Sheep out in a Summer Snow Storm

This week Alberta was hit by a freak summer snow storm. I do not recall getting snow so early before but I do have memories of late snows in May and June.

The trees still have leaves and many are bent over and some are breaking. The animals are not particularly happy about it either. The roosters are not even smart enough to go inside and are roosting on a branch with no shelter above heads. The cats are unimpressed.

The sheep are pretty well adjusted, the snow is not too much for them, they can still dig through to the grass. 

It is that time of year to sell them though. I had a buyer who was all lined up to come two weeks ago, but when he went to leave his place he noted something was wrong with his trailer, I think he said an axle was broken. He was going to fix it and come the next day. The next day he had bought the wrong axle and was going to have to try again a few days later, but after repeated trips to Canadian Tire, or wherever you buy new trailer axles, he was having no luck getting the right one and eventually said for us to go ahead and sell to somebody else.

This was frustrating, but understandably not his fault, unfortunately I had turned 3 other buyers down in the process, two of which I did not get their phone numbers. Thankfully I did get the e-mail of one guy and he is coming right away for a ram lamb. Well, I should say, he is waiting for the weather to improve then will be here. He has selected a nice brown Katahdin ram so we are holding that one for him, but we do have an interesting bunch of rams this year including one with four horns and a really neat looking tri-color hair sheep.

I am not happy with the weather, I am not a big fan of the cold. I have aches and pains, and it is hard to take. It is one thing to get winter weather in winter, or even in the fall, but again, this is still summer and we have 2 more weeks go to before it is fall.

I love Alberta, but sometimes I think I am crazy to live here.

Great Way to Stay Safe when Riding Horses at Night

When you ride your horse in the evening you might think you are safe because you can see the headlights of oncoming vehicles. You might even wear a reflective vest, but it should be noted that a reflective vest is useless until vehicles are close too you, and at times drivers have been known to drive around at dusk without turning their headlights on at all. Reflective vests are not great on foggy days. 

The best way for you, as a rider, to be seen is to be lit up in some way. 

Carrying a flashlight is a good idea, but not always practical at all times. Instead if you are going to be riding in the evening you may want a light that can clip onto you, the saddle, or part of the bridle itself. These lights alert drivers more effectively than a reflective vest (which is still a good idea too) and are also good if your horse spooks and runs off in the dark, as it will be easier to see where your horse went. 

Nite Ize offers really cool products for dogs, light up toys, collars, and even lights you can put on the collar itself. These clip on lights are great for riders too as they can clip onto your saddle, reins, or bridle (but do not clip them too near to your horse's eyes).

Click on the image below to learn more and see other products...

These lights are ideal for people who go out for a ride in the evening because even if you start your ride when it is light it can get dark fast, or bad weather could change visibility, making you and your horse harder to see.

These lights are great for:

• Riding in the Fog
• Packing in the Mountains - as you might not reach your camp when you think you would
• Riding in the Snow – in case the weather turns bad
• Putting on your Dog's Collar – as when your dog tags along for your evening ride

Nite Ize has several different light up products that would work for any horse rider.

Deer Almost Trapped in a Bird Aviary

A few summers ago my husband built two starplate aviaries for us to use to keep pet birds in.  We have used the aviaries for ducks, pheasants, and pigeons.  This past fall we sold the pigeons and since then the aviaries were left open, I figured the cats would enjoy going in there.  I never bothered to clean out the last of the pigeon feed as I thought that eventually chickadees and other birds would come along and eat it up the seeds.

I did not expect to see a deer eating the bird seed though.

That was until a few days ago when we had a small snow fall and in the early evening my husband happened to notice there was a deer in one of the aviaries.  We often have deer visit in the winter, they come to steal the hay.  However it appeared this particular deer somehow realized there was oats and seeds in the shelter left over from the pigeons and she was standing in the aviary eating quite happily.

The deer was aware of us watching her, but we were in the house, and she clearly was not worried about us, I got worried though.

