Well May is over.. it was unusually chilly here, way behind on yard and garden...

bought several new critters at auction including one bottle fed lamb who keeps us very busy as he doesnt know  he is a sheep and refuses to stick with the other sheep...our lambs are cute as ever and getting ready to leave their moms..

http://www.picable.com/Nature/Animals/Barbado-Dad-and-Lambs-2008.123026

that is a photo of them...

anyhow not much else.. busy busy busy.. all the summer long...

havent been here for a bit

spring now.. summer next

that means I am busy with critters..

had bought a bottle fed ram lamb at the auction - cute as can be and harness trained too.. will follow you just like a puppy!

however.. he loves PUFFED WHEAT - his owner gave us a bag of Puffed Wheat for him - and one day he found it and gobbled most of it down.. probably some plastic too and got really sick - almost lost ime - took 2-3 days to get him back on his feet

now of course he thinks he is people and would rather live in our house than in the pasture with the other sheep - and being so small its probably better for him that he does too.. the other moms dont want anything to do with him.. BUT

little do they know.. he is going to be this years ram.. the MAN, the daddy of their next lambs.

had an exausting time at the auction...

sold our ram (here is a link to his picture from last summer)

http://www.picable.com/Nature/Animals/Barbado-Ram.100722< /a>

This weekend is the Innisfail Odd and Unusual Livestock Auction...

Its one of our favorite times of the year (next to Thanksgiving.. which is when they have their other auction)

3 days of crazy auctioneer calling and all kinds of critters..

sheep with 6 horns, swans, cows no higher than your waist... wallabies, northern walking stick insects (we sell those) and what ever people bring in a the time.

Its a well run place, reps from the SPCA make sure the animals are well cared for and in good shape.  Its exciting, and even though we cannot buy much we still enjoy going. 

probably wont sleep tonight with the anticipation... dang its just like Christmas except we pick our own gifts.. but its just like Christmas, because we usually spend too much.

well - looks like all the sheep are done having their lambs.. 17 little ones total, 3 died.. the last was one of the triplets... it was dying one morning when I went out to feed.  The cause?  Flat lamb syndrome, or, basically, mom sat on her... probably slept on her actually.

So everybody is now waiting for spring, all the lambs are really fun to watch playing and jumping.  I know some of you think lamb is yummy, but personally I never really cared for it.  No, I am not a vegetarian. 

In two weeks time - Easter Weekend, we have a Odd & Unusual Livestock Auction we go to, all kinds of odd critters you can buy (no tigers or monkeys).. we sell Walking Stick Insects, and maybe a sheep or two... Might buy a goat or miniature cow or mini horse, donkey or who knows what...

Sunday I was at work.. yup some folks have to work on Sundays...  knew this girl was gonna have her lambs, she was HUGE... and could barely walk..

anyhow part way through the day I get a call from hubby.. she has had lambs and may be having problems.. what a thing to say when I am at work.. still I knew I would be off in an hour so it wasnt too bad..

by the time I got home all was settled and she had 3 baby lambs.. all boys.. different colors too, very colorful. 

She is one of our more friendly sheep - her name is Diamond because she has a white star on her head... 2 more moms to go.. and possibly a third...

warm weather here too - melting YEAH!!!!!

two nights ago..

Ok I have been keeping the biggest ewes in the barn at night to watch them - temps here have been very cold.. I usually go out just before bed to give them water and to a night check.. (the barn isnt big enough for all the ewes)

but for some reason Sunday night I had a feeling to go out earlier- about 7:30.. I knew right away there were lambs - they have a bah that sounds like a cell phone beeping..

3 of them.. the brown one was dryish.. she was drying the second white one and a third white one was lying down still had the sack on.. so I ran back to call for help.. (daughter and  hubby) and started drying off the #3 lamb.. hubby and daughter dried off the other 2 even more.. it was probably -20 C in the barn.. even colder outside with the wind chill..

anyhow 2 girls, 1 boy, all are doing good.. AND best of all the temps shot up big time !

Well that little baby lamb died.. we had him in the house and he never got better.. in fact he got worse and died in my arms at 3:30 in the morning a few days ago...

the next day 2 more ewes had lambs..

and another cold storm is on its way.. -35 C expected for tomorrow night..

I am feeling exhasted... winter seems like no escape, the cold.. 3 ewes are huge and we have been watching them for at least a week if not more and every morning I go out expecting lambs from them and there are none -mind you thats good on a cold day cause I dont want them born in a cold night.. they are in a barn, but it has no heat..

we dont have much snow but I kinda dont mind snow.. its the cold I dont like - I am a total wimp when it comes to cold weather...

I think my Blogs are too depressing.. I hope for some good stuff soon...

well our first born lamb took a turn for the worst.. the weather was way below normal and he wouldnt stick with his mom and sister.. was also much smaller than her too (the sister that is.. of course he was smaller than his mom) ... so we brought him in and force fed him.. took him to the vet..

I honestly dont feel like reliving the whole thing again, when you have a little life in your house that you have to bottle feed every few hours and it slips away from you it is very hard.  I blame myself for so many things, including not acting fast enough.....

his sister is doing ok... the day after he died another ewe had twins.. because of the extreme cold (freak storm which is now just over) I beleive one lamb may have got frost bit ears.. they are floppy and look really cute.. but if its frost bite.. they will probably fall off.. stupid storm...

Okay, so we were having excellent weather, all the sheep and 2 sets of twin lambs were out and doing well.. BUT then we got a weather warning that a big, nasty storm was on its way!!!  Temps WAY below normal and certainly below what we were at..

Sunday.. COLD and VERY WINDY.......... temps about -28C

Monday (today...) colder but winds dying down.. I dont even know what the temp was, but wind chill made it like -42 C.. thats dang nasty, let me tell you...

worries about the sheep and especially the lambs, the second set dont seem bothered, playing and stuff... but the first set.. the one ram baby just hasnt been doing good..he isnt as big as his sister and neither are as big as the second set of twins PLUS he always is standing in the deep snow.. anyhow so tonight he looked terrible wouldnt even move when I approached him (they usually run away) so we scooped him up and put him in the house to warm up - gave him some oatmeal, but had to return him out to his mom when he had gained some strenght - we did put her in the barn for the night along with a couple of the other super pregnant girls..the barn is too small to fit all sheep in and really you dont want them too warm or its harder for them to get used to being out...

anyhow fingers are crossed that the little guy will gain strength...good luck little guy...

No more coyote problems and no more lambs, although 8 girls are looking pretty big, January is a cold month for little ones.  We have had about 4 inch of snow in the last 2 days, so it wouldnt have been a good time.  Hopefully none til Feb, but I suspect we will have more before then. Got to go to work today.. blah blah blah.. nothing else.. so really a boring blog is better than an exciting one, for me anyhow...

oh ya.. we really do need a "tired" in the thingy where you put "Your Mood" at the time of writting your blog...

yup.. yesterday morning when I went out to do chores, one of the ewes was missing.. but she is a friendly one.. more of a pet than anything.. thinks she is a dog.. so while everyone else was waiting for breakfast (hay and oats) she was off in the shed calling "HEY I AM BACK HERE... PLEASE SERVE ME BREAKFAST IN BED!" which I knew meant she  had lambs with her.

2 boys.. one white with speckles and one mostly brown one.. white tip on its tail...

so thats 2 ewes lambed.. 1 ewe killed (by coyotees) and 8 more ewes expecting (I hope)