Spring planting May 20, 2012

Just like the song goes, “It’s been a long time, been a long time Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time Yes, it has”  Perhaps not so lonely as long but we all get the point.  After several kind words of encouragement and not so under that table hints from Father and Brother, I am once again trying to get into the swing of things.  Not that there hasn’t been things to do, for sure, but as we all know, with Spring comes new and refreshing ideas and work.  With the sheep out to pasture and looking and feeling as sassy as ever, according to some accounts of the St Croix Breeders Association,(the May news letter alluded to how St. Croix are supposed to be somewhat thin, that they may tend to carry too much fat around organs at times which will lead to low birth weights, I get this, but….) some may even border on ‘obese’.  Well, pishhht, I say to that, they look beautiful to me!  Anytime you have an animal that can and does fill out her hips, has a shine in her eye, and enough energy to bounce around a hay bale just for the sheer joy of it, she is doing AOK in my eyes!    So that leaves it garden season in Holland Michigan at DeVries Farms.  Father has acknowledged that perhaps only 200 pounds of potatoes this year will suffice, yes, this is a cut back of momentous proportions over the last few years.  Every guy has his secrets, and Father’s is potatoes.     He loves his 50# bags of gold potatoes, like a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow.  I can’t and won’t complain though, I did finagle my red and blue ‘tators into that group, and of course some Austrian crescent finger-lings, even a leprechaun likes fingerling potatoes. 

The weather was perfect for planting peas, and so in went rows of peas, now standing bright and green along the fresh tilled, still waiting for potato plants soil.  Looking, neat and fresh, no real weeds yet, waiting for the first blossems and promises of fresh happiness breaking on out tongues.  mmmm… 

And since it is so nice, the field corn has been planted, things are drying out, soil is the right tempurature, sun, rain, et tal, Father pulls out the sweet corn for the season.  What is unique about this though, is that DeVries Farms works with DeBruyn Seed in Zeeland as a plot crop partner.  So at this time there are 4 new brands of corn planted in Holland Michigan that are not even on the market yet.  Pretty cool!  Or so I thought until it came out that all the corn was 72 day, and there is 4# of it planted!  Oops!  Somebody got a little ahead of themselves that day!   I just have to say I will have to get my freezing and canning game on those couple of days! 

No matter what or how much you are planting this spring, just get out there and enjoy it!  Happy Planting!

Farmville we are not February 29, 2012

Spreading the love!

I recall a woman asking me once if we stayed busy in the winter too, or if we just took it off.  While in Farmville things may seem that way, in Louie-Land all is not so.  I did my best not to laugh at her, and answered her question as best I could.  Yes, we continue activities throughout the winter, if it’s raining, we find inside stuff to do, if it isn’t snowing or too wet, outside activities will ensue.  So what exactly have we been up to?  The weather has been cooperative for the most part, (the big ice storm we were supposed to get last night missed us entirely) so we have been keeping busy clearing out the pens.  Some are considerably higher than others, so we made sure to hit those first.  Blessings were upon us as we had sun to work in, (don’t tell but I took my coat off!) the ground wasn’t too wet, and the spreader worked without a hitch.

 

 

Several loads later we called it quits for the day.  We must be getting soft in our old age, I remember being able to do this all day!!  J  Next on the to-do list, was to see if we could corral a couple of sheep and get their hooves trimmed.  Sneaky as we are, Father and I decided the best course of action was the bait and grab!  Just like it sounds, we bring in our ally, grain.  While the sheep eat, we each pick out an animal to work on and grab them.  Pretty easy on a good day, on those other days, well…..