I know horses can get founder from eating too many oats when they are not use to it, and once had a lamb swell up after getting into the chicken scratch and eating a handful (the lamb lived), so I was concerned that deer might have problems too.  I chased her away.

The deer was a white tailed deer as that is what is common in the area.  Sorry for the poor photo quality, my husband took the picture from inside the house.  

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Okay, Everyone Go Play in the Snow

Over the weekend we had a lot of snow, more snow I think than we had all winter. 

Today the temperatures were expected to be above freezing, and it was not windy so I thought this would be a great day to get some of the new lambs outside.

I put Blackie, her two lambs, Dark Brown Katahdin, and her twins, as well as Patsy sheep and her twins,  outside in the morning at feeding time.  This would have been a good time for pictures as Crystal the llama especially loves seeing the new lambs.  Aggie the donkey likes them okay too, but Crystal really adores them.  However as I was very busy getting everyone sorted out I did not plan for photos.

Here they are later in the day.

I kept Girlie and her triplets in the barn.  Although they are a week old now they are much smaller than the other lambs and the one needs bottle feeding.  It is pretty hard for the sheep to keep track of two lambs when outside, and three is much harder.  Because the temperatures were not great, it is simply better not to risk putting them out.  Besides, they were able to keep Diamond and her two-day-old triplets company, as they are also still in the barn.

Two of Diamond's triplets have fetlocks that are still a bit bent, a likely result of being cramped before birth, so, although they can walk, they need to let their legs stretch out before they would be able to keep up outside in the snow.  I am trying to spend a few minutes every day with the lambs stretching out their joints a bit to make them stronger.  This problem does occur from time to time although I have not had a lamb with it prior, and it ususally corrects itself in a few days to a week.

Patsy must have wanted to be alone because she took her twins away from the group.

Anyhow the moms and lambs that were out in the snow were probably glad to get out of the barn, and I have been checking to make sure they are doing well.  The show is about 20 cm (8 inches) deep in most places but deeper in areas where it has drifted. 

The sheep walk on the same path and actually pack it down so well that when the other snow melts the path of packed snow often remains as ice and is the last to go.

Not a great day for photos, I took more picutres of them in the shed but they all turned out too dark to show off.

Blackie

You may remember Blackie sheep, she was one of the twins born a few winters ago and left to freeze to death when her mom wanded off.  She, and her sister, had to be bottle fed.  We sold the sister and kept Blackie.

Blackie sheep is due to have her lambs in about three weeks time and is getting bigger every day.  She sure has calmed down.  It use to be when I would go outside she was always running to see me, baaing loudly, even after she was more than a  year old.  I guess she is all grown up now, but she is still friendly and likes to have her head scratched.  She sure is not black any more though, all that wool has faded.  Only her face and legs remain as black as when she was a little lamb.

Look how big her tummy is.  That is her mother standing in behind her. 

It looks like a mild spring, well hopefully at least, the winter has been very mild and lacking of snow.  If you remember last winter we had snow up to their tummies.  Poor ewes had to struggle through the paths just to get anywhere. 

So that is pretty much it for now, just waiting for a few more days until the lambs start arriving, then I will have lots of pictures to share of all the wee ones. 

Lambing Time Almost Here

Today is February 15, 2012, in a little over 2 weeks our ewes are due to have their lambs.  This year we wanted to make sure the lambs were not born in January so we got a ram a little later than we had in the past, putting him with the ewes on October 4.  In previous years lambing in the middle of winter was hard work combined with the extra feed needed and risk to lambs being born in the cold.  Ironically this winter has been the mildest ever, we hardly have any snow, and temperatures have been pretty good for central Alberta!

