Young Mothers II

I just returned from my late night feeding of the lambs. I have four yearling moms raising twin lambs. I'm supplementing four of the lambs. Another yearling is raising her lambs on her own. One that could use a little bottle feeding, by the looks of him -- I call him "bones" -- refuses to take any milk. Another yearling has enough milk for twins, but is still rejecting one of her lambs. I keep her in a head stanchion most of the time.

Peter is doing well. He woofs down his milk three times a day. It will soon be time to go to a twice a day feeding. There are two more yearlings to lamb. They are younger and I'm hoping that they'll have singles sometime in April. I'm in no hurry. I hope they're not either. The goat (Clover) is definitely pregnant. I'm not sure about her daughters, "Thelma" and "Louise." Who knows about the fat ewe.

Spring has finally arrived, and I let the lambs spend their days outdoors. They have a blast running and playing. Sometimes, the goats join in their "reindeer" games. Goat kids are pretty docile for the first few weeks of their lives, spending most of their time under the feeders. I'll miss having baby goats in the future.

Young Mothers

Two yearling ewes (#'s 517 and 526) gave birth to twins recently. Both are good mothers, but neither has a lot of milk (yet). I'm supplementing the lambs, bottle feeding the first set of twins and tube feeding the younger set, born this morning. I still have four more yearlings to go. Two are bagging up. The other two are younger and not showing any signs yet. My two goat yearlings aren't showing any signs of impending motherhood either. Their mom hasn't kidded yet, but is definitely pregnant. Perhaps, she kept the young billy away from her daughters. Damn goat!

I've decided to get rid of my goats. I've only got four, plus their babies (so far, only two of them). I need to reduce my flock to 30. I had exposed 40 for breeding: 36 ewes and 4 does. 40 is too many for my hoop house. I don't really have enough room to handle them during lambing and kidding. 40 is too many for my seven acres of pasture. The goats don't like my pasture anyhow; it doesn't contain much browse. Since the goats require more effort and don't produce as much income, they will go. I'll miss having goats, but I won't miss some of their antics. I prefer sheep.

The lambs are looking good and doing well. The ewe that prolapsed her uterus is doing okay. She is eating. I think she is going to make it. Unfortunately, too much time has passed for her to take her lamb (Peter) back. The black ewe that had the c-section is doing well. Her lambs are doing great. Tomorrow, her stitches come out. I already have a buyer for her black ram lamb, so the c-section was definitely worth the cost, not to mention it was the right thing to do for the ewe and her lambs.

Peter (the Great), the bottle lamb, is driving me crazy. He follows me everywhere. He goes through gates to get to me. I can't go through doors anymore because he is on my heels, through the gates before I have a chance to close them. He jumps around on the hay. He's not afraid of McComb. He's a hearty eater. Soon, it will be time to reduce his bottle feedings to 3 a day. He's solid, doing well. I can't decide whether or not to castrate him. If he's a wether, I might be able to sell him as a pet or grazer. With his genetics, I think he might grow into a nice breeding ram.

I love pictures

I lost a ewe and her lambs today, #77, a ewe I called Tubby. One of my original Katahdins. But, I don't want to dwell on the negative. I want to show some more baby lamb pictures. So, here they are!

One of the twin goats.

The first lamb born.

Lamb being born.

Beautiful black lamb
(born via c-section)

Ugly and Beautiful

When you raise livestock, it is amazing how quickly things can change from beautiful to ugly and back to beautiful again. For me, lambing time can be an emotional roller coaster that sometimes goes from beautiful to ugly, back to beautiful again.

#325 had had a difficult delivery. Her first lamb had died inside of her. But after her second two lambs were delivered, she seemed fine. She was eating well and taking care of her lambs. My only concern was that she had not fully passed her afterbirth. She was receiving antibiotics and that was supposed to take care of it, but it didn't. About 36 hours after her lambs were delivered, she prolapsed her uterus. A prolapsed uterus is one of the ugliest experiences you can have raising sheep. It an emergency, often fatal condition. With my dad holding her, I tried valiantly to put her uterus back inside of her. But I failed. It's like putting something the size of a small football back through a small hole, while the ewe keeps pushing to keep it out. I called a vet. Though he also had a difficult time, he was eventually able to get it back in. He put in a stitch to hold it in, and so far it has held. She is still alive, but not yet thriving. She had crushed one of her lambs, so I removed the remaining lamb and am feeding him with a bottle. I have dubbed him Peter (the Great). He's pictured above.

