Coffee's Ready, Come and Sit on the Porch

[FarmerJamie]

I had the audacity to sleep in this morning. The regular morning routine was disrupted. Her Royal Highness Princess Pixie Poopsalot was not amused and very judgy.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Hello! I took a 5 day break from here, I missed everyone but it was so nice to just be connected in with my kids, DH and stuff that needed to happen around the house. Just a basic week here, we didn't do anything special for Thanksgiving, it seems to have changed so much since I was a kid. We had some amazing weather so we got a lot of the area by where we want to put the house at the new property cleared out. DH put in a new motion activated light on the side of the barn that faces the chicken coop, so that is nice. I put in 2 new pallets for herbs/lettuce next to the coop for next spring, for the chickens Lots of outside time, the kids did a lot of Just Dance on the TV (no Wii here but used YouTube), spent hours at the library on Sat and the youngest learned how to play chess and then I did a little online shopping for some things we needed to upgrade or add to the house. I got a goose down comforter for my bed for $29! Hope everyone is doing well, happy Monday.

 

[Hinotori]

I put stuff on my Amazon wish list and wait for it to go on sale. Sometimes it's taken a year. I check it about once a week except around this time of year. Been checking a few times a day because of the sales right now.

I like Clarks shoes as i have narrow feet and they actually fit me. My first pair was from Macy's and was horrible on price but I wore them 3 years. The shoes run $90 now. Well they are cheaper on Amazon and on sale run around $56. I keep them on the wish list.

Looked last night and $27! I ordered two pairs. I'll be good for years now.

They are up to $44 today.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I and FH are doing great. Absolutely positively loving the new house.
Will you @Trying2keepitReal PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE send snow my way?

You can have it ALL!!!!!! I will stand outside with the shop fan and blow it in your direction! I LOVE the winters where we don't get snow until a couple days before Christmas.

 

[Messybun]

I can't be 100% sure but I think Jack thinks he's a dog with tree climbing super powers.
View attachment 21510
My hunting dog, wife's dog and Jack, get along just fine. Which is good because I strive for peace.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️

My brother’s cat does too🤣. She was a young kitten, still on milk, when we found her. So she’s grown up around dogs and a rabbit, not cats. Before my rabbit died she’d sit in her house and tap her with her foot or just snuggle her. Also smacked the daylights out of the dogs who came to steal the blind rabbit’s treats. The only problem is she hates cats and the mailman.🤣

 

[tortoise]

Cold morning. -1°F. I felt a little bad sending DS7 out to catch the bus - 1/4 mile walk. I bundled him up like Randy in A Christmas Story.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Wow! busy weekend guys. I completely checked out after Thursday night and spent it with the family. It was so nice here this weekend, in the upper 30s-kissing 40, that we had to spent every minute we could outside. Took the youngest sledding 2 days out at our property and did some wood clean up.

last night was the oldest choir concert for school, she did great and had a solo

DH bought me a dehydrator, nothing fancy but I think it will work just fine for our family--it is full of pears and granny smith apples this morning.

We are in a winter weather advisory starting tonight into Thursday morning, I have to go into the office (Twin Cities) on Wednesday, thankfully DH will be home and will drive me. I need to swap out my work laptop.

I am ready for spring, though I don't want to wish my life away....

Happy Monday all

 

[farmerjan]

@CrealCritter ... I will tell you that Maremma's will also roam. I used to farm sit for a guy who got a pair of pups to protect his sheep. Knew nothing, they had 6 sheep to guard ... and they roamed. They also got to killing the lambs.. I do not have the experience with LGD's that many on here have. They require much better fences than we have most places.
Sheep do not have to have sheep and goat wire. They will stay in normal cattle/ general purpose "farm field fence" with 6 inch stays. If they have horns, they will get their heads stuck in the openings. DS's young sheep will get their heads stuck until the horns get too big. But we have a horned breed.... White Texas Dall sheep. The ewe's have learned not to put their heads through after one or 2 times and we have next to no problems with them now.

We run a donkey or a mule with the sheep and they do an incredible job and do not require separate types of feed. We have also run llama's with the sheep and one time I observed a pair at work. The one took the sheep up to the top of the hill, the other ran interference with the dogs that this stupid person allowed in the field... they were walking the dogs along the road and the dogs went into the field and she stood there and just watched these dogs go charging and running after the sheep. I was driving up the road and came upon this. I got out of the truck and screamed at the woman to call her damned dogs out of the field or they would be shot. She got indignant with me and said they weren't hurting anything and I pulled the gun out of the truck and she got all mad and I told her in no uncertain terms that I was within my rights AS THE OWNER OF THE SHEEP, to destroy any dog that was chasing them and if she had a problem she could go to the sheriff after the fact. She finally called the dogs and I had the camera and took pictures of them and the llama's positions before she got them to come to her.
I did not have a cell phone at the time or would have called a sheriff right then to come. I did go to the sheriff's office after I got home and told them where and when and said I had pictures and that I would not hesitate to shoot the dogs if I caught them again. I didn't know her name but it seems they had had complaints about the dogs previously; as they said they would "look into it".... Seems that they were walked and allowed to run in people's yards and fields and all that....

A shelter that faces AWAY from the prevailing direction of the wind is what you want. If it is east, fine... if the winds come out of the east then face it south. Southern facing is usually better for "winter warmth" due to the angle of the sun.

There is alot of controversy on the copper. Sheep do not need the amount of copper that goats need. They do need some. Hair sheep seem to require more than many wooled breeds. Ours eat the same mineral as the cattle get... that is considered a NO-NO by many. We run our rams with the cattle. Because of their big heads, they will stay in anything the cows stay in. The ewes are in normal field fencing. The ewes have a donkey in with them. The rams do not. If you go with something like Katahdins or dorpers then they do not have the horns to use as protection like our rams do.

I do not discount the value of LGD's with sheep and goats. They have their own set of "dos and don'ts"... and I do not want a dog that barks all the time as the value of protecting the animals they are with. I agree it is the way they keep predators away... and they are invaluable to many. For each there is a preference. I prefer the mules and the llamas. Llamas require shearing though.... and can like and dislike certain people... Had one that HATED me... no idea why... and had one that would spit at DS and not me.... I like the mules we have now.... have had several donkeys and then these 2 mules.... They also live a LONG TIME....
There are mules/donkeys that have been known to take a dislike to sheep. We had one donkey that hated the baby lambs... Maybe he thought they were a threat to "his sheep" because of course they ran after the ewe's.... Got to about 40-50 lbs, weaned and he was fine... But I have heard about LGD's that you cannot leave in with ewe's with new lambs.... the ones I farm sat for that killed all the lambs never bothered the original sheep there....

 

[baymule]

Reina went to the vet today. She had a slight runny nose when I picked her up. I figured give it a week, it would either go away or get worse. Plus whatever else might show up. Lungs were clear, lymph nodes clear, throat clear, just sinus infection. Just goopy nose. She got a shot of antibiotics for that.

Then her teeth, they needed floating. Her teeth had sharp points, top and bottom, both sides. She was sedated, rigged up in a head stall with a metal mouthpiece that held her mouth open. The vet filed her teeth down with an electric file.

 

[The Porch]

Good Morning, off we GOoooooo!