Breeding Out of Season and Farm Tours

This year we are doing something different for the first time in regards to breeding. Or at least it is my first time. Farm Girl has done this procedure many times at work. We are attempting to breed our ewes out of season with the use of CIDR's and PMSG. We've bred ewes out of season before with our Katahdin flock but they are year round breeders so didn't require any help. This flock however, are a commercial flock and though several are crossed with Dorset or are pure Dorset, which are also known for their prolific lambing and out of season breeding, we decided it was best to CIDR them all.

What is CIDRing you ask? Good question. Before Farm Girl started working at her job, I had never heard of it before myself. It stands for Controlled Intravaginal Drug Release. Basically, it is the process of withholding a ewe's heat cycle in order to synchronize estrus cycles in the entire flock. Hence, we will have lambing over a day or two as opposed to weeks or months.

First step is to corral the flock and send them through a chute where they get inserted with a T-shaped plug that kind of reminds me of a tampon.

As we don't have any proper handling equipment, we had to fashion something out of materials we did have.

It worked decent enough but I was left to herd them forward from the behind, which most of them didn't appreciate. Farm Girl was up front and in charge of inserting the CIDR's while Farm Boy handled the release gate.

After inserting a select group of 8 ewes we waited 12 days and then pulled the CIDR's out before injecting them with PMSG which is an injection to help stimulate the ovaries and fertilization and (hopefully) produce more multiple births. We introduced the ram 24 hours later and then repeated the procedure again the next day with another 8 ewes per ram, and then once again the day after that until all ewes were impregnated. By doing this, we are giving the ram less ewes to have to work with and a chance to rest in between each breeding. We fastened a breeding harness on the rams and then left him in with the ewes for a week.

Marked butts indicate he had serviced them.

Now it is just a waiting game. They say that the best you can hope for in an off-season breeding schedule is a 75% success rate. That was news to me. Disappointing news. I have the year all planned out and budgeted for, and a 75% lamb crop at the end of the year was not in the plans.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed or discouraged and think about throwing in the towel. Thankfully, Farm Girl prevents me from following through with that. I know it takes time and perseverance but I allow the stress of it all to take over. Then I hear someone's farm story and their personal struggles to make their farms afloat, and I feel ashamed of myself. Such as this weekend. Me and the kids toured three sheep farms over the weekend and one of the farmers told how he had started out with 200 ewes which after a couple years, he lost them all to scrapie. That is the kind of thing that would make me throw in the towel and call it quit. But not this farmer, he persevered and started over with 75 healthy ewe lambs. It's stories like that which make me hang in and keep on going.

As it turned out, his farm was my favorite farm on the tour. He didn't have top notch equipment or
the state-of-the-art facility but he was so well-organized. I loved it. Probably because I feel so swamped and unorganized that his place looked so appealing.

The sheep were kept in the bottom of the old bank barn with an extension built on to the back.

Where most farms use the upstairs of a bank barn to house hay and straw, this farmer utilized the space and put the nursery and replacement lambs up there.

Replacement ewes

The nursery

Charts and clipboards make recording handy and easy

Everything is labeled and packaged. Even the extension cords!

The next farm we toured reminded us of our own farm setup and the potential it could have. Their new barn was directly behind the old bank barn such as our arena is located from our bank barn.

Theirs...

...Ours

The thing I got most excited about on this farm was this...

Do you have any idea how much hauling this elevator could save? Brilliant!

Farm Girl thought it was embarrassing when I took photos of everyone's manure piles.

But it made me feel better about my own big pile of shit. However, I am happy to update on that topic that a nearby farmer has gladly been helping himself to my manure and the pile is coming down considerably.

Just comparing these photos after uploading, I feel a ton of satisfaction.

Lambing Season

It is lambing season here on our farm. Half our ewes have lambed out already and we are waiting on the other half. One of the things I enjoy most about sheep farming is going down to the barn first thing in the morning and directly after work to check for new lambs on the ground. So far, our sheep have thrown us lambs nearly once a day for the past two weeks. Some days we'll even have more than the one mom lambing. Unfortunately, however, our lambing rate has only been 1.26. Very disappointing. We're hoping that improves with the remaining half of the ewes waiting to lamb.

That does not diminish how dang cute they are though. A couple photos from the barn.

Remember our bottle lambs from last spring?

This is them now.

