Winter Nights Tale

I really liked this movie.  It was a little sci-fi but it was a good story and I really coudn't predict the ending.

Got my taxes all set and at the tax accountant today.  I am doing the happy dance tonight.

Dogs got to run a little in the arena because the snow has crusted over and they can stay on top of it. They are out of shape so not too much running and when they do fall thru something gets cut.  I have one bloody foot but I am not sure whose it is.

I had an electrician come in today for free and replace all my thermostats for free.  Now I can truly tell what the temp is in each room and it's actually a surprise.  It's still not warm enough.  I have the stove on high all day and the living room is barely up to 68.  Almost warm enough. 

Even though I had a big bad of popcorn at the movie theater, I think I will go out for some dinner. I am celebrating getting a lot done today!

Recovering Doe

The doe that lost the kid seems much better today.  I turned her out of her stall and she joined in fighting for food this morning.  Made me feel better. She was very uncomfortable after so many people had their arms elbow deep in her.   I removed her stitches yesterday which allowed the afterbirth to fall out and I think that made her better immediately.

So today was get up early and get ready to go to the RV show.  I had to load the car with trash so I could hit the dump on the way home.  I was one of the first 100  people so I got a free ticket to the Ice cats ==might go we'll see.

I did not go into all the rv's but just the ones I thought might be interesting. There actually were no Rear lounge trailers there.  I talked to a dealer from NH that had a bunch of trailers of the brand I am interested in, but I checked their website after he said he thought they had one and they didn't. And the other think was , he had a laptop right there and didnt' bother to look it up himself because my thought is he knew he didn't have one. 

Anyway,Mann's rv was there and they have the model I want.  I talked them down $900 and told them I wanted an on demand water heater and an electric jack and they agreed.  However, I am still thinking about it.  They are still $500 over what I offered makes me want to get something else from them  like a decent mattress.  Well, maybe if I wait a few weeks and call them, I can talk them down some more.

It was warm enough today to actually play outside with the dogs today. The snow is still deep but it packs when you walk on it so you are only sinking in 6 inches instead of a foot.  I took them out back and they sunk in quite a bit . Peaches had a hard time but she still tried.  Then I came back to the house and threw the wet sock for them for a while.



It's only 7:10 and I am going to get in bed.  I need to get up early to do a duck clinic tomorrow . 

The last doe to kid

I was going to go with a friend to look at unholstery today but the doe started into labor at about 1:30.  I was going to meet my friend at 2 so I thought it was safe.  well at 2 in the midst of a heavy snow squall , we decided to postpone it until tomorrow also because the doe was still in labor and not producing much.  The internet said to give them an hr  of hard labor and then if nothing happens I should intervene. You are supposed to see feet coming out and I did see the " bubble" but not feet so I broke the bubble and still no feet.  I put my fingers in and still no feet.  I went back to the internet and it said put your hand in so I tried but there was not much room and she would contract against me.  I called the vet and told him what was happening and asked if I should really be able to get my hand in there. He said yes.  I hung up and tried again. This time I tried harder. I could feel the nose but no feet so I pushed and pushed and got my arm in there practically to my elbow. I got a hold of a foot and pulled it into delivery position then I had to get the other foot which was a little trickier, but I did it.  so now we were all set but she could not push this kid out.  I pulled and pulled and together we cold nto get this kid out.  I called Nat and she gave me advice over the phone but it didn'twork so she said she would stop on her way home from work . It took about an hour but then she tried and tried and tcouldn't get the kid out. We failed.  We called the vet and he was there in about 1/2 hr.  The vet pushed the feet back in to try and free up the head and he had to work very hard and pull very hard to get the kid out.  It was not easy by any stretch of the imagination.  The kid was dead.  It was a girl too Anyway he filled her up with iodine and sewed her shut so she wouldn't prolapse and we left her alone.  She was not going to get a chance to be a mom this year.
The vet said we could have used my force, but I couldn't have because I dont' know what  I am doing and Nat didn't want to tear the uterus.  Next time we will have a better idea of how to do it. And Nat has done plenty, but this was a tough one.
And now I am ready for bed.

This afternoons adventure

The fun never stops here.    I went back out a couple hours after the first fiasco and succeeded in putting tags in all the ears.  I did have to use vaseline on the gun and it helped get the tags off after I put them in.  No more ripped ears.
The ear of the lamb that got ripped has stopped bleeding by tonight.  Nat stopped by with Julia and Joe and we  dehorned the 2nd set of twins and we also used a cauterizing cutter to remove some of the ewe lamb tails.  Not pleasant and there is still some bleeding from that going on but it's not spurting.  I like the easy way of farming whatever that may be. I'm still searching for it. 

My eye that I scratched in 4 places on Fri am is totally normal right now.  The Dr said it would heal quickly. 

