Battle Scars

Howdy All!

Well it had been warming up pretty nicely here lately, but then the snow came in and backtracked all of that. Now the ground is muddy all over again, and once again I am up to my knees in mud and poop. But the animals are doing well and the babies are thriving now that we moved them into a bigger area and they can play in the sunshine all day. They were in small 4x4 jugs with their mothers, but now that they are all older and stronger, we moved all the mothers and their kids into a larger cattle pen where they can all live together. It really has made a difference; all the kids are playing with each other and jumping around and frolicking in the sun and grass. It is so much fun to watch them! They grow so fast. I remember being there when they were born, and now they are almost weaned off their mothers already. Things are starting to move faster, and we are getting a lot busier now that the weather is nicer. We are in the process of totally moving the ranch around. We rented a bobcat-type small bulldozer to come in and dig out all the old straw and mud, so that will be done next week when the ground has had a chance to solidify more due to the weather. Yesterday was a very long day for me. It was the end of my 2 day shift out at the ranch, and I didn't get to leave until after 6:30pm, so technically I had been there for over 72 hours straight. It was really busy too, so I had to stay alert the whole time. We were expecting our sheep to lamb out sometime over this weekend because they are at the end of their gestational period and they should be due to lamb soon. All the sheep and goats left to go (4 sheep and 2 goats) looked like they were ready, but no one was in labor so I just had to keep checking them and watching them. Finally I made it through the 2 day shift and on one had given birth, so when Marv showed up yesterday to pick me up and do some more vaccinating, he even thought that the sheep weren't ready to lamb yet. So we went about doing our vaccinations and feeding hay to the animals, when all of a sudden he looked up into one of the large pens and saw a baby lamb on the ground. So he told me, and I jumped the fence and ran over to make sure he was breathing correctly and had been cleaned off properly. So I ran over to the ewe (mother sheep) and saw the lamb on the ground all gooey and slimy. I pulled the sac off his face and swept out his mouth and got nasty placenta all over my hands. Then I noticed he was bright yellow and gooey and looked so pathetic on the ground. He looked like a baby bird that was just born; I can't explain it any other way. He was bony, and slimy and just sat there crying. He looked so helpless. So then I had to get the ewe into a jug so she could let her baby nurse, so I had to drag the lamb by his hind legs into the barn so the mother would follow him. Sheep are stupid, but when they see their baby 'floating' in the air, they won't follow it because even they know lambs don't fly. That is why I had to drag the lamb on the ground into the barn. When I got into the barn, Marv was standing there with another lamb. It turned out the ewe had twins. She dropped the first one (gave birth) then walked outside and dropped the second one. If we weren't there to see it, she would have walked away from them and they both would have suffocated because no one would have been there to clean the sac off their faces. The guard dogs are usually really good about doing that. They will jump in and clean the babies off if the moms are having trouble, but this pen had only a few guard dogs in it, and they were puppies so they didn't quite understand what to do yet either. Finally I got the ewe and her lambs into a pen, then I had to dry them off with a towel and get all the placenta off of them. Then I had to get them standing and sucking on a teat. They had difficulty standing up, so I had to basically teach them to stand. They were so weak and tiny, but I got them both standing up eventually. Then I realized when I had to strip the ewes teats that one of her teats wasnt milking right. When a ewe first has her lamb, or a goat has her kid, her teats contain a waxy buildup (like a plug) in them and it has to be stripped out by hand for the milk to flow correctly. We have to do it because sometimes the babies arent strong enough to do it, and you never want to assume that just because a kid is sucking that it is getting milk out. So I found out that her bag was messed up, and one side wasnt giving out any milk. I had to bring that female lamb home to bottle feed it so it wouldnt get weak and fall behind in food. I had to milk the ewe's good teat for collostrum (mother's first milk, containing the most powerful type of vitamins essential to its baby's survival) and force it down the lambs' throats. Neither of them were using their sucking mechanisms yet, so I just had to force the collostrum into them. It is most important that they get collostrum within the first few minutes, so you just have to do it no matter the method.

Now, earlier that same day that the lambs were born, I noticed that same ewe had some sort of bad infection on her neck. She had a really large gash in her neck- probably from when she was sheared for her wool- and it somehow became infected. The pus was oozing out of her neck and it was lime green, so I knew it wasnt a small infection. I gave her a large injection of penicillin (LA 200) and she, of course, hated it and fought me the whole time and bent the needle. The problem with sheep is that they dont have collars on them, like the goats and dogs, so I had to chase her around until I could corner her, wrestler her to the ground, put her head between my legs and cross my legs tight so her head wouldnt slip out, and inject her with penicillin at the same time. In this process, the pus from her neck got all over my pants- which I knew it would, but I had no other choice- and all I can say is it was the worst scent I have ever smelled in my entire life. There is no smell worse than the smell of rotting sheep pus infected sore. Ive smelled pus and infection before, but that was its own league of stench. The smell was unbelievable, and I have no real way of explaining it, unless you go find a sheep and smell for yourself. But I can assure you, it was disturbing and my nasal passages are forever damaged. And it was all over me, and I had no way of getting it off. Im pretty sure I will have to burn those jeans and that is my only option for them.

