Things have been incredibly busy around the ranch lately...
Two weeks ago, we sent four of our six horses to a trainer. Justin and Flurry will be coming home in a month or so after they are trained under saddle. The other two, Sonny and Rita, were given in trade for training services. We are looking forward to being able to ride together this Summer!
Izzy, our large Percheron-cross mare, has been limping for the past two weeks. She was injured a few years ago when she slipped in the mud and got entangled in a small section of wire fencing (this has since been replaced with horse-safe fencing). After surgery on her ankle, and many months of rehab, Izzy has been fine - never a limp. We knew there was always a possibility of future lameness from the incident and that bone spurs were likely; unfortunately, that time has come. She is not in significant pain, more like a bothersome irritation. Her ankle is not swollen, but the flexor tendon going over the bone spur is giving her some pause. At this point, we are helping her work thru this situation and she is coming along very well. While she will never be sound to ride, she is perfectly healthy and sound to use as a broodmare or companion. We are exploring the possibility of leasing or selling her to a good home for such a use.
Spring is the time for babies, and we are expecting our share in the coming months...
First, we are very happy to announce that we have PUPPIES! Greta delivered 7 healthy little Pyrenees puppies on Wednesday, March 19 in the early morning hours - in a torrential rain storm! All the puppies, and Mom, are doing great. Pictures will be coming soon on our website... for now, we are giving Greta some privacy with her pups. Our other Pyrenees female, Emma, is also bred to Koda and we expect pups from her in mid-May.
Many of our llamas are due for babies starting in April. We have bred most of our girls to our junior herdsires, Radar and Dreamin'. Since they are not proven studs and the girls were all exposed in pasture (versus scheduled breeding), we have to do some estimating as to due dates. Probably the first of them will be one of our miniature llamas, Popo; she is sure to deliver in the next few weeks. While llamas are known to hide their pregnancies well, Popo is not hiding much - she is round as a ball!
In addition to the llamas, three of our dairy goats, Ophillia, Mikki and Tassie, are due to kid in the next few weeks. Mikki is the only experienced Mom in the bunch, and looks like she will deliver in the next week or so. Ophillia and Tassie are both "making bag" and starting to expand by the minute! Surely they will kid before they explode!?! :)
Looking to the future ... and other ponderings ...
This morning, we moved our buck, Oliver, into the pasture with our three junior does, Valentine, Stoney and Surprise. We hope to have kids from them in late August, or early September. They should be some pretty fancy babies if all goes as planned!
Now, let me tell you about Oliver and his dog, Emma.... Since the day Oliver arrived on the ranch, Emma decided he was HER goat. She has bathed him, slept with him, watched over him, and just in general bonded with him. Where Oliver goes, Emma goes. Well, when we took Oliver out of the upper pasture this morning and Emma was aghast (no, she was not allowed out the gate too). As we put him into the lower pasture, Emma was right there waiting. (Where there is a will, there is a way - Half of our pastures have an adjoining gate system the dogs can go thru to guard all the pastures while the goats and llamas stay where they belong). Emma watched as Oliver was busy greeting all the does and exploring the "new" pasture. Now, as it is approaching nap time, him and his canine companion are snuggling up together for a nap in the warm sunshine ... what a sappy scene this is. Some days watching the happenings in our pastures are like watching a soap opera ... "As the Pasture Turns". :)
I think I finally have the answer to the long-time question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg"... it is undoubtedly THE CHICKEN ... a LONG time before the egg did apparently. Why do I make this conclusion you might ask ... because our young hens are still not laying - at least not regularly. We have put in "fake eggs" in the nests for them, they are fed very well (layer feed), and are all growing well. One positive change we see is that their combs are starting to fill in now. (This is a sign of maturity in chickens). We are averaging about 3 eggs from the flock every day; we suspect these are primarily from the older hens we got last month. No complaints here - even those few eggs help keep us fed breakfast every morning. :) We just continue to look forward to the young hens getting into "the groove".
Well, I think that about brings everything up to date a bit. We will try to post more reliably in the future. :)
Two weeks ago, we sent four of our six horses to a trainer. Justin and Flurry will be coming home in a month or so after they are trained under saddle. The other two, Sonny and Rita, were given in trade for training services. We are looking forward to being able to ride together this Summer!