 

hoof trimming

Luckily for us, it was a good day!  Admittedly after the first round of grabbing, the sheep are smart enough to catch on and no matter how much grain is there, they really tend to steer clear of us!  Trimming hoofs is not painful (to the sheep, to us sometimes it takes us a bit longer to straighten up) it is just like humans trimming their toenails.  No pain unless you trim too far down.  The goal of trimming should be to get the bottom of the foot to match the angle of the coronary band.  (The Coronary band is the soft skin that the animals hoof grows from, like the cuticles on our fingers.) Trimming the hooves of a large number of sheep/goats can be stressful. Under such circumstances, appropriate trimming tools are essential to do the job properly and easily. Any type of tool can be used as long as it gets the job done. A sharp knife can be used for hoof trimming, but requires harder work than using hoof trimmers meant for the job. Using a knife is also more dangerous for both the animal and operator. Hoof trimming tools come in many shapes and designs. There are manual trimmers, these are generally not expensive and make the task much easier. Air compressor driven shears are an option if a very large number of sheep are to be trimmed but be prepared to shell out some bucks.  The first step to trimming is to catch and secure the animal.  For those with larger herds, a catch pen and squeeze table are a great addition to trimming arsenal.  Securely hold the leg of the animal, inspect and remove any mud, manure, or small stones between the walls of the hoof. Clean all the junk and crud out of the hoof using a knife or the point of the shears. After cleaning the hoof, begin trimming around the perimeter of the hoof.

Avoid cutting off large chunks of hoof. Stop at the first sign of pinkness. A pink color means you are getting close to the foot blood supply. The foot should be trimmed from the heel to the toe to remove excess growth of the “horny” portion of the hoof. To learn what a properly trimmed hoof look like, study the feet of a newborn lamb. Its hooves are flat on the bottom and have a boxy look.

 

This picture shows the various parts of the hoof on the bottom of the foot. A) identifies the heel regions of the foot. B) shows the toe region on a claw that has not been trimmed. C) identifies the outside hoof wall, and D) indicates fresh sole after being trimmed.

After trimming the hooves, let the sheep back up, they will then usually give you an unthankful and indignant look before getting back to the usual business of chewing the grass. They may seem to limp off a little, if you have been overly zealous with the trimmers, just keep an eye on this it should improve over the next day or two; if not carefully re-inspect the sheep’s feet to make sure that it is not becoming infected.  As with anything new sheep foot trimming seems a daunting task at first but, like all things, it does get easier and quicker the more you do it.

 

Regular hoof trimming is an essential part of raising small ruminants. Depending on the environment the sheep live in and the diet they are fed, some animals require that their feet be trimmed every 6 weeks to 2 months. A minimum of 2-3 times a year is essential for almost all animals no matter their diet or environment. Animals that are fed a high energy and protein diet tend to have hooves that grow more rapidly. Animals that have access to hard surfaces and play areas will naturally wear down the hoof and require less frequent trimmings.

 

 

 

‘Ol Man Winter is ahuffin’ and apuffin’ January 20, 2012

I finally got a pic of the chicks!

Oakcrest chillin’ in the sun

Wow! What a turnaround it has been this past week! Last week it was warm and sunny enough to work outside with just a sweatshirt, B-e-a-utiful! This week NO WAY!!!! I heard reports that last night, the weather in Nome Alaska was warmer than here in Holland Michigan which sat at a -1degree. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Luckily, during our warm spell we got a lot of the pre-winter projects completed. To the dismay of our herd, we pulled the portable fences in and have those neatly rolled and stored for the winter. We like to keep the ewes close to the barn during baby season. Well, that is what Father tells me but I am thinking that he has ulterior motives, now that the snow is here the evidence is clear. I have noticed several tracks out back that looks as if someone is having a mighty fine time in his truck… boys will be boys, just sayin’…. J Our babies are coming in quickly now, we are up to 16 in the last week. Dora gave birth to triplets but unfortunately only one survived. Our opinion is that it was too cold and she couldn’t keep up as they were fully formed but still wet. The remaining babe, a little boy, is doing just fine and Dora is being the great mother she is while relishing her perks reserved for new mama’s at DeVries Farms.

