05/30/2026
Farm happenings, but make it whirlwind catch-up style because life has been a blur basically since the pups were born. Funny how that happens.
1. As what normally happens about this time of year, I completely lost track of how many calves we have had and the glamor shots happened when I had a second to breathe, if at all. 🤣 I think we're up to 19 so far this season + 6 custom calvers.
2. All in the same DAY: We had one of the heifers we are custom calving for someone have twins... We lost Martha the sheep (old age and not a surprise, but still sad)... and we unfortunately lost a baby lamb that was a few days old, after Jesse found her close to death and we tried to nurse her back all night. A painful lesson was learned about monitoring mom and baby closely to make sure mom was taking care of baby as we believe it was starved. As with all preventable tragedies, it's hard not to beat yourself up over something like this. But you'll bet it won't happen again.
3. Last week we had a heifer prolapse her uterus after calving. No pictures suitable for posting, you're welcome. One after hours emergency vet call in the morning, followed by hauling her back to the vet later that evening since she decided to push through her stitches, she she was trussed up like a turkey. Thankfully she seems to be out of the woods now; however she will not be bred again. Thankfully she's a good mom and continued to take care of her calf through all of this.
4. Just yesterday, Janet the ewe lamb had her baby; a girl. A little copy + paste of mom, and so sweet. Janet is a very good mom, which has been a relief after what happened with the last one.
5. The pups have a new home outside. Happy to be able to have our house back! Probably should have done that a few weeks ago.
A few words for Martha, since I can't just gloss over her loss. She was a pain in the rear and stubborn, but she surely earned it after all her years on this earth... her prior owners estimated she had to have been 7 or 8 when we got her, which is pretty old for a sheep. She served an important purpose for us in showing our ewe lambs the ropes when we first brought them home, and she truly was worth her weight in gold in that stage of us being new to sheep. I'm sure she's got her head stuck in heaven's gate as we speak. Perhaps she knew she needed to be up there waiting for the baby lamb who joined her that night. ❤️
