Mama’s worries, Aubrey, sheep update

When I got home yesterday evening, Mama was worried about the sheep. She had not seen them come up to the water trough to drink. Every time she took time to look, they were grazing in the pasture. Never at the barn. Never drinking. So, we carried water to them in the field but as soon as we did the goats came to see what we were doing, and the sheep instinctively moved away. Goats are very curious creatures. Where upon Mama fussed and the goats to shoo them away, which drive the sheep even further from the water we have carried to them. In frustration, Mama called Rick for advice. He admitted to being ignorant concerning sheep. He has only dealt with goats and cattle in all his time raising stock animals. Mama and he talked about us loading up all the goats except Champ – our little wether – and taking them to Rick’s place. There were multiple reasons. Our goats are too fat to allow them to eat all that we put out for the sheep and them. They need to be separated in order to give the sheep time to acclimate. And, Champ needs to be separated from Dolly so he can be weaned.


I suggested and alternative. We will separate the goats to put them on a diet, but we can do it at the farm by putting them in the lot near the pigs. We will block the pigs from the building – which we were going to do anyway – and give that to the goats. That way they will still be easy enough to feed and water and they will be easily in view for Mama to watch over. The only caveat is that that is where we have had some incidents with goats or pigs getting into the back yard. When that has happened in the past, the dogs have killed the intruder. If we can keep the goats in that lot for a few weeks, it will give us time to slim them down, allow the sheep to bear there young and give me the time I need to prepare the other large paddock for whichever group of animals we decide to put over there. If I understood the conversation properly, we will take the nanny goats to Rick in March to get them bred. We should get them back in May. Meanwhile, Champ will run with the sheep. One additional consideration in having the goats near the pigs is that we will need to keep the feeders out of sight of the pigs. They will tear down a barn to get an extra bite of food.


Mama spent the morning with Aubrey yesterday. They went to the library for Story Time which is always followed by assembling a craft. Yesterday’s craft was a bear. I do not know what the story was about, but Aubrey was very pleased with her bear. Mama always has to do the craft portion while Aubrey watches. Aubrey does not like the sticky feel of glue, paste, a glue stick, a post it, etc. She will happily watch but she will not touch the project until all the sticky portion is covered up. I met the two of them for lunch after they were done at the library. Aubrey was full of herself yesterday. Silly faces. Silly dancing. Purposely getting her face messy. Flipping and flopping in the booth at the restaurant. It was both funny and frustrating. So, we focused on the funny aspect and dealt with the frustrating. I know Mama had to launder the shirt she was wearing at lunch as a consequence of the constant interaction with Aubrey. It is fun to watch the interaction of Aubrey with Mama. Aubrey is expressive in action, but she does not talk much. She really does not need to. Everyone does for her whatever she needs or wants. But she is comfortable enough with Mama now to jabber with her and to tell her “No”. Emphatically at times. That is actually good to see. She knows Aubrey understands well enough that Mama can correct and instruct her.


Mama is taking Grandma and Grandpa to one of Grandpa’s medical appointments this morning. She was counting on leaving the farm in time to make the appointment with a few minutes to spare, but Grandma and Grandpa wanted to leave several hours early so they can go “shopping”. I am not sure what that entails but the medical plaza is in a very upscale area, so there are some quaint shops to look through. That does not sound like a Grandma or Grandpa request, so I am curious to see how that foray turns out.


Mama sent me pictures of the sheep at the feeders this morning. She was excited about it. We will still separate the goats to slim them down and wean Champ, but the urgency is not there. Everyone has an opportunity to get fat now.