The little ones born on Christmas, are becoming quite curious and more often than not we find them out of the pen rather than in. This is a new adventure for them starting this week. We have converted a horse stall into a nursery and these guys have found that they can easily squeeze through the gate slats. We put a bale of straw in front of it and low and behold, those little fellows figured out if they could climb that straw bale, they could STILL squeeze through. So sure enough, coming into the barn this morning there are 4 little ones racing around having a hi-ol’ time! Granted, sheep having the run of the barn is not a new thing at our place. We have Oakcrest, our resident runt, (but I would never tell her that to her face!) who has free reign of the farm. Oakie is a yearling who just has never really gained weight and always seemed to be anemic looking. We have checked her for worms and even chose to worm her a couple of times just to make sure, but she really just never has beefed up. When she became so weak that she was unable to walk inside during a rain, we segregated her outside of the pens hoping she would build up some strength. Here we are almost 10 months later and she never made it back into the pens. Father likes to call her our barn pet. Nothing fazes her, she is the most laid back sheep I have ever had the pleasure of knowing! (I should take some pointers from her) One of her favorite past times is checking the weather on the iphone with Dad. He will sit on a straw bale and she comes right on over and noses in until she can have a look at the iphone too! It is quite a scene let me tell ya! Haha! It’s crazy! Perhaps someday she will be the first ever Weather sheep. And here is your weather report by Oakcrest the sheep…. “Due to snow on the way, the commute home will be a baaaaaaaaaad one! There will be patches of sheep, oh I mean deep snow so make sure ewe use caution when driving.” J

Majestic hamming it up

Weather Permitting December 30, 2011

Hope everyone has had a great holiday thus far, now that the big day is over it is life back to, giggle, normal.  Here it is December 30th and the only precipitation that we have had thus far is rain.  Ok, maybe a little snow here and there, but most of the white stuff has gone either North or South of us leaving us to toil in the mud of December.   The big news is that our second batch of babies are starting to arrive!  We had one Christmas Eve, and a set of twins on Christmas!  Bravo!  The heat lamps are set up and the Mama’s are getting their extra treats of grain. We have also had a surprise hatch of chicks.  We have six of them ranging in size from Gigantor (HUGE!) to Peeps (little).  I would love to include a photo but they are whiley buggers and are extremely camera shy!!  Other than that, we have racheted down a titch around the farm and are just doing some up-keep things.   Father and I spend our day trying to keep the back of the barn footing area dry and the water troughs full.  Kind of an oxymoron if you think about it……    We are thankful the weather has been permitting, we still have use of the pump out of the creek to water the animals and another plus is that they are still finding yummers out in the pasture.   Then there is the obvious, everything is a lot easier without a foot or more of the white stuff!! 

Ramming Around November 19, 2011

Whew! Sometimes the simplest ideas turn out to be more than you bargain for! It was that time, once again, to remove the ram from the ewe pen. Is it me or are they always happier to go INTO the pen than out?! They aren’t stupid!! What I thought would be a quick mission turned out to almost be Mission Impossible 4. Skittles, was the ram in question today. He is by far our most wily guy. If I had to throw out a song to serenade him it would most definitely be ‘Insane in the Membrane, insane in the brain!’. With his girls, this guy is all sorts of crazy!!

The ram is the most important animal in the flock and unfortunately for him, often the most neglected. Genetically speaking not only does the he contribute half of the genes, his ability as a breeder can go a long way. Several factors determine when a ram will reach maturity; they fall into three categories, genes, nutrition, and breed. Hair breeds reach maturity before wool breeds, and obviously a higher rate of nutrition will result in quicker maturation.

The breeding process isn’t all love and romance; it takes a toll on the ram. An active ram may loose up to 15% of their beginning body weight during breeding. Therefore, it makes sense to put a well nourished ram into the herd rather than not. As far as ram lambs go, although a 5 month old will settle some ewes, if you can wait until they are 8 months old and at least 50% of their mature body weight (or so, use discretion) the results will be much more positive.

