Hey All,
More baby lambs were born this morning, at about 2 am. They are both females, which means we are off to a great start. They are huge, about 12 pounds each!! They are very healthy and doing great; they have a great mother. So all of our original ewes hit their delivery deadline exactly. They were all expected to be done lambing by March 31st and they did! So that means we only have 1 more goat left and a few more ewes, and they will be done lambing by April 4th or 6th. Then we wont have any more lambs until April 20th, and I leave to go to Kentucky on April 27th. So I will get to see a few more lambs born before I leave. Today was a very short day out at the ranch. All I had to do was vaccinate a few Aussie puppies, feed and water animals and catch a dog that is going to be delivered to a new farm next week. The dogs all run free on the 35 acre property, so catching a dog is not as easy as it seems. The property is covered in hills and trees in the back, and of course that is where all the dogs like to hide from us. So when we go looking for the, we have to hike up and down steep hills covered in mud and trees to find them, and they can move in and out of the trees really fast. It took 4 of us and 2 herding dogs to try to catch this one guard dog today. And this dog can jump barbed wire fences, so she had us running ragged trying to catch her! The poor herding dogs were exhausted too! Finally I was able to chase her into the barn and corner her inside, then I threw a leash around her and chained her up to a dog house outside where I knew she would stay until she gets delivered next week. But it was hard work and poor Mike fell out of his boots trying to catch her! His boots got stuck in really thick mud and he ran right out of them. The mud here is different; it sticks to your shoes and then starts to collect to the point where you could have 20 pounds of mud stuck to each shoe. Then you start sinking in it. It really sucks, and I got stuck in it the day I had to chase the cows and fell in the river. It is horrible stuff! But the dogs dont mind it; they love getting dirty. So I caught the dog, milked a few goats and grafted a bum lamb onto a goat today. It can be a complicated process, but if you have the right variables it can work well. I had a goat that is a good milker- she produces about a quart of milk per day out of each teat. She gave birth to a kid, but it died so she has tons of milk but no kid to suck it out. So I have to milk her every day to ensure that her milk production stays high, so that if we have a bum lamb, we can graft the lamb onto the goat. We ended up with a bum lamb because her mother had twins but only one teat could produce milk. So one of the twin lambs wasnt getting fed, so I fed her the goat's milk. Now when I grafter her onto the goat and let her suck the milk out of the goat, the goat is fooled into thinking that the lamb is actually her own kid. This happens because the lamb is drinking the goats milk, so when the lamb passes a stool, the goat smells it and it smells like her own milk, so she thinks that must be her kid if it smells like her. Then she accepts the lamb as her own kid and will look after it and raise it as her own. That is how the process is supposed to work in theory, but sometimes it is very hard to fool the goats. However, this goat is a good mom and an easy milker so it is working out well. But I still have to go out every 2 hours and check to make sure the goat is letting the lamb drink from her. But it is working out well so far. That is the whole reason Marv raises goats to begin with. He needs the mothers to feed the bum lambs so they will grow up and produce more sheep. He needs the sheep to teach the guard dogs how to guard sheep and become bonded to livestock, and he needs the sheep to teach the herding dogs how to herd. So it is a lot of running in circles to make things work, but it is the only way to guarantee that guard dogs are bonded to livestock before selling them.
Tomorrow is going to be a long and early day because we are getting a skidsteer delivered. A skidsteer is like a bobcat type machine with a bucket on the front. It is used to move hay, or dig up dirt or anything that you cant do by hand. Carrie is looking into buying one, so they are letting her use it for the weekend to test it out. It is being delivered at 8am and we have a ton of work to do with it. We are going to dig out the entire barn and fill it with dirt to make it level with the outside so we can re-panel the whole inside of the barn. Then we are going to try to clean out all the dog poop and mud from the whole general population kennel, which is the whole 35 acres of land, and fill it with clean dirt. We are trying to do it now before it gets too hot and everything starts to smell and rot, so the dogs and animals will have clean dirt and pasture for the summer. So we will be working with the skidsteer all weekend.
Tomorrow, the cell phone network Alltell officially becomes AT&T out here, so I can get my phone as early as next week. I cant get it tomorrow because they wont even have any in stock yet, but next week I can get my new phone! I am so excited. I talked with the Alltell guy today, and he was really funny. He couldnt get into the Alltell systems because they were locked due to the switch, and he couldnt get into the ATT systems because they werent switched over yet, so he just sat in his store and acted really bored all day. I think he was excited that I even came in because it gave him something to do, even though he couldnt do anything for me. But I was his first ATT customer so he was happy about that. So I am excited to be able to get my phone back, but I havent really missed it to be honest. It was hard to adjust at first, but now its kind of nice not having to worry about if I miss any calls or texts. I can just zone out and focus on what I came here to do. Its kind of nice to detach from the world for a little bit sometimes. But I will be back in business next week with a fancy new iphone. Yeah, I know Im already behind because everyone already has the new iphone, but Im still excited.
I learned that there is no state sales tax in Montana. So when I bought something that said it was $1.00, it was only $1.00! It's awsome. There is no tax on anything, even in restaurants. Its different, but I guess they get taxed more heavily at tax time instead, so its not that great for the residents of Montana.
Not much else new, but Marv and Carrie are going to take me to Golden Corral soon and I am so freaking excited! They always tease us in California with commericials, but there arent any Golden Corrals that are close. I am very excited about this, and Carrie and Marv just laugh at me and think Im strage. But Im still very excited about it.
Cruiser is already asleep next to me, and Im tired, so we are going to bed now. See you all later, hope you are all having a great time in California.
Love you all!
Sam
P.S. I got new batteries for my camera, so new pics should be up tomorrow night!!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Lots of Lambs
Hi Guys,
Well, I am almost done with lambing the ewes that are having their lambs early. 3 have already given birth, now I am just waiting for 1 more for sure, and maybe a few others. There is also 1 more goat that still has to have kids, but she is holding out on us. They don't call her 'The Bitch' for nothing! She is enormous, but she still isnt having babies yet! She looks like she is going to drop about 5 at least, but she has a really small bag (udder bag) so that is how we can tell she isnt ready to deliver yet. Once her bag swells up to where it looks like it is going to pop, then we will have to watch her very closely because we know she will go soon after that. But once these last ewes drop their lambs, I wont have to stay out at the ranch overnight until April 20th! We have it calculated out to where the last ewe that is going to lamb early will have her lambs by April 4th, or else she wont have them until at least April 20th. Due to gestation periods and physical possibilities, we have the dates narrowed down. So that is kind of a relief, because I have been working my butt off and it has been freezing out there- especially overnight! Thats when it gets really icy and snows. I have started building my own little bonfires, and those really up my mood when I have to stay out there at night. Its great that a nice, cheery warm fire can keep me going for a few more days. The dogs seem to like it too; they all curl up around the fire pit and sleep. I make my dinner and go sit out on a bucket next to the fire and eat dinner and listen to music while its pitch black out. I only have the stars and moon and fire for light (and a flashlight) but it is really peaceful and nice. Until I start to hear coyotes howling and then I get to thinking about what else is out there, hahaha, but I know if any animal came onto the property, the dogs would have them in a second so I am never worried. But we have been having a lot of little baby lambs lately! 3 sets of twin lambs within a day of each other. 2 sets are one female, one male, and 1 set (the set I birthed) are twin girls females! That is always really exciting because we need all the females we can get so we can have as many lambs as possible next year to carry on the sheep population. The lambs have been huge too. Normally you aim for a set of lambs to be about 22 pounds, or about 10 pounds each. The first set was about 8 each, but the second set was huge! The female weighed easily 12 or more pounds (AT BIRTH!) and the male was much smaller. She is a big girl, beating up on her brother already! The set of female twins were each about 12 pounds, so they are very big for females. And they are all so tall! They are about half the height of their mothers already, so they have to get really low on their knees just to be able to drink milk because they are too tall! Its really funny to watch them because they are so incredibly stubborn. If you push their head towards the teat or try to force them to drink, they throw a fit. But if you walk away, then they can drink just fine. Its a bit of a headache because you always want to see them drinking to make sure they are getting enough nutrition, but they wont drink when you want them too. Its a little game we like to play I guess.
But we are having more puppies too! Auggie, a border collie, just had 7 puppies, and 5 lived. 4 are male, and 1 is female. And we needed her to have all females to ensure her line of genes can be bred out.... But Auggie is a great herding dog and we will end up keeping her pups anyway. They are border collie- Aussie crosses so they are colored very differently. 3 are just bicolored- black and white or brown and white, and 1 is grey, white and black, and 1 is a red merle. The grey one is such a different color, he is beautiful. They are 1 day old and so cute! And Belle, our blue merle Aussie is due to have her first litter any day now. She is at the end of her gestation period (152 days) so any day they should be here. Belle is the most gorgeous blue merle I have ever seen, so I know her pups will be gorgeous too! And she is the sweetest dog with the most pleasant temperament, so her pups should make great herding/companion dogs as well. Its her first litter so she is really uncomfortable and doesnt quite know what is going on, so she is milking her sorrow for all she can get! She acts so pathetic, just laying around with her head down, or she will come up to me and put her head in my lap and just sit there like she is dying. Its really funny, but I know she will be a great mom when they pups come.
I have been doing a lot more vaccinating of kids and lambs. I am getting better at it, and I learned how to band lamb tails yesterday. Lambs are born with really long, floppy tails, and it makes them undesirable and messy so that is why all sheep that you see dont have tails. We dont dock them, we band them. So that involved a really small, tight rubber band, and you take a special tool that stretches it and you put it around the tail, then release the tool so the band stays on their tail. After a few weeks the tail will just fall off. Now that will be interesting to see! I can just imagine walking out into the pasture and finding little lamb tails on the ground; unless the dogs try to eat them first. Soon we will start castrating the kids and lambs as well. We band their scrotums as well, so there is no actual cutting or anything. Marv told me in the old days of ranching, cowboys would use their teeth to castrate lambs because they were usually by themselves and had no other set of hands to help them...... You can look it up if you really want to know how, but I am really glad we are not cowboys in the old days, that is for sure!
All of the litters of puppies are growing up so fast! There are 2 litters that are about a week apart in age, living together because their moms get along, and the moms actually put them all together, so we just left them that way. It is so cute to watch the bigger pups play with the smaller ones and they all sleep together in 1 big pile! 20 puppies all piled on top of each other. Or they sleep on top of their moms, which is really cute to watch too. They are discovering what dog food is, so they are not far off from being weaned from their moms. Then we can move them into their own pen, and they will grow so fast! And mom can get a break from them, which I know she wants really bad.
Other than that, not much new has been happening. Just getting into a routine and getting comfortable handling animals around here. We did get about 30 new chicks, and they are here at the house warming up and growing before we can put them in their pen. They will be used for eggs, because Marv hates killing animals and cant kill them for food. I like that idea, because I dont like killing animals either. The chicks are so cute! They are so tiny and make the smallest little sounds. He didnt get ducks, but I really wanted him too. They were too big and would overpower all the chicks so we couldnt get them. That is about all, I have the next few days to sleep here at home, so I will let you guys know if anything exciting happens.
Oh, I made bruchetta for Marv and Carrie and Mike, because they had never heard of it! I couldnt believe it, but I made it for them and they loved it! They were so excited about it, and I know they want to make it again too. I am glad they liked it and now they have a new type of food to eat.
Grandma- I got your package! Thanks so much again for all the delicious fruit and snacks.
