Lambs and Other Stuff

Stirring title, no? Cut me some slack, it's one a.m. here. . . .

We have three lambs now, the first of 2009! Most likely this will be the last for a couple weeks if not longer. My calendar notes say that the weather was scorching the week after we ran the rams in (called "tupping").

Before the tupping season, we give supplemental feed to help the ewes "settle" better. If their body condition is increasing, it sends signals to their ovaries to drop multiple eggs rather than just one, as their bodies sense "good times on the way." The magic happens from increasing condition, not just good condition with no change, so they start slightly underweight, then we add gradually more feed until tupping begins.

We'll continue to feed so they don't have to spend as much time browsing (the rams particularly). This is particularly important here in the south where "fall" weather can be as brutal as summer with 90 to 100 degree F temps. If the sheep are fed concentrates during this time, then they don't have to go out grazing in the hot sun. This is one of the many reasons 100% grass-fed stock raising is so hard to accomplish here in the Southeast.

Anyway, when it's hot, there's no getting around it - the rams become pretty much inactive and temporarily sterile. So I often have to put up with mid-season breaks in my lambing season. Some day I'll learn not to try for early lambs. I'm an optimist. After eleven lambing seasons I'm still an optimist. Just call me Pollyanna.

I'll try to get pics of the latest arrivals tomorrow. It poured rain all day so not a great time for taking my rode hard and put up wet camera out. I have to dock tails and tag them, anyway.

Ted's back from Christine's and he's looking awesome! Me, not so much. Heigh-ho, it's back to having a terrific dog to live up to. But, there are certainly worse things.

Ted's so good about letting me catch up. We worked at a Jack Knox clinic a couple weekends ago and it was the best JK experience I've ever had. No crying, that's always a plus.

Ted makes me so relaxed. It was that way when we ran at the trial at Robin's last summer. I thought it was running on my "home field" entirely but now I see it's just the teamwork Ted and I are working out.

Anyway, Christine skillfully (and quickly, wow!) ironed out all the bits that were hampering my ability to move forward with Ted. She also increased his confidence working away and I've got a dog now that drives pretty much as far as I need. I need to continue working on his confidence holding pressure and balancing.

Ted's started working his first lambing and we're taking it nice and easy. I can see he's going to have a wonderful way with the ewes and lambs but like everything with him, it's best to largely let him work out in his own head first, how he's going to handle the pressure. Already he's reading the ewes very well and hasn't caused any trouble. He can drive a single ewe and lambs, or both ewes who have lambed, as far as I need (right now only about 25 yards). We just take it nice and slow.

All I'm doing is making sure the ewes don't take advantage of him and show him the point is to keep the ewes and lambs together by stopping him when the ewes get antsy about their lambs. I'm going to try to get some video tomorrow.

I've been communicating with a person near me who has 100 sheep and is willing to let Ted come up and work. Actually, he's eager to see it. I'd love it if it would work out for me to come help him regularly - he's lambing about 50 ewes and I'd like Ted to get as much experience as possible doing serious farm work. We'll see.

We are settling in. I saw the Big Giant Tree Cruncher in action the other day and I can't wait to get it here and open up that pasture! It was amazing - if the post driver was a testosterone raiser, well, I'd better get plenty of snacks together for the crowd of men that are sure to come "help" when we schedule this.

40 Things You Don't Know About Me - Tag, I'm It

All right, I've finally got some time to respond to my "40 Things You Don't Know About Me" tag. I take no responsibility for anyone keeling over from boredom if you dare to continue.

1. My mom's "M" encyclopedia opens to "Montana" because I was obsessed with living there when I was a kid growing up in the city. I used to run around in the tall grass growing in empty lots and pretend it was Montana. Not so much now. I hear it's cold there in the winter. I think winters here (North Carolina) are cold enough, thanks.
2. Speaking of which, I grew up in San Francisco, or rather, a town south of San Francisco, called rather originally, South San Francisco.
3. South San Francisco has a sign on the hill above it. Kind of like Hollywood but not as cool, famous, and it wasn't lit. It was, however, regularly set on fire (the hill, not the sign) so it is made of concrete (the sign, not the hill). To wit:
4. One of my pet peeves growing up was having someone call where I lived "Frisco." Since then I've decided life's too short to spend brain power on pet peeves, but it still makes my teeth hurt to hear the word Frisco. Like biting wet yarn, yuck.
5. I used to walk through projects and rival gang territories on my way to the public bus stop to get to school, and home again, before and after dark, each day. I don't think my mom even realizes how dangerous this was.
6. I know how to use a ring of keys as a weapon. See #5 above.
7. Don't surprise me while I'm walking alone, after dark. See #6 above.
8. When I was about 15, I got into a total stranger's parked car, because he asked me to while I was walking to the bus stop. See #5 above. I'm not sure why I did it, nor am I sure why he did nothing but talk, and then let me go when I said I'd be late.
9. I've only had anything alcoholic once in my life (on purpose I mean) and it was when I was a little kid and my father gave it to me. My Not Step-dad (I hate the terms real dad or bio-dad but that doesn't count as a 40 things). It was vodka, by the way - in a Seven Up can (probably to hide it from my mom). I've never been able to drink Seven Up since then.
   
