Tag Archives: barn

Farm

Baa Baa Black Sheep

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

The Shetland Lambs of 2013 are arriving, gorgeous and healthy. Three mamas are relieved and contented, grazing and nursing.

The count is 3 ram lambs, 3 ewe lambs with 3 ewes left to deliver in the next week or so.

So much fuss with installing our lamb-cam, much enjoyment of remote viewing, sharing the view with our friends of the farm… and in the end, two mamas delivered in the run-out, out of view of the camera entirely.

We came upon them immediately after delivery and had to make a judgement of who belonged to whom because there stood Maggie & Ruva with 4 darlings at their feet.  They sniffed and licked left and right and seemed indiscriminate.  Quickly we paired them up with our best guesses so that we could ensure everyone would get a proper meal and not be left out in the cold.  Maggie was behaving as though she was ready to abandon one of them.  Who knows?  Maybe she singled and Ruva tripled?  Anyway, they’ve each got, and are nursing, two beauties.  Nikki then lambed 4 hours later and delivered two more gorgeous bundles of wool.  Fortunately we were on the scene then because Pansy, Nikki’s sister, was in the stall with her and SO eager to snatch the babies.  We ushered Pansy out and away from the new lambs with as little intrusion upon Nikki’s laboring as possible.

Pansy, Lily & Winky await, not patiently.  Perhaps Mother’s Day will bring them special gifts?

I hope so.  I’m a bit tired.

But elated.

Nikki's little Shetland ewe lamb & Farmer Tam enjoying a gorgeous Vermont May day

Nikki’s little Shetland ewe lamb & Farmer Tam enjoying a gorgeous Vermont May day

Farm, Goats, Health, Photographs, Vermont, Weather

Flying. Nuns.

, , , , , , , , 9 Comments

Yesterday a friend and goat admirer stopped by while I was doing morning chores.  I was bundled to the nines, it was bitter in the a.m. and the morning barn is a cold barn.

Funny thing is that the evening beforehand I was having a great time mocking the commercials about some sort of cosmetic surgery to reconstruct your chin/neck to reveal a more youthful image to the world.  The point of the ad was that the sagging neck was unsightly, ugly, made you less than perfect and life was hardly worthwhile if you could fix it all with a new, younger neckline.  I mocked the ad so much that Char started giving me stern looks that it was quite enough, Mom.

Anyway, I never intended to be so moved as to remedy my own “sagging neckline” with my wooly neckwarmer this a.m., but the souvenir photo my friend sent along to me this evening had me in giggles.  I realized I was effectively combatting the cold while simultaneously “improving” my look!

I hope you can laugh along with me.  In the end, I just think a nun’s habit would do the trick as well.

Patricia & Farmer Tam

Patricia & Sister/Farmer Tam

But let’s talk about Patricia.  She is my beautiful mixed Nubian yearling doe.  She & her stall mates, Lucia & Marcia, love attention.  Of late, the goats have to stay inside because I need to do some fence repair on their pasture.  Waiting for a break in the weather, and after hearing this weekend’s forecast, it will be a few more days.

Patricia somehow managed to leap out of the window of their stall in the afternoon after I’d locked things up in the barn.  Or so I thought.  In the evening, Jim discovered her in the locked, (or so I thought), tack room, chowing down on the bin of sheep grain.  I did an extra evening check to make sure she wasn’t suffering from her overindulgence, and she sprightly jumped up onto the stall door to give me a hello,  just as she had in the morning.  She was as round as a barrel, but fine.

Jim did a special tie-job on the stall door/window, hopefully foiling attempt #2.  But hey, if these guys have learned how to fly, I’m banking on God to lend me a hand.

Cats, Chickens, Eggs, Farm, Health, Morning, Neighbors, Vermont

Hens and kits

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

It was a very busy morning relocating 20 of our layer hens to True Love Farm which is about a mile from us.  While there, I received 4 unwanted roosters  and enjoyed visiting the pullets we had hatched earlier this year.  I also witnessed the first eggs being collected from the young gals.  Sort of a “full circle” a.m. for me.

new home for 20 of our year old layers

thriving and beautiful pullets which Wing and a Prayer had hatched out earlier in the year

Karen is starting to collect a few new eggs now!

Niska & Wasabi, our barn kitties, also had an outing this morning.  Wasabi had been missing for almost a week and yesterday I was planning her funeral out, in my head, and thinking of making the call to the vets to cancel her appointment when she showed up in the aisleway of the barn, mewing “hello.”  She & Niska are not fond of the cat carrier nor the truck. Collecting them for the ride was a more dangerous endeavor for me than catching 20 chickens.  I had to stalk them in the barn loft, scaling the hay bales and balancing on the beams in pursuit.  I’m covered with cat scratches now, but they’re up to date with vaccinations and that’s what is important, right?