With the sun shining and the girls all having big tummies I thought it would be a good day to take some pictures, so that is exactly what we did.  Actually my goal was to get a picture of the ram trying to charge me, he has been the first ram we have had that even tries this.  He only does it if I am not looking but on this day he didn't seem interested.  Normally I have to be very aware of where he is and if I feel he is planning a sneak attack, and turn, he pretends he was not up to anything at all.  Quite funny really, also he is small so not really a danger.

Anyhow for a while I had been worried that the ewes were not getting big, if you recall the first year we had sheep the ram we bought was infertile - I don't want to go through that again!  But in the last couple of weeks the ewes started getting bigger and there udders were showing.

Most of the ewes are getting udders, a few are bigger than others.  Diamond sheep is the largest, she usually has triplets, only once did she have twins.  Blackie, and Girlie are pretty big too.  In this picture you can see Diamonds rear end, and her swollen tummy.  You may also note how there is no snow, last year at this time it was up to above there stomachs, I had to shovel paths for them in some areas;  this year, next to nothing.

We only have 9 ewes, that seems like a more manageable number for our small hobby farm (we are not big time sheep breeders).  It is hard to get sheep to pose for their picture, but I think my husband did a good job getting some of them looking in the right direction for this shot. 

Here is another picture, this time you can see Diamond sheep facing amost head on, with Mrs Brown Katahdin to the left and the ram to the right (our right, not Diamond's). 

Aggie the donkey is in behind.

The Winter Flock and Guardian Donkey

The other day was warm, I thought it would be a good day to take pictures of the sheep, but they didn't seem t be doing anything too interesting, they were just standing in the sun, in the shed.  I still thought this would be a good time to take pictures since the pictures can be used to show people what a shed for livestock looks like.

At the time only the sheep, and donkey, were in the shed.  Crystal, the llama, must have been off somewhere doing her own thing.

The lambs are not due until March, which is much better than last year when they started delivering new years eve and continued through the cold months of January and February.  This year has at least been warmer, and lots less snow too.  I am sure the sheep are happy to have a better winter.
 

I took these pictures only a few days ago, everyone is on their best behavior, waiting to see what Santa might bring them for Christmas.

I had to take two pictures of my small sheep flock, and have no idea of how to splice them together to make one big picture.  In the first pictures we have, from left to right, Girlie sheep, Patsy sheep (laying down) and Aggie the donkey, as well as Mrs White Katahdin.

*Yes, some farmers do name their animals.

In the second picture we see, starting from the left, the as yet unnamed Dorper ram.  In front of him is Diamond sheep.  In front of Diamond is Blackie, and Blackie's mom, Favorite Sheep (the one that had the stroke a few years ago).  Back in the shed, behind Diamond we see Mrs Dark Brown Barbado (named Dark Brown because when we got her we first had two and she was the darker one), and to the far right, and still in the shed is Mrs Brown Katahdin.


I think for Christmas we will give them an extra snack of hay around noon and some cut up apples.  They really love those.  We buy the discounted apples at the grocery store as they make a nice treat for the sheep and Aggie.   We may even put a few out for the birds too.

On behalf of myself, husband, and daughter, and all our critters, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season, be sure to keep extra care of your pets over the holidays, so many times we get busy and forget about them out in the cold. 

Snowy Morning and Bad Llama

A couple of days ago we woke up to snow, the first so far.  Normally, here in Alberta, we would have had more by now, but the fall has been wonderful.  Even the bit that we did get was not enough to shovel. 

The animals can still get grass but in the fall there is very little nutrition in the grass so we feed hay, just once a day for now, they will get fed twice a day later when we really start getting snow, and winter sets in. 

Naughty llama

We do have proper feeders near the barn for feeding hay, but have 2 bales near the house which we are feeding now.  One of the round bales was just a bit too close to the fence and Crystal decided to help herself.  As a result she has bent the fence.  I nailed a board across the top, but she leaned on it so bad it broke off.  Eventually the bale will be out of reach, but it's funny because even when there is plenty in the pasture she insists on eating from the bale.  I think it is because she has it all to herself that way. 