Love and miss you all,
Sam
Well, I am almost done with lambing the ewes that are having their lambs early. 3 have already given birth, now I am just waiting for 1 more for sure, and maybe a few others. There is also 1 more goat that still has to have kids, but she is holding out on us. They don't call her 'The Bitch' for nothing! She is enormous, but she still isnt having babies yet! She looks like she is going to drop about 5 at least, but she has a really small bag (udder bag) so that is how we can tell she isnt ready to deliver yet. Once her bag swells up to where it looks like it is going to pop, then we will have to watch her very closely because we know she will go soon after that. But once these last ewes drop their lambs, I wont have to stay out at the ranch overnight until April 20th! We have it calculated out to where the last ewe that is going to lamb early will have her lambs by April 4th, or else she wont have them until at least April 20th. Due to gestation periods and physical possibilities, we have the dates narrowed down. So that is kind of a relief, because I have been working my butt off and it has been freezing out there- especially overnight! Thats when it gets really icy and snows. I have started building my own little bonfires, and those really up my mood when I have to stay out there at night. Its great that a nice, cheery warm fire can keep me going for a few more days. The dogs seem to like it too; they all curl up around the fire pit and sleep. I make my dinner and go sit out on a bucket next to the fire and eat dinner and listen to music while its pitch black out. I only have the stars and moon and fire for light (and a flashlight) but it is really peaceful and nice. Until I start to hear coyotes howling and then I get to thinking about what else is out there, hahaha, but I know if any animal came onto the property, the dogs would have them in a second so I am never worried. But we have been having a lot of little baby lambs lately! 3 sets of twin lambs within a day of each other. 2 sets are one female, one male, and 1 set (the set I birthed) are twin girls females! That is always really exciting because we need all the females we can get so we can have as many lambs as possible next year to carry on the sheep population. The lambs have been huge too. Normally you aim for a set of lambs to be about 22 pounds, or about 10 pounds each. The first set was about 8 each, but the second set was huge! The female weighed easily 12 or more pounds (AT BIRTH!) and the male was much smaller. She is a big girl, beating up on her brother already! The set of female twins were each about 12 pounds, so they are very big for females. And they are all so tall! They are about half the height of their mothers already, so they have to get really low on their knees just to be able to drink milk because they are too tall! Its really funny to watch them because they are so incredibly stubborn. If you push their head towards the teat or try to force them to drink, they throw a fit. But if you walk away, then they can drink just fine. Its a bit of a headache because you always want to see them drinking to make sure they are getting enough nutrition, but they wont drink when you want them too. Its a little game we like to play I guess.
But we are having more puppies too! Auggie, a border collie, just had 7 puppies, and 5 lived. 4 are male, and 1 is female. And we needed her to have all females to ensure her line of genes can be bred out.... But Auggie is a great herding dog and we will end up keeping her pups anyway. They are border collie- Aussie crosses so they are colored very differently. 3 are just bicolored- black and white or brown and white, and 1 is grey, white and black, and 1 is a red merle. The grey one is such a different color, he is beautiful. They are 1 day old and so cute! And Belle, our blue merle Aussie is due to have her first litter any day now. She is at the end of her gestation period (152 days) so any day they should be here. Belle is the most gorgeous blue merle I have ever seen, so I know her pups will be gorgeous too! And she is the sweetest dog with the most pleasant temperament, so her pups should make great herding/companion dogs as well. Its her first litter so she is really uncomfortable and doesnt quite know what is going on, so she is milking her sorrow for all she can get! She acts so pathetic, just laying around with her head down, or she will come up to me and put her head in my lap and just sit there like she is dying. Its really funny, but I know she will be a great mom when they pups come.
I have been doing a lot more vaccinating of kids and lambs. I am getting better at it, and I learned how to band lamb tails yesterday. Lambs are born with really long, floppy tails, and it makes them undesirable and messy so that is why all sheep that you see dont have tails. We dont dock them, we band them. So that involved a really small, tight rubber band, and you take a special tool that stretches it and you put it around the tail, then release the tool so the band stays on their tail. After a few weeks the tail will just fall off. Now that will be interesting to see! I can just imagine walking out into the pasture and finding little lamb tails on the ground; unless the dogs try to eat them first. Soon we will start castrating the kids and lambs as well. We band their scrotums as well, so there is no actual cutting or anything. Marv told me in the old days of ranching, cowboys would use their teeth to castrate lambs because they were usually by themselves and had no other set of hands to help them...... You can look it up if you really want to know how, but I am really glad we are not cowboys in the old days, that is for sure!
All of the litters of puppies are growing up so fast! There are 2 litters that are about a week apart in age, living together because their moms get along, and the moms actually put them all together, so we just left them that way. It is so cute to watch the bigger pups play with the smaller ones and they all sleep together in 1 big pile! 20 puppies all piled on top of each other. Or they sleep on top of their moms, which is really cute to watch too. They are discovering what dog food is, so they are not far off from being weaned from their moms. Then we can move them into their own pen, and they will grow so fast! And mom can get a break from them, which I know she wants really bad.
Other than that, not much new has been happening. Just getting into a routine and getting comfortable handling animals around here. We did get about 30 new chicks, and they are here at the house warming up and growing before we can put them in their pen. They will be used for eggs, because Marv hates killing animals and cant kill them for food. I like that idea, because I dont like killing animals either. The chicks are so cute! They are so tiny and make the smallest little sounds. He didnt get ducks, but I really wanted him too. They were too big and would overpower all the chicks so we couldnt get them. That is about all, I have the next few days to sleep here at home, so I will let you guys know if anything exciting happens.
Oh, I made bruchetta for Marv and Carrie and Mike, because they had never heard of it! I couldnt believe it, but I made it for them and they loved it! They were so excited about it, and I know they want to make it again too. I am glad they liked it and now they have a new type of food to eat.
Grandma- I got your package! Thanks so much again for all the delicious fruit and snacks.
Love and miss you all,
Sam
Sunday, March 27, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Its Definitely Snowing
Im Back Guys,
I am finally back home after spending a few days out on the ranch. When I woke up yesterday morning, there was snow everywhere and it was actually snowing! Everything was white, so I jumped up and had to run outside to make sure all the animals were okay. The chickens were fine and the goats were fine, and all the puppies were jumping around and playing in the snow! The older guard dogs were laying in the snow. They all have such thick coats that snow doesn't bother them at all. That was good, because there was no way they were going to get out of it that day! I called Marv to see what he wanted me to do and I said: "I don't want to sound dramatic or anything, but it is snowing here. Snow is continuously falling from the sky. It is definitely snowing. I dont know what your definition of snow is in Montana, but its snowing!" He laughed, but I don't think he believed me that much. But it actually started snowing harder after that, and by So. Cal standards..... it was a blizzard!! Finally Carrie came out to the ranch and even she was shocked. It probably snowed over 2 inches in just those couple hours during the day. Marv didn't believe me because in town where he lives, it wasnt snowing or even raining, but finally Carrie told him, and then he believed us. There wasn't a whole lot of work I could do because it was snowing, so we came home early and I went to bed very early that night. I was very tired from waking up every 2 hours for the past couple of days. Today was a nice start. I slept in late, then Marv, Carrie and I met Marv's best friend Terry for lunch at Applebee's. Terry lives in Wyoming now, but comes to Billings often to do certain types of business. He and Marv have been best friends for a very long time, and Marv even gave him one of his Aussie dogs when he was a puppy. Terry has trained the dog to do agility performances as well as herding performances. The dog is very well trained and very smart. So we went to Applebee's, and their menu is not vegetarian friendly, so I had some sort of modified salad. Then we went back to the ranch to work for the day, but the snow was so thick there wasn't much we could do. We fed and watered all the animals and checked on everything, but things were fine. Then we found one of the kids had died right before we got there. It was one of the girls, and there were only 4 born this year which is really bad to begin with. You need at least half female and half male kids to be able to continue breeding them successfully the next year, and out of about 20 kids, there were only 4 females. Now one of them died, so we are down to 3. Mike stayed out at the ranch overnight and said he checked on her every 2 hours, plus he had watched her jump around and play with the other kids, and feed off her mother the whole time. She died just minutes before we got there, and we still have no idea why. We think that she just couldn't handle the cold weather, even though she had plenty of shelter and food and warmth. Certain types of goats can't handle certain weather, so that is the only conclusion we could come to. It was sad because I thought we were past all the newborn deaths. I figured that anyone who has made it this far will be strong and survive from here on out. But it just goes to show that you can never be too certain or get your hopes up too much.
I also assisted Marv when he docked the tails of newborn Aussie puppies. Im glad I was able to witness it first-hand, but I have always had something against altering dogs when it isn't necessary. I dont believe in docking tails or cropping ears, but I did want to be a part of it to see the process for myself so that I know exactly why I don't approve of it. Now I feel even more certain that I do not approve of docking tails and I will not allow it to be done when I am a veterinarian. But at least I can say that I have actually seen the process, and I know what I am talking about when I say that I dont approve of it. The puppies didn't even make a noise at all and they are completely fine, but I just dont agree with chopping a dog's tail off for any reason. Dogs were born with tails, and if they are eventually evolved into not having tails that is fine; but to chop a dog's tail off because a long time ago someone did it and decided that was how a breed was supposed to look is just nonsense. It doesn't need to happen, and I wont do it as a veterinarian.
Other than that, not a whole lot new has been happening. This week I get to start training dogs. I will start training herding dogs by teaching them their commands as well as how to respond to certain commands by whistle. And I will start socializing guard dogs so they look appealing to buyers. No one wants an anti-social dog or a skittish dog, so I will be working one-on-one with the guard dogs to socialize them more and get them sold to buyers. The weather is crap right now, but it should start to turn up from here. I knew we weren't out of the clear as far as snow yet, but I know by the time I leave for Kentucky at the end of April it will be really nice weather, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about.
Love and miss you all,
Samantha
I am finally back home after spending a few days out on the ranch. When I woke up yesterday morning, there was snow everywhere and it was actually snowing! Everything was white, so I jumped up and had to run outside to make sure all the animals were okay. The chickens were fine and the goats were fine, and all the puppies were jumping around and playing in the snow! The older guard dogs were laying in the snow. They all have such thick coats that snow doesn't bother them at all. That was good, because there was no way they were going to get out of it that day! I called Marv to see what he wanted me to do and I said: "I don't want to sound dramatic or anything, but it is snowing here. Snow is continuously falling from the sky. It is definitely snowing. I dont know what your definition of snow is in Montana, but its snowing!" He laughed, but I don't think he believed me that much. But it actually started snowing harder after that, and by So. Cal standards..... it was a blizzard!! Finally Carrie came out to the ranch and even she was shocked. It probably snowed over 2 inches in just those couple hours during the day. Marv didn't believe me because in town where he lives, it wasnt snowing or even raining, but finally Carrie told him, and then he believed us. There wasn't a whole lot of work I could do because it was snowing, so we came home early and I went to bed very early that night. I was very tired from waking up every 2 hours for the past couple of days. Today was a nice start. I slept in late, then Marv, Carrie and I met Marv's best friend Terry for lunch at Applebee's. Terry lives in Wyoming now, but comes to Billings often to do certain types of business. He and Marv have been best friends for a very long time, and Marv even gave him one of his Aussie dogs when he was a puppy. Terry has trained the dog to do agility performances as well as herding performances. The dog is very well trained and very smart. So we went to Applebee's, and their menu is not vegetarian friendly, so I had some sort of modified salad. Then we went back to the ranch to work for the day, but the snow was so thick there wasn't much we could do. We fed and watered all the animals and checked on everything, but things were fine. Then we found one of the kids had died right before we got there. It was one of the girls, and there were only 4 born this year which is really bad to begin with. You need at least half female and half male kids to be able to continue breeding them successfully the next year, and out of about 20 kids, there were only 4 females. Now one of them died, so we are down to 3. Mike stayed out at the ranch overnight and said he checked on her every 2 hours, plus he had watched her jump around and play with the other kids, and feed off her mother the whole time. She died just minutes before we got there, and we still have no idea why. We think that she just couldn't handle the cold weather, even though she had plenty of shelter and food and warmth. Certain types of goats can't handle certain weather, so that is the only conclusion we could come to. It was sad because I thought we were past all the newborn deaths. I figured that anyone who has made it this far will be strong and survive from here on out. But it just goes to show that you can never be too certain or get your hopes up too much.
