Chicken feed fiasco

Latest twins

Just when you think all the sheep have had their babies another set of twins just magically appears. It was our dark brown calm ewe.  I really need  to get all the babies tagged and banded.  As an added bonus maybe we could get an accurate count of all of our sheep.  An accurate count would be nice.  We keep feeding the sheep but the last few days they have not really eaten any hay.  They are free ranging on the back hillside during the day and night. We quit locking them in every night.  I have only fed one bale in the last three days.  I was feeding 2.5 bales/day.  We have the horses locked up in the barn lot.  Its mostly dry with a little grass.  Annmarie doesn't want them to get fat and sick on the new sweet grass.  I believe the term is colic.  So them we feed every day, but since we are having to treat their feet every day the confinement is working in our favor.  The horses feet look better also. 

I have dawdled long enough that Annmarie and I cannot take care of the baby calves.  They are too big!  They are pushing the 60-80 lb range and they are a LOT harder to pin down for banding at that size.  So I have one of my nephews lined up to come out in five days to help me.  We are going to tag and band the two calves and all the sheep.  It should take a couple of hours to get that all done.  I am hoping there is time to get the lawn mowed.  It needs it, there are two spots that are very high and need the mowing.  Of course, since Mouse has been out in the yard there are several craters in the yard almost big enough to lose the mower in. 

Friday I managed to get out to the chicken coop.  I had been putting out 50 pounds of food every week despite the green grass and abundant bugs.  I was starting to run low from my massive purchase last year.  The baby chickens that my hen hatched are just now laying.  This meant there were a lot of freeloading roosters.  I had been putting off on thinning them out, but could not do it any longer.  I waded in there Friday night and started wringing necks.  By the time I got to the fifth chicken my arm was getting sore.  I had to start using two hands to snap the necks. It was laborious.  I thinned out all the roosters, seven and was left with 6 hens.  The hens were all hiding from the young roosters as they were jumping on top of everything that moved.  Since the culling, the hens have started to settle down and are laying more eggs. 
So now the only chicken nemesis is Mouse, he still wants to jump on the chickens and make them squawk. 

new calves, need tagged and sexed.



weird ears.

This is our luck of the irish cow.  It has weird ears that look like a single leaf from a four leaf clover.  I am not sure if it is a boy or a girl.  Either way it is not staying as it is the bulls incestual granddaughter/daughter.