Gus, Volunteer

Yesterday Gus and I got to make our first real visit as Hoffman Hospice volunteers. We met the client and the family in their home and Gus made sure to sit in front of everyone at least a couple of times. You know, spread the love. He was on his best behaviour and I was really proud of him.

Kim, the volunteer coordinator met us there. She always likes to go along on the first few visits with new volunteers, just to make sure things go as they should. She gave Gus his very own Hoffman Volunteer badge.

Afterwards we talked about trying to make arrangements for Gus to visit in a group facility as well. She said she met with some resistance from the facility manager because of prior disappointments with other groups of "therapy dogs". It seems the owners weren't as committed as had been hoped and appointments weren't kept, etc. Kim assured her that being registered with Therapy Dogs International as well as being a Hoffman Hospice volunteer that we were different. We go through a certain amount of testing and training before being accepted into the program. Not only that but unlike some of the other dogs we are fully insured against any possible visit related accident.

That info seemed to sway her to our favor and hopefully we'll be able to start scheduling regular visits there as well.

So that was our first experience with volunteering and the best news is that we were invited back. Of course! How could you not love Gus?

Perry's New Head Gear

Last week I ordered more raddle marker because I had run out. Raddle marker is a powder that comes in different colors. It gets mixed with mineral oil or vegetable oil to make a paste which is then smeared on the ram's chest. The idea is when the ram mounts a ewe for breeding, a color transfer occurs and that indicates that a ewe has been bred. Supposedly. The ewe's cycle every 16 days so if we change colors then and a ewe gets colored again, that means she didn't "catch" (get pregnant) that first time. We continue the cycle until the ewes don't get marked again. Hopefully then that means they are pregnant.

I also ordered a ram shield. This is a leather device that goes over the ram's head and blocks his forward vision. He can still see to the side, but not to the front, thus making it almost impossible for him to head butt, or ram the other sheep. He can still do everything he's supposed to do, just not ram. I didn't have a problem with him last year, but this year he's a little older, he's an experienced breeder now, and he apparently is feeling the need to show his dominance.

For some reason he particularly is taking it out on Baby. Maybe Perry is prejudiced. Baby is the only black faced ewe we have. The others are all white. Baby may be one of the largest ewes, but she is also one of the most human friendly, eagerly running up to anyone for a scratch behind the ears or hopefully, a handful of grain. When I saw him continuously after poor Baby, and she was actually gimping around the next day, I knew I had to do something drastic.

Baaad Boy Perry before...


...not so baaad now.

When I first put the device on him he seemed confused. The ewes all acted wierd towards him also. Several of them gave him a warning foot stomp.

What the...??
Hey girls, it's still me, your favorite Lover Boy!
Looks like Baby is thinking "I still don't trust him."

It'll take some adjustments on both their parts. Perry did manage to get the contraption off some time last night. That just meant I had to tighten the straps a little.

I don't think he likes me very much right now. Frankly I don't care. I know of someone who bought a very expensive ram (she paid $5,000!!!) and when put to some ewes he killed one of them with the head butting.

We'll see how this works for now. I say, better to be safe than sorry.

Blogroll Update

It's time for me to do a little updating.

Not much more than a year ago I had absolutely no interest in blogs or blogging. I knew basically what they were but didn't think I would find anything of interest to me. Boy was I wrong!

It all started when my sister, MT, told me I might be interested in a blog she reads regularly, Farmgirl Fare, who writes about her sheep farm and posts good, healthy recipes. Then she told me about a local lady, Roberta, who has a blog on Yahoo 360 called Life at a Boarding Stable. This was also of interest to me since she often talks about local goings on that I am familiar with. I wanted to leave Roberta a comment one day and found that unlike Blogspot, where one can leave a comment without logging into an account, I had to create an account with 360. I decided to do that and started my 360 blog with the idea that it would serve as a "for sale" site for my animals. I didn't like the idea of having an inactive blog for such long periods of time, so that site has evolved into a "Daily Photos From Around Our Farm." Well, almost daily.

Well, I got hooked. I'd always enjoyed writing and I thought "I can do that". I was excited about the prospect of practicing writing because in the back of my mind I thought I would some day like to turn all of my husband's funny police stories into a book. That thought is still in the back of my mind. It's one of those things I keep putting off out of fear (that it won't turn out like I hope it will).

I started my blog with a lot of long stories about how we acquired our various animals. The stories were accompanied with a few somewhat grainy photos. It was a learning process. Somewhere in the beginning Robbyn of The Back Forty found me and I've been reading her blog every day. Eventually she put me on her blogroll, a happy and unexpected honor. Note here that I'm #1 on her list. She says it's in no particular order of preference, so I just pretend it is!

Through Roberta's blog I was introduced to Ree, aka The Pioneer Woman, who writes Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. She is wildly popular and writes very amusing stories of her life on a gigantic working cattle ranch and matches them with beautiful photographs. Ree's photography brought out my latent desire to get back into photography. I soon bought a digital SLR and I love it. It really does most of the work for me.

From a comment on Confessions I found mappersnapper via The Park Wife. She was having a "name the photo" contest and though I'm not good at that sort of thing I took a stab at it. Turns out her son was the main judge and he liked my entry so I won! (Looking forward to that Starbucks card!) She is an accomplished photographer and I enjoy looking at her beautiful photos.

And finally another new addition to my blogroll is LOLCats 'N' Funny Pictures. Maybe I just have a strange sense of humor, but the pictures are funny to me. You need to learn "teh langwich of teh kittehs" though. You'll see what I mean.

I do have a couple of others that I read regularly, but I'm not going to post them on my blogroll because I'm trying to keep it at the very least "PG" rated.

