Losses and gains, transplants and new plants

I mentioned one ewe we bought Tuesday evening; that it was not looking well and Mama and I were keeping our eye on it. It died trying to give birth. Mama called me with the news just after I had posted my blog Friday morning. We always feel an emotional loss when one of the animals in our care dies, but this one was concerning because we did not even have the chance to try to help the ewe. Plus, it is difficult to dispose of a carcass that size. A little research told us that it is not uncommon. Sometimes an animal can get stressed to the point of dying. The fact that the ewe was young, small and possible in the throws of lambing for the first time as we moved her only added to the stress. If Mama and I had known, we would have cared for her differently. Oh, well. It was not a huge financial loss, just and emotional one. And it makes us a bit apprehensive for the other ewes.

On the bright side, as I was out Saturday morning doing the early feeding, Mama raised the window in our bedroom and called out to me that we had a new lamb. Sure enough, one of the ewes had delivered a little ewe lamb just that morning. Mama met me at the gate into the paddock and I went ahead and picked up the lamb to see what we had. When I put her back down, she ran straight to her mother and began nursing. Mama told me later that evening that the ewe got the name Polly and the lamb got the name Penny. The other three have not been named yet, but that is coming. With that little addition, I suppose it was wise of us to buy the five we did. We took a couple ugly ewes because they were recommended as good mommies. One, the one we were going to pass on, has had two sets of twins in the past. Hopefully that holds true. So, we lost one (and her baby) and we gained one.


The new arrival put a bit of urgency into separating the goats from the sheep. So, after I got home from bus calling, Victoria and I got the nanny goats and Aspen into the little enclosure by the pigs. We used to have our Nigerian Dwarfs in that area. Mama needed to get Champ off his mama, and we needed a place where we cold put the goats on a weight loss program so they will not have trouble getting bred in April. We quickly discovered that goats and sheep have different eating regimens. Our goats will not lift their heads out of the troughs until the food is gone. They compete heavily for a space at the trough. So much so that Mama constantly fusses at them to share or go to another feeder. The sheep eat a few bites and wander off. Returning in intervals to eat a few more bites. They prefer to graze. The problem was that when they came back for another bite or two the troughs had been licked clean by our greedy goats. Where we have the goats now, we can drastically reduce their feed, substituting it with good quality hay; hay is not fattening. Still a healthy diet, just without the fat that feed puts on them.


 Mama and I were not impressed with the hay we got from Rick, but he assured us that the goats would love it. It was broad leafed and stemmy. Not our favorite kind of hay under normal circumstances, but there is not much to choose from right now and we were out, so we got what we could afford and hauled it home. We will see how far it goes as we feed it out. Fortunately, with the money Mama collected from selling half our beef (she picked it up Saturday morning and delivered it to our two buyers) we will have money for feed for several months. Hay is the most expensive part of that feed overall right now. But with winter winding down, the price should come down as the grass starts to grow requiring ranchers to feed out less hay in the coming months. Since our two heifers are with the neighbor’s bull. We are feeding out the round bale we have to the goats. It should last them several weeks. The heifers would have eaten it in about ten days. At $95 per bale, that gets expensive very quickly.


Saturday morning before I went to bus calling, I dug up the blackberry bush that had taken over our bed in the back yard. When I got the bush dug out, I discovered it could be separated into four good sized plants. I planted the four bushes in the garden area. Separately. If they all take off we should have a good supply of blackberries. Along with the large plants I got out of the bush, I dug up five little starts. I have four of them in pots in the sun room and one planted with the elderberry bushes along the fence between the garage and the shop. Five in the ground. Four in pots. We will have a lot of blackberries Lord willing.


I planted spinach, beets, onions, and cabbage in the raised bed late Saturday. Mama and Victoria were out shoe shopping. I filled the entire bed with plants and seeds. That is the first time we have done so. However, I as I fed Sunday morning, I discovered that a chicken had gotten into the bed and scratched up a good-sized area. Disappointing but not unexpected. So, on our way home from lunch Sunday afternoon, I stopped at Lowe’s and bought some fencing to lay across the bed. The plants can grow up through the fencing and it will discourage the chickens from trying to scratch in the bed as the plants grow. Maybe.



At least, that is the plan.