While the vet was here, I asked him to look at another ewe that was worrying me. #22 is a small black ewe. She had been straining for several days. She was very, very swollen from behind. Based on her condition, I didn't see how she was going to be able to deliver her lambs successfully. I knew the lambs were full term, so I suggested a caesarian section. The vet came back in a few hours and performed a c-section on her. He removed two very large lambs from her. One black (ram) and one white (ewe). They were active, healthy, robust lambs. I tubed them for several feedings, until their mother woke up. She is now raising them. The little family seems to be doing fine. I characterize a c-section as beautiful. The birth of any animal is beautiful. A c-section is a way to bring life when circumstances seem to want to prevent it.

Several more healthy sets of twins have also been born since my last posting. All of the pairs have been split, with one ram and one ewe. There are three mature ewes that have yet to deliver. I'm not sure if one is pregnant. She is sooooo fat! Though she looks pregnant, she doesn't appear to be bagging up. I call her George's fat friend. I am hoping that she will have lambs. Otherwise, it's off to the mutton factory for her. George is the only sheep that's allowed to be unproductive.

The first goats were born. #29 (the nice goat) gave birth quicker than I'd ever seen any animal give birth. Plop, plop, there they were. Twins, one doe and one buck, screaming their little lungs out. Three more goats to go, along with six young yearling ewes. I hope they are all pregnant and there are no more problems. I'm opting for beautiful.

Spring is for lambing

I truly have lost count of the number of lambs that have been born (still no goat kids!). I believe there is one lamb over a 200 percent lamb crop, so I guess all I have to do is count the number of ewes that have lambed and multiply by two (and add one).

While it started out as a dreary, foggy day, it turned into a beautiful spring day, quite fit for lambs to be born. In fact, having lambs born out on pasture makes spring seem that much closer.

Three sets of twin lambs were born today, two split sets and a pair of ram lambs. The dams are all old, standby ewes: #'s 01, 92, and 90. #92 is my flock builder. I will probably keep her ewe lamb. #01 has also been a really good producer. She raised triplet lambs the previous two years. I guess she deserves a break this year.

Over the weekend, three sets of triplets came into the world, along with a set of twins. The first set of triplets were waiting for me when I got home from the hay auction (without any hay). It was #10's third set of triplets in as many years. I guess I should keep one of her ewe lambs.

The second two sets required assistance. Freckles (#49) had acted goofy the whole day, then labored for a few hours in the evening without any progress. When I investigated, I discovered the problem: a breech baby was blocking the way. I ended up losing the breech baby. He was delivered alive, but must have been deprived of oxygen, because he died shortly after birth. The other two lambs -- a ewe and ram -- are doing fine. It will be the first time in long while that Freckles is not raising triplets. I'll still give her special atttention.

Another ewe, #325, also labored too long without any progress. She was only partially dilated and had a malpresented baby blocking the way for its siblings. This lamb had died in utero. Once it was removed, the other two lambs could be delivered. They are big boys: one tan, one white! The ewe has not totally passed her afterbirth, so I am a little worried about her. I wonder what causes babies not be be presented right for birth.

One of my black ewes (#454) delivered a colorful, mixed set of twins. The male is red, while the female is spotted, as shown.

***

The March wind roars
Like a lion in the sky,
And makes us shiver
As he passes by.

When winds are soft,
And the days are warm and clear,
Just like a gentle lamb,
Then spring is here.

Author Unknown

NAIS is Baaaad!

The Baalands opposes the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The sheep oppose it because they don't want any more holes in their ears or a microchip injected under their tail (talk about an invasion of privacy!). The goats oppose it because they're goats; and well, they oppose everything.

Everyone who values freedom should oppose NAIS. It goes against the core values on which this country was founded. NAIS is a large-scale, unprecedented surveillance by the U.S. government of citizens simply because they own a certain type of property. It is an invasion of privacy and an attack on personal property rights. Our founding fathers must be rolling over in their graves.