I also assisted Marv when he docked the tails of newborn Aussie puppies. Im glad I was able to witness it first-hand, but I have always had something against altering dogs when it isn't necessary. I dont believe in docking tails or cropping ears, but I did want to be a part of it to see the process for myself so that I know exactly why I don't approve of it. Now I feel even more certain that I do not approve of docking tails and I will not allow it to be done when I am a veterinarian. But at least I can say that I have actually seen the process, and I know what I am talking about when I say that I dont approve of it. The puppies didn't even make a noise at all and they are completely fine, but I just dont agree with chopping a dog's tail off for any reason. Dogs were born with tails, and if they are eventually evolved into not having tails that is fine; but to chop a dog's tail off because a long time ago someone did it and decided that was how a breed was supposed to look is just nonsense. It doesn't need to happen, and I wont do it as a veterinarian.
Other than that, not a whole lot new has been happening. This week I get to start training dogs. I will start training herding dogs by teaching them their commands as well as how to respond to certain commands by whistle. And I will start socializing guard dogs so they look appealing to buyers. No one wants an anti-social dog or a skittish dog, so I will be working one-on-one with the guard dogs to socialize them more and get them sold to buyers. The weather is crap right now, but it should start to turn up from here. I knew we weren't out of the clear as far as snow yet, but I know by the time I leave for Kentucky at the end of April it will be really nice weather, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about.
Love and miss you all,
Samantha
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Having Fun!
Hey Guys,
I am still having a great time here and really enjoying myself on the ranch. Today I got a late start out there, and didn't get to the ranch until around 11am, and ended up staying until 6pm. There wasn't much to do today, but I still feel worn out from what I did do. It seems like you can put so much physical effort into one task, and you feel so accomplished afterwards. I had to dig a trench today to pipe a hose from a water vat that we have all the way down to the bottom of one of the large sheep pens so I could fill their large water vat without having to haul buckets out there every time they needed to be filled. It is getting hotter; it was in the high 50's today but it felt really hot. Back in California, when it was in the 50's, I considered that really cold, but the sky is so big here that the sun manages to find you wherever you are, and there are no trees or clouds or buildings to shade you. So I got to work in the sunshine today, and that was a nice relief. I think the animals really enjoyed it as well. All the baby goats were running around and jumping and playing all day, and all the mothers, guard dogs and puppies were relaxing and napping in the sunshine. It seems that everyone is happier when the sun is out. So I dug a trench, cleaned out all the water vats- which hold over 500 gallons of water each, built a new metal fence for a new pen to keep sheep in, moved dogs houses around to the other side of the ranch, and fed all my little animals. I also had to check heat cycles on certain females dogs to decide who to breed to which stud dog next. This meant I had to chase dogs around 35 acres until they got tired and rolled over so I could check them. But I was smart this time, and used one of our best herding dogs to chase after the guard dogs so I wouldn't have to. It worked perfectly. Auggie is a fantastic herding dog, and she is incredibly smart. I can tell her to go get that goat and just point at one and she will go and get them for me and hold them until I get over there to them. Or I can give her commands that she understands if I am trying to move a herd of sheep from one area to another. She is very smart and knows how to move the animals effortlessly. I also had to de-worm 3 litters of puppies and 3 moms. De-worming dogs is really easy; it involves drenching them with an oral syringe full of medication. You just shove it down the back of their throat so they swallow it and don't spit it up. I had to do that for 3 litters of 11 puppies each, plus their moms. It was easy to do the puppies because they are so small they don't really know what is going on so they just don't move. But the mom's are really overprotective of them, so they don't want you touching their pups. You just have to talk to the mom and give them their pup back as soon as you touch it, so they know you aren't hurting them. I usually drenched the moms first so they would know what I was doing, and they weren't as upset when I handled their pups after that. Then I got to play with the little baby Aussie puppies! They are so beautiful and today is only the second day they have ever been out of their pen and seen the whole ranch. It was so adorable to watch them venture outside their pen a few steps, and then some would run back inside. A few would take a few steps further, but most of them stayed just right around the outside of their pen. However, one named Cruiser was quite the little adventurer. He explored the whole ranch and followed me around all day. I kept picking him up to play with him and he would snuggle into my jacket and fall right asleep every time! He followed me back and forth and back and forth across the ranch all day long. Then I went over to feed the cows a treat, and he came with me. He had never seen a cow before, but he marched right up to them (there are 7 cows) and puffed himself up and started barking at them all! They were freaked out by him and started backing up. He is going to be a great herding dog, and he is really smart and attentive. He had no interest in playing with the other puppies, he just wanted to watch what I was doing and watch all the animals. It's like he instantly knew what his breed was designed to do, even though he has never seen a cow before. I noticed he was limping badly and favoring his front paw so we decided to bring him home tonight to watch him. We gave him penicillin, but I think it just might be a small cactus needle stuck in his paw. He has never walked on anything other than straw, so something just irritated his paw, but he will be fine. Plus he loved coming home and getting spoiled by me and Carrie too! He never left my side the whole time we were eating dinner and talking. He is so adorable.
We have another wwoofer coming in the middle of April. He is from either Chicago or Massachussetts, but marv couldn't remember. He seems young, but outgoing. Marv asked me to write him an email telling him what to bring and what he should be prepared for, just to make sure he is coming out here for the right reasons and doesn't expect something that isn't going to happen. Luckily I am leaving soon after that, because it will begin to be a packed house soon enough. There is already me, one other wwoofer and Carrie's son. So trying to have another person in the house will be really cramped. I am sure he will have fun here, and he seems like he knows what he is getting into, so I hope he works out for Marv and Carrie.
Tomorrow night and the night after (Sunday and Monday) I am staying on the ranch overnight to keep an eye on the sheep. There are 4 that are going to start lambing early, so we have to watch them because they are old and will have a difficult labor. I am excited to stay out there, but more excited when these ewes lamb, because then I won't have to stay out there overnight again until April 20th, and then I leave a week later. Lambing season starts April 20th, and due to breeding schedules and heat cycles, there is no way that any ewes will lamb before April 20th, so we won't have anyone to worry about. However, these 4 ewes were bred early by accident because a ram broke down a wire fence to get to them, but he was separated from them that same day. So we knew that there was only one day that was possible for these ewes to be bred, and a ewe gestation period is around 150 days, so by doing the math, we know that only these 4 ewes and no others are going to lamb this week.
Not much else has been going on here. I never really know what day of the week it is, which is fine with me. It is just amusing to me that even on a Friday or Saturday night, I am home and in bed by 9 or 10, which is what I look forward to. Back home in California, Saturday nights were the big going out night, but here I don't even care to go out any night. I work really hard all day, even on the weekends, and all I want to do is go to bed when I get home. We usually work until about 7, get home and eat dinner by 8 or 9, and then I am exhausted and want to go to bed right after. I couldn't even think about going out after that, because we have to get up early anyway, even on the weekends. It's not like there is anything to do in this town anyway. The bars are their own class of dive bars, and they are down-right terrifying. I would never go into one, and the only thing to do is drink here. I don't drink so I don't want to go into bars, and the people in the bars are creepy hicks, and all they do every day and every night is drink. Everyone knows everyone else in this town, so everyone is bored and just drinks out of boredom. It is amusing, but also sad. I could never, ever, ever live in Montana. It is beautiful and the people are extremely nice, but I couldn't live here. It actually makes me miss California! And I never thought I would say that. What I miss is California- not the people who live in it. I understand why we have a bad rap, but I do love California. The weather is amazing and there are so many things to do. Not like here, where there is nothing to do but go to an indoor water park or a bar, or you have to drive 100 miles to get to the next city with any sort of attraction in it.
I found a few new books to read on my kindle so I am going to do that now, before I go to bed. I don't have internet on the ranch so I won't be updating my blog until Tuesday night. But I will take a lot of pictures and have a lot to say when I do!
Miss you all, love you all tons.
Love,
Sam
I am still having a great time here and really enjoying myself on the ranch. Today I got a late start out there, and didn't get to the ranch until around 11am, and ended up staying until 6pm. There wasn't much to do today, but I still feel worn out from what I did do. It seems like you can put so much physical effort into one task, and you feel so accomplished afterwards. I had to dig a trench today to pipe a hose from a water vat that we have all the way down to the bottom of one of the large sheep pens so I could fill their large water vat without having to haul buckets out there every time they needed to be filled. It is getting hotter; it was in the high 50's today but it felt really hot. Back in California, when it was in the 50's, I considered that really cold, but the sky is so big here that the sun manages to find you wherever you are, and there are no trees or clouds or buildings to shade you. So I got to work in the sunshine today, and that was a nice relief. I think the animals really enjoyed it as well. All the baby goats were running around and jumping and playing all day, and all the mothers, guard dogs and puppies were relaxing and napping in the sunshine. It seems that everyone is happier when the sun is out. So I dug a trench, cleaned out all the water vats- which hold over 500 gallons of water each, built a new metal fence for a new pen to keep sheep in, moved dogs houses around to the other side of the ranch, and fed all my little animals. I also had to check heat cycles on certain females dogs to decide who to breed to which stud dog next. This meant I had to chase dogs around 35 acres until they got tired and rolled over so I could check them. But I was smart this time, and used one of our best herding dogs to chase after the guard dogs so I wouldn't have to. It worked perfectly. Auggie is a fantastic herding dog, and she is incredibly smart. I can tell her to go get that goat and just point at one and she will go and get them for me and hold them until I get over there to them. Or I can give her commands that she understands if I am trying to move a herd of sheep from one area to another. She is very smart and knows how to move the animals effortlessly. I also had to de-worm 3 litters of puppies and 3 moms. De-worming dogs is really easy; it involves drenching them with an oral syringe full of medication. You just shove it down the back of their throat so they swallow it and don't spit it up. I had to do that for 3 litters of 11 puppies each, plus their moms. It was easy to do the puppies because they are so small they don't really know what is going on so they just don't move. But the mom's are really overprotective of them, so they don't want you touching their pups. You just have to talk to the mom and give them their pup back as soon as you touch it, so they know you aren't hurting them. I usually drenched the moms first so they would know what I was doing, and they weren't as upset when I handled their pups after that. Then I got to play with the little baby Aussie puppies! They are so beautiful and today is only the second day they have ever been out of their pen and seen the whole ranch. It was so adorable to watch them venture outside their pen a few steps, and then some would run back inside. A few would take a few steps further, but most of them stayed just right around the outside of their pen. However, one named Cruiser was quite the little adventurer. He explored the whole ranch and followed me around all day. I kept picking him up to play with him and he would snuggle into my jacket and fall right asleep every time! He followed me back and forth and back and forth across the ranch all day long. Then I went over to feed the cows a treat, and he came with me. He had never seen a cow before, but he marched right up to them (there are 7 cows) and puffed himself up and started barking at them all! They were freaked out by him and started backing up. He is going to be a great herding dog, and he is really smart and attentive. He had no interest in playing with the other puppies, he just wanted to watch what I was doing and watch all the animals. It's like he instantly knew what his breed was designed to do, even though he has never seen a cow before. I noticed he was limping badly and favoring his front paw so we decided to bring him home tonight to watch him. We gave him penicillin, but I think it just might be a small cactus needle stuck in his paw. He has never walked on anything other than straw, so something just irritated his paw, but he will be fine. Plus he loved coming home and getting spoiled by me and Carrie too! He never left my side the whole time we were eating dinner and talking. He is so adorable.
