of this. It is easily available in South Africa, but not so sure where to get it here. Will check Amazon.
BTW. With the situation in South Africa of white farmers getting shot and killed by blacks, many farmers are interested in coming to this country to work on farms here. If anyone is interested, I will let her know. I told DH that we should put a trailer on the property and for some help with our sheep they could live there in return for help with the sheep. Free housing is worth a lot, but since we don't have that much work to do, the person could then work for others as well or get a job in town. We certainly can't afford to pay 40 hours/wk minimum wages at $15/hr!
- Thread starter
- #2,289
Ridgetop
Herd Master
"Cure?" I think I meant a "couple pix". My computer often decides to replay on its own. I need to be strict about proof reading!
- Thread starter
- #2,290
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Just watched the Western States Dorper Association show online. 
2 very nice rams that I would like to bid on 
BUT I know those breeders and they will have a high reserve on their animals. I will watch the bidding tomorrow and see what they go for, but need to wait for another show when I can go in person. I do have money from my recent sheep sales to bid with - as long as DH doesn't know. But then I will have to load the trailer and sneak up to pick up the ram. Hard to do and he will find out. Besides it is more fun to bid in person. Besides I have a lovely little lamb ram in the barn to use next year. And I want to use Lewis and MoyBoy more before replacing too many rams. Good rams are always out there, so are excellent rams - they just cost more. I'll start saving.
2 very nice rams that I would like to bid on BUT I know those breeders and they will have a high reserve on their animals. I will watch the bidding tomorrow and see what they go for, but need to wait for another show when I can go in person. I do have money from my recent sheep sales to bid with - as long as DH doesn't know. But then I will have to load the trailer and sneak up to pick up the ram. Hard to do and he will find out. Besides it is more fun to bid in person. Besides I have a lovely little lamb ram in the barn to use next year. And I want to use Lewis and MoyBoy more before replacing too many rams. Good rams are always out there, so are excellent rams - they just cost more. I'll start saving.