The rationale behind NAIS is to safeguard the American food supply and control foreign animal diseases by being able to determine the origin of an animal disease within 48 hours, i.e. the infamous 48-hour traceback. NAIS does nothing to prevent the introduction of foreign animal diseases either by accident or acts of bio-terrorism. It does nothing to prevent foodborne illnesses. Seems to me, all a 48-hour trace back will do is place the blame on farmers and give Uncle Sam the right to seize private property. Remember the Vermont sheep that were confiscated five years ago because four sheep tested positive for an undifferentiated TSE? If USDA was so concerned about these sheep (and the risk they posed to public health), how come it has never conducted any tests to determine what, if anything, the sheep had? Five years!!!!!!

NAIS is already costing the American public millions and millions of dollars. If we really cared about food safety, wouldn't it make more sense to spend our valuable resources on more food safety inspectors? Most contamination of meat occurs at the plant level, not at the farm. The biggest criticism pertaining to BSE is lack of surveillance, not whether or not cows have proper ID. In my own state, we lack adequate animal disease diagnostics. What's the point in putting a microchip in an animal, if the state lacks the ability to diagnose diseases in the first place.

NAIS will place an unfair burden on livestock producers, especially small producers. Producers will have to pay for ear tags or other identification methods for their livestock. The burden of record keeping will be huge. Every time an animal is born, moved, co-mingled, exhibited, or slaughtered, it will have to be reported. Non-compliance will result in fines. The U.S. government will have the right to come on your property without a court order. Isn't there something about illegal search and seizures in the Bill of Rights?

USDA claims that the public supports NAIS. Of course, they do. You can get John Q. Public to agree to anything if you ask him the right poll question, tell him only part of the story, then restrict his answer to yes or no. I wonder if you told the public that NAIS does nothing to prevent animal diseases, they'd still be for it. Or if you told them that it woud not prevent the most common causes of foodborne illness? How about if you told them that it will increase food prices without providing any benefit to them? Would they still be for it? Wait until you tell them they're going to have to register Fido and Fluffy!

"BIG" agriculture is for NAIS. The major commodity organizations, along with American Farm Bureau, all support NAIS. Why shouldn't they? It benefits big farms by opening potential export markets. As for me, I don't know why we should let foreign countries dictate what we do. If China won't buy our meat unless our livestock are microchipped, then we should stop buying all their cheap merchandise produced by children living under a repressive Communist regime. As for Japan, they want to sell cars, don't they?

There is a valid concern that NAIS will force small and medium sized farms out of business. NAIS definitely favors large farms. Large farms will be able to identify animals in groups whereas small producers will have to identify every lamb and chicken on their farm. Large farms will likely receive tax breaks to implement NAIS. Small producers will be left to foot the entire bill. NAIS also favors large companies. I worry about the effect NAIS will have on small meat processing plants and livestock auctions. It seems everything the government does results in larger farms and firms.

A legitimate concern of all producers is the confidentiality of the data. Farmers are afraid the government will use the data against them: "This farmer has 100 cows, I think he should show more income on his tax form. Let's audit him." Producers don't want terrorist animal rights organizations like PETA to get a hold of the data, which will be linked to GPS coordinates. There's this thing called "freedom of information." The government claims that won't happen. How many times has it happened already?! It doesn't matter whether the data is released by accident or on purpose. The result is the same.

There is a one consolation. NAIS is a HUGE undertaking. The U.S. government probably can't pull it off. There is already a mandatory identification program (for scrapie) in the sheep and goat industry. The sheep and goat industry is very small, yet the government has managed this program very poorly, never fully funding it. Oh, did I mention? They give producers the ear tags! Otherwise, many producers wouldn't comply.

Stop NAIS!

NoNAIS.org
StopAnimalID.org
No Mandatory Animal ID

Baby Update

At last count, I think there are 27 lambs. No kids yet. There was a run of ten straight ram lambs. Today was a rough day. #81, who I was very worried about, started to deliver. I pulled the first lamb out. It was a good-size, healthy ewe lamb. The next lamb had his head turn back. I pushed him back in before delivering him. He was dead. A third lamb also had its head back. Ditto. He was dead. #81 is eight years old. She's had 9 lambs in her previous 3 lambings, but only four lambs have been born alive. She will have to go after this year. Her udder is abnormally large, plenty of milk for three lambs. I think I will need to milk her out some. Her lamb should grow like a weed.

The surprise of the week was finding one of the ewe lambs (#520) standing in her pen with a lamb. The ewe lambs aren't due for another couple of weeks. The ram must have snuck in early. She does not have much milk, so I am supplementing her lamb with a bottle. He's red, Bull's Eye's first offspring. I've dubbed him Nicholas. I'm on a Russian theme for this year (for names). Hopefully, she'll be able to raise him with a little help.