Or at least two of them. The ram lamb which we had wanted to use as a future breeding ram, turned out to have an overbite. Not a flaw you want to potentially pass down to your lambs. It also caused him to take longer to gain weight. When he was big enough, we sent him to market. But the girls have turned out very well and we put them in with one of our breeding rams last month so fingers crossed they took.

This is our market lamb pen.

Not much, I know. And only one of them is being sold for meat. The other two (the two standing in the forefront) are both ewes and we really liked the way they developed so keeping them as future breeding ewes. The pen is pretty empty now but it will be nice and full for the Easter market.

Hay Order

The first crop of hay is just getting cut from the fields around here now. For those of us who don't raise our livestock on pasture, that is a huge relief. Raising sheep, we prefer them to be on second cut as it has more nutrients and the sheep waste very little of it. But still, this year's first cut is better than last years first cut which was what we were feeding the ewes once last year's second cut ran out. So we were thankful when our hay provider contacted us and delivered a large order of hay.

There isn't quite enough to last us until second cut, but fingers crossed we have an early crop. If not, at least we know he has enough if we're still needing it. Nothing makes me happier than seeing all this green stuff in my barn.

Already my ewes are looking nice and plump.

Oh wait, that's just a pregnant ewe! Go ahead and have that baby any down now please!!!

Shearing Day

Yesterday was shearing day here on the farm. It was my first shearing day ever. Previously, I only owned hair sheep, so the experience was new too me. Farm Girl has had several shearing days at her job and was able to give me advice for the set up and what to expect.

I was told to provide the shearers with a sheet of plywood that they could work on so that when the wool came off, it fell onto a reasonable clean surface. I don't have any sorting equipment yet and wasn't sure how I was going to set up. After much discussing, me and Farm Girl decided to use the stall that led out to the runnin. The shearer wanted a small confined area with about ten sheep at a time. The stall worked perfectly. The remaining sheep needing to be sheared were spread out in the other stalls waiting their turn.

The shearers were a two brother team. It took four hours to go through 34 heads of sheep. The remainder were already sheared or heading off to market. The sheep mostly all behaved with the exception of only the one ewe who didn't want to be confined in that small stall with the brothers and kept eyeing the opening to the runnin until finally she made a run for it and leaped the fence gate as seen in the photo above blocking the entrance to the runnin.

When all was done, the boys collected over 250lbs of wool.

They will then deliver the wool to a distributor where it will be cleaned, inspected, graded and weighed. There is no money in wool but at the current prices, I should at least be able to make back the price of shearing. I'll take it. Shearing sheep is more for the comfort of the sheep and should be done annually at least. If ignored and a second years growth begins, that will actually lower the quality of the wool as it will split at the line of new growth when being spinned. So it benefits both the sheep and the shepherd to keep up on shearing.

We only have the one non-wool ewe who needing no shearing. Which was a good thing. Just before the boys arrived, she delivered her baby lamb. Alice was one of the rescues I took on last year when we first moved to the farm. She gave birth to twin stillborns just before Christmas and we thought she wouldn't be a good breeder. However she delightfully proved us wrong and dropped a single ram lamb on the ground.

She turned out to be a terrific mother so will be allowed to remain on the farm. Along with her hair lamb.

I mean really, how can I turn away such a face? Aren't Katahdin lambs just the cutest?

Back on Track

It has been nearly two years since the day we sold our flock of sheep and my marriage ended. It wasn't a large flock by any means, but it was a good starter flock. When I sold them, there were about 50 ewes and about 40 lambs. When I was forced to sell them, I was so disappointed you wouldn't believe, but I had no choice. I had gotten in over my head and the liability risk was too great for me. However I vowed I'd get the flock back and get back on track and continue to grow the flock once again.

As I blogged in my last post, we bought a bunch of sheep and have now about 28 breeding ewes. What I didn't mention was that I was in talks with one of the farmers I bought a flock from about getting some more ewes from him. The plan is to buy about 20 more in the summer bringing my head count back to nearly 50 ewes--my goal for the end of 2016. To my surprise, he offered to let me take them now and pay him whenever I had the money. He was too busy and wasn't able to keep up with his huge flock. I, of course, jumped at the chance, thrilled to make a deal with him, and welcomed 20 more ewes into my barn this morning.

I didn't want to mention anything in the previous post because I didn't want to jinx anything and for whatever reason it didn't happen. But they are here and both me and Farm Girl are thrilled to have our numbers back at where we left off before our venture into sheep farming came to an abrupt end. Fingers crossed I haven't gotten in over my head again and that this is the beginning to a successful future.