Teaching A Calf To Lead

I feel it's a good idea to teach my calves to be led even though I never know where they are going to wind up. When a prospective buyer comes out to take a look and a previous calf he's looked at and my calf are equal in all other regards, it could be the deciding factor in the sale.

Now, admittedly, it's much easier for me to lead train than it would be for a larger operation. I'm sure they don't have the time and their sales volume is obviously going to be higher than mine. Currently I only have one cow and one bull, so you can see why there should be no excuse for me not to lead train my calves.

First of all I want to stress that I'm a total amateur. I'm not a professional trainer of anything and would never claim to be. Everything I've learned about raising sheep and cattle was self taught/learned, through books, or helpful hints from a vet, my daughter's 4-H leader, or people that I've bought or sold an animal to. I never had the experience of growing up on a farm or joining 4-H when I was a kid. I didn't even know what 4-H (or Future Farmers of America or any other such organization) was until my kids were in junior high.

You see, I grew up in a military family and consequently we moved frequently. So when we finally settled in California and I got married I knew my dream of owning a little farm had the possibility of materializing. My goal here is to help other beginners like myself make the learning process a little shorter and easier.

Anyway, to get back to the lesson. My first experience teaching an animal to lead was with horses. I had a mare that I bred about every four years and I used all the hints and tricks from a book about how to train horses. I used those same techniques to lead train my calves.

The cattle I have are Irish Dexter cattle. They aren't miniatures, but they are the smallest regular size breed of cattle. The average height is about 42" at the hip. When they are born they are about the size of a Labrador retriever. The first thing I do is put a halter on when the calf is about two days old. I found a nice "figure 8" halter that is actually made for goats (kids--baby goats), but it fits the newborn calf perfectly. Just make sure to check the halter at least weekly so it can be loosened as necessary.

I used to wait until the calf was weaned before I would start the actual leading process. But then a breeder friend from Nevada suggested starting when the calf was a couple of days old. Much easier to tug around 30 pounds of no brain calf than 100 pounds that has a mind of it's own. She was right and it's how I do it now. (Thanks, Debbie M.!)

First I get the calf separated from it's mom and dad and into a pen alone. If you know how to rope then you can catch it that way. I'm not so good with a lasso so I use my shepherd's crook to corner the calf and slowly creep up on it that way. I've found that if you are quiet and move slowly you will be less apt to freak the baby out and he will be more likely to stay put in a corner, thus making it easier to catch him.

Then I attach an 8 foot lead line to his halter. The first few times you will be actually dragging the little guy behind you. I like to pull (drag), stop for a second to see if he'll take a step, and repeat all the way around the pen. I do this in both directions. If you're like me you won't want to wear your good sneakers while you do this. Sturdy work boots are the recommended foot wear in the cow pen. You want to keep your lessons short. I always try to end each lesson on a positive note. At first the mother is running around the perimeter of the pen and the baby usually does much better going towards the mother. Then I will crouch down next to him and pat and rub him all over and tell him what a good boy he was. At first he continuously pulls back on the rope. The second he relaxes I will release him and open the gate so mom and baby can reunite. It's best if you can do the lessons every day. I'm a little on the lazy side so I do it more like every few days. So first it's tug, tug, tug, keeping the line taut, but giving the opportunity to allow him to loosen the pressure himself by taking a step on his own. When that happens, stop immediately and give lots of praise. Kind of like dog training.

When the calf starts getting bigger and harder to pull there are a few tricks you can do to make it easier. The first is to loop the end around his back side, keeping the snap attached to the halter. Now you tug the halter and if he doesn't step up apply pressure to the looped end. The first time you do this he may leap forward so be prepared.

I usually do this using both hands. I'm standing on the calf's left side (he's on my right). My right hand is holding the back end loop and my left hand is holding the part of the lead attached to the halter. In the picture below the rope is in the right position, but I'd be holding it with my right hand and have it a little more closed over his back. It's hard to take pictures with one hand while I'm doing something with the other. (Next time I'll bribe somebody to help me out with the demo.)

Another method is to snap the rope onto itself and have that loop going around the calf behind his shoulders, then coming through the front legs, then through the halter ring. The idea behind this method is when you pull on the rope it will put pressure on the calf. He's supposed to take a step forward to relieve the pressure. He'll have to follow the rope because it's through the halter ring (see picture below).

At first the calf may totally collapse like a spoiled child in the candy aisle at the grocery store. It's important to stay calm. Merely pick him back up and reposition the rope and continue. This particular calf is very smart. He already knows the early basics and I think he's caught on that when he takes a few steps without me tugging he will be released to rejoin his parents very soon. I can walk about 1/3 of the way around the pen without him or me pulling. He's still not crazy about me putting my hands all over him, but that helps for later on when they are big. After a while they get to liking when you scratch that spot on the neck, or that spot over the tail.

Once the calf has learned to lead half way decently I teach him to stay tied at the fence. This is a little easier since he should have learned not to pull against the rope. I'll tie him fairly short (less than 1 foot) to the fence. This is so if he suddenly bolts he won't snap his neck at the end of a long lead. I'll do the hands on routine, rubbing his body, head, neck, legs, etc. until he relaxes. He might have his head still stretched out a little, but if he relaxes I'll let the rope out a little. Eventually they catch on and realize it's not such a bad gig after all.

The interesting thing to me is that once they've been weaned, they seem to progress by leaps and bounds. They are no longer distracted by Mom and if they've learned to eat grain, then they learn to look forward to you giving them a treat when they are done with their lesson. They've learned from an early age to stay quiet and follow the lead and become much easier and safer to handle.