We have another wwoofer coming in the middle of April. He is from either Chicago or Massachussetts, but marv couldn't remember. He seems young, but outgoing. Marv asked me to write him an email telling him what to bring and what he should be prepared for, just to make sure he is coming out here for the right reasons and doesn't expect something that isn't going to happen. Luckily I am leaving soon after that, because it will begin to be a packed house soon enough. There is already me, one other wwoofer and Carrie's son. So trying to have another person in the house will be really cramped. I am sure he will have fun here, and he seems like he knows what he is getting into, so I hope he works out for Marv and Carrie.
Tomorrow night and the night after (Sunday and Monday) I am staying on the ranch overnight to keep an eye on the sheep. There are 4 that are going to start lambing early, so we have to watch them because they are old and will have a difficult labor. I am excited to stay out there, but more excited when these ewes lamb, because then I won't have to stay out there overnight again until April 20th, and then I leave a week later. Lambing season starts April 20th, and due to breeding schedules and heat cycles, there is no way that any ewes will lamb before April 20th, so we won't have anyone to worry about. However, these 4 ewes were bred early by accident because a ram broke down a wire fence to get to them, but he was separated from them that same day. So we knew that there was only one day that was possible for these ewes to be bred, and a ewe gestation period is around 150 days, so by doing the math, we know that only these 4 ewes and no others are going to lamb this week.
Not much else has been going on here. I never really know what day of the week it is, which is fine with me. It is just amusing to me that even on a Friday or Saturday night, I am home and in bed by 9 or 10, which is what I look forward to. Back home in California, Saturday nights were the big going out night, but here I don't even care to go out any night. I work really hard all day, even on the weekends, and all I want to do is go to bed when I get home. We usually work until about 7, get home and eat dinner by 8 or 9, and then I am exhausted and want to go to bed right after. I couldn't even think about going out after that, because we have to get up early anyway, even on the weekends. It's not like there is anything to do in this town anyway. The bars are their own class of dive bars, and they are down-right terrifying. I would never go into one, and the only thing to do is drink here. I don't drink so I don't want to go into bars, and the people in the bars are creepy hicks, and all they do every day and every night is drink. Everyone knows everyone else in this town, so everyone is bored and just drinks out of boredom. It is amusing, but also sad. I could never, ever, ever live in Montana. It is beautiful and the people are extremely nice, but I couldn't live here. It actually makes me miss California! And I never thought I would say that. What I miss is California- not the people who live in it. I understand why we have a bad rap, but I do love California. The weather is amazing and there are so many things to do. Not like here, where there is nothing to do but go to an indoor water park or a bar, or you have to drive 100 miles to get to the next city with any sort of attraction in it.
I found a few new books to read on my kindle so I am going to do that now, before I go to bed. I don't have internet on the ranch so I won't be updating my blog until Tuesday night. But I will take a lot of pictures and have a lot to say when I do!
Miss you all, love you all tons.
Love,
Sam
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| this is Cruiser, my little buddy |
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| He is a Red-Tri Australian Shepherd, about 12 weeks or so. He is dark red on top, with a copper red underneath and white trim. He has dark green eyes too. |
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Happy St. P Day to all,
Not too much to report today. Mostly sad things, but things are looking better for the animals here. Last night I had to stay on the ranch by myself, and I didn't sleep at all because dogs were whining, barking or rustling around all night and I still had 3 goats and 3 sheep to check every hour to see if they were going into labor. These last 3 goats and 3 sheep are going to be problems because they are either really old or first time mom's. The really old goats and sheep will probably have to have their babies pulled out by me or the person watching them,or they might develop complications in labor and die. There is a good chance that they might die with this birth because they are so old and skinny and worn out. So I had to check on them all the time, plus all the litters of puppies are getting old enough to make a ton of noise and they are making noise the whole night! I didn't sleep at all and I had to be out there at 11am yesterday, so it was another very very long day. However, none of the goats or sheep went into labor, so I am in the clear for another night. However, Mike and I are going to be pulling longer shifts so we each get another day off. He will stay out there a couple nights in a row, and so will I so we can have the rest of the weeks' nights off. It seems difficult because it is really hard for me to wake up every 2 hours and force myself to go outside in the freezing cold, but it will be worth it to have the rest of the days off. We also got another wwoofer, and once she figures things out (if she ever does!) she will stay out there 3 nights in a row and Mike and I will only have to do 2 nights a week each. This other wwoofer lady is really strange and doesn't seem to fit in at all, but she wants to be left alone and stay out there alone 3 nights a week, so we both were totally fine with that idea. She claims she has owned goats before, but she really has no idea what is going on. She said she came out here to wwoof to get away from stress, but clearly she did no research on wwoofing then, because that is not possible when you are wwoofing. She complains about everything, and gripes all the time, and I soon realized that she is actually out here looking for her 5th husband and is clearly running away from something back home. I just do my job and pretend to amuse her so she will go away. She is nice- kind of- but something is definitely off and we all notice it. She is harmless though, so I just try to indulge her.
Today was off to a sad start. I found half of a puppy behind the trailer. Yes, half of one. It looked like a fresh kill because it still had all its skin and muscle tissue and smelled fresh. However, I don't think it was one of our puppies because it didn't look like one and there would be no way they would be able to get out. I am very careful with them and lock them up very securely. Plus, our own dogs wouldn't attack their puppies because they are all used to each other and not dog aggressive. Maybe it was a neighbors dog who wandered into our yard last night, but that is almost impossible because the nearest neighbor is 35 acres away and we have a huge fence around the property that is designed to keep all our dogs in, so it would have to keep dogs out as well. I am still really confused about how that happened, and who the dog belonged to, but I didn't want to dwell on it. I also went to check on one of our mother dogs, and one of her puppies died. I caught her trying to bury it under straw and she seemed stressed out and upset about it. I didn't want her to think it was her fault, because she had a litter of 12 and dogs only have 8 teats, so some puppies don't get as much milk. The puppy looked just as healthy and as big as the other ones, so I couldn't figure out how it died. I know it happened right after I checked on them this afternoon, because I always make sure to poke each puppy in each litter to make sure they are all breathing and alive. Then I went to check on Terri (the Cujo dog) and 2 of her puppies were dead as well. She had a litter of 8 and now is down to 3. I am pretty sure she killed them by stomping on them because she was crying hysterically all night in her trailer and trying to jump out a 2 inch tall window gap and probably stepped on them while doing that. She is a horrible mother and I am positive she is not all there mentally. She definitely is a bad gene and will no longer be able to reproduce. Marv got her from a breeder in Idaho, so he didn't know her history. She might be inbred- which explains her psychotic actions. She tried to bite me randomly the other day, but she doesn't scare me. I just feel bad for her that she acts that way and stresses herself out so much. She is probably miserable being a domesticated dog, or she is just psycho. I vote psycho.
The rest of my day was spent building a gigantic straw stack by myself, which meant I had to climb all the way to the top of one straw stack and move the bales to another stack. Straw is really painful and gets everywhere and there is no way to get it out of your clothes- even after you wash them. I really don't like straw, and it is everywhere. We use it for everything, so it is always all over me. It makes me itch really bad too; and sneeze. I also had to clean out about 2 feet of old, smelly, pee and poo soaked straw flooring in the barn so the floor could dry out so we can re-bed the barn and rearrange some of the dog and goat cages. All our little baby goats are growing up so fast! They are almost ready to go into the general population yard with all the adult goats. This means they will be weaning off their milk and onto hay soon. They are so adorable. They are at that stage where they are learning to hop, run, and play so they spend all day literally hopping around their pen. They climb all over their mothers, and will try to climb on me when I am bending down to feed them. They also come to me when I call them by name! Trained goats......it is possible. After that, I did the usual: playing with Australian Shepherd puppies, playing with guard dog puppies, playing with older guard dog puppies, playing with older Aussie puppies, and playing with baby goats. I milked a few more goats today too, and collected eggs from the chicken coop. Today was a nice day, but cleaning out the barn floor was the most physically demanding task I have done so far. I am completely covered in bruises too; all over my legs, back and arms. I think they are from wrestling goats and sheep and doing a ton of manual labor. I am not as sore, muscle-wise, as I thought I would be. I really wanted to build more muscle here and get toned up, but I don't notice a difference yet. Just a sore back a lot. I am really tired every night too, which is nice. I actually am worn out and feel like I accomplished something everyday, and I can fall asleep on my own. I haven't even watched TV since I got here, and it is really nice. I was not really a big TV person before; I would rather read. I am doing a lot of that here, especially late at night on the ranch when I am killing time between checking on goats. It is really nice to be able to get away from everything though. No phones, TV, internet, or people on the ranch. It is so nice to just sit and listen to the radio and look at all the stars and not have a care in the world. It sounds cheezy, but when you can actually do that, you would love it too. There are even stars in the sky here! A lot of the, and I can see them every night because there are no lights around. The night sky and sunsets are so beautiful here because they go on forever. It is called Big Sky Country for a reason.
I also went to the Big Lots here today and it was so nice! The nicest one I have ever seen. I was amazed. Marv said that was a trashy store and he didn't like going in there. I just laughed so hard and told him to never ever come to California then! I have also been picking up on the vocabulary here. It is quite interesting. This is what I have learned so far:
1. Pick up trucks are called 'rigs'. Everyone drives a 'rig' here in Montana.
2. A cowboy's toothpick = a pocket knife
3. Soda is called 'pop'. No one calls it Coke, even if it is Coke. Its always 'pop' no matter what it is. And there is no Coke here anyway; it is all Pepsi products. And that means Mountain Dew everywhere so I am in heaven!
4. When I fell in the river, some guy said it was a 'Montana baptism' and that made me feel a lot better! I got a good laugh from him.
That is about all I have learned about vocabulary so far. I am learning a lot more about vaccinations and medications and all kinds of interesting things about using bovine medications or horse medications on different species' of animals, like goats and dogs. It's called 'off-label' when a medication designed for one animal is used on another. For example, we give penicillin often to the dogs and goats here for various reasons, but we use bovine penicillin. It says on the bottle that it is to be used for cattle only, but even the veterinarians here suggest using it for other species'. We also use a horse de-worming medication on the goats and it works the exact same. So that is good to know, and interesting also. I am also going to do more research on different types of vet practices; such as livestock vs. domestic/companion animals. I would really like to go with Marv to talk to different vets that he knows and ask them questions about their specific choice of animal to work with.
I have to go now, I have to get up early to build a new pen for goats and a new fence. But I get to sleep at home tomorrow night so I am really excited about that! Love and miss you all. I miss celebrating St. Patrick's Day, but this is more important right now and there is always next year!
More pictures soon! Love you all.