This mornings adventure

I went out to feed this morning and like every morning lately, I had to shovel my way to the barn.  I had decided to grab a couple of lambs and eartag them.  Not hard right? I had some bright green brand new tags and found my eartag gun and grabbed a big fat one. I put the eartag on but the bottom one kept falling off. Figured out later that it has a little holder for it you have to use .  Anway I held her still between my knees and used both hands on the gun.  It went thru her ear but it didnt' catch the bottom tag and while I am trying to figure out why , she jumps and rips her whole ear open. I get the gun set up again with another tag and catch her again to do the other ear(poor lamb).  I get the tag in beautifully but then I can't get it to release the tag. So I am trying to hold onto a squirming heavy lamb with my knees and using both hands to get the gun off. In the meantime she is bleeding all over me because of the split in the other ear.  I can't get the gun off and I can't let her go with the gun hanging from her ear so we duck walk together into the tack room so I can find a tool. In the meantime she is not happy and struggling hard the whole way.   I grabbed a pair of pliers and pulled the gun off the tag and finally was able to let her go.  That was the first and last lamb I did. 

I brought the gun inside to figure out why it was not releasing.  I sanded the pin down and oiled it and it's better but not good.  Maybe I will try vaseline. But I did find the little holder for the bottom tage so one problem is solved, but I may need to buy a new gun today.  That was just too hard and traumatic for all involved.

Little goats

I was just thinking about the babys and watching the nanny cam wondering why the lambs were not in the barn but the kids were and I decided I have to take off the lamb coats tomorrow because of the snow predicted and the coats are not waterproof. NO I am not making them raincoats. Might lock them in for the day though. They will not be happy about that.

No contractors today. THey will be sorry when they can't get here tomorrow either. I did take some more pics and will try to get them on here.

Today I spent the whole day(after my haircut and groceries this am)working on 2012 taxes.  I kept terrible non existent records and now I have to reconstruct everything.  Not an easy task.  I vow to to better this year.

Goat kid

She is still alive , so I haven't killed her with BoSe but I had a really hard time getting her to eat from the bottle  today. However, she did get up and go outside on her own.  She just looks so not lively.

I worked for hours to day on the Farm trial.  Finally I am getting somewhere with it. I have the cattle and the sheep trials all written up and the scoresheets are done too. I have not started on the duck trial and I am too tired to think about it now.  I had to fool all day with trying to draw the farm pens on Word by using shapes which is a pain in the patootie.  hours and hours today and still not done.  The learning curve is huge.  or I am just slow.

I found some eartags today that I ordered last year and they have the year  on them so I am going to use them and then I will know how old my sheep are because I can never remember. Tomorrow might be the day for that if I get this farm trial stuff done.

Goats are maybe not my thing

Ok now I definitely have a sick goat kid.  One is doing great weighs 12lbs and the other is weak , not eating well appears cold and only weighs 8lbs.  So I thought I will bottle feed it.  I went to Tractor Supply and got kid milk replacer per my goat mentor. Of course the stuff I read on the internet in more than one place says " DO NOT USE MILK REPLACER ON KIDS"  Too late I"m using it and of course said goat does not want to nurse out of a bottle. I had to force feed it but I got 8oz down it's skinny little throat.  So I thought that would pick her up but it didn't so the mentor suggested BO-Se since that is what cured the lamb.  Duh light dawns on something something. I go in the house and get the Bo-Se in a syringe and go outside. I get to the goat , catch it and got to give it a shot and realize the needle is not on the syringe. I apparently lost it somewhere from the house to the barn.  Back to the house to get another one.  Fortunately I found the box of needles and syringes that I boutht in Al and could not find the other day so I am all set to shoot up everything in sight. so back out and I gave the poor thing 1 cc which is what the lamb was supposed to get.  It might just have killed the kid.  It might too much.  Time will tell. Now I am going back out to force feed some more milk.  This is not fun.

WINTER WONDERLAND

 I shoveled my way out the barn. It was about 6-8 inches and then I did chores and had to shovel my way back because another inch had fallen.

I milked out the goat and then I separated her from the kids.  My idea is if they are hungry enough when I go back out there then maybe they will nurse from the other side especially if I won't let them near the good side. Hmmm wonder if this calls for some duct tape.

Well it didnt work  so I let them nurse.  Goats are a PIA!!

The little lamb was not doing any better today so I got my lamb book out and gave her a shot of A&D and B complex then after the driveway got plowed I called the vet and took her to him.  He is leaning toward White Muscle Disease so he gave her some BOSE which I had at home and we will dose here for a few days and  see if she improves. If she improves then all the lambs will get dosed.

Goat

I do not like to milk this goat and she does not like me to do it.  She will no longer hold still so I tied her up tight to the post.  That was not foolproof. She got loose once and can still go up and down and move all around. The blister on the teat broke and I had blood all over me and the mild was going everywhere also. I got it on my overalls, shoes, the walls the other goats , everywhere except the ceiling. I was milking on my knees, bending over, from in front , from behind  and I don't like it. Most of the milk is going on the floor and its starting to smell a little sour in there.

I am listening to the nanny cam right now and the goats are all in the barn and I can hear one with very labored breathing but I cannot tell if it's in labor.