Wasabi surveys the outside of the veterinary hospital from the front seat

Niska, wondering which way is “out.”

Related articles
Chickens, Eggs, Farm

Don’t Count Your Chicks

, , , , , , , , 3 Comments

10-week old “Farmyard Mix” Chickabiddies

Tomorrow is moving day.  True Love Farm, just down the road, will be the new home for our 10- and 14-week old chicks to help fill CSA shares with fresh eggs this upcoming year.

It has been an interesting journey, thus far, for this flock.  The 14-week olds had a horrible, tragic experience when they were less than one day old.  We had tucked them safely into their brooder box after hatching and found them all drenched and drowned or nearly drowned the next morning.  Unbeknownst to us, the waterer that we had put in with them had a leak and had filled the plastic box gradually, and by morning it was a swimming pool.  It still seems miraculous that about 30, of 40, were able to be resuscitated and survived.

We had to incubate more to try to make up for the loss.  When this next group hatched out, they experienced an unidentified malady in their barn stall at about 6 weeks old.  We weren’t sure why 5 seemingly healthy chicks were becoming weak and dying and we quickly added electrolytes to the water, hoping to strengthen the remaining flock to fight off whatever had befallen them.

However, more heartbreak in the upcoming weeks was a result of “picking” between the two groups of chicks as we gradually integrated them.  The older birds were scarily mad with bullying the younger group and it seemed we could not segregate and rescue them quickly enough. We lost 4 chicks in what felt like 1992 Los Angeles in the barn. We created a “hospital stall” which allowed 5 patients that did survive to heal, coating their badly bloodied bodies with ointment after peroxide baths.  After about a week, feathers started to grow again and energy returned to the poor little babes.

Seemingly overnight, the bullies found other hobbies and the quarreling stopped.  The flocks were finally integrated and thriving, free-ranging the pastures, woods and surrounds of the barn.

Since the order was for layer hens, 10 roosters went into the freezer last Friday.

It was time for a final assessment.  One little chick has “bumble foot” which is a genetic-defect that occurs now and then.  She can go with the others if the farm wants her, but if they do not, then she will have a home here.

The order is for 50 pullets.  We attempted to tally. The flock has a tendency to move around and come out of or go into hiding just when you’ve almost finished counting heads but we thought there were 30ish hens.

And then 2 more crowed.

“I’m bigger than you!”

Related articles
farm, spring, seasons, horses, shetland, sheep, garden, pigs, chickens, roosters, peacock, peafowl, wool, seedlings, tractor, pasture, field, barn, pets, cats, dogs, kittens, bunnies, hay, Chickens, Shetland Sheep, Farm, Horses, Weather, Dogs, Goats, Kid Goats, Seasons

Hope in a Groundhog

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

The Wing and a Prayer Farm animals and I took an informal poll today.  We looked high and we looked low.  None of us found our shadows.

So to you, Punxsutawney Phil, I say “Pshaw!”  Six more weeks of winter is not rocket science.  I live in Vermont and we don’t see green grass til May anyway.  But I’m not going to let you rain on my parade of wishful thinking that, just maybe, the sun will warm things up a little sooner.

Jackie and Abe the English Springer Spaniels looked,

Cricket looked(well, sort of),

and Max the horse looked.

Fig the White Peacock looked,

Chanticleer the Auracana rooster looked,

and Indian Blue Runner ducks ran.  (As they would run from their shadow, they really shouldn’t qualify for this poll.)

Lily the Shetland Sheep said, “There’s NO shadow, Phil!”

Patricia the Saanen/Nubian goat didn’t find her shadow,

Bean the Bunny searched (however, Bean can’t really be included in the survey because she lives indoors),

Niska the barn cat peeked,

and Wasabi the barn cat said, “I’m a way better judge of shadows than some groundhog in Pennsylvania!”

So move over, cute little groundhog, in our neck of the woods we just take it one day at a time.

Related articles
Chickens, farm, spring, seasons, horses, shetland, sheep, garden, pigs, chickens, roosters, peacock, peafowl, wool, seedlings, tractor, pasture, field, barn, pets, cats, dogs, kittens, bunnies, hay, Fences, Night time, Shearing, Uncategorized

Musical livestock

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

A day like every other around here, in which animals are discovered to be where they don’t belong while others dutifully stay put.  Yes, I had to haul Max & Nite Nite out of the chicken grain bin and off our mound-system more than once.  They are the Arabian/Quarter Horse cross and Shetland pony that have been escaping nightly from the horse pasture and acquainting themselves heavily with the various poultry grain-bins around the farm, as well as lush greens wherever they decide to pause.  It has been frustrating keeping up with them.