-Sam
Not too much to report today. Mostly sad things, but things are looking better for the animals here. Last night I had to stay on the ranch by myself, and I didn't sleep at all because dogs were whining, barking or rustling around all night and I still had 3 goats and 3 sheep to check every hour to see if they were going into labor. These last 3 goats and 3 sheep are going to be problems because they are either really old or first time mom's. The really old goats and sheep will probably have to have their babies pulled out by me or the person watching them,or they might develop complications in labor and die. There is a good chance that they might die with this birth because they are so old and skinny and worn out. So I had to check on them all the time, plus all the litters of puppies are getting old enough to make a ton of noise and they are making noise the whole night! I didn't sleep at all and I had to be out there at 11am yesterday, so it was another very very long day. However, none of the goats or sheep went into labor, so I am in the clear for another night. However, Mike and I are going to be pulling longer shifts so we each get another day off. He will stay out there a couple nights in a row, and so will I so we can have the rest of the weeks' nights off. It seems difficult because it is really hard for me to wake up every 2 hours and force myself to go outside in the freezing cold, but it will be worth it to have the rest of the days off. We also got another wwoofer, and once she figures things out (if she ever does!) she will stay out there 3 nights in a row and Mike and I will only have to do 2 nights a week each. This other wwoofer lady is really strange and doesn't seem to fit in at all, but she wants to be left alone and stay out there alone 3 nights a week, so we both were totally fine with that idea. She claims she has owned goats before, but she really has no idea what is going on. She said she came out here to wwoof to get away from stress, but clearly she did no research on wwoofing then, because that is not possible when you are wwoofing. She complains about everything, and gripes all the time, and I soon realized that she is actually out here looking for her 5th husband and is clearly running away from something back home. I just do my job and pretend to amuse her so she will go away. She is nice- kind of- but something is definitely off and we all notice it. She is harmless though, so I just try to indulge her.
Today was off to a sad start. I found half of a puppy behind the trailer. Yes, half of one. It looked like a fresh kill because it still had all its skin and muscle tissue and smelled fresh. However, I don't think it was one of our puppies because it didn't look like one and there would be no way they would be able to get out. I am very careful with them and lock them up very securely. Plus, our own dogs wouldn't attack their puppies because they are all used to each other and not dog aggressive. Maybe it was a neighbors dog who wandered into our yard last night, but that is almost impossible because the nearest neighbor is 35 acres away and we have a huge fence around the property that is designed to keep all our dogs in, so it would have to keep dogs out as well. I am still really confused about how that happened, and who the dog belonged to, but I didn't want to dwell on it. I also went to check on one of our mother dogs, and one of her puppies died. I caught her trying to bury it under straw and she seemed stressed out and upset about it. I didn't want her to think it was her fault, because she had a litter of 12 and dogs only have 8 teats, so some puppies don't get as much milk. The puppy looked just as healthy and as big as the other ones, so I couldn't figure out how it died. I know it happened right after I checked on them this afternoon, because I always make sure to poke each puppy in each litter to make sure they are all breathing and alive. Then I went to check on Terri (the Cujo dog) and 2 of her puppies were dead as well. She had a litter of 8 and now is down to 3. I am pretty sure she killed them by stomping on them because she was crying hysterically all night in her trailer and trying to jump out a 2 inch tall window gap and probably stepped on them while doing that. She is a horrible mother and I am positive she is not all there mentally. She definitely is a bad gene and will no longer be able to reproduce. Marv got her from a breeder in Idaho, so he didn't know her history. She might be inbred- which explains her psychotic actions. She tried to bite me randomly the other day, but she doesn't scare me. I just feel bad for her that she acts that way and stresses herself out so much. She is probably miserable being a domesticated dog, or she is just psycho. I vote psycho.
The rest of my day was spent building a gigantic straw stack by myself, which meant I had to climb all the way to the top of one straw stack and move the bales to another stack. Straw is really painful and gets everywhere and there is no way to get it out of your clothes- even after you wash them. I really don't like straw, and it is everywhere. We use it for everything, so it is always all over me. It makes me itch really bad too; and sneeze. I also had to clean out about 2 feet of old, smelly, pee and poo soaked straw flooring in the barn so the floor could dry out so we can re-bed the barn and rearrange some of the dog and goat cages. All our little baby goats are growing up so fast! They are almost ready to go into the general population yard with all the adult goats. This means they will be weaning off their milk and onto hay soon. They are so adorable. They are at that stage where they are learning to hop, run, and play so they spend all day literally hopping around their pen. They climb all over their mothers, and will try to climb on me when I am bending down to feed them. They also come to me when I call them by name! Trained goats......it is possible. After that, I did the usual: playing with Australian Shepherd puppies, playing with guard dog puppies, playing with older guard dog puppies, playing with older Aussie puppies, and playing with baby goats. I milked a few more goats today too, and collected eggs from the chicken coop. Today was a nice day, but cleaning out the barn floor was the most physically demanding task I have done so far. I am completely covered in bruises too; all over my legs, back and arms. I think they are from wrestling goats and sheep and doing a ton of manual labor. I am not as sore, muscle-wise, as I thought I would be. I really wanted to build more muscle here and get toned up, but I don't notice a difference yet. Just a sore back a lot. I am really tired every night too, which is nice. I actually am worn out and feel like I accomplished something everyday, and I can fall asleep on my own. I haven't even watched TV since I got here, and it is really nice. I was not really a big TV person before; I would rather read. I am doing a lot of that here, especially late at night on the ranch when I am killing time between checking on goats. It is really nice to be able to get away from everything though. No phones, TV, internet, or people on the ranch. It is so nice to just sit and listen to the radio and look at all the stars and not have a care in the world. It sounds cheezy, but when you can actually do that, you would love it too. There are even stars in the sky here! A lot of the, and I can see them every night because there are no lights around. The night sky and sunsets are so beautiful here because they go on forever. It is called Big Sky Country for a reason.
I also went to the Big Lots here today and it was so nice! The nicest one I have ever seen. I was amazed. Marv said that was a trashy store and he didn't like going in there. I just laughed so hard and told him to never ever come to California then! I have also been picking up on the vocabulary here. It is quite interesting. This is what I have learned so far:
1. Pick up trucks are called 'rigs'. Everyone drives a 'rig' here in Montana.
2. A cowboy's toothpick = a pocket knife
3. Soda is called 'pop'. No one calls it Coke, even if it is Coke. Its always 'pop' no matter what it is. And there is no Coke here anyway; it is all Pepsi products. And that means Mountain Dew everywhere so I am in heaven!
4. When I fell in the river, some guy said it was a 'Montana baptism' and that made me feel a lot better! I got a good laugh from him.
That is about all I have learned about vocabulary so far. I am learning a lot more about vaccinations and medications and all kinds of interesting things about using bovine medications or horse medications on different species' of animals, like goats and dogs. It's called 'off-label' when a medication designed for one animal is used on another. For example, we give penicillin often to the dogs and goats here for various reasons, but we use bovine penicillin. It says on the bottle that it is to be used for cattle only, but even the veterinarians here suggest using it for other species'. We also use a horse de-worming medication on the goats and it works the exact same. So that is good to know, and interesting also. I am also going to do more research on different types of vet practices; such as livestock vs. domestic/companion animals. I would really like to go with Marv to talk to different vets that he knows and ask them questions about their specific choice of animal to work with.
I have to go now, I have to get up early to build a new pen for goats and a new fence. But I get to sleep at home tomorrow night so I am really excited about that! Love and miss you all. I miss celebrating St. Patrick's Day, but this is more important right now and there is always next year!
More pictures soon! Love you all.
-Sam
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Howdy,
Today was another long day because I had to spend the night on the ranch last night, so I have been up since 5pm yesterday checking on goats, sheep and dogs. I had to wake up all night long because the goats kept crying and the puppies were really loud. I managed to outsmart that damn rooster though! I trapped him inside the inner shack in the chicken coop and closed the door so he couldn't get out. That way he wouldn't know it was early morning and start crowing! I stayed by myself last night but I wasn't scared because I had all the dogs around the property and I also had Sage, a herding dog, with me in the trailer so she slept right next to me and made me feel a lot safer. Today was a really great learning day for me because I got to vaccinate and medicate a lot of goats. I had 5 new mother goats that I had to inject with their booster shot, orally drench them with worming medication, put flea medication on their backs and clip their hooves. It was a lot easier for me to inject them because I was more comfortable and quicker with the syringe, so most of the goats didn't even move. I also was a lot faster drenching them (opening their mouth and squirting worm medication down the back of their throats) and turning them on their backs to trim their hooves (which is actually really tricky to do; they don't like being turned on their backs). I also had to vaccinate all of the kids and tag their ears. I was really fast at vaccinating them with their shots and they didn't even feel it, but the tagging is still difficult for me because the device used to puncture their ear has a really big handle, and my hand is too small to be able to grip it with one had. So I have to use both hands to close the handle, but I also have to use one hand to hold the kid and one hand to hold their ear in place to make sure I tag it in the right spot. Marv did most of the tagging because my hands are too small, but I got a lot of experience and learned a lot more today. We also had 2 sheep die and Marv and I had to go out and autopsy them to see if they died of worms or other causes. We had to cut them open and dig around in their chest cavity and stomach to see if we could find a cause of death, so that was very fascinating to see the inside of a sheep. The inside was mostly filled with undigested hay, but there were no worms so we had to assume something else is killing them. It isn't old age because both sheep were only about 1 year old, so now we have to watch them very closely to see if they aren't getting enough nutrients or something else. I know it isn't the dogs or predators, because after the sheep died, the dogs guarded them because they thought they were hurt, but didn't know they were dead. We also had a ram (male sheep) die today too. He was in the general population pen where we keep most of the sheep and all the adult dogs together. Yesterday he was attacked by the guard dogs, but it was because he was breeding with a ewe (female sheep) and the guard dogs thought he was hurting or attacking them, so they chewed him up a little bit. He wasn't bleeding and had no skin missing at all, but he was just laying there so we had to move him into a separate pen with a heat lamp to see if he recovered or not. When I saw him I knew there was no way he was going to make it, but Marv was hopeful. It was really really sad because he is a Barbados sheep, and they are beautiful brown and black sheep with great structure. He was a really healthy ram with beautiful horns, and he was just laying there so helpless and lifeless. I stayed with him for a long time petting him and talking to him, but I knew he wasn't going to make it. I kept checking on him throughout the night, but he finally died early this morning. It was very sad because it didn't have to happen. I understand the dogs are doing their job and protecting their stock, but he shouldn't have had to go through that. Other than that, it was a really easy day on the ranch. I got most of the chores done by myself, and when Carrie, Mike and Marv came to meet me, I got to work the goats with Marv because everything else was done. Working goats or sheep means putting Boss flea medication on their back, trimming their hooves, booster shots and drenching with worm medication. I start vaccinating puppies this week as well, and I feel comfortable with that because they have much thinner skin than kids and they dogs handle needles very well; whereas goats are very sensitive to needles.
