Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

It's a mix of dried and fairly fresh and I have this huge dust pan like thing and use a broom to brush it in and have big tubs to hold all of that. I probably got between 70-80 pounds and still need to do their shelters. Even fresh it sweeps right up.

 

[Mike CHS]

We took some pictures of the sheep while we were out feeding and taking a look at how everyone is doing. The ewes we put with the ram in October are due to lamb starting in 2 weeks. We have a couple that are showing signs of being ready NOW so they might have gotten bred through the fence.

The younger ewes were put in a month later and a few didn't cycle right away so they will be due to lamb mid February into March. They were all in really good condition going into breeding and several look to be carrying multiples.

First up is 34 who used to be known as Wild Thing and she is sold with her lamb(s). She will never be tame but she is a sweet one that doesn't panic when being handled.

Next is 70 who is smaller than I like but has perfect lines and dropped twins last season.

Then there is 122 who can be handled like a puppy dog but she is my girl and will probably stay here long enough to retire.

Next is Notag - she has soft ear tissue that doesn't like to keep ear tags in place and since she is another of my girls, she doesn't need a tag anyway.

Maisy needs no introduction but she must put on several miles following me around the paddocks when I'm working out there.

Thor is taking his treasure off to hide somewhere so mean old daddy can't take it away. I had it sitting by the gate so I could throw it away and he grabbed it and hauled off.3

The older ewes are all between 2 1/2 & 3 years old and they all shed much better this year than last. The 3 males from last season are all going to be sold soon.

 

[Southern by choice]

Your sheep look fantastic Mike!

Yes, you are a mean daddy... taking his possessions away. He is gonna be your special boy...

Maisey looks so happy and relaxed now. Makes the heart happy!

 

[CntryBoy777]

The girls are coming along quite nicely....and it does look that there are more than singles in your future this season........Thor just thought he'd save ya some steps and needed to see if there was anytbing he could use before it was tossed.....

 

[Mike CHS]

He already is my special boy.

 

[Mike CHS]

I love living in a rural area. I went into Pulaski today to get some fencing supplies and on the way home I saw a small herd of cattle in a pasture beside the road. One of the cows had a strange look to her rear and it almost looked like something hanging on her. As I got closer I slowed down until I could see she was delivering. I pulled off on to the shoulder to watch this pretty calf being born. Quite a few cars slowed down because of me sitting there but they wound up doing the same as I did. I don't care who you are, births are always an awesome thing and even though this is a rural area folks still like to watch the magic.

There wound up being a half dozen cars on US31A which is a traffic jam for here.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I would've been one there too!!....just born anything is always beautiful....and calves are especially....

 

[Southern by choice]

Absolutely! There is such a magical beauty in life being born!
I guess that is why we all get so excited for each other when lambing/kidding/calving/foaling etc... happen. I'm always so proud of the mamma's!

 

[Mike CHS]

I hope I don't have withdrawals but I am done building fence. I got the hot wire finished on the section I have been working on this morning. I kept track of time spent on this section since it seemed like it has taken forever to fence in our place but this section was just under 500' and I spent 30 hours getting it done and that includes 6 hours of Jay's time. Plus there was often a week or more at a time that other things were getting done so I don't feel so bad about how long it took.

I'm going to take our ram and the LGDs out of the paddock that we will be lambing in tomorrow and put them in with the wethers until I can see how the dogs handle lambing. Maisy did well last season after a questionable start but Thor the pup can't be trusted yet. He is bigger than Maisy now by quite a bit and well behaved (mostly) but he is a 6 month old pup in spite of his size. I have enough paddocks to give everyone enough room to roam without being bored and plenty of hay to not need to worry about graze.

 

[Bruce]

Now that the fencing is done you can sit on the deck, tea (sweet or not) in hand, and admire your work Then figure out the next thing you want to tackle on your to-do list because farmers don't get time to just sit.