Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a Happy, Safe Halloween, and for those on the east coast have fun whatever day you get to celebrate.

Hug a Sheep Day .... 2 more to hug ......

and now there are 10 ..............

Brock came to the fence today for his hug ...........

And his twin sister Brandy likes to have spots scratched .....

And by the look of the wool on several of the Shetland ewes I think C'Oso has been doing his share of  making sure everyone has been getting "hugs"

And Bella wants to know why it's hug a sheep day and not a hug a Bella day

Here is hoping everyone in Sandy's path on the east coast stays safe and their critters too.

Have you Herd I took a road trip today ...........

I took a trip up to the Mill in Oakhurst today to pick up all my Shetland and Angora Fleeces.  I saw this interesting rock on the way up so I had to stop and take a picture on the way home.  Lighting is not great but there was only a narrow spot on the road to get out and take a picture, and I did not feel like crawling thru a barb wire fence to get better lighting.

Kinda filled up my truck with bags of fleeces, stuffed in everywhere but the drivers seat .....

 

 

I know the correct spelling for this title should have been "Have you Heard" but here is the Herd, 4 goats of one breed can be called a herd .... right?  Stopped on the way back from the mill to pick up these 3 girls and 1 guy from friend selling her house and livestock to move out of state.  At the price of gas I like to combine my errands and she was only a couple miles from the route to the mill.  I did not want to see them end up at the auction so I now have a 3rd breed of goat here now.  These are registered Pygoras.

 

 

Don't forget "Hug a Sheep Day"

Don't forget tomorrow is "Hug a Sheep Day"

Another Lamb and a little rain ...................

 Another single lamb

And now there are Eight ......................

Checking out the tree, this is one of the objects in there obstacle course they run around ...

Finally  .... a quarter inch of rain ... it's a start ...

Pig and Lamb update .........................

Pigs are growing and gaining 

Lost one of the triplets at 3 days old.  Looked like she was doing fine but found her dead when I went out to feed.  It looked like she was holding her own at feeding time, but first 3 or 4 days always seem to be the most critical.  

Two ewe lambs were born on the 14th, both are doing fine.

I went out to feed early on Tuesday, saw ewe with blood on her legs and tail, but she was not in labor, was really hoping she was not going to have any problems since I had company coming.  I kept watching her while I was doing chores, she was up and eating, still no sign of labor.  After I was done, I parked the Kubota next to the stock  trailer and went back to close the gate.  When I came back past the trailer don't know why but I looked down at the tires.  Tucked in behind the tires I found a little white tail wagging away, this was 20 feet outside the sheep's pen.  I put the ewe in a small pen with the new lamb for a few hours, looks like she only had one ram lamb, and it is doing fine.

And this morning before company was leaving there are now 2 more, so lamb count is now at 7.

And we are back to another week of summer temperatures, after last week mostly in the upper 70's yesterday and today are back to the 90's.

The Shetland rams are getting anxious for me to open their gates and put in the ewes, waiting for the first of November to breed the older ewes.  They yearlings are already in with the new ram, seems he is fickle and has a new girl friend every day.

Finally ..........................

Really there were clouds in the sky, but no rain, won't get any serious rain for awhile yet, but hey, the temperature dropped by 20 degrees in one day,  Yippeeeeee.  I am going to survive the summer of 2012 after all.

Those clouds made for a very interesting sunset.

 Even Dollar and Bella were happy for the cooler temps, and felt like playing, Bella was using Dollar for a chew toy until I moved to take picture, Dollar is watching me to see if that movement meant we were going back outside again.

Patio is getting covered with leaves will soon be time to get my blower/mulcher toy out from storage, and add mulch to planters.