10. I never did one single piece of homework at home. Ever. Ever. I got straight A's though - literally, I think I may have only gotten a B in one class in high school once.
11. I've started six novels and always quite because I would get horrified at how awful they were, before I was halfway through.
12. After I took what is called ASVAT today in eleventh grade (we all had to take it), I got calls from the Navy and Air Force pretty much regularly for the next year, and even my first year in college continued to get letters. Probably not a big deal, as this happens to many people I'm sure today, but it was back then. The Air Force was particularly persistent and I was sorely tempted. They were offering a very sweet deal - and in retrospect it probably would have been a good thing for me.
    
13. My college short list choices were Pensacola in Florida, Biola in Southern California, and a school in Lynchburg, VA - Liberty University. I picked Liberty. Yeah, I'm still not quite sure about my reasoning there either.
    
14. Jerry Falwell called us "Young Champions." Champion is French for mushroom. Therefore we called ourselves Young Mushrooms. If you spent any time in the hallowed halls of LU you'd get the connection. Decoration and upkeep of the educational buildings was not a high priority.
15. I started out as a TV major, then switched to Psychology my second year, which I didn't finish.
16. I finally finished my degree (changed again to History and Classical Languages) after a break of a few years, at UNC Greensboro.
17. The longest job I ever held was a stint for several years as a manager at Chik-Fil-A. Oddly I really enjoyed it and constantly toy with the idea of going back to it.
18. The shortest job I ever held was two days - a job at a fabric store. I reacted violently to the dust and had to quit the second day.
19. I drew obsessively through high school and college. Mostly horses in high school, and candid portraits in college.
20. One summer I sneaked down to the race track several times to draw, and secretly longing to be offered a job. One guy did offer me work, but I didn't have the guts to even ask my folks. No one had exactly told me I wasn't allowed at the track, but I had a feeling the support wouldn't quite be there.
    
21. I learned to do gymnastics on horseback (it's called vaulting for some reason) at a camp I went to every summer. Even though I have vertigo and am terrified of heights, I was pretty good at it.
22. I always (except for the horse camp experiences and trail rides) rode bareback and Western when I couldn't, but I've always wanted to learn English style riding.
23. I thought briefly about going pro with horse training because I had a real knack with the naughty ones - enough that I did demos for the horsemanship classes at horse camp.
    
24. I can barely ride a horse now to save my life.
25. I played piano from the time I was five to the first year of college. And then I dropped it and have barely touched a key since then. Ask my mom about Für Elise, I dare you. I can still play a lot of that one.
26. I also sang from the time I was three until college, and like the piano playing, I dropped it. Except, I sing in the car along with the CD player, but that doesn't count.
    
27. I know the following languages sufficiently to sing songs in them. Which is not impressive in terms of competency, but this is "40 Things You Don't Know About Me," not "40 Super Cool Things About Me." Fortunately for me. German, Finnish, Norse, Swedish, Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic), Irish, Cornish. Plus two English forms, Middle and Lallands. Notice Italian is not in the list. I don't get Italian and am not a fan of most Italian music.
28. I can read the following with a dictionary: Spanish, French, Gàidhlig/Irish, Koine Greek, Hebrew, and Old English.
    
29. I've read War and Peace about twelve times, literally. Possibly more. For fun. I love all Russian literature. I think War and Peace is way too short. And I was seriously disappointed when I came to the last page of Brothers Karamozov. It ended really suddenly, I felt.
    
30. I have a not very secret desire to learn Russian sufficiently to read War and Peace in the original.
31. I hate dog and cat hair. Actually, any hair gives me the willies. I love my shop vac. Everyone knows that - now you know the real reason.
32. The reason hair creeps me out is I'm super touch sensitive. But my sense of smell and taste is very dull, so food is all about texture, or strong flavor.
    
33. I may be the only woman I know who didn't inherit the chocolate craving chromosome. I do like many chocolate things, but they have to fit into one of the categories in #33.
34. My favorite foods are all savory. Cheese is my favorite food of all. I once ate most of an plate of Wensleydale while waiting for dinner at a Jack Knox clinic . Jack and I nearly came to blows over the last piece. It was not a proud moment in my life.
    