Terri, the dog that disappeared from the backyard the night she was supposed to have her puppies, came home yesterday. She made her way back to the house and had her puppies on the side of the yard. We found her that morning and put her inside in a crate so she could be warm with her puppies. She has never been in a house before, but we figured she would be fine in a metal crate. When Marv and I got home from the ranch this evening, we walked into the house and it looked like it had been ransacked. The entire house was turned upside down and everything was torn apart. The curtains were torn down, every bucket or dish or container in the kitchen was broken and turned upside down, and about 4 jars of pickled beets were smashed and thrown all over the house. Then we found Terri under the computer desk in the living room growling freaking out. She was acting like Cujo and really freaked me out! Her metal crate was turned upside down and all her puppies were still in the crate, being squished under a plastic sheet. I went to get the puppies out of the crate to make sure they were okay and she ran into the kitchen and started barking hysterically at me and took the puppies from me in her mouth and hid them under the computer table. So we had to start cleaning up the house and there was beet juice from floor to ceiling, covering every possible thing, all over the house. There were also bright pink paw prints all over the carpet and floor. The house was a disaster zone. We figured out that Terri broke out of her metal crate some how, then from all the commotion jars started breaking and maybe it scared her, but she tore down the curtains, overturned the tables, dog food, dog water, trash can and other things. Then she bit open a can of soda and drank it, took the plunger out of the bathroom and left it in the kitchen, chewed open 3 raw potatoes, and broke a blender. I have no idea why she did all that, but she was a mess. It took us all about an hour or more to put the house back in order and I can guarantee there is still beet juice on parts I missed, and probably still on the ceiling! I guess that is what I get for expecting to come home after being up for 24 hours and wanting a relaxing evening of going to bed early. So Terri is back in her crate now and I really hope she stays there until we can take her back to the ranch tomorrow asap! She kinda freaks me out now; I don't know if it is just because she had her first litter and didn't know what to do, or if she was scared of being in a house. Either way, she needs to calm down. Tomorrow night I will be staying out at the ranch and hopefully no one has any babies because I am still trying to catch up on sleep and it is too cold for babies right now. Plus the sheep aren't due to lamb until April 20th. I am really having fun and learning a lot here, but I am also getting a little anxious to move on to my next location. I just can't wait to see what other places look like and what else I will be learning. But I am glad I wont arrive in Tennessee until the summer when it is nice and hot and I can enjoy the long days and go swimming in the creeks and eat delicious fruit! Marv and Carrie want to take me to a place called Golden Corral and I have been dying to go! I always see commercials at home, but we don't have one around and they are very popular in the Midwest, so I am so excited. I love buffets, especially the desserts!!! Other than that, we have kind of settled into a nice little routine and I am getting used to it and very comfortable here. I am eating very well; Carrie is an amazing chef. I have pictures today so enjoy them! Please celebrate St. Patrick's Dy for me since I will be busy with goats and can't enjoy it like I wanted to. It is one of my favorite 'holidays'!!!
Love you all,
Sam
Today was another long day because I had to spend the night on the ranch last night, so I have been up since 5pm yesterday checking on goats, sheep and dogs. I had to wake up all night long because the goats kept crying and the puppies were really loud. I managed to outsmart that damn rooster though! I trapped him inside the inner shack in the chicken coop and closed the door so he couldn't get out. That way he wouldn't know it was early morning and start crowing! I stayed by myself last night but I wasn't scared because I had all the dogs around the property and I also had Sage, a herding dog, with me in the trailer so she slept right next to me and made me feel a lot safer. Today was a really great learning day for me because I got to vaccinate and medicate a lot of goats. I had 5 new mother goats that I had to inject with their booster shot, orally drench them with worming medication, put flea medication on their backs and clip their hooves. It was a lot easier for me to inject them because I was more comfortable and quicker with the syringe, so most of the goats didn't even move. I also was a lot faster drenching them (opening their mouth and squirting worm medication down the back of their throats) and turning them on their backs to trim their hooves (which is actually really tricky to do; they don't like being turned on their backs). I also had to vaccinate all of the kids and tag their ears. I was really fast at vaccinating them with their shots and they didn't even feel it, but the tagging is still difficult for me because the device used to puncture their ear has a really big handle, and my hand is too small to be able to grip it with one had. So I have to use both hands to close the handle, but I also have to use one hand to hold the kid and one hand to hold their ear in place to make sure I tag it in the right spot. Marv did most of the tagging because my hands are too small, but I got a lot of experience and learned a lot more today. We also had 2 sheep die and Marv and I had to go out and autopsy them to see if they died of worms or other causes. We had to cut them open and dig around in their chest cavity and stomach to see if we could find a cause of death, so that was very fascinating to see the inside of a sheep. The inside was mostly filled with undigested hay, but there were no worms so we had to assume something else is killing them. It isn't old age because both sheep were only about 1 year old, so now we have to watch them very closely to see if they aren't getting enough nutrients or something else. I know it isn't the dogs or predators, because after the sheep died, the dogs guarded them because they thought they were hurt, but didn't know they were dead. We also had a ram (male sheep) die today too. He was in the general population pen where we keep most of the sheep and all the adult dogs together. Yesterday he was attacked by the guard dogs, but it was because he was breeding with a ewe (female sheep) and the guard dogs thought he was hurting or attacking them, so they chewed him up a little bit. He wasn't bleeding and had no skin missing at all, but he was just laying there so we had to move him into a separate pen with a heat lamp to see if he recovered or not. When I saw him I knew there was no way he was going to make it, but Marv was hopeful. It was really really sad because he is a Barbados sheep, and they are beautiful brown and black sheep with great structure. He was a really healthy ram with beautiful horns, and he was just laying there so helpless and lifeless. I stayed with him for a long time petting him and talking to him, but I knew he wasn't going to make it. I kept checking on him throughout the night, but he finally died early this morning. It was very sad because it didn't have to happen. I understand the dogs are doing their job and protecting their stock, but he shouldn't have had to go through that. Other than that, it was a really easy day on the ranch. I got most of the chores done by myself, and when Carrie, Mike and Marv came to meet me, I got to work the goats with Marv because everything else was done. Working goats or sheep means putting Boss flea medication on their back, trimming their hooves, booster shots and drenching with worm medication. I start vaccinating puppies this week as well, and I feel comfortable with that because they have much thinner skin than kids and they dogs handle needles very well; whereas goats are very sensitive to needles.
Terri, the dog that disappeared from the backyard the night she was supposed to have her puppies, came home yesterday. She made her way back to the house and had her puppies on the side of the yard. We found her that morning and put her inside in a crate so she could be warm with her puppies. She has never been in a house before, but we figured she would be fine in a metal crate. When Marv and I got home from the ranch this evening, we walked into the house and it looked like it had been ransacked. The entire house was turned upside down and everything was torn apart. The curtains were torn down, every bucket or dish or container in the kitchen was broken and turned upside down, and about 4 jars of pickled beets were smashed and thrown all over the house. Then we found Terri under the computer desk in the living room growling freaking out. She was acting like Cujo and really freaked me out! Her metal crate was turned upside down and all her puppies were still in the crate, being squished under a plastic sheet. I went to get the puppies out of the crate to make sure they were okay and she ran into the kitchen and started barking hysterically at me and took the puppies from me in her mouth and hid them under the computer table. So we had to start cleaning up the house and there was beet juice from floor to ceiling, covering every possible thing, all over the house. There were also bright pink paw prints all over the carpet and floor. The house was a disaster zone. We figured out that Terri broke out of her metal crate some how, then from all the commotion jars started breaking and maybe it scared her, but she tore down the curtains, overturned the tables, dog food, dog water, trash can and other things. Then she bit open a can of soda and drank it, took the plunger out of the bathroom and left it in the kitchen, chewed open 3 raw potatoes, and broke a blender. I have no idea why she did all that, but she was a mess. It took us all about an hour or more to put the house back in order and I can guarantee there is still beet juice on parts I missed, and probably still on the ceiling! I guess that is what I get for expecting to come home after being up for 24 hours and wanting a relaxing evening of going to bed early. So Terri is back in her crate now and I really hope she stays there until we can take her back to the ranch tomorrow asap! She kinda freaks me out now; I don't know if it is just because she had her first litter and didn't know what to do, or if she was scared of being in a house. Either way, she needs to calm down. Tomorrow night I will be staying out at the ranch and hopefully no one has any babies because I am still trying to catch up on sleep and it is too cold for babies right now. Plus the sheep aren't due to lamb until April 20th. I am really having fun and learning a lot here, but I am also getting a little anxious to move on to my next location. I just can't wait to see what other places look like and what else I will be learning. But I am glad I wont arrive in Tennessee until the summer when it is nice and hot and I can enjoy the long days and go swimming in the creeks and eat delicious fruit! Marv and Carrie want to take me to a place called Golden Corral and I have been dying to go! I always see commercials at home, but we don't have one around and they are very popular in the Midwest, so I am so excited. I love buffets, especially the desserts!!! Other than that, we have kind of settled into a nice little routine and I am getting used to it and very comfortable here. I am eating very well; Carrie is an amazing chef. I have pictures today so enjoy them! Please celebrate St. Patrick's Dy for me since I will be busy with goats and can't enjoy it like I wanted to. It is one of my favorite 'holidays'!!!
Love you all,
Sam
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| Kids sleeping |
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| More kids taking their afternoon nap |
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| Chunky Puppies! They are about 3 weeks and adorable |
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| Look at that little chunk! |
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| So cute! I get to play with them all day |
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| Baby Barbados sheep and Mommy |
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| My boyfriend Brubaker! He is such a little lover |
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| Baby Australian Shepherds. Used as livestock herding dogs |
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| More baby Aussies! |
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| So cute and tiny |
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| So curious too |
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| puppies, a few days old I think |
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| different litter, about 1 week old or so. They are just barely opening their eyes |
Monday, March 14, 2011
Happy Pi Day!
Hey guys,
Not much happened today so far, but I am going out to the ranch in about an hour to stay for the night so who knows what might happen later. But it is Pi day (3.14, as in the mathematical number). It is also Enstein's birthday, and I kinda like that guy a ton, so happy birthday to him too.
So this morning I had to get up at 7am to drive an hour to pick up a portable toilet and take it out to the ranch because we have no running water or bathrooms out there and Marv thought it would be a nice convenience for the woofers that are coming to have one. So I got lucky and will get an actually bathroom from now on, however I was okay with roughing it at first. So I got back here to Billings and made some lunch before I head out to the ranch. It has been a really easy day so far, and the goats have been slowing down with having kids, so I think tonight will be an easy night. I am really well rested from going to bed so early, so tonight will be an easy night for me. One of our kids (baby goat) isn't doing well. He was fine for a while after he was born, but now he won't get up, can't stand up on his own, and won't feed off his mother for more than a few seconds. But when he is here at home, he drinks from a bottle just fine. Maybe he is lazy or there is actually something wrong. We will wait a little longer to see how he does, but I have a bad feeling about him. I am trying to be optimistic, but we will just have to see. Right now I am watching the cat and one of the chihuahua puppies play fighting right now. It is so cute! One of our guard dogs had puppies last night, so we have another litter in the kitchen right now. They are so cute, but loud! They are very loud when they are that little. It looks like it might rain, but the weather has been really nice so far. High 50's and dry, so the mud has dried up as well. It might snow a little bit the end of this week, but as for now it isn't bad. I do miss California weather though!!!! I met a Hutterite man today; they are a branch of Amish and it is pronounced 'Hood-er-ite'. Apparently there are a ton of Amish and Hutterite communities in Montana, I guess because they are very big in Canada and they come over from there, and also because they had to escape persecution from every other state, and they finally settled in Montana. They are very interesting people, and I knew he was some sort of Amish as soon as I saw him. He wore a very nice, hand made suit with a large beard and a large brim black hat. But his beard was well trimmed and very thick, like the Amish style. Then when he spoke, he had some sort of accent. It was like a mix between Old English and Canadian and German. Marv and I went to pick up vegetables from him, and when I asked Marv, he confirmed that the man was a Hutterite. They farm, ranch and grow crops in their communities to make their income, and sell the produce to the town. We got 50 pound bags of potatoes, carrots, lettuce, beets and other vegetables, and it was very cheap. The potatoes were around $12 for a 50 pound bag! I think that is a good price, especially for vegetables that are organic and hand grown with no pesticides or anything. The town is skeptical of the Hutterites because they like to bargain for everything and that is annoying to the town, and if you buy something from them, they won't leave you alone after that. They will come to you all the time and try to get you to buy things from them, even if you say you don't want it. But they were very nice and interesting to me, so I didn't mind them.
I have to go now because it is time to get to the ranch for the night, but I will try to take pictures and let you all know if anything interesting happens this evening!
