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this probably isn't the place for this derail but don't shave your double coated dogs 
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Apr 4, 2016 21:58
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Ausrotten posted:They aren't afraid of the dog anymore and actually started screaming bloody murder when I pulled him out of the pen for his vet appointment My dogs and my goat used to play all the time. (Don't worry, the goat had a horse companion and they were quite happy with that arrangement). The goat would chase the dogs and threaten to headbutt and the dogs would chase the goat. Back and forth until someone got bored. Dogs play bowing and smiling like idiots, the goat bouncing up on things and then rearing/leaping at the dogs. Totally ridiculous. I'd sit on the front porch and drink my coffee and watch them on weekend mornings. Eventually the goat would trot off to nibble on things and chill with the horse and the dogs would start their property patrolling and find other things to do. drat, I miss them all.
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Apr 4, 2016 22:17
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I don't allow Pelor to chase or mouth them but he likes to gently at bat them and stick his tongue in their ears. He's going to be unsupervised with the goats ~23 hours a day so he has to learn chasing and biting are totally unacceptable which granted, is hard for a puppy but rules are rules. Everyone gets really offended that they aren't allowed to wander around the kennel/barn as they see fit in the evenings 
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Apr 4, 2016 22:30
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Ausrotten posted:this probably isn't the place for this derail but don't shave your double coated dogs I did not say that I planned to shave my double coated dog, just that if she had no hair her silhouette would look like a completely different animal with legs that are actually much longer than they appear to be under all that hair. 
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Apr 4, 2016 22:49
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My last lambs for the year were born last night. Thistle made sure to go on exactly her due date at 2 am so I could freeze my butt off in 12 degree weather. It was a record even! We have a ram and a ewe and both handled the cold just fine. No need to worry about the spotty sheep, they've got it handled.    Unless the goats pull some kids out of nowhere we're done at 18 lambs, 11 ewe and 7 rams. Lambing season has had a few rough patches but overall I'm very pleased with how things went.
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Apr 10, 2016 15:58
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CONGRATULATIONS IJ! they are all just adorable, wish I could give 'em all hugs! Thank you for sharing 
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Apr 10, 2016 21:38
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Lambs are great  Little chance of goats this year?
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Apr 11, 2016 00:38
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My new goat kid is really pretty  She gets along with the rest of the goats really well   She found the puppy pretty alarming at first but got over it within a day or two  
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Apr 21, 2016 16:24
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Surprise! Taffy gave birth to a daughter who is also her sister this morning. She was in with Rex but kept desperately trying to get into the pen with Heath, her dad, and this is obviously a tiny Heath carbon copy so I guess she somehow managed. Gross goat. Gross. She is tiny and fussy and adorable 
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May 4, 2016 16:28
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She is the most adorable mistake of nature!
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May 4, 2016 16:39
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She knows she's an abomination yet challenges the world to deny her cuteness. In all seriousness how do goats fair in terms of inbreeding? Any specific genetic problems to watch out for?
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May 5, 2016 19:41
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Lots of people breed that closely on purpose regularly and have no problems. The joke is that it's linebreeding when it works out well and inbreeding when it doesn't. What I've noticed with both this kid and the cvm lambs that were the result of a mother/son breeding is that they just aren't as vigorous. They sort of take a while to get going while my other babies basically pop out and start looking to nurse. It could just be those particular babies but that's just what I've noticed this year.
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May 6, 2016 15:47
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Basement lamb! Cute & evil
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May 12, 2016 19:43
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Had my first lambs this year! Starsky & Hutch (twins) and Zorro & Bryan (twins). All boys. Really wanted a girl, so I bought another, Cleopatra.
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May 12, 2016 20:26
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Z & B
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May 12, 2016 20:27
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Cleo
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May 12, 2016 20:28
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Adorables! Anyone got any videos of silly baby animals being silly?
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May 12, 2016 21:36
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I saw you post in the Cute thread, Jellyfish, so now I'm hoping you'll have a chance to update this one, too!
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Jul 25, 2016 17:46
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Sure I can. We had sort of a lot of losses all in a row and then I started grad school so things have been pretty crazy. The little inbred goat died in her sleep at 10 days old, probably due to a heart defect, one of the jacob lambs choked to death on something suddenly, and a yearling jacob ram developed a neuro issue and had to be put down. All in the same week! It was not a good week. Since then things have gone better though and the lambs are all massive and ready to wean. I'm having new fencing put in today so they'll get to go out on brand new pasture even. Jaffa the cormo ewe lamb  El's ram lamb. He's been castrated and I'm hoping to find a fiber home for him. He had a bad bout of cocci a few weeks ago but has come back well.  Aster's ram. I love his hornset!  Thistle's ram. He's a month younger than the other lambs.  Sequoia, Juniper's lamb. I love this girl! She's got a ridiculous amount of horns and is a huge fat meatball.  Clementine's ram. This is the only lamb related to Windsor. His horns are great but he's too dark to register even if he wasn't Win's grandbaby.  Buckwheat the cormo/jacob cross. He got castrated too and will hopefully be a lovely fiber pet. He's just as sweet as can be.  Petitfour the other cormo ewe lamb.  Suspicious CVM is suspicious.  Maybe not as suspicious as Bramble's boy.  Also I drove 4.5 hours with a new (massive) cormo ram in the back of my toyota matrix. His name is Murphy, he is 6 years old and he's just as sweet as every other cormo ram I've ever met.  I'll try to keep up better if people still want sheep pics! I'm done with class for the summer so I'll have a little more time until September.
