Jeopardy Jumping, the 2013 Telus Battle of the Breeds

On September 5 my husband and I took a break from work and the farm to go to the Spruce Meadows “Masters”, a horse show of international acclaim. Held the week after the September Labor Day long weekend, there is plenty to see and do, and horse shows all day long.  This is really a great family event, with things for kids too, assuming they like horses.

One of my favorite events is the Telus Battle of the Breeds. This is where different breeds compete against each other in different events, earning points by proving their versatility. We arrived too late in the day to see the compulsory skills class but did see the Jeopardy Jumping class in the afternoon. 

In Jeopardy Jumping the riders direct their horse around a course of jumps, but unlike regular jumping events there are 2 jump choices, a lower one and a higher one. Each one is assigned points according to difficulty. If the jump is cleared the horse earns those points, if not no penalty is given.

12 breeds competed, with 2 horses of each breed.

Saddlebred Valenfire's Attractive Image

Immediately after completing the jumping course the rider was given the option of attempting the Telus bonus jump, worth 100 points if successfully jumped, and penalized -100 if not. Most riders did not attempt this jump and of those who did only a few went clear. The jump was a vertical but had phone booths on either side and I think the reflection might have distracted the horses.

Shetland Pony McLeod Creek Baby J

It was great fun to watch and to see the different breeds compete. The small Shetland ponies proved how brave and hardy they were. While some of the larger breeds, such as the Friesian and Gypsy Vanner struggled.

Team Appaloosa won the Jeopardy Jumping class and team Arabian was second.

Fall is Ram Lamb Selling and Buying Time

I find that lambs tend to sell best in the spring.  People either want them for Easter, or other religious festivals, or they want them for pasture control.  Breeding in order to have spring lambs means lambing in the winter which is hard work but profitable.

Normally I breed my sheep for spring lambs and have them sold quite early in the summer, however this summer was crazy and I only started advertising them a few weeks ago.  I had one fellow call and say he wanted all the ram lambs.  He was busy and asked if I could hold them for him for another week. I agreed, but after 10 days passed I got a hold of him and I guess something came up and he could not make it.

Normally I get tons of calls for lambs, but normally I advertise them a lot earlier than I did this year.  I am in Canada and find that kijiji.ca is a good place to advertise livestock for sale, however they list sheep in with horses and get a lot of horses, so my sheep ad was soon bumped to page 7 and appears to be lost...

Another site I use to advertise sheep for sale is Ropin' The Web which is strictly for buying and selling livestock in Alberta.  I use to get a lot of inquires from this site, however it seems to be less popular now than a few years ago.

Above is one of my more interesting looking ram lambs.  The angle of the photo is awful, please forgive me for that as it does make him look a bit distorted, but his coloring and markings are cool... too bad I have a shadow on him too, I really must get better pictures!  He is a Jacob x Katahdin. 

I am hoping to get some inquires soon as fall is typically the time of year when people buy rams for breeding.  Sheep are pregnant for 5 months and most ewes come into season only in the fall (from early August to December) so now is the time for breeding.  Next year I will not put off advertising them for sale so late!  At least the pasture is good this year as we have had loads of rain, so their is plenty for all to eat. 

As my regular readers know I have mostly hair sheep as I find them a better sheep for the hobby farmer but they are also becoming increasingly popular for meat too.   Hair sheep tend to have a better resistance to parasites and they do not need shearing which can be a lot of work and a major expense which is not justified in areas where wool is not valuable.

Nine Bantam Dorking Chicks Hatched

Hens lay eggs with, or without a rooster.  If there is a rooster present the eggs should be fertile and will hatch only if a hen sits on them for 21 days to incubate them or if the eggs are placed in an incubator.  Not all breeds of hens are broody, which means not all breeds of hens will sit on their eggs, however Dorkings are a broody breed and our hens sat on their eggs without any encouragement.

The first hen was on a large brood of eggs but only two hatched.  This may have been due to the awful spring weather at the time.

Our second Dorking hen started to sit on a smaller clutch of eggs in July, and on August 2^nd they hatched out. There were nine chicks total. One egg never showed any signs of hatching and one egg had just started to hatch but the chick died while still inside.

Our bantam Dorking chickens are silver grey, which is a color that indicates male and female chick right at hatching. The hens are dark or black, and the cockerels are lighter, often with stripes. Because of this we were able to determine that four of the tiny chicks are hens, including one who is chocolate brown, and five are cockerels (males), including two which have very pronounced stripes rather like a chipmunk.

These chicks are tiny. Bantam chickens are smaller than regular, or standard, chickens. These little chicks are only about two inches (5 cm) tall. 