Love you all,
Sam
Not much happened today so far, but I am going out to the ranch in about an hour to stay for the night so who knows what might happen later. But it is Pi day (3.14, as in the mathematical number). It is also Enstein's birthday, and I kinda like that guy a ton, so happy birthday to him too.
So this morning I had to get up at 7am to drive an hour to pick up a portable toilet and take it out to the ranch because we have no running water or bathrooms out there and Marv thought it would be a nice convenience for the woofers that are coming to have one. So I got lucky and will get an actually bathroom from now on, however I was okay with roughing it at first. So I got back here to Billings and made some lunch before I head out to the ranch. It has been a really easy day so far, and the goats have been slowing down with having kids, so I think tonight will be an easy night. I am really well rested from going to bed so early, so tonight will be an easy night for me. One of our kids (baby goat) isn't doing well. He was fine for a while after he was born, but now he won't get up, can't stand up on his own, and won't feed off his mother for more than a few seconds. But when he is here at home, he drinks from a bottle just fine. Maybe he is lazy or there is actually something wrong. We will wait a little longer to see how he does, but I have a bad feeling about him. I am trying to be optimistic, but we will just have to see. Right now I am watching the cat and one of the chihuahua puppies play fighting right now. It is so cute! One of our guard dogs had puppies last night, so we have another litter in the kitchen right now. They are so cute, but loud! They are very loud when they are that little. It looks like it might rain, but the weather has been really nice so far. High 50's and dry, so the mud has dried up as well. It might snow a little bit the end of this week, but as for now it isn't bad. I do miss California weather though!!!! I met a Hutterite man today; they are a branch of Amish and it is pronounced 'Hood-er-ite'. Apparently there are a ton of Amish and Hutterite communities in Montana, I guess because they are very big in Canada and they come over from there, and also because they had to escape persecution from every other state, and they finally settled in Montana. They are very interesting people, and I knew he was some sort of Amish as soon as I saw him. He wore a very nice, hand made suit with a large beard and a large brim black hat. But his beard was well trimmed and very thick, like the Amish style. Then when he spoke, he had some sort of accent. It was like a mix between Old English and Canadian and German. Marv and I went to pick up vegetables from him, and when I asked Marv, he confirmed that the man was a Hutterite. They farm, ranch and grow crops in their communities to make their income, and sell the produce to the town. We got 50 pound bags of potatoes, carrots, lettuce, beets and other vegetables, and it was very cheap. The potatoes were around $12 for a 50 pound bag! I think that is a good price, especially for vegetables that are organic and hand grown with no pesticides or anything. The town is skeptical of the Hutterites because they like to bargain for everything and that is annoying to the town, and if you buy something from them, they won't leave you alone after that. They will come to you all the time and try to get you to buy things from them, even if you say you don't want it. But they were very nice and interesting to me, so I didn't mind them.
I have to go now because it is time to get to the ranch for the night, but I will try to take pictures and let you all know if anything interesting happens this evening!
Love you all,
Sam
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Sunday, March 13 2011
Good morning everyone! Yes, this is my morning because I have been working all of Saturday night, and I just got home. Last night Mike and I had to stay on the ranch to take shifts checking on the nanny goats (mothers) and their kids. We knew that 6 more goats in total were due to have kids, but they didn't look ready at all. So this morning, around 6am I got up to check on everyone and when I walked into the barn, I heard a baby goat crying, and I saw a slimy, cold little baby goat standing by its mother crying. I figured out that it had just been born a moment before I walked in, so I ran and got Mike so he could help me take care of it. The first thing you have to do is make sure that the placenta sack is removed from the kid's face so it can breathe, then you have to make sure the umbilical cord is severed by the mother and douse the cord in a thick iodine solution so there is no infection later on. Then you have to squirt a really thick, molasses-type nutrient syrup in the kid's mouth, then finally get the kid sucking on its mother so it can have the vitamin-rich colostrum (mother's first milk) that the kid will need to survive. Mike woke up and grabbed towels and the iodine and nutri-drench, and we took care of the first kid. He seemed really healthy and started feeding immediately, so we knew we were okay with him. Then I walked around the barn to the outside just in time to see another kid drop (just born, drop out onto the floor). As I was walking over to tell Mike and grab another towel, another kid dropped from his mom. But this mom just walked away from him and left him out in the cold. So I ran over and cleaned his face off so he could breathe. Then I had to put him in an isolated warmer with a heat lamp because he was too cold and his mother rejected him. I left him in there for a minute and walked over to the mother to pen her up and saw her deliver the other baby, which makes the kid's twins. That was why she walked away from the first one, because she was getting ready to have the second. So I cleaned that one off and put him in the warmer too, along with another kid that was too cold. The next most important thing was to get the kids to drink from their mothers. If we waited too long, the mother would reject the kid and not feed it. So we put the kids with their mother, and both of the twins wouldn't drink. The other 2 singles started drinking right away, so they could stay with their mothers. But the twins were too small and cold, so I put them back in the warmer and milked their mother myself so I could get her colostrum out. I had to force feed each twin with a small syringe so that it could get colostrum in its system. Then I placed them back with their mother and she accepted both of them, so I knew they would be okay. All of that took place in about 1 hour in total. All 4 kids were born one after the other, so it was a very busy morning for us! After that event, I went to work with all the usual chores of changing water and food and cleaning up all the kennels and barn. Then I had to medicate one of the puppies because he has a respiratory infection. Then I discovered one of the goats had a problem with one of her teats, and it was filling up with milk so much that it was getting really painful for her. So I had to insert a plastic teat dilator, which seemed really painful, but it opened her up and hopefully stopped whatever infection or mastitis she may begin to form. Then I had to give her 2 injections of penicillin to help kill the infection. I used a new needle and syringe so it was sharp, and I was able to inject her very fast this time and she didn't even move. I felt a lot more confident this time, and was able to successfully treat her with her medication. After I worked today, I got to come home and shower and get ready for dinner and bed. I have to leave at 8am tomorrow to pick up something with my truck, then drop it off at the ranch. I will be staying at the ranch by myself tomorrow night, but I feel fairly confident that I can comprehend and handle whatever happens by now. All my muscles are sore and I am exhausted every night, but I am having so much fun and learning so much in the process, that it makes it all worth it! The more that I work with the animals and learn from them, the more I can really see myself becoming a vet and being very happy in that line of work. Every day is exciting and all the animals are so sweet. I get to play with puppies and baby goats all day and they are adorable and follow me around and get excited to see me. They are really developing their own little personalities as they grow and they are so cute and sweet! I want to take all the puppies with me on the rest of my road trip! I am going to eat dinner now and go to bed. I am exhausted and look forward to going to sleep as early as possible now. I miss you all and wish you could see what I get to see every day here. Keep working hard and enjoying your job and family and friends, and I will be home before you realize it!
Love you all, Sam
P.S. Sorry no pictures, but I have been really busy. I will try to post new ones by Tuesday hopefully. But I am trying to get my new phone by next week, so I will try to call you all asap. I need phone numbers again, I lost them all!!!!
Love you all, Sam
P.S. Sorry no pictures, but I have been really busy. I will try to post new ones by Tuesday hopefully. But I am trying to get my new phone by next week, so I will try to call you all asap. I need phone numbers again, I lost them all!!!!
Day....I don't even know anymore!
These past few days have been such a blur! I have lost all track of time and dates, so it makes things go by a lot faster. Yesterday I had to wake up at 5am to go out to Melstone to pick up 6 cows and bring them back to the ranch. It was a 2 hour drive, and then Marv and I had to actually find the cows so we could walk them up a really steep hill, then down the road about 3 miles to a farm so we could load them into the trailer to tow them back home. So Marv brought his 3 best herding dogs with him, because we use them to herd the cows in the direction we want them to go. Marv was going to stay in his truck and drive alongside the road, while I climbed down into the forest-like pasture to go get them and round them up. I had to climb down a really really steep hill that was completely muddy and I sank down really deep. The dog I had with me was Sage and she is the most respected and best herding dog on the entire ranch. I felt pretty confident having her with me because she takes direction really well and knows exactly what to do without anyone really telling her. So Sage and I found the cows next to the river in the middle of this forest. It was so beautiful down there, I wanted to stay there all day and go exploring. There was a river, with ice covering the ground on both sides, and trees everywhere. They were all bare due to the weather, but it was really calm and peaceful down there. So I got behind the cows and started instructing Sage to go around them and herd them up to the hill. But the cows took off running as soon as they saw me, and Sage and I had to chase them through the forest for about 1.5 miles. Then they stranded themselves on a piece of land, because they cannot cross the river. I started running straight ahead while looking at the cows to make sure they wouldn't move, and all of a sudden I fell straight down. I FELL INTO THE RIVER!!!
The freezing cold river, up to mid-thigh. I was soaking wet and my rubber boots filled up with water completely. They each weighed about 10 pounds. Then the cows started running away, so I had to chase them while I was soaking wet and weighed down. They ran back the opposite direction so I had to chase after them again. Finally Marv came down with 2 other herding dogs and together we were able to get the cows up the hill and onto the main road. After the cows were on the main road, I had to walk alongside them to keep them moving while Marv drove down the road on the other side of them so they wouldn't cross the road onto the other side of the pasture. The walk was about 3 miles and I had to run most of the way because the cows were running and I didn't want to get too far behind them, or else they could have turned off the road back into the pasture and I would be back where I started again. So finally we got them to the farm, where we had to put them in a corral and wait for the brand inspector to come and verify that they were actually Marv's cows. The brand inspector is a police officer that works only with cattle and livestock. He has a record of every farmer or rancher that owns livestock as well as their signature brand. When someone wants to buy, sell or move cattle, the brand inspector has to physically show up and identify the brand on the ear tag of the livestock, then match it against the name of the person claiming ownership, and then verify that all information is correct and the livestock isn't stolen. After the brand inspector showed up, I had to vaccinate and medicate all 6 cows. We had to inject them and pour medication on their backs. To do this, we had to walk them down this long chute and trap them by their head between metal bars one by one as they walked towards the end of the chute. So we vaccinated all the cattle, and had to load them into a trailer and haul them home. The drive home took longer because the cows weighed down the truck so much, but we finally got them home to the ranch and let them go into the pasture there. Marv plans on butchering one of them for beef and selling the others to be butchered. However, the pregnant ones will deliver calves soon so we are also watching out for that in case they need help. After we got home from the ranch, I changed clothes and put dry warm ones on, then headed back out to the ranch with Mike after he got home from work. We had to stay out there overnight, but no goats had kids that night. That was Friday night. During the nights that I stay out at the ranch, I have to wake up every 2 hours throughout the night to check on all the kids and puppies and everyone else. So Mike and I split the shifts so we could each sleep 4 hours instead of both waking up every 2. It worked out much better, until I heard the damn rooster crowing. He started crowing at 3am!!!!!! He wouldn't stop at all until about 9am, so any sleep that I even attempted to get was ruined because of him. I told him he was lucky to still be alive to crow another day, because I was ready to take care of him for good! Then on Saturday morning, I got up around 8am and worked all day changing water, food, straw bedding, milking goats, making sure all the kids were getting enough milk, and monitoring all the animals. Finally around 5pm I got to go back home for a little bit and get my things together so that I could go back and stay another night on the ranch.
