Full Udders

I know everyone is just dying to see this, so here goes.

As I mentioned earlier I'm not milking Baby anymore because she is putting all her energy into making milk. Her thinness alarmed me and so I stopped milking and graining her. It's kind of a catch-22 situation, where if I give her grain to fatten her, it will make her keep producing milk. And that's what I don't want because she won't gain any weight.

Well I did ask the vet at the Ewephoric! web site about this. The Ewephoric! people are where we got Jamie. The answer was that if Baby is on good hay and wormed properly she will eventually dry up and start gaining weight. So that put my mind at ease.

Here you can see Baby's udder is full of milk. It must be a bit uncomfortable. So dry up already!!

And here are just a few before and after photos.

Jamie prior to milking. The left side is done.
And here her right side is done.

Production is slowing down overall. I'm not milking Ewenice anymore either because I was only getting approximately less than one cup for morning and evening milkings. I tried once a day but she appears to be drying up rather quickly. I'm still getting about 1 1/2 cups out of Francine once a day (mornings) so I'm still milking her. 3of4 gives me about 2 cups morning and evening and her mother, Jamie is the top producer with 4 to 5 cups morning and evening. That's not really disappointing at all because these aren't real dairy sheep.

The vet advised that Baby probably wouldn't cycle until she was dried up but the Dorsets, known for "out of season" breeding will probably start cycling again even though they are still lactating. He said I could put the ram with the ewes in September, so that's what I'm going to do. We'll see what happens.

I got my check from the auction yard for the lambs. They didn't all go for the same price, which I figured the smaller ones would get less. But anyway the good news is I got enough, even after the yard took their fees, to buy a couple tons of hay. Of course that money is going in my "secret stash" which I use for dire emergencies (like when we needed cash to buy Clyde) and little trips (like the one my mil and sil's and I are planning for sometime this fall). Or maybe buying a real dairy sheep? I highly recommend having a secret stash. My husband always forgets about it and... Well that's a whole 'nuther subject.

I just know you all wanted to see the back end of a sheep, so there you have it.

Where's The Baby?

Today we will play a game I call "Where's The Baby?" The object, obviously, is to find the baby hidden in the pictures below.

Have fun!

PS- If you are not familiar with the LOLCats site this won't make sense, but I like to call the first picture "Baby walker, ur doin' it wrong!"

What's Going On?

I was trying to post some funny baby pictures but I can't seem to load any pictures at all right now. Maybe tomorrow? It keeps telling me "unable to upload photos due to internal error" whatever that means.

In lieu of the photos I'll fill you in on the weekend happenings (whoo hoo!).

Saturday morning Wil left to go to Shaver Lake with his friends from down the street and their family. He'll be gone for a week.

Saturday afternoon Carli and Marcus went to LA so Carli could take a test to become a "Registered Dental Assistant". The test was at 5:30 in the morning on Sunday. Ugh. We had the baby for the night. Carli wasn't too optimistic about the results of her test. It was a practical test and she said she tried making the mold about six times and it kept breaking in the exact same spot. Finally she was running out of time so she fixed one up as best she could and turned it in before she ran out of time all together. She should find out the results in a few weeks. If she didn't pass she can retake the exam in October. Oh well, even attorneys don't all pass the bar exam on their first try.

Four more days until the Olympics. I'm sure I'll be watching a lot of that.

Five more days until my oldest teenager is no longer a teenager.

I'll try again with the photos tomorrow. Hope it works!

The Lambs Are Gone

Yesterday I took the lambs to the auction. Maybe I should have waited a little longer. Maybe the little flyers I made and posted at the feed stores were too little. Nobody called. I don't know. But I do know I was having to feed them too much and it was going to "eat into" my profits, if you can call it that. Is there such a thing as a negative profit? Well let me put it this way: I didn't want to have to lose more money on the lambs. That's how it is in the business world, right?

Since I started reporting to IRS about our "farm" I have yet to make a true profit. I'm not complaining, mind you, and our tax guy said if it hadn't been for the write offs associated with the farm we would have had to pay a load of money. I've always said I do it more for the enjoyment of working with the animals anyway and that is the honest truth.

I pried my son away from his on-line computer game and made him help me catch and load the lambs. I told him he could drive so I wouldn't have to go alone (and he could help me again if needed.)

Here's a view of the lambs from inside the truck.
We got to the auction yard and unloaded the seven lambs with the help of two boys who were working there for just that purpose. While I was waiting to give my information I was talking with three older gentleman that were sitting there shooting the breeze.

"Did you raise those lambs?" one old man asked me.

"Yes, I did."

"Those are some nice looking lambs!"

"Why, thank you!"

He continued, "You should be able to get 15 or 20 dollars a head for those."

I was taken aback a bit but I covered my disappointment. "Well, that would be okay."

Another of the men chimed in, "Did you tell her 15 or 20? She should be able to get at least twice that for those lambs!"

The first guy laughed. "Oh, I was just kidding with her." He turned back to me and said, "Those are some of the best lambs I've ever seen come through here. You'll do allright!"

"Thank you."

I won't find out how I did until next week. Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Have a good weekend!!