I went out to the barn this morning and everything was fine…..Whew! I can enjoy my coffee in peace.
Things feel so crazy to me right now, I’m really feeling the stress of, one; having a new puppy who is absolutely into everything and seems to be all teeth, and a lamb who is in the kitchen right now at my feet bumping my hip for milk, while the little puppy is jumping and bouncing and knocking the poor little chap over. Every time I turn my back there’s a mess, lamb/dog , pee/ poop. Ugh! Not to mention about 25 ewes are showing signs of lambing.
The lamb is in the house with us not because his mother rejected him but because he has rejected his mother. I have never seen this happen before. But before starvation could set in I decided to bottle feed him. That’s not entirely uncommon but definitely undesired. Most of the time if I have to resort to this I can generally leave the bottle baby with his mom and they can experience all the other things that come with the lamb/Ewe relationship. But noooo… JR here is off exploring on his own and winding up in some very peculiar places, He’s just about driven his poor mom to a nervous breakdown trying to keep up with him and calling him away from danger. So he’s here with me where I can keep an eye on him. I’ll have to make a special area for him tomorrow obviously he can’t stay in the house forever. Right? I might have to bring him to work with me. I wonder how that is going to go over? He’s very adorable.
The snow and Ice is melting rapidly and has left a muddy sloppy mess in its wake. Between the slop, the lambing ewes, lamb clean up and fostering I feel like I am just crawling with bacteria. Ewh! God I love summer. I am very grateful though that this last winter storm didn’t knock out the power here as predicted. I must say I’m having trouble getting rid of the many buckets of water which still sit in corners of the house. Just in case. I feel like I’m still in emergency mode. I really need to relax. Really.
Things change very rapidly around here. Now the puppy is asleep in my shirt and the lamb totally crashed in my lap. All is quiet. For now. Just for now. I drink my coffee with the vigor of a busy day. I saw my Chiropractor a couple of days ago and he reminded me that stress, even more than sheep wrangling can throw a body out of alignment. He reminded me breathing is not optional.
The meanderings of an accidental farmer
Yup, it's a good thing to remember to breathe! Newborn diapers work great on lambs. Use two for boys. Fold one in half and cut a vertical hole to pull the tail through. Then take the other one and wrap it around his belly like a cumberbund :) First one catches the poop, 2nd one the pee! The nice thing about ewe lambs is that you only need one diaper, LOL.
ReplyDeleteWith diapers (baby or pet diapers found at Walmart) be sure to cut a hole for the tail, and stock up on baby wipes. I save those hideous plastic bags from the grocery store to put the dirty diapers in, and tie them up tightly to keep the smell contained. We put our sleeping lambs in a laundry basket full of towels. If you need a sitter, hollar. It's my favorite part of lambing.
ReplyDeleteSue, I'll bring him right over ;)
ReplyDeleteOn m way to WM to get diapers. If I have much more of this I'll be the one wearing em.
Lisa and Kasey,
ReplyDeleteWow. Sounds like you have quite alot going on since our visit to your farm! Well...the weather here is still Arizona weather. We have actually had rain which is abnormal.
Even though we only met for a short while I miss you guys... I hope to know more about our move date to Oklahoma this month!
Peace and love,
Arizona Mike and family...