Izzy, our large Percheron-cross mare, has been limping for the past two weeks. She was injured a few years ago when she slipped in the mud and got entangled in a small section of wire fencing (this has since been replaced with horse-safe fencing). After surgery on her ankle, and many months of rehab, Izzy has been fine - never a limp. We knew there was always a possibility of future lameness from the incident and that bone spurs were likely; unfortunately, that time has come. She is not in significant pain, more like a bothersome irritation. Her ankle is not swollen, but the flexor tendon going over the bone spur is giving her some pause. At this point, we are helping her work thru this situation and she is coming along very well. While she will never be sound to ride, she is perfectly healthy and sound to use as a broodmare or companion. We are exploring the possibility of leasing or selling her to a good home for such a use.
Spring is the time for babies, and we are expecting our share in the coming months...
First, we are very happy to announce that we have PUPPIES! Greta delivered 7 healthy little Pyrenees puppies on Wednesday, March 19 in the early morning hours - in a torrential rain storm! All the puppies, and Mom, are doing great. Pictures will be coming soon on our website... for now, we are giving Greta some privacy with her pups. Our other Pyrenees female, Emma, is also bred to Koda and we expect pups from her in mid-May.
Many of our llamas are due for babies starting in April. We have bred most of our girls to our junior herdsires, Radar and Dreamin'. Since they are not proven studs and the girls were all exposed in pasture (versus scheduled breeding), we have to do some estimating as to due dates. Probably the first of them will be one of our miniature llamas, Popo; she is sure to deliver in the next few weeks. While llamas are known to hide their pregnancies well, Popo is not hiding much - she is round as a ball!
In addition to the llamas, three of our dairy goats, Ophillia, Mikki and Tassie, are due to kid in the next few weeks. Mikki is the only experienced Mom in the bunch, and looks like she will deliver in the next week or so. Ophillia and Tassie are both "making bag" and starting to expand by the minute! Surely they will kid before they explode!?! :)
Looking to the future ... and other ponderings ...
This morning, we moved our buck, Oliver, into the pasture with our three junior does, Valentine, Stoney and Surprise. We hope to have kids from them in late August, or early September. They should be some pretty fancy babies if all goes as planned!
Now, let me tell you about Oliver and his dog, Emma.... Since the day Oliver arrived on the ranch, Emma decided he was HER goat. She has bathed him, slept with him, watched over him, and just in general bonded with him. Where Oliver goes, Emma goes. Well, when we took Oliver out of the upper pasture this morning and Emma was aghast (no, she was not allowed out the gate too). As we put him into the lower pasture, Emma was right there waiting. (Where there is a will, there is a way - Half of our pastures have an adjoining gate system the dogs can go thru to guard all the pastures while the goats and llamas stay where they belong). Emma watched as Oliver was busy greeting all the does and exploring the "new" pasture. Now, as it is approaching nap time, him and his canine companion are snuggling up together for a nap in the warm sunshine ... what a sappy scene this is. Some days watching the happenings in our pastures are like watching a soap opera ... "As the Pasture Turns". :)
I think I finally have the answer to the long-time question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg"... it is undoubtedly THE CHICKEN ... a LONG time before the egg did apparently. Why do I make this conclusion you might ask ... because our young hens are still not laying - at least not regularly. We have put in "fake eggs" in the nests for them, they are fed very well (layer feed), and are all growing well. One positive change we see is that their combs are starting to fill in now. (This is a sign of maturity in chickens). We are averaging about 3 eggs from the flock every day; we suspect these are primarily from the older hens we got last month. No complaints here - even those few eggs help keep us fed breakfast every morning. :) We just continue to look forward to the young hens getting into "the groove".
Well, I think that about brings everything up to date a bit. We will try to post more reliably in the future. :)
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2 comments:
GREAT UPDATE!! Something is missing however.... a pic of Oliver and Emma! :o) Congrats on the puppies! Where did she choose to have them? Not out in the pasture, I hope?
Of course Oliver and Emma would not pose for me... that would be way too easy! I wish I could get one of them snuggled together... it too mushy! :)
Greta has them up under the livestock shelter... for the FIRST time ever! Usually it is out in the middle of the pasture in a pile of sticks she made into a den.
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