Boom!

Our little sheep operation has just boomed. A month ago today, we had two adult ewes and three yearlings, one newborn and three bottle lambs. As of last night, we now have thirteen yearlings, fifteen adult ewes, five newborns, and three bottle lambs, and one ram. That's 28 breeding ewes and 8 lambs, plus a ram.

It all started when we found these five remaining ewes for sale. The rest of the flock had been sold but the buyer had no room on his trailer for these five gals. So we were able to purchase them at below market price.

And as a bonus, they have all been bred and due to deliver end of month beginning of next. This got us thinking that if we purchased a bunch of ewes ready to deliver within the next month, their lambs would essentially pay back the price of the ewe. So we searched for more sheep for sale. We found some and visited the farm only to discover that he was wrong about the "any day now" lambing he claimed in his ad. However, after we educated him in his group of yearlings that were not due to lamb, if at all, he offered to sell them to us at meat market prices rather than replacement ewe prices.

And he offered to throw in his ram for half the price of a decent ram to sweeten the pot. I would have walked away from the deal seeing how these yearlings did not fall into the program I had planned, however, Farm Girl got one look at his ram and she was willing to buy all ten ewes just to purchase this guy.

Not only is he a suffolk ram which is our desired choice for terminal sire, but he has a magnificent scrotum on this boy.

So they came home with us. Or rather they were delivered late last night. We will thoroughly look over the new ewes and check any health issues as well as udder tests to see if any are indeed expecting (the naive farmer was still claiming he felt at least 3 udders after dropping them off), which we truly hope not. A suffolk produces nice big lambs which is not recommended for yearlings. Instead we will bring in a maternal ram for them, preferrably a dorset or something similar. This guy will be introduced to the adult ewes and hopefully catch any that were missed and still open.

Spring Growth

Our three little bottle lambs are growing.

We worried so much at the beginning we'd loose one or two. Taking newborns from their environment can be dangerous. And there were some close calls there a couple times. But thankfully, they all pulled through and are eating their hay and grain and gaining lots of weight. The ram has a superb scrotum on him and will make an excellent breeding ram in the future.  He's already practicing on his sisters.

The first born lamb is also getting huge. She's about the same age as the triplets and you can see the difference being a single makes.

Since the black ewes birth, we had our second lambing.

These two were a surprise. I had pointed mama ewe out to Farm Girl and said, "She looks pregnant." But a quick check at her non-existent udder and we determined she was just fat. But the very next morning as I was in feeding the ewes, I heard a distinct lamb cry and found these sitting among the flock. I instinctively thought they belonged to this ewe:

Who we knew was expecting and had the udder and belly to prove it. (She has since lambed since composing this blog entry. Two ram lambs, yay!)

So were surprised when she rejected them and the first mama claimed them. Farm Girl caught her and checked her udder and sure enough, her milk had not come in and the babies were deteriorating fast without their much needed colostrum. Plus, the one little lamb must have had a difficult birth as his jaw was all swollen and his eye was bloodshot. So off to the FS store we went and bought colostrum and a feeding tube. Farm Girl impressed me lots when she began tube feeding the little guy who was too sore in the jaw to nurse.

But everything worked out. Babies began to gain strength and mama's milk came in by the end of the day. Within a week they were in and testing the creep feeder out. 

And gobbling up grain.

In other spring development, Pixie has developed an udder! Yay! We bred her back in June and crossed our fingers it was a successful union.

She's due end of the month beginning of next but we already separated her from the other horses mainly because the pasture in this lot had come in and the horses had ate all the grass down to their roots in the one they were over winter. Though they had hay, grass is always better. Especially for expectant mama. So here she will stay until she gives birth. And probably after to give her and baby privacy.

Now look who's photo I was able to capture.

This was the cat that was labeled "feral". But turns out to be the friendliest of the four. Though you'd never know it by the evil look she gives me and my camera every time she sees us.

New Ewes

Last night, my new ewes were delivered. I ended up buying only 8 but plan on going back in a couple weeks to buy a few more.

There are two dorset and four rideau crosses and two mixed commercial breeds that probably have some rideau in them.

They are all around 3-4 years old which makes them nice and experienced and hopefully throw me some duplicates. They've been exposed to a ram for the past month so fingers crossed they are bred.