The hen stayed in the nesting box with them for the first day but the next day we found her with a few of them on the ground. Four more remained in the nesting box area, unsure of how to get down, they huddled together. I picked them up to put them down with the hen.

Young chicks are amazingly smart. Recent studies have suggested that young chicks are as smart, and capable of doing things, as a two year old child.

Mother hens are always clucking to their chicks, making different sounds to indicate different things; “Come here”, “Danger”, “Let's eat”, “It's safe to wander around, but here I am just in case you want me”.

The rooster wanders around and makes sounds to alert them to danger or food (as when I throw in some chicken scratch or small bits of brown bread). He will not harm them and acts as a guardian, even though he is pretty small too.

For now the chicks stay very close to their mom. She sits down with her wings spread out to make room for all of them to find shelter and warmth underneath her body. As they grow they will continue to follow her and learn from her. They are already “scratching” the ground to find food. The chicks will start growing different feathers and will not be as fluffy in a few weeks time.

Update.  Sad news, the brown chick died two days later.  We found it in the nest, not sure why it did not survive.

Three Different Lambs, a Summer Surprise

Last fall, in October, three of our ewes gave birth to lambs.  We knew that two of them had been rebred and they had their lambs in April, but it did not look like the third ewe had been rebred.  Sheep are pregnant for 5 months and we had been told the ewes of most breeds only come into heat in the fall, so the fact that we had October lambs was already a surprise.

At any rate, we thought we were in the clear with the other ewe and as such were just getting on with the summer.  We have had rain almost non-stop and the pasture has grown so tall we almost do not see the sheep at all.

We went away for four days and when we came back I noticed Girlie sheep suddenly looked different.  While she did not look pregnant, her udder seemed fuller.  The next day I was out filling  up the water and she was missing.  I found her in the old barn, she had three little lambs with her.

I went to get my husband to help me get them into the barn, I also wanted to grab the camera!  My husband picked up the lambs and carried them towards our larger barn, which I thought would be a better place for them to spend their first night.

Girlie has had triplets in the past but never produced enough milk for all and we have always had to supplement one by bottle feeding.  As such it was a good idea to get her into the barn so we could check that too, and give her a bit of oats.

She has a black ewe lamb, a brown ewe lamb (the smallest lamb) and a larger white and brown ram lamb.

Well that was all just over a week ago.  She is so far doing great with the three lambs.  I did have a bit of an awkward moment though...

On the second day I noticed a bit of her placenta was still hanging out of her (and covered in feces too).  I called the veterinarian.  It was July 1, which is Canada Day here (a holiday).  He suggested I could fix this myself, I just had to wash my hands really well, cover one hand with vegetable oil, and go insider her to gently remove it, and to feel just in case she had another lamb still inside.  He said since she was still eating and acting normal it was not an emergency in which he needed to come.  So... ya, I did that, while my husband held her, and thankfully there was no fourth lamb and I got the placenta out okay. 

Triplet Lambs Being Born

I knew Blackie as pregnant but didn't think she was due for another week or so, so I was rather surprised when I found her in the pasture with a newborn lamb.

The cool thing was that I had my camera with me because I was going to be taking some pictures of the other sheep, and as it happened Blackie lay down and had two more lambs while I was outside with her.

She had separated herself from the flock and was in a nice sheltered area of the pasture, I had seen her alone in the old barn earlier in the day so knew something was up.  How thoughtful of her to go out into the sun!

Within a short time of me being out there, a minute or so really, she lay down to have her second lamb.

Blackie started to lick it off, and before I knew it she laid down again.  Triplets I thought.  In the past Blackie has had triplets twice before but always lost one each time.  She did not strain with this lamb as much as the earlier one.  And was busy licking the first too at the same time.  I saw the third lamb come out most of the way (keep in mind they are born in a clear sack so you see the sack and lamb within it and fluid. 

This lamb was black so it was hard to see well, and there was no movement.  As long as the umbilical cord is still attached it is okay that the sack is not open because the lamb gets the oxygen from the blood in the umbilical cord. This usually breaks when the mom gets up or the lamb moves around.

 I was waiting for Blackie to get up and check the third lamb but she just lay there licking the first two. I am sure she was tired but I grew concerned.  I could only detect small movements from the third lamb from inside the sack.  I moved my position just a bit to go around to check closer, and in an instant the third lamb broke open its sack and started to breathe on its own.

Blackie was not really noticing so I moved this lamb closer to her nose and she did start licking it right away.

 

At that point I left her for a short time, I wanted to make sure I had a stall prepared for them.  It was warm and sunny outside, but it is best to allow small family groups to bond in the safety of a stall for a while, especially in the case of triplets - not to mention the fear of predators attracted by the smell of blood from the process of lambing.

See other pictures and read more at my original post, here.

