March madness

I hate March, always have. Weather is too changing. Windy , rainy, snow sleet . Cloudy more than not. Yet it can also be warm , sunny , calm. So far this year we are not seeing the "Lamb" of March, has been behaving much more "Lion" like.
I have noticed some of the birds are making their way back.

Nice to see them as well as hear them. Geese honking, song birds feeble in their early spring songs.
Soon the air will be filled with many birds courting mates . I love listening to them.

Had two more lambs born a few days ago, and as I had worried the "runt" of the triplets died. Tried the bottle with him but he just did not take on enough. I really need to learn how to stomach tube them.
I still have five Maiden ewes to go of my hair sheep. Thankfully none look eminent so hope they hold off a bit while I'm in the hospital next week and then needing several more weeks for healing.

Took the young dogs out a few days ago and worked them. Finally melted off enough to give it a go. It's been a good solid two or maybe a bit more months that we have done any training. It shows. My handling was lazy and the dogs were not really listening . As soon as I am feeling well enough I'll get back at it, more at hand stuff to keep them honest. I guess for dogs who are just about 22 months of age they did not look THAT bad, but they have looked better! Both blew me off for the most part, no stop, no flank. I nagged for obedience but never did much to get it!
Well this was the reasoning behind the camcorder purchase.
So I could take a critical eye of the dogs and myself. I don't like much of what I am seeing in the video's but if I only shared them while all looked fantastic am I really being honest with you about the dogs?
 I am having some issues struggling with the upload process and can't seem to figure out how to get them up , maintain the full length or the quality. They look grainy and choppy  to me or are cut short of their full time. I am hoping I can figure out at some point how to clean them up. As well as offer some better work of both myself and dogs!

Rush

Flint

the wonders of Wool

We have all heard how great wool is to keep us snug and warm when it's chilly out. Even when it's wet it still keeps you warm.

Why even a little hair lamb can figure that one out!

My hair ewes are finally getting with the program and had a set of triplets born yesterday (two ewe and one ram) and a set of twins today (ewe and ram) . I am a little worried about the triplet ram lamb. He is really tiny but seems to be bright and healthy and nursing well. I'll keep them jugged for a bit just to make sure he is off to a good start.

The ram lamb from the twins is pretty cool looking . Coco brown with flecks of white and badger markings.

off to a slow start

Well we had our first set of lambs born Super Bowl Sunday. All went well and when I went out to feed that evening mom had them all cleaned up . I put them in the jug and all seemed well. The temperatures plummeted in the next days and I worried with temperatures in the singles and below zero over night that these lambs may not make it. But they did. I usually keep twins in the jug for two or three days. Sad to say that somehow one of the lambs squeezed out of the jug and must have gotten trampled . I was to let them out later that day but came out to find her dead in the main barn. She must has slipped through where I have the gate to get in the jug. We secured a strip of plywood up. So sad, and a nice little ewe lamb too.

Then the next ewe who has always twined popped a single out several days later, a ram lamb darn it.

A lull for a week and when we had that nice few days in the 50's a ewe lambed late evening. I knew she was going to go and with the moon close to full I was able to keep and eye out with binoculars. Around 10:30  I noticed she had a lamb following her. So went out grabbed her two lambs and jugged them. I am irritated that I neglected to check her bag. I was tired and just did not bother. I had never bred her before, I should have checked her.   The next morning after the temperatures dropped over 30 degrees overnight, I found the lambs looking weak and chilled and feeble baas's . I knew this was not right. Checked the ewes bag and found she must have been a "cull" that I purchased and did not know she should not have been bred. Her bag was hard and no milk could be drawn off her. Lambs in the house and Colostrum frozen from last years lambing thawed and I attempted to save these two. They rallied and dropped over the next days. The Ram lamb lost first and the ewe lamb the following night. Heartbreaking.
Then another lull and another set of twins. Two days ago another set of twins. Other than the first set of ewe twins we have been having a ewe and ram lamb sets. So, I feel not off to a great start with six surviving and three dead lambs. Next year I will not lamb anything this early.
Nine more hair ewes to go.
Wool sheep due starting late May.

south west corner of farm

okay giving this video thing another go. It seems to be the full video but quality is less. I'll have to give my friend a call and have her daughter walk me through this!

south west side of farm

another go with the camcorder. Filmed this last week. It is/was a longer video. I don't know what happened to the rest of it! This happened with another video .Somehow they get cut off just after the minute mark.
I find that my old tired eyes have some issue with the tiny screen. I just am not really sure of what I am looking at or filming when I look though it. I'll get the hang of it.

It has been a mixed bag of weather..sub zero cold,with blowing wind no wind at all and I think I may have even seen the sun a few times to relativity mild (I'm talking high 20's to a bit above the freezing mark ) but accompanied with 20-30 mph winds. OR SNOW!
Yeah , yeah I know it was just a few short blogs ago I was going on about embracing the winter. Well I did, I have and now I just want to kick it's ass to the curb.