We also bought some cats. Yes, not very exciting news, but my barn was infested with rats over winter. We put out traps and poison but they just were not going away, so I finally relented and bought four working cats. Now I use the word "bought" and "working" lightly because two of them are males and two are still young so not sure how much "work" I'll get out of them. I've already lost track of the two males. They are, however, not tom cats as they came to me fixed. There are people and organizations who visit farms and "trap" wild cats then take them to the vet to get fixed and vaccinated. The cats themselves were actually free I just had to pay the price of gas to the city where the volunteering vet was located. So now, I think, I have four cats living in my barn. At least I hope so and they haven't deserted me and wandered off to greener pastures. That's always a possibility.

Where Are You Spring?

Well, winter was long. And cold. And snowy. And still here. This photo was taken this morning.

We had more snow at Easter than we did at Christmas. But in all fairness, we did have a nice mild break in March. But it was just a teaser. Made us yearn for green grass and gravel driveways. But alas, April provided us with a famous late winter blast. Hopefully this will be the end. Warmer weather is bound to be just around the corner. Oh please, let warmer weather just be around the corner! My heating bills just can't tolerate it any longer. I want to spend hundreds of dollars on livestock, not oil! Or wood. We heated the house over winter mainly on wood but did have to fill the oil tank twice and are waiting on another fill as I type. When temps got below -20C, and I wasn't home to feed the fire, than I had no other choice but to buy oil. Which really spoiled me. Blessed warm heat with no labour involved!! I can officially say I'm sick of stacking wood. 

Speaking of livestock. We sold the pigs. Yay! We never ended up butchering them for ourselves. We had every intention, but both finances and means really didn't necessitate the cost. There would have been far too much meat left over that would never had gotten eaten and when you balance the cost of slaughtering and smoking and cutting, it just didn't pan out for us. So we sold them instead and chalked them up to experience.

One of our ewes had twins that were born stillborn just before Christmas. That was very upsetting. Both me and Farm Girl were at work and missed the birth. Not that I can guarantee we could have done anything to help, but it was another lesson we learned. Putting time aside for our livestock. But, in the new year, another ewe gave birth to a big healthy girl. That lived! Yay! First lamb born on the farm and to me since my separation.

But one lamb wasn't enough. I wanted more. Farm Girl kept texting me photos of lambs born at work and I was jealous. Especially when she texted me a photo of a set of quadruplets. I texted back and joked she buy a female off them. Having those genetics would be an awesome addition to our flock. Of course she laughed and said there would be no way, but lo and behold, I found an add for 3 bottle lambs that came from a set of quintuplets! I texted immediately and was successful in purchasing them (she had a LOT of interest).

Two ewes and one ram which we plan to raise for breeding. We love them and enjoy bottle feeding them so much that Farm Boy declared he wanted some bottle goat kids of his own to raise. So guess what? We now have two adorable little newborn bucks in the barn.  Man, I love babies!

Farm Boy then decided he wanted to raise goats so I bought him his first nanny.  She is part nubian and will make a good breeding doe but also a good milking doe. She's super friendly and easy to handle. Perfect for a 12 year old's first goat.

The little buck next to her is not hers but came from the same farm. We took him to finish him off and send him to market. Goats did very well at the auction over easter so we have our fingers crossed its a good year for goats all around.

So that's it in the barn that's new. In the equine department, we still have Chase, Farm Girl's horse, Pixie and Blossom. We sold Fantasia as I just didn't feel the connection with her. Our love for Pixie and Blossom is pretty tight that I think I just want to keep their babies and not bring in any others. I did buy a little project for us over the winter which I never got at.

However, in the spring for sure I'm going to hook Pixie up and teach her how to drive. I can't wait.

Meanwhile, we have gone to view some sheep and are hoping to bring them home within the next week or two. I'll try to remember to post some photos. That's it for now. I'll leave you with one of my favourite photos of our recent puppy litter. She reminds me so much of Quinn who we had to rehome after my husband cut me off support payments (will update later on that in a future post) without notice and we were forced to sell a bunch of items to help with finances until I got a job. And poor Quinn was one of our sacrifices.

We are not keeping this little cutie but she is going home to her grandpa's family. Sadly, he died back in November and they want to continue the line so bought one of Jewel's pups from us. Jewel is his daughter. Instead, we plan on keeping a pup from our other breeding dog, Jewel's mom, Emma who is at Oldest place getting bred to her stud who not only has a matching personality as Em, but is super gorgeous. We can't wait for their line.