K8's great guns

We were doing one of our bi-monthly wood cuts for some families. It was so cold, the logs were frozen to the ground. Everyone was bundled up in layers to stay warm.

An hour later, after some heavy lifting, most people were peeling off their coats. One of our adults is so strong, he can cut logs with a chainsaw while K8 balances on his back. Can you believe that?

We ended up with quite a bit of firewood - enough to see them through to the end of winter. 

It was a rare photography day for me, because K8 asked me to take his picture. Usually he avoided the camera.

These pics really don't do justice to his "guns" (muscles). 

Since he joined Marine JROTC back in August, he has been doing PT three times a week, and it shows.

Not to mention he is a good looking guy...

...with a great smile. Enjoy the pictures, because I have no idea how long it will be before he wants his photo taken again - maybe when he leaves home to serve a Mission, or maybe after his Mission at his Temple wedding to an even better looking girl with an even better smile, because we all know he will marry "up" like his Dad. Who knows?

Animal bonding

I spotted this earlier in the week, and ran to grab my camera. I was hoping the black heifer would stand up with the lamb still onboard, but didn't happen. Both cows are daughters of our bull, Red. The black one should calf in late May, and the dun should calf early October. Both will be for sale this year after I get their lab test results from Texas A&M.

Herd getting their vitamin supplement. We use a recipe of sea kelp and Redmon salt given to us by our friends at 5 Ponds Farm, where we bought Red, Darlin, and Mutt back in 2010. Our herd will change this year as we sell two dairy girls, one dairy steer, and put the red steer in the freezer. I'll be adding three registered Dexter girls within two weeks.

What did thousands of dollars in tuition and 2 years of study & hard work get this Midwife?

Sheep deliveries!

This Momma ewe went into labor about lunch time Saturday. First lamb came out okay. A little later, the second one came out, but Momma sat down on it. About supper time I noticed she was still laying on the ground in the corral instead of out in the pasture eating grass and feeding her babies. I walked to the corral and discovered that there was another set of legs hanging out! Not good after several hours, and with the wrong legs (back ones) showing. I pulled out the cell phone and told the Midwife she was needed in the emergency sheep room - Stat! I needed a set of small hands for this job.

I had the Momma herded into our capture pen by the time the Midwife arrived, and she immediately pushed the legs back inside the Momma. She was having a hard time turning the lamb around, so I told her to just pull it out, because it was probably dead anyway, and I wanted to save the Momma. So she pulled...

...and pulled...

...and kept pulling, until she got it out. "It" turned out to be ram number 3 for this Momma ewe. Triplets! And the Midwife was pleasantly surprised to find out that you can pull a lamb out the wrong way and it can still survive! I was very surprised this lamb was alive. 

The poor Momma was totally exhausted, and couldn't move. I had to raise her head.  The Midwife was lamenting she had no antibiotics to give the ewe. I said."Why?" She said, "Because I had my hands inside of her." I replied, "Don't worry, you had your sterile gloves on. Besides, I'm more worried now about you handling my supper. Go scrub."

We left her with her 3 sons, and headed in for supper. I returned after eating to find that Momma and a son (the one on far right) were gone, but the two other little guys were laying in the corral shivering in the cooling night breeze - the third guy still soaking wet from his birth. We had to rescue them again.

We have a little experience with bottle feeding new born lambs, so our front bathroom is again a nursery for little white fur balls. The Midwife put them in the bath tub for a quick wash, then got out her hair dryer while I went looking for the bag of powered colostrum left over from Sparky's baby days - just last month. I'm back on night watch with feedings every 4 hours. I used to think having triplets would be great for the farm's profit margin, but I'm having second thoughts.

Sparky's field trip, or, trip to the field

I took Sparky out to the sheep paddock today. He stayed by my side, and barely noticed the "maternity" flock. Momma came toward us as if she recognized him, but when we got too close she turned back to the flock.

Sparky eventually ran after her and his siblings, but she wouldn't let him drink any milk.

This is K8's ewe, Booboo. She lambed a few days ago, and surprised us by only giving us a single. She has always given us twins. This birth brings us to 9 lambs so far, with many more to come in the next few weeks. 

We followed most of the flock into the corral.

"Are you my Momma?"

"Are you my Pappa?"

This really is his Pappa.

Sparky is to the right in the first group of lambs, in the middle of two other lambs, being sniffed by two ewes.

Sparky returned from his field trip, but did not re-enter the house. The boys built him a new home on the front porch, where he will stay a while until he is weaned, before moving out to the paddock with the flock. It was 50 degrees earlier today, the first time it has been warm in many weeks, and it won't go below freezing tonight, so he should be okay. I was going to put him in the barn with the dogs, but my big English Shepherd, Dandy, looked at him as if he were already a lamb chop, so this is safer. Calling Dandy a shepherd is a misnomer. She is really a great watch dog, and does not shepherd critters - she flat out kill's most things. Hey Keegan, recognize this wire cage? It's the roof off your pig pen.

Boy Scouting is more than outdoors camping and hiking...

I took several Scouts to the Missouri University of Science and Technology, who hosted a huge Merit Badge U. As you can see, the boys got hand's on training in a very practical skill, and earned the Automotive Maintenance MB. Two of our other boys were in other cool classes - Cinematography making a movie, and in Radio, talking to a ham radio guy in Spain.