One of my best ewes (#24) had triplet ram lambs. I wish I had a flock of ewes like her. She's Pretty's mom. They are together in a pen with their six lambs, along with two other triplet moms. Another nice ewe (#13) also had triplet rams. Another one of my consistent twinners (#100) had a single lamb. At least, it was a ewe lamb. A single ram lamb can't pay a ewe's annual upkeep, unless it is sold for breeding.

Tomorrow, Dad and I are off to the hay auction. One thing's for certain, these sheep sure eat a lot this time of the year.

Happy Birthday

Today is my 44th birthday. At least, it is for about 20 more minutes. I was planning to write something very witty, talk about the significance of the number 44. But, atlas, the only thing I can relate 44 to is a couple of famous athletes who wore the number: Reggie Jackson, Hank Aaron, and John Riggens.

Perhaps, I will find more success examining the year of my birth. Besides yours truly entering the world on a snowy March night, some pretty interesting things happened in 1962. Jamaica, Rwanda, Burundi, Algeria, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago all gained their independance. On May 31, Adolf Eichman was hanged in Israel. On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayers in public schools were unconstitutional. On August 5, Marilyn Monroe was found dead of an apparent drug overdose. On October 1, James Meredith, escorted by federal marshalls, became the first black student to enroll at Mississippi State University. For 13 days in October, the United States and Soviet Union were on the verge of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis came to an end when Nikita Khrushchev announced he would remove his missiles from Cuba. For the first time in 400 years, Neptune and Pluto aligned. President John F. Kennedy declared that the U.S. would have a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

In 1962, the Los Angelos Dodgers won the World Series. The Boston Celtics beat the L.A. Lakers 4-3 in the NBA finals. The Houston Oilers and New York Giants were football champions. The first Superbowl wasn't played until 1967. NCAA champions were Cincinnati for basketball and USC for football. Brazil beat Czechoslovakia to win the World Cup. There was no triple crown winner in my birth year.

In the world of entertainment, movie releases included Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Manchurian Candidate, and Divorce-Italian Style. West Side Story captured the Oscar for Best Picture. Moon River (by Henry Mancini) won Grammy awards for both song and record of the year.

Famous people who share my year of birth include Garth Brooks, Jon Bon Jovi, Clint Black, Matthew Brodderick, Tom Cruise, Jodie Foster, Roger Clemens, John Stockton, Doug Flutie, and Jerry Rice. Famous deaths include William Faulkner, Ernie Kovacs, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

I suppose birthdays are a time for reflection, about where we are, where we've been, and where we want to be. I'm pretty content with all those places. My to-do list still includes traveling to Paris, riding a mule down into the Grand Canyon, riding an elephant (but not down into the Grand Canyon), and jumping out of an airplane (but not over the Grand Canyon).

To quote a Tim McGraw song, "I think I'll take a moment and celebrate my age . . . My next thirty years will be the best years of my life."

* * * * *

During the previous 24 hours, one set of twins was born. Double ewe lambs: a red lamb, with a white head and white tail; and a white lamb. The dam was #15. It's a bit of a relief that she delivered. For the past two years, she has prolapsed her vagina before lambing. I was thinking that if she did it again this year I should mark her for culling. Last week, her vagina crept out a few of times, but nothing so serious to require action on my part. I'll keep her around for another year. She's got a big udder and is a good mother. A ewe with a very nice disposition.

No ewes delivered today. Of course not! It was my day off! There was a ewe (#100) that had previously lambed on my birthday three times. She broke the string last year. Otherwise, I was going to suggest her for the Guinness Book of records.

Max and Zak

Here are a few shots of Max and Zak, one minute playing, the next minute cuddling.

Four more

A set of triplets (#18) and a single lamb (#50) were born today. Three ewes and a ram. The triplets are multi-colored: a white ewe lamb, a red ewe lamb, and a roan ram lamb. All are doing fine. #18 is one of my best ewes. She has had 11 lambs in 4 lambings. #50 has been a good ewe, too. Prior to this year, she raised four sets of twins. Dad had six lambs born today: 1 single, a set of twins, and a set of triplets. Unfortunately, most of them were rams.