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Jul 25, 2016 18:50
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Also I drove 4.5 hours with a new (massive) cormo ram in the back of my toyota matrix. His name is Murphy, he is 6 years old and he's just as sweet as every other cormo ram I've ever met.
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Jul 25, 2016 19:35
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I'd love to keep reading farm updates, Jelly! Congrats on starting grad school -- that's gonna be huge for you. What are you studying? So sorry about the bad week.  I'm glad it's been better since then.Thank you for all the pics!
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Jul 25, 2016 20:51
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I love all the sheep pics! All the fluff. It makes me want to spin right now!
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Jul 25, 2016 21:46
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HungryMedusa posted:I love all the sheep pics! All the fluff. It makes me want to spin right now! Oh you reminded me of something else I never got around to posting. My mom and I entered some fleeces in a local fiber fest fleece contest and Page and Benny the cormos both brought home blue ribbons in their classes. That's my mom's name, the farm is a public business so just don't be total creepers please.  Someone I shear for won first and second in her classes too but neither of us won best in show. Some big romney breeder who won Best in Show with her ram at Maryland sheep and wool beat us and I was happy to lose to her. Her fleece really was fantastic.
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Jul 25, 2016 22:54
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What's the criteria for contests like that? What do they judge on?
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Jul 26, 2016 01:21
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Here's the scorecard for a jacob fleece we entered but didn't place (curse you medium wool romneys  ) so you can see better. The fleece sold to a beginner spinner who really appreciated the comments and loved working with it. You skirt the fleece super thoroughly without breaking it all up and make sure to remove any parts that don't fit in with the rest of the fleece, like the britches or the neck sometimes, then stuff it into a clear plastic bag and hand it in. The judge can either take the whole fleece out to inspect it or just dig around in the bag. They judge based on how good of a job you did skirting, the amount of hay and poo poo in the fleece, the amount of second cuts the shearer made that you didn't skirt out, how uniform the fleece is in length, fineness and character, if the fleece has any weak points or fragile tips, the amount and uniformity of crimp if it's a breed that's supposed to be crimpy, "spinning quality" which I think is just if the judge thinks you could spin something decent out of it, and the fleece size. They really want a fleece with a staple length of at least 4" and they like it to be over 2 lbs at a very minimum. It really puts a damper on those of us with small breeds or who are entering lamb fleeces but what're you going to do? It's really a combination of caring for the fleece on the sheep to get good length and strength, making sure your shearer doesn't completely butcher it, and then skirting it really, really well before presenting it. It's a lot of work but it's great to get feedback from outside parties and we won a whole $12 so really that makes it all worth it.
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Jul 26, 2016 01:54
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Congratulations on the fleeces! They look awesome.
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Jul 26, 2016 02:00
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Also I drove 4.5 hours with a new (massive) cormo ram in the back of my toyota matrix. His name is Murphy, he is 6 years old and he's just as sweet as every other cormo ram I've ever met. Murphy looks like he's loving the hell out of his roadtrip  . Wouldn't a big animal like that start getting fussy on a long car trip?
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Jul 26, 2016 03:07
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Instant Jellyfish Four Months Ago posted:Jewel Instant Jellyfish posted:Clementine's ram. This is the only lamb related to Windsor. His horns are great but he's too dark to register even if he wasn't Win's grandbaby.
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Jul 26, 2016 03:54
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Panzer. One of our more photogenic kids this year
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Jul 26, 2016 04:22
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Yeah, I love updates! Super bummed about your string of losses, though. I know you are busy but this is one of my favorite threads to check up on!
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Jul 26, 2016 04:35
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Omg, Panzer's beautiful!
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Jul 26, 2016 14:34
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Drakyn posted:Have you named the gene that's causing this face yet?  Panzer is really handsome. I love his coloration! IJ, I would love it if you kept updating this thread. Your threads are really interesting and you take great pictures!