The Rams

You will notice with younger lambs, head butting is a form of play. If you push against their head they will push back. Play it safe and don’t encourage this behavior because as they get older, this may cause unwanted injuries not within the herd, but YOU! I know this for fact, for whatever reason it occurs, there is one ram, Snahn, who is notorious on DeVries Farms for butting you from behind. You never know its coming till he gets ya! I have to admit that it was well worth the hit as Father quickly jumped on his back and in essence ‘mutton busted’. Soon Snahn tired and laid down with Father still on top establishing his dominance. I have to admit, I don’t know whose face was more fun to watch, the ram or Father’s, both were pretty funny!! (I am positive Snahn’s hit wasn’t a malicious action, I believe he just wants attention and a treat!) On occasion, the rams will get violent with each other. This is the natural way of things to reinstate the pecking order. Each animal has an order in the flock and when things are shook up, such as placing the removed ram back into the ram pen, the order is in jeopardy and needs to be re-established. There is no sure fire way to stop this, but if you go to the following link, there are several very good options: http://www.sheepmagazine.com/issues/25/25-3/Laurie_Ball-Gisch.html

Remember how important your rams are to your flock. You don’t have to be their ‘besties’ as the kids say, but treat them with the respect they deserve. As they go, rams can be quite charming, although, they also can be a pain in the butt…… ha-ha, get it?!

The Gorilla and other fall projects November 5, 2011

Getting ready for the cooler months always involves a plethora (that is SO my favorite word!!) of different jobs ranging from large to small. Some become a nemesis and others, well those aren’t so bad. The main project we are working on is a cover for the grain wagon. The past couple of years we have tried alternative methods to keep the grain wagon free of h20 whether it comes from rain, sleet, or snow. This year we are trying our hands at a homemade hoop barn. Although the tarp is new we tried to utilize as much of the barn as possible from recycled materials. Reduce, reuse, and recycle are big for the moment, and always helpful on the check book. We got metal ‘ribs’ from an old green house, we used slats from an old snow fence to anchor the tarp, and have also requisitioned wood from an old deck. The only supplies we needed to purchase were metal brackets and a tarp. Working off of the blueprints in Father’s head, we got to work. It has been a task let me tell you, yes, this was the afore mentioned monster project. I am not totally sure why he and I never liked each other but (I call it Gorilla but only behind Father’s back!) Gorilla and I have finally found a common ground I believe. Well, at least he didn’t have me on my knees this week and that is progress. Although gorillas in general are peaceful animals if challenged they will stand strong. Hopefully Gorilla will serve and protect with ferocity befitting the name of a silverback!

My nemisis, Gorilla

A less touchy project that we completed this week was getting the small goat coop made of cattle panels and a tarp, up and running full tilt again. In August we had a terrible wind storm and it blew our homemade shelter a titch off kilter. Father maintains that it was all wind but there were a couple of times that I caught the little goats walking on the topside of their place! At any rate, bending the cattle panels back into shape and with some more recycled deck wood, we braced it up into its full and upright position. It is now ready for business again!

Lessons November 2, 2011

And a long day was had by all. Yup, that sums up how yesterday went. Although it seems as though we started sheep at DeVries Farms just yesterday, we have been in business for quite a time yet. Hmm, 11 years perhaps, maybe more? At any rate, some days the decisions don’t come easy. There are so many quips to keep one’s conscience at ease, “Step over the dead ones to get to the live ones.” Or Father’s favorite, “There’s no such thing as a sick sheep, they are either healthy or dead.” Unfortunately yesterday required one of those tough decisions. Fancy Pants, a first year breed ewe, was obviously having issues. Around three weeks ago we found Fancy in the field suffering from a condition known as vaginal prolapse. As it sounds, this is when the internal vaginal region protrudes to the outside of the ewe. Most often the condition announces itself in the last month of pregnancy or shortly after lambing. There are several hypotheses that come to mind that result in this situation. The main factor would be some sort of hormonal or metabolic imbalance. I believe this to be the cause of Fancy Pant’s. As procedure dictates, we encouraged the mass back into the ewe. Crazy as it sounds, and honestly I didn’t believe it the when Father told me to go get the sugar. Sugar? Wha…? O….k….. I have to admit, even after seeing it, I still didn’t believe it. So keeping quiet and hopping online later I checked it out. Sure enough putting regular granulated sugar on the exposed area will begin to remove moisture from the prolapse, helping it to shrink wherein you then gently force the mass back into position. After getting proper positioning, a harness is positioned on the ewe for the remainder of her pregnancy.

