Still shearing

Got a real shearer out to shear the nine bucks and rams. And I was glad, I am tired and although my bucks are sweet, they are big and can really stretch you out, sometimes I don't spring back so easy and have to pay for it with a pulled muscle. So I am down to 18 more does to shear, most are older does with little hair and they are not hot. I can finish them up a few each morning and stop when it gets hot. By the time I get through shearing it will be time to start again. It just works better for me to shear a few a day and I still have time to do all the many things that have to be done.

Finally

Finally some rain and relief from the heat and humidity, but I know it will be back. The days are long and longer. So I am up early to cook breakfast then out to feed before the sun heats up the earth. It takes a lot of cleaning and filling water tanks and buckets when it is this hot, but I am doing everything to keep all the stock as cool as possible. It is cool at night so they are fine as long as they get a break from the heat. Vaccinated the lambs today, you can almost see lambs growing, they gain weight so fast with all the good milk they get from the ewes and now they are starting to eat a little grain and hay. Got the tails docked during the cool spell last week, they are healing well, so there is something good that came from the dry spell.

Wild things

I have never seen so many wild flowers, every seed must have germinated. This wild yarrow is all over the woods. Picked a bucket full and have it soaking in the dye pots, will heat it up today and see if there is any color to be released. If the rain holds up there will be plenty of plants for natural dyeing. Just be careful where you step, there is an abundance of snakes, ticks and chiggers out there.

Careful where you put your hands

I went to milk Tanner last Sunday evening in her pen. She has twins but still had too much milk for them and needed milked down a bit. I caught her and put the halter on her, but she wouldn't budge, just shaking her head and grunting uh-uh. After struggling with her for a few minutes I looked up to see what she was looking at, and saw this pair of snakes mating on the side of the barn. So, we moved to another spot for our milking. I don't mess with rat or king snakes as they won't harm you and they keep the rats under control. But I did kill a pair of very aggressive water moccasins racing toward me on the pond earlier that day.

Daisy before

Daisy was the last doe to kid and a week behind all the others. I kept a check on her every hour or two the last 48 hours. She was waddling around the last 24 hours in search of the perfect spot to drop her kids. She finally chose the right spot and got started.

Daisy during

One kid out , one to waiting to be born.

Daisy after

Daisy and her new twins, dark red buck and brown doe. Great mom.