miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
So I finally get a minute or two to breathe, and thought i would update you all on what is going around here. it's been busy.
I know I promised pics, but they haven't come off the camera yet, and i don't know how to get them off, and frankly I don't have enough time to figure it out, so I'll ask hubby to get them off when he comes home.
On to the milking. let's just say that the first time we all went out there, and I started milking, hubby started laughing uncontrollably, b/c I got the rhythm so quickly. So all of you out there, it can be done. I was surprised at myself how quickly I could do it. However, getting that ewe on the milking stand is another issue. she is so darn skittish, it takes two of us to get her up and in the head lock (or whatever you want to call it.) and, I had mentioned hobbles to hubby many times, and b/c he didn't understand how they could actually help, he refused to order one. ( I don't internet shop) He said, I'll just hold her legs. Hmmpf. so on about day three, all was going well, and I had about 2 cups in the pail, she kicked. It went everywhere and then she put her foot in the bucket.
After all was said and done, I pulled up an article on hobbles and gave the laptop to hubby so he could read it. He will be ordering a hobble, although he doesn't fully agree that it will do any good.
Well, this morning, dd and I go out to milk again, this time with dd holding onto the Duchess' legs, and sure enough, she kicked the bucket again. There was about three cups in the bucket and about two cups of it landed on my dd.
At this point, all I could do was laugh. She wasn't sure whethr she should laugh cry or get angry.
I'm getting those hobbles express post delivered.
So, news on the other ewe, Dolly. Well, it was probably my fault for increasing her grain too quickly, but she scoured. so we had that to contend with for a few days. she's fine now. One of lambs is officially a bottle baby. the poor thing almost died twice of hypothermia. Even under the heat lamp, she was cold so she stayed a few days in the house until she got her strength back. She is now back outside with momma and sisters, but still a bottle baby. We have to go out often to give her a bottle. It's not so bad. But when she was in the house, at one point, she started flopping around like she was having a stroke. Turns out that she was selenium deficient. My feed store guy gave me a syringe and some selenium--enough for all the lambs. He said, even though the others were not showing signs of it, if this little lamb was, it was safest to give them all a shot. So all are fine now. and here I thought selenium was not good for sheep, but apparently they need some. It is called white muscle disease.
We have ordered portable fencing for the sheep, it should be in by the end of the week, so we will be able to rotate them all over the yard. We are also fencing in the side yard as a semi-permanent pasture for them.
We are not going full tilt on fencing, as we are considering moving. Our house isn't even close to being listed and we have had a guy call about it. turns out hubby mentioned it to a father of one of the boys on ds's basketball team, and that guy said he knew someone who was looking for a house just like ours, with a huge shop. We are making an appt to see a farm next week. If things turn out, we might be moving to a real farm. I'm so excited. So that being said, any changes we do to the property now will be easily removable.
Oh, and I shold also comment to you about the taste of sheep's milk. I have NEVER been a fan of milk. I used to use cream in my coffee, but all my other dairy has been yogurt, kefir, and cheese. this milk is AMAZING!!!!! That's about all I can say. So you guys who have sheep and want to milk them--it is not difficult and the milk is sooo worth it. The only downside is you might only get about a quart a day. but that seems to be enough for us right now, although I haven't made kefir out of it yet.
now, I must go on to my regularly scheduled day of baking bread, making granola cereal for the kids, cookies, and about 4 loads of laundry. Interspersed with giving the little lamb(who I call Kitten, b/c she used to sound like one when she was in the house) bottles. And then get super ready. and then milk the ewe. And then do chores. And then... And then....
I know I promised pics, but they haven't come off the camera yet, and i don't know how to get them off, and frankly I don't have enough time to figure it out, so I'll ask hubby to get them off when he comes home.
On to the milking. let's just say that the first time we all went out there, and I started milking, hubby started laughing uncontrollably, b/c I got the rhythm so quickly. So all of you out there, it can be done. I was surprised at myself how quickly I could do it. However, getting that ewe on the milking stand is another issue. she is so darn skittish, it takes two of us to get her up and in the head lock (or whatever you want to call it.) and, I had mentioned hobbles to hubby many times, and b/c he didn't understand how they could actually help, he refused to order one. ( I don't internet shop) He said, I'll just hold her legs. Hmmpf. so on about day three, all was going well, and I had about 2 cups in the pail, she kicked. It went everywhere and then she put her foot in the bucket.
After all was said and done, I pulled up an article on hobbles and gave the laptop to hubby so he could read it. He will be ordering a hobble, although he doesn't fully agree that it will do any good.
Well, this morning, dd and I go out to milk again, this time with dd holding onto the Duchess' legs, and sure enough, she kicked the bucket again. There was about three cups in the bucket and about two cups of it landed on my dd.
At this point, all I could do was laugh. She wasn't sure whethr she should laugh cry or get angry.
I'm getting those hobbles express post delivered.So, news on the other ewe, Dolly. Well, it was probably my fault for increasing her grain too quickly, but she scoured. so we had that to contend with for a few days. she's fine now. One of lambs is officially a bottle baby. the poor thing almost died twice of hypothermia. Even under the heat lamp, she was cold so she stayed a few days in the house until she got her strength back. She is now back outside with momma and sisters, but still a bottle baby. We have to go out often to give her a bottle. It's not so bad. But when she was in the house, at one point, she started flopping around like she was having a stroke. Turns out that she was selenium deficient. My feed store guy gave me a syringe and some selenium--enough for all the lambs. He said, even though the others were not showing signs of it, if this little lamb was, it was safest to give them all a shot. So all are fine now. and here I thought selenium was not good for sheep, but apparently they need some. It is called white muscle disease.
We have ordered portable fencing for the sheep, it should be in by the end of the week, so we will be able to rotate them all over the yard. We are also fencing in the side yard as a semi-permanent pasture for them.
We are not going full tilt on fencing, as we are considering moving. Our house isn't even close to being listed and we have had a guy call about it. turns out hubby mentioned it to a father of one of the boys on ds's basketball team, and that guy said he knew someone who was looking for a house just like ours, with a huge shop. We are making an appt to see a farm next week. If things turn out, we might be moving to a real farm. I'm so excited. So that being said, any changes we do to the property now will be easily removable.
Oh, and I shold also comment to you about the taste of sheep's milk. I have NEVER been a fan of milk. I used to use cream in my coffee, but all my other dairy has been yogurt, kefir, and cheese. this milk is AMAZING!!!!! That's about all I can say. So you guys who have sheep and want to milk them--it is not difficult and the milk is sooo worth it. The only downside is you might only get about a quart a day. but that seems to be enough for us right now, although I haven't made kefir out of it yet.
now, I must go on to my regularly scheduled day of baking bread, making granola cereal for the kids, cookies, and about 4 loads of laundry. Interspersed with giving the little lamb(who I call Kitten, b/c she used to sound like one when she was in the house) bottles. And then get super ready. and then milk the ewe. And then do chores. And then... And then....