The freezing cold river, up to mid-thigh. I was soaking wet and my rubber boots filled up with water completely. They each weighed about 10 pounds. Then the cows started running away, so I had to chase them while I was soaking wet and weighed down. They ran back the opposite direction so I had to chase after them again. Finally Marv came down with 2 other herding dogs and together we were able to get the cows up the hill and onto the main road. After the cows were on the main road, I had to walk alongside them to keep them moving while Marv drove down the road on the other side of them so they wouldn't cross the road onto the other side of the pasture. The walk was about 3 miles and I had to run most of the way because the cows were running and I didn't want to get too far behind them, or else they could have turned off the road back into the pasture and I would be back where I started again. So finally we got them to the farm, where we had to put them in a corral and wait for the brand inspector to come and verify that they were actually Marv's cows. The brand inspector is a police officer that works only with cattle and livestock. He has a record of every farmer or rancher that owns livestock as well as their signature brand. When someone wants to buy, sell or move cattle, the brand inspector has to physically show up and identify the brand on the ear tag of the livestock, then match it against the name of the person claiming ownership, and then verify that all information is correct and the livestock isn't stolen. After the brand inspector showed up, I had to vaccinate and medicate all 6 cows. We had to inject them and pour medication on their backs. To do this, we had to walk them down this long chute and trap them by their head between metal bars one by one as they walked towards the end of the chute. So we vaccinated all the cattle, and had to load them into a trailer and haul them home. The drive home took longer because the cows weighed down the truck so much, but we finally got them home to the ranch and let them go into the pasture there. Marv plans on butchering one of them for beef and selling the others to be butchered. However, the pregnant ones will deliver calves soon so we are also watching out for that in case they need help. After we got home from the ranch, I changed clothes and put dry warm ones on, then headed back out to the ranch with Mike after he got home from work. We had to stay out there overnight, but no goats had kids that night. That was Friday night. During the nights that I stay out at the ranch, I have to wake up every 2 hours throughout the night to check on all the kids and puppies and everyone else. So Mike and I split the shifts so we could each sleep 4 hours instead of both waking up every 2. It worked out much better, until I heard the damn rooster crowing. He started crowing at 3am!!!!!! He wouldn't stop at all until about 9am, so any sleep that I even attempted to get was ruined because of him. I told him he was lucky to still be alive to crow another day, because I was ready to take care of him for good! Then on Saturday morning, I got up around 8am and worked all day changing water, food, straw bedding, milking goats, making sure all the kids were getting enough milk, and monitoring all the animals. Finally around 5pm I got to go back home for a little bit and get my things together so that I could go back and stay another night on the ranch.
Day 3
Hey everyone! Today was a mild day on the ranch, especially compared to everything that has happened already. I went out to the ranch around 9am and stayed out there by myself until about 3pm when Carrie and Marv came out to meet me. They had appointments and errands to run so I went out alone to start work until they could get there. So when I got there this morning 2 kids were already born. Mike said they were born this morning around 8am to a first time mom and she did a really good job. Both kids were really healthy and standing up and feeding off her already. We were surprised that they were so healthy because first time moms usually don't know what to do when they have kids so the kids take longer to get cleaned off and standing up and feeding off of their mom. But this mom had really great motherly instincts so both of her kids were really strong and healthy. I think a lot of it has to do with the weather too. It was in the 60s today, which is really warm up here, and it reflected in the kids' health. Kids born in freezing temperatures are very weak if they even survive, so this was a really good start to the day. Then I had to do the usual chores of cleaning out the straw in the barn and dog kennels, refilling food and water for the dogs, feeding the goats hay, checking on all the kids to make sure they are eating enough and making sure their mothers are allowing them to feed. One goat snapped her horn off this morning and she ran around screaming, so she was in a bad mood for the rest of the day. There was blood everywhere too and her horn was just hanging on the side of her head. Horns don't normally snap off unless they were intended too, and on this ranch we band all the horns as soon as they start to grow so they will eventually just fall off. This is to allow the goats to get to their food without their horns in the way and to protect the other goats and kids in case someone gets jabbed. But there is still some blood and pain when the horn does eventually break off, so it was startling to see it first-hand. The only problem was this was a goat who had just had kids, and she was in a mood so she wouldn't let anyone near her, including her kids. So I had to put her in a really small pen and basically force her to stay still while her kids drank. After a while she stopped moving around and would let them drink when they wanted too. So the next part of the day consisted of me checking to see if any goats were in labor; we call it 'sliming' or checking for slime. When a goat is first going into labor, a long strand of slime will hang off their back end, and that lets you know that she will be having kids that night. For some reason, goats are always born at night; or at least that is what all the ranchers always say. But so far it has been true. Early in the day no goats were sliming, but just about 3pm I saw one start to go so I let Mike know since he will be staying out there tonight- which means he will have a busy night and get no sleep. I also had to replace the bedding in the puppy pen where all the baby australian shepherds were. They are about 10 weeks old and the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. Their eyes are bright greens, blues and browns and they have the most elaborate color schemes too. They are at their rambunctious stage and all wanted to play with me, so of course I had to play with them for a long time! Then I had to move a mother guard dog and her 1 week old puppies into a separate pen to make room for another dog who was having puppies that day as well. Jordan has been due to have puppies all week and I kept checking on her throughout the day, but she wasn't having any. Then I decided to check one more time and there was a little wet puppy with her! It was getting late and cold so we brought her home and she is having her pups in the kitchen right now. It has been a really slow birth; since about 3pm she has only had 3 so far. So I got home from working around 6pm and had a nice hot bowl of soup for dinner. Then I went to check on the kids in the living room, and 1 was fine and 1 was still acting funny. He has been crying nonstop for a couple days and won't stand up at all on his own. He eats a ton but can't stand up and seems really weak still. So I heard him crying one second, then he was quiet the next so I looked at him and he wasn't breathing. I told Marv and we tried shaking him and getting him to revive, but we lost him. It was really sad because he was so determined to live, and he held out a really long time. But I think there were intestinal problems and internal bleeding, and finally he just passed away. It was a sad moment, but they are becoming more frequent than I ever expected. It seems like for every new life we get, one is lost as well. Its a tough thing to constantly have to be around, but it is helping me stay determined to be a vet so I can help save more of those lives. After that incident, Marv went into the backyard to look for one of our dogs who is well past her due date for pups. We wanted to bring her inside because it is too cold to have pups in the backyard. Marv looked for her for a long time, but she wasn't in the backyard. She went missing! We searched everywhere we could and knew there was no possible way she could have jumped the fence and no holes or openings for her to escape. Marv is really stressed out because she should be having her pups any minute now and she could be anywhere. We called all the shelters and talked to the neighbors but no luck yet. I have to get up at 5am to go pick up some cows from a pasture and bring them into town, so I had to stop looking for the dog so I can get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be the longest day so far. I have to be up at 5am to get the cows, then work on the ranch during the day, then go back at night for my first night-kidding shift! I am excited to work at night and hopefully see more kids being born, but a little nervous as well because I don't want to mess anything up. I am excited and ready to learn more, so I have to get to bed so I have a fresh mind in the morning! I miss you guys and wish you were here getting covered in poo and mud with me!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Day 3
Hey everyone! Today was a mild day on the ranch, especially compared to everything that has happened already. I went out to the ranch around 9am and stayed out there by myself until about 3pm when Carrie and Marv came out to meet me. They had appointments and errands to run so I went out alone to start work until they could get there. So when I got there this morning 2 kids were already born. Mike said they were born this morning around 8am to a first time mom and she did a really good job. Both kids were really healthy and standing up and feeding off her already. We were surprised that they were so healthy because first time moms usually don't know what to do when they have kids so the kids take longer to get cleaned off and standing up and feeding off of their mom. But this mom had really great motherly instincts so both of her kids were really strong and healthy. I think a lot of it has to do with the weather too. It was in the 60s today, which is really warm up here, and it reflected in the kids' health. Kids born in freezing temperatures are very weak if they even survive, so this was a really good start to the day. Then I had to do the usual chores of cleaning out the straw in the barn and dog kennels, refilling food and water for the dogs, feeding the goats hay, checking on all the kids to make sure they are eating enough and making sure their mothers are allowing them to feed. One goat snapped her horn off this morning and she ran around screaming, so she was in a bad mood for the rest of the day. There was blood everywhere too and her horn was just hanging on the side of her head. Horns don't normally snap off unless they were intended too, and on this ranch we band all the horns as soon as they start to grow so they will eventually just fall off. This is to allow the goats to get to their food without their horns in the way and to protect the other goats and kids in case someone gets jabbed. But there is still some blood and pain when the horn does eventually break off, so it was startling to see it first-hand. The only problem was this was a goat who had just had kids, and she was in a mood so she wouldn't let anyone near her, including her kids. So I had to put her in a really small pen and basically force her to stay still while her kids drank. After a while she stopped moving around and would let them drink when they wanted too. So the next part of the day consisted of me checking to see if any goats were in labor; we call it 'sliming' or checking for slime. When a goat is first going into labor, a long strand of slime will hang off their back end, and that lets you know that she will be having kids that night. For some reason, goats are always born at night; or at least that is what all the ranchers always say. But so far it has been true. Early in the day no goats were sliming, but just about 3pm I saw one start to go so I let Mike know since he will be staying out there tonight- which means he will have a busy night and get no sleep. I also had to replace the bedding in the puppy pen where all the baby australian shepherds were. They are about 10 weeks old and the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. Their eyes are bright greens, blues and browns and they have the most elaborate color schemes too. They are at their rambunctious stage and all wanted to play with me, so of course I had to play with them for a long time! Then I had to move a mother guard dog and her 1 week old puppies into a separate pen to make room for another dog who was having puppies that day as well. Jordan has been due to have puppies all week and I kept checking on her throughout the day, but she wasn't having any. Then I decided to check one more time and there was a little wet puppy with her! It was getting late and cold so we brought her home and she is having her pups in the kitchen right now. It has been a really slow birth; since about 3pm she has only had 3 so far. So I got home from working around 6pm and had a nice hot bowl of soup for dinner. Then I went to check on the kids in the living room, and 1 was fine and 1 was still acting funny. He has been crying nonstop for a couple days and won't stand up at all on his own. He eats a ton but can't stand up and seems really weak still. So I heard him crying one second, then he was quiet the next so I looked at him and he wasn't breathing. I told Marv and we tried shaking him and getting him to revive, but we lost him. It was really sad because he was so determined to live, and he held out a really long time. But I think there were intestinal problems and internal bleeding, and finally he just passed away. It was a sad moment, but they are becoming more frequent than I ever expected. It seems like for every new life we get, one is lost as well. Its a tough thing to constantly have to be around, but it is helping me stay determined to be a vet so I can help save more of those lives. After that incident, Marv went into the backyard to look for one of our dogs who is well past her due date for pups. We wanted to bring her inside because it is too cold to have pups in the backyard. Marv looked for her for a long time, but she wasn't in the backyard. She went missing! We searched everywhere we could and knew there was no possible way she could have jumped the fence and no holes or openings for her to escape. Marv is really stressed out because she should be having her pups any minute now and she could be anywhere. We called all the shelters and talked to the neighbors but no luck yet. I have to get up at 5am to go pick up some cows from a pasture and bring them into town, so I had to stop looking for the dog so I can get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be the longest day so far. I have to be up at 5am to get the cows, then work on the ranch during the day, then go back at night for my first night-kidding shift! I am excited to work at night and hopefully see more kids being born, but a little nervous as well because I don't want to mess anything up. I am excited and ready to learn more, so I have to get to bed so I have a fresh mind in the morning! I miss you guys and wish you were here getting covered in poo and mud with me!
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| our living room is the baby goat factory |
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| kids everywhere! |
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| baby goat in a bucket |
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| this is one pen of goats, sheep and guard dogs |
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| this is Brubaker. I am in love with this puppy and plan on kidnapping him when I leave! |
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| little baby girl born this morning |
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| twins born 2 days ago. they are sleeping across each other |
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| kids! |
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