A better start

#461 a.k.a. "Pretty" gave birth to triplets while I was at work. Two ewes and a ram. They are fine. She is a good mother. They are up and nursing. I was a little bit worried about Pretty because last year she only produced milk from one side of her udder. Both sides seem to be working fine. Pretty continues the outstanding legacy of her mother (#24) and her grandmother (#92), one of my original ewes.

Three ewes are hovering like vultures. They'd steal Pretty's babies, if they could. One ewe is pawing the ground. Perhaps, she will deliver this afternoon. I'll check back soon.

These are Hurricane's first babies, so any doubts that he wasn't active have been put to rest. Last night's lamb belongs to Caesar. Bull's Eye still awaits the birth of his first offspring.

A bad start

It is not a good start to lambing season. A ewe (#309) had triplet lambs, but only one is alive. A small lamb appeared to be cleaned off, but perhaps was trampled by the other sheep. A larger lamb was born dead. True to form, one of the older ewes (#81) tried to steal the lamb. In fact, I orginally penned her with the lamb, until I noticed another ewe was interested in the lamb and had a discharge from her vagina.

It is always discouraging to start this way, though invariably problems occur early in the lambing season. I know that there will be many healthy sets of twins and triplets, but it is hard to get past this first delivery that only resulted in 1 live birth out of 3. It is especially frustrating because you seldom know the cause of still births. I had taken added precautions by including antibiotics in the grain. So much for that.

It would be nice, if tomorrow morning, there were a healthy set of twin or triplet lambs (or kids) waiting for me. I've got my fingers crossed. Max is hoping, too.

"Humane" education bullshit

I received a solicitiation in the mail today from the National Humane Education Society, based in Charlestown, West Virginia. I received some cute wrapping paper and gift tags. The enclosed literature told a heart-wrenching story about two mistreated pets, Sandy and Miracle. Who's heart strings wouldn't be tugged a bit after reading their stories. Get out your check books.

Being the untrusting person that I am, I thought, "What are these people going to do with my money?" So, I visited their web site and read their various position statements. My mouse immediately clicked on the articles that relate to my industry: agriculture. These people described "normal" agriculture as "factory farming." Whoever coined the term factory farming ought to get a commission every time this term is tossed out. The web site claimed that "most" food animals are confined in restrictive, dark areas. Another article claimed that animals are slowly bled to death during slaughter. According to the web site, farms do not provide animals adequate water, food, shelter, or veterinary attention. I just wonder how many farmers have figured out how to stay in business by depriving animals of these basic needs. The reality is: more pigs are vaccinated than children! Farm animals consume more balanced diets than people!

I'll bet the founder of this organization doesn't realize that the National Organic Standards don't allow sick animals to be properly treated: no antibiotics (even if the animal has a fever or life-threatening disease), no anti-parasitic drugs (even if the animal is severaly parasitized and is going to die), nothing to prevent coccidiosis, a deadly diarrheal disease. Let's by all means keep animals outside, so predators can eat them, they can eat poisonous plants, and bloat on legumous plants. The reality is: animals outside have just as many perils as those in confinement. I know where my sheep go when the weather turns foul. The goats won't even tolerate one drop of rain!

Everybody has a right to their opinions, even if they are based on emotion and ignorance. What I hate is when these organizations mislead the public by not revealing their true agenda. In the case of animals rights organizations like the National Humane Education Society, the agenda is the abolishment of animals for food, entertainment, medical research, hunting, and countless other uses that the vast majority of Americans find acceptable. Kind-hearted people who love their dogs and cats will open their check books without realizing how their money is being spent.

All I ask is that organizations such as these lay their cards on the table. Reveal their true intentions and stop misleading the American public. Solicit donations honestly. If people share their vision, they will send money. Of course, the risk is they won't send money because they don't support the full animal rights agenda. I used to boast to my family that if I ever had a lot of money I'd donate it to spay and neuter dogs and cats. In reality, I wouldn't. Because most of the organizations that advocate spaying and neutering pets use this popular cause to cover up their larger animal rights agenda that seeks to abolish the use of animals for any purpose.

My other pet peave is that donations to these "politically-minded" organziations are tax-deductable. I think I need to write to my congressional delegation to voice my opinion on this tax loop-hole.

Enough said for now. It's almost midnight. I need to go out to my barn to check on my pregnant sheep and goats. Of course, being a "factory farmer," I don't provide them any food, water, shelter, or veterinary care. I guess I won't give "Freckles" her twice daily treat anymore!


God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." -- Genesis 1:26