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Jul 26, 2016 16:07
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my cat is norris posted:I'd love to keep reading farm updates, Jelly! Congrats on starting grad school -- that's gonna be huge for you. What are you studying? It's a masters in biology that focuses on conservation and community outreach. I get to take classes at the zoo! Neddy Seagoon posted:Murphy looks like he's loving the hell out of his roadtrip Usually the big animals are the best in the car. He just barely fit (he's a really big guy) so he had to lay down to keep comfortable. Since he was too wedged in to cause trouble he just chilled out. I think he appreciated the AC too. Haystack posted:Panzer. One of our more photogenic kids this year He's so cute I might die Fencing went up and I weaned the lambs so it's been pretty much nonstop screaming since yesterday. They even scream with a mouthful of grass. It's ridiculous. Bramble yelling and chewing.  The goats were just as excited to explore the newly fenced pasture as I was excited to no longer have fencing they could escape from/get stuck in.   The boys didn't really understand what the yelling was about and just carried on eating as usual.  Goliath and Murphy. Goliath was around 200 lbs last time I checked, just for reference.  Two got in on the yelling for a while just because he likes yelling. But then he saw some new grass to work on instead.  Spud is learning that it's not cool to come charging up to people even if you are really just very happy to see them. He's a sweet boy but doesn't have any brains at all.  Oh the dog was there too. 
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Jul 26, 2016 16:40
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Dem horns!  Do goat horns have a use outside defense and display purposes? I imagine Two gets stuck in places where his head fits but his horns don't.
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Jul 27, 2016 00:12
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queserasera posted:Dem horns! Two actually doesn't get stuck, but I have had rams die in fencing because of their horns before. If the horns curl into a loop they can get stuck in the wiring and the sheep will panic until they either break their necks or flip themselves and suffocate. The goats get stuck all the time because they're idiots but they just accept that the fence is where they live now until I go rescue them. Two mostly just has issues reaching things against walls or in corners. Horns in sheep are mostly used to impress the ladies/make other dudes see how awesome you are but they are also used sort of like radiators. The horns have a bone core that is full of blood vessels. In the summer they pump them all full of blood to take advantage of one of the few places that isn't wool covered and help stay cool. The thing that can cause issues when breeding for 4 horns is that it tends to impact the shape of the entire skull. The problem with the ram with neuro issues that I had to put down earlier this summer was due to his skull being malformed. The vet said he was just malnourished because he expected a yearling jacob sheep to look like a yearling commercial sheep but when I cleaned the skull I found this.  The red line is the midline of the skull. The doodad way at the end is where the spinal cord enters the skull and it's supposed to be all in a straight line with a nice big opening. It's really not supposed to be at that weird angle. I'm guessing that as a lamb he was able to compensate for his wonky skull but as he hit a growth spurt and his horns started growing he couldn't anymore because of increased pressure on the spine. His brother is kind of weird looking too so I'm putting him in the freezer ASAP and I'll see how his skull compares.
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Jul 27, 2016 21:23
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Oh geez, I didn't even think about the four-horned guys being top-heavy to the point of health issues. They just look so impressive I never thought about it. Out of curiosity how do you clean the skulls? Do you use those flesh-eating beetles I've heard about or is there another method that's more economical? Have cleaning the bones ever revealed anything else that we normally wouldn't think about just looking at a sheep? Also, do you need to shear them more often in the summer to keep them cool or do they just adapt with one session?
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Jul 28, 2016 00:35
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Chaosfeather posted:Out of curiosity how do you clean the skulls? Do you use those flesh-eating beetles I've heard about or is there another method that's more economical? You can just put them on/in a fire ant mound and wait a week or so. This might be easier if you live in Texas and have fire ants everywhere, though.
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Jul 28, 2016 02:08
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Chaosfeather posted:Oh geez, I didn't even think about the four-horned guys being top-heavy to the point of health issues. They just look so impressive I never thought about it. I just chuck them out into the woods until I remember that they're there and bring them in and soak them in peroxide for a while  I've mostly just seen skull abnormalities but I don't generally look at the rest of the bones in the body. I did send a weird runty one to the butcher and got the organs back and it turns out her heart was all tiny and weird. Can't be a big, strong sheep with a tiny, weak heart. None of my sheep are sheared twice a year. They have plenty of access to shade and water and handle the heat just fine. There are breeds that need to be sheared twice a year or they can risk heat stroke or just get terribly matted. I have a shearing job this weekend actually. I generally hate shearing in July but she's fun to talk to and she likes her icelandic lambs to be sheared early every year. If only I could convince my other clients with icelandic sheep to shear twice a year so their fleeces wouldn't be so matted and awful in the spring.
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Jul 28, 2016 15:12
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Cool! Real handy they don't need extra maintenance for their clothes during the summer. Also, I should have thought of ants. Those guys will eat anything, won't they?
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Jul 28, 2016 20:33
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Everything but the hair, horns, hooves, teeth, and bones.
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Jul 28, 2016 21:30
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