The lambs are doing pretty well, although not growing quite as fast as we'd like. We increased their barley a bit and have started feeding them alfalfa hay that they seem to love. Yesterday one of the little ram lambs choked right after I fed them; I assume this was because he inhaled the barley. He was foaming at the mouth and bucking around in obvious pain. Scared me silly. Enough that I called the vet and took him in to the office for a quick check up. By the time we got there he looked a lot better. Dr. Brody looked him over and decided he had probably choked. Whew!
We also bought a new ram from the Virginia Tech ram test. He's a Suffolk born early this year and he is already as tall as our two mature North Country rams. I know, because the first day he was here, coincidentally also the first day of a week-long trip for Brian, he escaped from his quarantine pen and somehow got in the field with the mature rams. In the process of safely getting him (and me!) out of the sparring zone and back into his own pen, I had plenty of opportunity to size him up. The second day he was here he tried to jump out of the pen on another side. I ended up catching the gate just as he knocked it off the hinges (I thought that wasn't supposed to happen when you turn the top one down??) and then holding it while he pounded into it three more times. He had better help us get some size into our lambs, or this brute strength is going to get old real quickly! I love the North Countrys for their independent nature and easy care, but they are slow growing. No picture of the new guy yet, and no name either. We'll have to work on both of those...
The pigs are getting noticeably bigger. The two pink ones are growing faster than the red wattles, but all seem to be doing fine. They have figured out how to make a wallow even though they don't have a large amount of water available at one time. I don't know if they dribble it while drinking or if they push on it just to make mud, but yesterday when I took these shots, they were happily wallowing all over each other. Today when we went down to feed (without the camera) they were completely clean. Go figure!
This one is a real ham. Ooh, bad pun. But I love this picture.
The chickens continue to do very well out on pasture. We have had some issues with my incredibly brilliant self-waterer idea. I still say it is brilliant. Brian is not so sure... Mainly the problem is getting a good seal between the barrel and the hose connections. We're still working out the kinks, but not to worry, the chickens have had no shortage of water (which is especially good considering the crazy hot summer we've had). They have been drinking from the frost-free waterer and most recently from the ram's tub as seen here.
Deer sightings also continue, and I snapped this picture yesterday on my way down to feed the pigs and chickens after returning from the vet's. It was almost mid-morning by that time, and I was surprised to see this deer, but I suspect there are a lot of deer visiting the apple tree down in the bottom pasture these days.
Well, that's at least a start on catching up with what's been going on here.
Until next time, here's some sage advice from Tony llama.
Stay alert! You never know what might come through the gate.
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