35. I make awesome biscuits. Seriously.
    
36. I haven't watched TV news in more than three years, about the time I noticed that the main difference between TV news and Entertainment Tonight is the people don't smile as much on the news. And the stories are longer on ET.
    
37. I haven't read a real paper newspaper other than to glance at one, in about ten years. See #36 above, except substitute The Enquirer for ET. In my opinion, journalism is dead.
    
38. I'm a starter, but not a leader. I loathe being the center of attention. Piano and singing are kind of about that, and this probably also hampers my progress in competitive stockdog training/handling.
    
39. I'm an extreme night owl, and every single close or semi-close friend I have (including my husband) is a morning person.
40. My circle of friends is so small that I can't tag three people who have the ability to respond and haven't already been tagged by my friends.

I really thought when I saw everyone doing this, "I can't come up with 40 things about myself, much less 40 things that people don't know." Obviously, this is heavy on the childhood reminiscences which is a bit of a cheat because I grew up in such a different culture/geographical place from everyone I know now. But, I actually culled out ten items when I was done!

Who knows the way it is?
Who knows what time will not tell us?

Where is the beginning?
Where is the end?
Why did we fall into days?
Why are we calling out into the endlessness?

From Enya, "The River Sings"

The answers to these questions shape who are are, and the way we act. For quite a long time I've intellectually answered these questions for myself with Francis Schaeffer's elegant summary "He is there, and He is not silent." But I'll admit to not really internalizing this point of view.

I ignored with my choices what I knew was true, and constantly tried to go it alone. And yet, always, He was there, and He was not silent. "He chastises His loved ones" and now I look back and see that my pursuer is also my Friend and my hunter is my Father. No action is so awful, so irrevocable, that it is impossible for the Creator to make bridges, smooth paths, and open doors. It's only for me to seek the strength, grace, and ability to do what's right.

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
 I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
 Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
                 Up vistaed hopes I sped;
                 And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
                 But with unhurrying chase,
                 And unperturbèd pace,
               Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
                 They beat--and a Voice beat
                 More instant than the Feet--
               "All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

Francis Thomson.  The Hound of Heaven.

Where in the World is Irena Farm?

It's been two months almost exactly and what a two months it's been. Two surgeries for me, Ben passing away, training for Ted, a Christmas program, and most of all: The Move.

We have moved about half a mile down the road to "Jewel Pond." We already love it. We have moved most of the house stuff and we have a game plan for the farm stuff that doesn't fit here.

We've scaled back our sheep population dramatically. It feels very good. The core that is left is the best of the best of the best. Hard thoughtful culling is always a positive step for a flock. All my ewes are hardy, need very little to thrive, are parasite and heat resistant with minimal inputs, lamb with little need for supervision - no jugging for most of them. So it's hard to come up with a new culling principle.

I decided to go for uniformity. I kept the ewes that either look like or are good producers of lambs that favor my Blue Faced Leister rams. This is not an arbitrary decision. The ewes with wider heads and shoulders from my brief dabbling with Texel stock, do have some trouble when they have singles. I've done a bit of pulling of large ram lambs from these ewes. I never regret it - they mother quite well after that, but it's annoying to have to keep a close eye on only these sheep.

Ted is away for training. I thought it was important that he work in a different place, with a different handler, and no matter what always intended to send him somewhere for a few weeks. Then when we had first the one surgery, and then the bigger surgery and long recovery required, I asked (no, begged!) Christine Henry of Fieldstone Farm to take him on during this time and she was gracious enough to give Ted a shot.

It seems to be going well. Christine's been smoothing out some bothersome issues and I couldn't be happier with that - just getting that done is worth missing him for all this time. He's still weak on inside flanks but that's most likely due to my only working in a weak way before he left. I really was feeling awful the last few months and every practice session required a couple days to recover from for me.

It sounds like he should come back at least ready to move to PN. After lambing he should be confident enough driving to run in Ranch and Nursery. That's one thing lambing does for you! Especially when the pregger and nursery fields are in different parts of the farm - but that won't be the case this year. Still, there will be ewes who need to go up to the lambing shed and that will be about 200 yards from the part where they will likely choose to lamb (farthest from the house).

Lu, my oldest livestock guardian dog (going on twelve), has moved into the house for retirement. Keeping Min inside for her spay recovery gave me the idea. I realized I didn't need three dogs, especially with paring the flock in half. Min and Tully make a good team and when the weather warms up and the lambs start being born, I'll let Lu out during the evening shift again.