Fancy Pants in her harness

This weekend, Fancy Pants had a healthy baby boy, Hulk. After two days, Fancy showed signs of declining health. After much debate, I made the call to put her down. She was not responding to much of anything. She exhibited symptoms I had never seen before, her eyes seem to have begun to roll back in her head, she wasn’t blind but you could see when she turned her head, her eyes would ‘ratchet’ around. She kept her appetite but was unable to stand, her legs were stiff and she would fall over with the legs sticking straight out. It was a sad case to see, even worse to make the decision on how to proceed. After consulting with family friend and veterinarian Jan Meeuwsen, we came to the conclusion that sweet Fancy Pants was suffering from parturient paresis or as it is most commonly known, Milk Fever. Milk Fever is a disorder characterized by abnormally low levels of calcium in the blood (hypocalcemia). It occurs in ewes most commonly within three days after they have lambed, at a time when the ewe’s production of milk has put a severe strain on its calcium stores. Proper dietary management will prevent most cases of milk fever. This generally involves close attention to mineral and fiber levels in the pre-lambing diet as well as improving ewe comfort to eliminate other problems that may interfere with appetite and so trigger hypocalcaemia.

Unfortunately for Fancy I didn’t put two and two together soon enough. After much deliberation I made the decision to have her put down. There have been several occasions where when I think I am benefitting the animal, nursing it, when that only prolongs their suffering. Not willing to go that route again, Fancy was humanely euthanized. Hulk is doing well; he is bumping around and has a voracious appetite. I was hoping Smiley would take him on, as initially he grabbed a few drinks from her, but this morning showed me that it was not going to happen. Smiley was on to him and made sure to butt him away when he tried any of his hi-jinks. Thank-you Fancy Pants, ya done good! Enjoy your new life over the rainbow bridge.

Lazy Blog Day October 24, 2011

I ran across this article from Premiere One and thought it would be a great source of information for others out there interested in sheep.  Stan Potratz, the owner of Premiere One, went on tour to Scotland and England this last June. He has farmed in the UK for 11 years and has traveled there for 40 years. He has provided in-depth insights about British agriculture and adds his always colorful and informative narrative of the British countryside & culture. Ok, and one of the real reasons I included this is that Father is an avid fan and reads my blogs with regularity, and Christmas is coming up….  (Check out the first picture Dad!!!  I have been a good girl this year!)  Enjoy the following all:

Surprising insights from a study-tour of French sheep farms

A coach-load of US sheep folks toured French sheep farms in September. It included a full day at Tech-Ovin (a biennial French one-day event that brings together the latest sheep industry ideas and equipment).I’m still trying to analyze what we saw and that which we “heard”.  The hearing was difficult because our translator/guide chose not to bring along a megaphone so it was hard to hear him consistently.In a nutshell?