I always try to throw out several piles of hay because the animals tend to move around from pile to pile and push others away, by having extra piles it means everyone gets something to eat.

Patsy and Girlie having breakfast

As we only have 10 acres we do not grow our own hay, rather we buy it and have it delivered.  We do not even have a tractor to move bales around, so must feed by hand.  Certainly small square bales are easier to feed, but they cost more money, and are getting harder to find.  As such we buy the large round bales and have them delivered. 
We put tarps over the bales to protect them, sun can take away nutrition from hay, and if water gets into the bales they will rot!

When we buy the hay it is always hardest to know how much to buy.  In the past we have not bought enough and had to get some in the spring.  This was often because it kept snowing, and snowing, and snowing, so we kept feeding, and feeding, and feeding.  Hopefully this spring we will not have to worry about that and I will not need any more hay.

How Cold is Too Cold?

Yesterday morning, I woke up to temperatures that were -39C.  I went out to the barn and it was clearly too cold for the lambs to go outside.  I put the ram out, and the two ewes that are not due to lamb for a little while, then came into check the weather forecast on the Internet.

This is what I saw:

You will note that the Yahoo Weather chart seems to taunt me, showing the actual temperature at - 39C (roughly -38F) and tries to lighten it by saying it feels like only -38C!

Later in the day it got warm enough to let some of the more woolly ewes with bigger lambs outside, this being Diamond, Blackie, and Patsy.  Everyone else stayed in the barn (boring, but slightly warmer).  Of course they all got extra meals throughout the day.

I think they blame me for the bad weather, and refused to look at the camera for their picture to be taken.

A sheep keeper, especially when there are lambs, must be aware of the temperatures for the week ahead, and be willing to plan accordingly.  The ewes who are not doing as well should be kept in and fed extra, any with small lambs, young lambs, or even triplets, should be kept in, as should those who do not keep their lambs close.  Any ewes who are due to lamb should certainly be kept indoors in climate extremes. 

Lambs should be watched for signs of chilling, frost bite, or even pneumonia.  Sudden drops in temperature will also cause scours.  As I also keep hair sheep, I found that the hair ewes, and their lambs, needed to be kept in on this cold day.

The Great Sheep Escape

Every morning I go out to feed the sheep and let them out of the barn. I do this between 7:00 and 7:30 am. From the barn they can hear me coming and always make a racket, especially if I am late. On the morning of January 23, 2011, something was clearly wrong, there were no loud shouts of “HURRY UP AND FEED US!”. I was a little nervous to open the door, puzzled that they all might still be sleeping.

barn photo taken later in the day

I opened the door and turned on the light. There at the back of the barn was Dark Brown Barbado and her triplets, Mrs White Katahdin and her twins, over to my right was Favorite and her twins, tucked behind her was Mrs Brown Katahdin and a new lamb (more on that in my next blog post) but everyone else was missing. It was pretty easy to see where they had gone.

Our barn has 4 doors, one big sliding one at the front, with a small door in it, which we use rather than opening the sliding door. At the back is the door we use to access their pasture, and to the side another door leading out to hay, this is where I go when tossing hay over the fence to feed them outside.

photo taken later in the day - by the way.. if you think my barn is messy - you should see my house!

We have had crazy weather, the snow has made shutting the side door tricky, and as it happened I apparently had not shut it correctly the night before, at some time it blew open allowing the sheep outside for snacks - they were having a (pardon the pun) hayday!

It was a bit tricky getting them back indoors - lambs bouncing around like crazy, but at least the weather was better, up from the below freezing temperatures we have had for weeks, today is melting!  A quick head count to make sure I had all the sheep and lambs (10 sheep - 13 lambs) and then I had to attend to the new born lamb and its mom....

By the way... our sheep were not going too far, they had hay to eat and could not walk through the 18 inches of snow surrounding the hay, however you should know what to do if you ever encounter escaped livestock when you are out driving in the country - read here.