Lu has pretty severe degenerative joint disorder. I have noticed some slowing of her step and some limping in the wintertimes, but had no idea it had progressed this far. She's been on some supplements for joint health for a couple years, but I realized she needed more aggressive therapy.

I did a consult with Sabine Contreras of Better Dog Care. Sabine recommended a diet of high quality, low inflammatory protein that was easy on the liver (and kidneys). Lu's eating mostly fish, white rice, and potatoes, basically. She recommended a couple of supplements and I've got Lu on Cetyl-M as well. I wish I had before and after videos. It's been about six weeks and the difference is like seeing time turn back. Lu is wiggly and bouncy again!

Lu has also been on a very restricted activity level until this week. She didn't mind at all the first few weeks - then the next few she kept trying to slip out again.

I will try to keep this up again but currently Blogger runs like a snail on my poor little MacBook. I need to clean off the hard drive again.

Jewel Pond

This has been a wonderful place to live, but we've always known we would have to move on sometime. The owners have no intent of ever offering an option to purchase, and have made that known from the start.

We found a new place to start again, where we will be able to purchase when the time comes.

This will truly be a start from scratch. It's a lovely little farmhouse, and just 14 acres. I'm planning to make an outside gathering area in that carport. There's a front porch, too, and it's pretty nice, but it's probably going to be pretty warm in the summer with a direct southern exposure.


The majority of it is woods, but there's a couple of smallish paddocks to start off with.

Most of it is woods and very old paddocks or very young woods. There's a tiny little pond up near the northernmost side of the property. This is the one I've named Jewel Pond. Doesn't quite live up to its name yet. I'm going with the vision here!

The inside is very well kept up. The entry/living area is a real treat.

The entry - the door has lights all the way around - currently painted over and covered up from the outside (!).

And the living room. Fireplace not functional.



Next post, the guided tour.

Intermission

Well, been a while. I just haven't had the motivation to take care of this blog. It's certainly not been from a lack of events here. Too much rather, maybe - I seem to have trouble translating big events in my life to the restrictions of the blogging medium.

A rundown of intermedium events, probably topics for future posts. Ted's first trial - we won our class! It wasn't a cakewalk, either, the sheep were rather savvy to the young dogs. I do have a video, as well as a video of Patrick and Gus finishing their first trial run together.

We started tupping and it's going well. I'm looking forward to a good lambing.

Chad the 4-H lamb, bred right here, is going to be shown at the NC State Fair this coming Friday. I am excited. He's grown out very well. If my guys get the bug to do 4-H sheep it will apparently be no problem to supply them from our own stock.

Our old Ben, my first Border Collie and my right hand dog until this year, passed away from hemangiosarcoma just a couple of weeks ago. It was rather sudden though Ben's never had prime health. He was almost 13 and still quite active and overall free from typical "old age" issues. We had the opportunity to say goodbye to him with a lot of grace. We will surely miss him. I'll have a lot more later.

Finally, we are moving! I'm keeping the name Irena for our business and operation, but the new place is called Jewel Pond. I will follow with a separate post with pictures and more details.

Homeschool

Homeschool is going full steam now. We are short a couple of subjects for now as the materials are on back order, but that's okay. The conventions and nominations are providing lots of material for current events.

Homeschooling is getting very popular! People talk to me and think it sounds like a great idea, but not for them. The results are pretty obvious - most people remark on how nice the kids are. But I've noticed people seem afraid that it's something only special people can do.

Really though, it's just something you do because you feel like it's what needs to be done. Like raising a special needs child. You just do it. And there's so many methods and kinds of people that do it now that no one really has to re-invent the wheel. Although I'm thinking of developing, later, when the kids are not taking up so much time, a curriculum for teaching Koine Greek for kids. But that's not the wheel, more like the Cuisinart.

Poor Ted went from a lot of work back to just one little training session a day. Maybe. But all the work I did when I had the time has really paid off. He's super useful now. He's really turned into the go-to dog here.

We had a chance to run a for-fun trial course this weekend, a couple of times. Although he was shaky on his outrun, he did the rest of the course with no problem. The sheep were not feeling in the mood to pen but both times we did it, we got them in. Eventually.

And we did it without lots of running in circles - mostly we stood at the mouth of the pen with Ted going, "Is this it?" and the sheep going, "So now what?" and me going, "I'm forgetting something." I was picking away at them forgetting that not all sheep are sensitive to body pressure and need glaring and stomping to get them to respond to people. Finally Robin yelled, "Stomp! Glare!" Oh yeah.

I'll post videos and say more about this next time.