1.	We visited 2 meat sheep farms, 1 dairy sheep farm (supplies the Roquefort cheese market), 1 dairy goat farm and 1 meat/wool farm. The latter was a case of chance and circumstance that occurred because it had a farm restaurant—that served us some of the best lamb I’ve ever encountered.
2.	All except one had over 1000 ewes or dairy goats.  Obviously we didn’t expect to be taken to the smallest sheep farm. Nonetheless the scale of the operations was a surprise.
All Terrain material handler. Common tool on European livestock farms.
Manure spreader on the dairy goat farm.
3.	All had a stunning amount of equipment including many tractors (latest), TMR (total mixed ration) wagons, huge manure spreaders, big square balers, heavy duty all-terrain material handlers, etc.
Lacaune dairy sheep – feeding from a conveyor with mechanized mangers on each side.
Feeding by conveyor. Note mechanized mangers again.
4.	All had an equally stunning array of large barns-with automated feeders (2 fed grain with overhead robots that moved on long support pipes), in-barn hay-dryers that produced very high quality alfalfa hay, powered feed conveyors and mechanized manger feeding stations for 1000′s of animals.
5.	Most of the places visited (75%) were seriously expanding—while the French sheep industry, according to InterBev (France’s Meat and Livestock Assoc.), is shrinking—15% over last 10 years. The dichotomy puzzles. I sense the large are getting larger and the smaller operations are exiting.
6.	Several used sponges for synchronized breeding and artificial insemination (with fresh semen) – on 1000′s of ewes and/or goats per year. The cost/head was much less than in the USA.
7.	We visited the largest French live sheep market (in Requista). It was very modern. But there was no auctioneer. Instead a bell sounds for a given class of sheep (light lambs, export lambs, ewes) and the seller walks to the front of his sheep pens. The buyers meet them there, brief man-to-man negotiations occur and it’s over—in less than 15 minutes.
8.	No (that we could see) sheep handling yards. I suspect they rely on mechanized mangers to restrain the adult animals but I cannot be sure as that question wasn’t, to my knowledge asked.
9.	The dairy sheep (Lacaune) farm synchronized the breeding (AI) and the ewes lambed together in groups of 20. But there were no individual lambing jugs. I still marvel at that. They said it worked well. The lambs are weaned at 35 days and the ewes milked thereafter. (I think the latter was true but again, cannot be sure as it a was a large group with a less than wonderful translator.)
10.	Aseasonal breeds appeared to be common. So lambing occurs throughout the year (3 in 2 yrs, 4 in 3 yrs, etc). Perhaps the resulting increased productivity per ewe explains/supports the extra buildings and equipment?
11.	Not many of the lambs are pastured prior to slaughter. Most are kept inside and sold before they reach 80 lbs live-weight (some at 40-50 lbs).
12.	Terminal sire breeds must produce lambs with saleable cuts with a high meat to bone ratio at an early age and low carcass weight.  (Berrichon du Cher, Ile de France, etc.)
13.	Compared to the USA there is both more regulation and more technical support from the French govt. and regional organizations for the sheep industry.
Caussenard ewes.
Read more about Caussenard sheep »
14.	I include a pdf that you may download if you wish that provides yet more detail. It’s a snapshot of one of several regional organizations.

The tour left we US folks with these questions.

1.	How do the French sheep farmers afford all that equipment—far more than we US folks can afford? (We joked among ourselves that they have a tractor for every 25 ewes.) Best-guesses? • Unlike US sheep producers the French have received decades of useful govt. subsidies—often amounting to over 33% of the annual “sheep income”. Until recently these subsidies were based on euros per head—which is significant incentive to keep smaller ewes. • The market for lamb and sheep milk is more stable than in the USA. So sheep farmers are able to make long-term investments. • Both farm equipment and buildings can be fully expensed against taxes in the year of purchase. This policy (recently true in the USA) is a significant advantage to the profitable farms and/or those with off-farm taxable income—but it puts cash-poor new and/or smaller sheep farmers at a comparative disadvantage.
2.	Why have most USA efforts at intensive sheep production similar to the French been failures?
3.	Why do the French sheep and dairy goat farmers, unlike those anywhere else I’ve visited (UK, N. Zealand, Australia, Mexico, USA, Germany) so often feed sheep with mechanized mangers (see photos above)? It’s a notable extra investment so they must save feed and make sheep handling easier.
4.	Has anyone in the USA studied the Caussenard breed closely? No one on the trip had heard of it. Yes the wool is of no value (due to kemp)—but it has many characteristics that might be useful—can be raised indoors or out, relaxed temperament, reasonable frame, thrives on low-quality feed, aseasonal ovulation.

Overall conclusion? It merits a second visit to some of the same farms—this time with more time at each stop and a much better translator.

Best Wishes To You All,

Stan Potratz, Owner

Tag you’re it! October 22, 2011

It has been a busy week of trying to account for and tag 20 little ones. Not something that we really enjoy doing, but something that must be done nonetheless. During one episode of tagging, a friend who was stopping by, asked, “Wow, does that hurt them?” Although I thought this ironic due to the fact I had just read an article about the humaneness of tagging animals. According to leading veterinarians, tagging an animal is similar to us piercing our ears. Anyone who has had that done understands that it is the noise, not the actual piercings that is startling. I myself have four holes in my ears and well, let’s just say that the stupidity of youth got the best of me at one time and I at one time had another piercing that wasn’t in an ear….

