Category: Animal Husbandry
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First Lambs!
Here are the first lambs of the season! Bron had a nice ram lamb weighing nine pounds. It was out, dry, and nursed when we got there this morning. Belinda had a pair of twin ram lambs weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces and 7 pounds 13 ounces, respectively. One had a leg back but was… Continue reading
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Woolly Beach Balls and a Garden Attempt
We still don’t have any lambs, but as you can see, we do have some very round sheep. This is Desert Weyr Tanwen. She had twins her first year, but only a single last year. I suspect she’s carrying twins again this year due to her size. I have a very black thumb, but I… Continue reading
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On Pasture With Big Bales of Hay
Today, we got the pregnant ewes out into pastures where they can lamb. The grass is still not very high, so we put out some hay. We got three round bales to try. They’re smaller than some – only four feet wide and 1,000 pounds each. Ken can move them with the tractor without a… Continue reading
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Lawn Mowers
The snow has all melted, and things have dried out enough to get the pregnant ewes out. They needed their spring dewormer. Afterward, as a treat, they got to be lawn mowers around the guesthouse and shop. I sat under the shop porch and watched while reading the mail. They spend a lot of time… Continue reading
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RS Farwasabi: February 18th, 1989 – February 18th, 2009
We lost our senior stallion yesterday to severe colic from a twisted gut. RS Farwasabi was a grandson of both Abu Farwa and Khemosabi. He was trained in dressage, reining, and pleasure, and he was always a gentleman to handle. He was the first purebred Arabian horse we ever bred. He was also a SCID… Continue reading
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Sheep AI, Day Three
Day three proved to be hectic. We had poor post-thaw motility on the frozen semen for some reason, so we had to rearrange and collect the rams again and use fresh, cooled semen. With 56 ewes to inseminate and 15 rams to collect, it was impossible to get any pictures of the proceedings. Our cell… Continue reading
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Sheep AI, Day One
We volunteered to be a test flock for a new sheep AI procedure. The plan for day 1 was to give the ewes their shots to bring them into heat. I didn’t get any pictures of the procedure, as we were working fast to get them all done. For the actual inseminations, we’ll be putting… Continue reading
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Planning Breedings
I have the opportunity to run 14 primary breeding rams this year, plus two backup pens. Each primary ram will only have four ewes, and the backups will each have 28 ewes. This is a chance to use 16 different rams for breeding, an opportunity that is very rare and potentially very valuable. Trying to… Continue reading
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Spare Bovine
We had a spare bull show up at the house yesterday. The neighbor had borrowed a bull to breed his two cows to, and the bull decided to go on a walkabout around the entire mesa. He visited several places, including ours. After strolling past the house, he went back to harass the guard dogs.… Continue reading