On a lighter note, the lambs are doing fine, and there was another set born this morning around 6am. This afternoon I was in the living room on my laptop and Marv was sitting next to me on the phone making a business call. The female lamb that we brought home last night was in the back bedroom in a very large black plastic tub. The type of tub you would put in your backyard in the ground if you were going to make a koi pond of sorts. So it was a big tub. Well she was back there crying and being cranky, and she wouldnt stop. Then it got very quiet, and all of a sudden there is a lamb marching through the living room, around the chair, and right up to me. Somehow, the lamb jumped out of the tub and marched herself into the  living room, surrounded by dogs. The dogs were flipping out; they didnt know what to do, so they just followed her around the room! I guess she really didnt want to be stuck back there, so she took care if it herself. I was completely frozen and all I could do was point at her, and when Marv saw what I was pointing at, his jaw dropped in mid-sentence of his phone call! We both just sat there and stared at her, and she sat and stared right back at us. So we took her back out to the ranch today to get her with her mother, but the ewe's teat was still bad so we had to bring the lamb back home again. We found a screen top to put over the tub so we wont have any more escaping 'issues' with her.

I also got to do another series of vaccinations on puppies as well. I love dogs because they are so laid back and easy going. They know they are going to get a shot, but they dont fight it. They dont even move. They just deal with it and its over. Whereas sheep and goats fight like they are going to die, and flip and jerk around and probably end up hurting themselves more than if they didnt fight. And they have thicker skin, so they shouldnt really feel a needle as much as a dog. But even the puppies didnt move or flinch at all. They were fine and just went right on to playing and eating afterwards. It made me feel more relaxed and confident that I was helping them. I also had to bag sheep, which means check their milk bags to determine if they are far enough along in their pregnancy that we would need to set them aside in a drop pen in case they have lambs suddenly. That involves corralling the sheep into a pen, and sneaking up behind them and squeezing their bags between their legs to see if they are developing a bag yet. Then we separate them based on that outcome.We use herding dogs for that sometimes too, because they can separate sheep efficiently. I also checked heat cycles, helped determine what dogs we were going to breed to each other to get specific traits that ranchers are looking for in a guard dog, and analyzing puppies from different litters to determine who we want to keep as stud dogs for our own stock, and who we want to sell as stud dogs and as guard dogs. If we sell them as a stud dog, we dont have them altered. But if they are sold as a standard guard dog, they are altered before they are given to their new owner. This is because they wont ever be distracted by going into heat or by a dog around them in heat, so they can focus 100% everyday on guarding their sheep.

So I am learning a ton of new information everyday, and Marv is also letting me read every book he has on guard dogs, herding dogs, training dogs and books on sheep, goats and chickens. I am learning a lot from the books too! Tomorrow we are going to buy baby chicks, baby turkeys, and even a few baby ducks! I am so excited about the ducks and I am glad I was able to talk him into getting them. He wont ever kill the chickens or turkeys for food, but he just wants them to roam around his property. Plus he uses the chickens for their eggs. I collect about 10 to 12 eggs a day from the chickens he has now, so the eggs are used up a lot. What they dont eat, they sell to the local organic market. Sometimes they are the only supply of eggs the market has, so the market is desperate for them. Thats why it is important to keep the chickens well fed and watered, with the right amount of daylight and heat. They need around 12 hours of sunlight a day, plus ample water, plus a heat lamp, and certain types of nutrients to continue to lay eggs. Did you know they eat ground up oyster shells as part of their diet? It helps them digest food somehow, as well as gravel called chicken grit. It is actually gravel, and it helps them grind their food up.

I have pretty much been using icy hot as body lotion by now. My battle scars are starting to show. I have bruises covering my whole body; and for some of them I have no idea how they got there. They look pretty serious too, they are dark blue and purple and green. HAHA, they are so gross looking. Good thing we all wear pants and long sleeves here; no one can see them. They would think I have a disease or something.  But the battle scars are worth the journey, and they will fade eventually.

Im debating about where to go when I leave here and drive to Kentucky. I have 2 options:

1. Drive through North Dakota, Minnesota and stop in Chicago to my favorite restaurant of all time and get the WORLD'S BEST PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Or drive through South Dakota and see Mt. Rushmore and Sturgis, and through Iowa and Indiana, where I can go see an awsome medical museum.

I am leaning towards #2 because the scenery will be cool, and I have always wanted to see Iowa and Mt. Rushmore, but the pizza. I have dreams about that pizza....... I can have it shipped from the restaurant in Chicago, but its $40. HAHAHA, but it is totally worth it.

What do you guys think?


That is about all that has been going on so far. Tomorrow I start my 2 day shift again, so I wont be home until Wednesday night. I am going to make brushcetta for Marv and Carrie on Wednesday because they have never heard of it. I hope they like it! They like all the ingredients, and I am making it with all the cheeses and everything so I hope they do enjoy it. That way they will have a nice way of remembering me when they want to make it for themselves someday, and it is a nice new idea for a meal for them.

I miss you all, and hope you are enjoying the California sunshine. It snowed again here today, and will again tomorrow. Im sure you are all jealous of that kind of weather! Soak up the sun for me, I need it here!!!

Grandma- No I havent gotten your package yet. For some reason, mail takes a very long time to get to me here. I just got a package from Mom yesterday and she sent it over 2 weeks ago. But I know it will get here soon, and thanks so much in advance for sending whatever surprises you are sending me!

Love,
Samantha