Who?! What?! When?! Where?! Tagging as a lamb is much easier than a full grown sheep since lambs tend to heal a lot quicker than older sheep. There are several ways an ear tag can help you. They can indicate sex, years of birth, sire/dam, problems, and single, twin, or triplet babies. At De Vries Farms, we have chosen to utilize our tags to identify sex, and birth date. Using different colors to indicate sex allows for rapid sorting. We categorize our sheep into three classes, male, female, and registered. We always tag in the right ear, using yellow for males, orange for females, and green for registered. A famer may utilize tags two ways as far as birth date. One can use a different color for each year, or number the ID tags with the digits of birth, i.e., tag 7275 designates that the lamb was the 275^th in the year 2007. On these tags, be sure to use a specialized ink marker. Nope, Sharpies won’t work; I found that out the hard way when trying to skip a run to the store. Sharpie is synonymous with permanent yes? Sadly, no, after a month I had several sheep with blank tags. Father said again just yesterday that farmers are always in a hurry, well if that is you and you don’t have time to check records for breeding decisions, tagging to show sire/dam is the way to go for you. Use a different color secondary tag for each. You would use the same procedure if you were interested in showing if the lamb were a single, double or triple. Can I have a HOME RUN HERE!? Oh sorry ’bout that, I just got a little carried away there! Problem animals are best tagged (most farmers use a black tag) to allow for rapid or positive culling procedures. These would be animals that have genetic issues such as prolapsed or dystocia. (You could also notch those ears)

As I stated before, about three weeks old is the best time to tag. You will want to place the tags in either one of two places. Choose the top or bottom of the ear, you want to avoid the large vein that runs down the middle of the length of the ear, the resulting injury will heal slowly, and is more prone to blood infections. Also, insert the tag midway between the skull and tip of the ear. Too close to the tips of the ear and the tag will rip out easily, too close to the skull will result in the likelihood of infection. Why you ask? The tissue around the skull is thicker and the wound less able to heal due to not having proper air circulation to dry out. Be careful that your animals avoid low fiber diets, sheep specifically, will start chewing tags. Desperate to chew, when one finds out about this goodie, others are quick to follow and they will eventually pull all their tags out.

Again, the main concern when tagging is infection. I have read that the best time to tag is in the cooler months. The cold all but terminates the bug, bacteria, and fungus issues resulting in clean and speedy healing options for your animals. Don’t fear the process; although some believe it to be arcane, it is quick and easy for both you and the animal. Be sure to figure out which system you want to use and stick with it. Good luck and TAG, you’re it! J

 

The Babysitter

 

Tractor Troubles October 18, 2011

Hmmmmm; Bridge=16' wide, Combine=161/2' wide............

Therein lies the problem.  Here is the aforementioned combine issue that I was talking about!  But, due to the great driving abilities of Pilot Rex, everything turned out AOK!  How did we not know you ask, well boys and their toys is the answer!  What do they want?  They want everything biiiiig-gerrrrr! The 2010 season wasn’t an issue as the big green toy was a titch smaller than the new baby this year.  If I remember correctly the combine head itself is 21 feet wide, and does 8 rows at a time.  Up in Michigan here, things were awfully damp, ok, let’s face it, down right swamped, in the spring when all this corn went in.  Luckily, our fields had decent drainage and the tractors were able to get in before most others.  The fields at De Vries Farms were the first to come off as far as corn harvesting.  Beans, oh, do I dare mention beans?  The bean head for this here Deer, well, after 5 days of ownership, is up a maple tree.    Yikes!  Yes, you read that correctly, up a maple tree.  Sad to say, when things go wrong on the farm they tend to go wrong BIG.  During transport the trailer upon which the bean head was riding on, became unhooked and went off-road and into a maple tree resulting in a total loss.  Thankfully, Fillmore Equipment had a replacement so the beans are still being taken.    Whew!

Lambing is slowing down some, we are up to 20 as of this morning and believe that we are about finished for another 6 weeks.  Then again, we thought that 4 lambs ago!  Le-Le and Roller Skate each have had a set of twins since we thought things were going to quiet down.  Both are good mothers, and the lambs although always looking so small when compared to the lambs 2 weeks ago, are up and around too.