For the record these lambs were born April 27, 2013.  I have Diamond sheep on my radar too, she is huge and expecting lambs now as well.

Katahdin Hair Sheep

Meet the Katahdin sheep, one of a few hair sheep breeds. They do not grow a fleece that would need shearing, and instead shed the thicker winter coat every spring.

Origins of Katahdin Sheep

Michael Piel, of Maine, USA, set about creating a breed of sheep to use for land maintenance, to control vegetation growth around power lines. In 1957 he imported three young African Hair Sheep, all of whom had been triplets but were not related to each other. Two were ewes, and one was a ram. From there he set about breeding them with each other and other select breeds including the Suffolk, Hampshire, and Cheviot.

He selected the sheep he kept for breeding based on "hair", fertility, meat type conformation, and flocking instinct. In the 1970's he named the new breed "Katahdin", after Mt. Katahdin, in Maine.

Michael passed away in 1976 and the breed went through some small changes, included an experiment in non-polled (horned) crosses, which was done away with in favor of polled (hornless) sheep.

A registry was established in 1986, under the name Katahdin Hair Sheep International.

Katahdin Ewe minutes after lambing, her back is good but the photo makes it look bad

Traits of Katahdin Sheep

The most obvious trait is that Katahdin sheep are covered with hair rather than wool, although some woolly hairs will still be present. This means they do not require shearing or their tails to be docked. The hair is somewhat coarse like that of a German Shepherd dog, and sheds in much the same way.

They are good mothers, often having triplets, although singles or twins are preferred for their first time lambing. Katahdin ewes are good milk producers, and seldom require assistance lambing (unless bred to larger breeds).

They are not a very aggressive sheep, and tend to flock moderately well.

An average Katahdin sheep ewe will weigh around 120 to 160 pounds, with the rams at 180 to 240 pounds. As such they are considered to be a "medium" size sheep.

Katahdin sheep have good parasite resistance.

The most common color being solid white, but Katahdins can also be brown or black, and occasionally are spotted.

Katahdin Ram, 1 year old

 

Uses of Katahdin Sheep

Katahdin sheep are terrific for hobby farmers looking for a low maintenance animal to control grass growth in their pastures. They will eat many weeds that other animals will over look.

Because they are docile and unusual looking, they also work well in petting zoos.

They are used in cross breeding programs to improve carcass condition, or for their mothering abilities.  Twins are common.

Typically though, most lambs are raised for meat. They have a top quality carcass that is mild in flavor and marketable even past the "lamb" stage. The meat is also particularly lean.

Other Information

With wool prices falling, the cost of shearing often is more than a person can market wool for, as such this breed, is gaining popularity.

Katahdin sheep are now in Canada (I have some), USA, Mexico, Chile, the UK, and Central America.

I am a Farm Cat Parent

I have farm cats.  While some people think that all farm cats have ideal lives, the sad truth is that many farm cats are not generally well cared for.  Few farm cats are treated as pets.  Many farm cats are not vaccinated, wormed, or even spayed or neutered.  Few are allowed in the house; but rather forced to make due in a barn, even on cold nights.  A lot of farm cats are not even well fed as some farmers think they will be better mousers if they are hungry.

One of the "left behind" cats

I own several farm cats, and I do love them.

I moved to the farm with my own cat (adopted years earlier), the previous owners left their cats behind.  I had allowed this because I knew that they could not take them and that these cats had very little chance of being adopted (or even being put up for adoption).


 Over time a few other cats "showed up", and decided to make our small farm their home.

Kafka, who showed up as a kitten, at home on the farm

We have had all the cats neutered (oddly it has only been males that have moved in), vaccinated, and they get wormed regularly.  They stay outside mostly all summer; only my original cat shows any interest in being indoors at all in the summer, and even sometimes she tries to stay out at night to catch bats (I prefer to catch her and bring her indoors).

Many farmers treat injuries to their livestock seriously, but sometimes let "nature take its course" with their barn cats.  One of my cats recently had a swelling under his jaw and it was a few hundred dollars to fix him up, but he is indeed a "pet", and a very loved one too.  The pictures are a bit gruesome, you can click here to read what happened.

All in all the cats do have a pretty good life, I think they are happy.

Visit PetFinder, click here

I just want to change the perception that all farm cat parents are bad, indeed some of us do love our cats.

I do want to add though, that if you own a cat and cannot care for it, please do not abandon it on a farm.  Most farmers do not want more cats and many city cats will be chased off by the resident farm cats (or dogs).

If you are looking for a new cat companion, please check PetFinder, or your local shelter.  Adoption really does save lives (so does spaying and neutering).

Please check PetFinder's "I Am A Cat Parent" site, and tweet about your cat using hashtag #IAmACatParent