The first half of day was classroom learning about engines, oils, and tires, and watching awesome test crash videos. The second half of the day was in the garage putting their new knowledge into action.

K8 helping with an oil change.

"Quick, what's missing?"    "Where?"; "I don't know."; "Hey, this is only auto maintenance, not repair!"; "Is there something missing?" "Is this a trick question?"   

After finishing class, we stopped at Wendy's for Frosty's, then headed home. It was nice to see the sun over our neck of the Ozark's since it was overcast and cold all day up in Rolla. 

Lambing season - mostly the good, sometimes "the bad, and occasionally, the ugly

THE GOOD: This is "QT", one of my registered ewes. She gave us healthy twin girls last week. 

This is "Snow White", one of my unregistered girls, but a beauty never-the-less. She also gave us another set of healthy twins last week - a girl and a boy. THE BAD: both Mommas had to deliver in the freezing cold and snow. But the St Croix hair sheep are tough. 

Here is "Sparky", the triplet who almost died three weeks ago from hypothermia and starvation. Look at him now! After being bottle fed and pampered indoors, he is bigger than his two siblings. He moves to the barn this week, and gets castrated. Then he gets trained for the show ring and blue ribbon prizes.

In all, we have 8 healthy lambs so far. I keep checking the flock several times each day. The snow melted Thursday, and I noticed another ewe, K8's "Dime", going into labor. She is the one laying down in front of the group. Two things were very unusual about her: 1st, she did not go off alone to lamb, and 2nd, she started the labor process several hours ago. Her Momma, "Booboo" (due with twins any day), looked like she wanted to help her, but couldn't. Usually they go off alone, and an hour later I see the new Momma licking and nursing babies. Not this time. Since K7 and K8 were not home, I asked K6 to load her into the truck, and we took her to the Vet's at 4:45 P.M., almost closing time.

Our Vet had a 4th year vet student with her. They went to work and soon discovered that there were two heads blocking the exit - not good. Lambs are supposed to come front feet first, then head, one lamb at a time. Thank goodness for female vets with small hands. K6 was drafted to assist with his muscles.

THE UGLY: This poor ewe had two dead lambs inside, one tiny and one large. Both looked almost mummified.  It was a chore to pull them out, in fact, Vet had to cut head off first one in order to pull it. Both had been dead for quite a while. This Momma would have been dead herself by morning if we had waited. Doc said it was first time she had ever seen this type of problem, and not sure what caused her to abort.

K6 did a great job comforting her. He gently loaded her back into the truck, and Vet student gave her a shot of antibiotics. We got her home at sunset, and again, K6 gently lifted her into the corral, and she limped off into the pasture. She was doing fine Friday morning. I asked our Vet if I should allow her to be bred again next year, and she said yes, so we'll see how that goes. Taking "Dime" to the animal emergency room was not as low priced as her name. The bill was $105. It was worth it to save the Momma, but K8 is learning about the unforeseen costs of ownership.  

Snow shots

The boys were busy feeding cattle and sheep. Well, at least K6 and K7 were. You can see K8 sitting on his bale of hay playing with a dog.

They wanted to throw their 3 bales at the same time. Looks like our German Shepherd, Daisy, was anxious to join them.

Happy animals. Our English Shepherd, Dandy, was out in the paddock with the boys. Not sure why they left Daisy back in the yard.

The boys are carrying grain to the herd in paddock 3. It is much easier to feed them now that we have a long feed trough. All the animals can get their head in it without pushing and shoving, unlike the sheep and two heifers who still eat out of small bowls.

Pot roast, fine china, and tea

We had a snow day two Sundays back which cancelled Church. We had a mid day meal of pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy and yorkshire pudding. Mom decided that after 37.5 years, and no children in the house anymore, we should probably start using her nice dinner ware on Sundays.  

She also served herb tea. The boys loved it. The jars of jam on K7's corner of the table were for their yorkshire pudding. I probably won't be allowed to drink tea anymore as I was ham-handed while washing my dishes and dropped my tea cup, breaking the handle.  I suspect the fine china will go back into long term safe keeping since I can't afford to buy any replacements.

Hay or hey - it's a homophone

"Hey you! What are you doing on my hay?" 

I needed lots of hay delivered before our latest waves of snow storms arrived. Here's the first load, and K6 and K7 are attempting to budge the first bale off - barely moved. The bales weigh about 900 lbs. K6 and K7 weigh 290 combined. The secret is to get a 3rd guy and push the top bales off sideways.

Then you can roll the bottom bales off the back. Ah, success! You can't see the 3rd man (next to K7), our friend Jayson, from whom we bought this first trailer load.

By the time we got our 2nd trailer load, our Missionaries came by and added lots of muscle. It helps that Elder Holyoak is a cowboy from out west.

Guys being guys, and to add a little fun, they got competitive - K7 and Elder Holyoak vs K6 and Elder Blackburn.

Who would have believed? The two smaller guys beat the two bigger guys - as you can see, it wasn't even close! How do I pay such great help? With lots of laughter and the occasional meal!