And then there were the Shetland Sheep break-outs to deal with.  Just when I solved the problem of how to keep Pansy & Nikki in their pasture with Balrog-the-Ram and Ruva-the-bossy-ewe, well, the second and third pastured baa-baas decided to have a mixer.  The reason they were separated is because one was full of boys, two of which are old enough to breed, and the other was full of girls either not old enough to breed or needing a year off. 

And turkeys are everywhere around here!  So I enlisted Char to help me convince everyone to go into one pasture and then systematically separate them into the appropriate pastures and at the same time leave the turkeys in just one pasture.  The turkeys are really quite liberated around here, but I felt it was a good evening to put a stop to that.

We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be!
Could you direct me to the nearest cornfield?

So now we’ve got sheep all where they belong and turkeys where they belong.  Once again the pony escaped, but we dealt with that at a later time.

My husband arrives home and we discuss the weather.  Tomorrow the Shearer comes and the forecast is for rain:  lots of it!  We decide we should get the sheep all into the barn so as to keep their fleeces as dry as possible before shearing.  It is much easier to shear the sheep dry than wet.  This means we have to ready three different stalls for the three different groups.  Aw shucks, I’d just done such a great job cleaning the barn the week prior and wasn’t really ready to get it all soiled again!  But alas, it is a barn and it does make sense to bring everyone in this evening to capitalize on the extra hands to help as well as the keeping of dry fleeces.

pretty wooly girls
Iglesias & Obaamaa sharing stories
Gandalf-the-Grey’s fleece

So back out to the barn and the pastures and this time with another plan.  The barn stalls get fixed up with straw, hay to munch, water buckets and grain troughs.  We make “chutes” for the sheep to pass through to the appropriate stalls when I lead them in, and off I go with a scoop of grain to bring them in.  I first go to the breeding group’s pasture and open their gate.  Then shake, shake, shake the scoop and they stampede up into the barn.   A little confused, I shake, shake, shake again to the other stall, across the aisle, and they file in to inhale the grain that is in the trough.  

Door #1 shuts!

Door #1, the breeding group

Now to retrieve the boys.  Shake, shake, shake goes the scoop as I head down the long chute to undo their gate.  They are a bunch of sweeties and have no problem finding their way up and across the barn aisle into their appropriate stall.

Door #2 shuts!

Door #2, the boys

Last, but not least, the girls!  They are very confused as I unlock their gate and try to get them to walk around it(it opens the wrong way, sending them opposite from where I want them to walk) and to follow me up the darkening chute to the barn.  Some of them figure out where they’re going, but then two of the ewe lambs, Winky & Daisy, insist on being difficult.  After several minutes of trying to convince them to follow me, they make their way to the barn and then fall into a dead run to join the others after they hear their baa-ing voices.  

Door #3 shuts!

Door #3, the ewes

And they’re in.  So great, now I just have to get the bowling balls, I mean little fatties, I mean young Freedom Rangers, into their stall.  I also have named them the “Underfooters” because they insist on being underfoot.  It is truly a dance, the dance of the Underfooters, as I try to step in and amongst them placing their waterers and their grain troughs into the stall for the night. Their crops were loaded as they’d been foraging all day, but they still had room for the nightly incentive to come inside and gobble up grain! Finally every last one was rounded up and I shut the door on that stall for the night. 

the “Underfoots!”

There were a few more things to feed/close the doors on such as the barn kitties and the layer hens’ coop, then the doggums to be fed and finally the grill is on to make burgers for some hungry people who live here too!  At about that time, friend T shows up at the front door and asks if we want a 4-legged friend.  ”Small or large?” I ask.  ”Well, sort of small, but you know her anyway!”  

It was Nite Nite again, and she’d been wandering by the driveway when T pulled up.  

We decided that she might like a night in the barn for a change and so Char led the way.  The following photos depict our notion of inviting her for dinner, first, but then a change of plans when Jim gave us a firm “N-O!”

Would you like a seat at the counter?
Something from the fridge?
Dad says “No” to having Nite Nite for dinner
Out the back, Jack!
Nite Nite, being vegetarian, passed on the burgers
Into a stall for you tonight, Pony-Jac!
Fall Farm tucked in for the evening
Uncategorized

Soil Therapy

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Lenten Rosebud!

Waiting for spring…spring has sprung, technically, and on a nice day we have enjoyed the first buds, the honeybees buzzing, the sheep springing, the horses frisking and the rooster strutting!  However, this week we are back into a grey, cold gloom with snow in the air, snow on the ground, snow in the forecast.  Trying to make the best of it, I transplanted many more tomato seedlings today.  They will move from their tiered “greenhouse” in my family room to the table I have set up in my basement with a growlight hanging precariously above.  If they keep growing at the present rate, they’ll be bearing fruit by May!  Its so rewarding to soak in their spring-greenness and their heavenly, earthy, tomato-seedling-y fragrance as well.  There are a few basil seedlings which will also get a new home, and then I will plant some flower seeds for the cheer of it.

Tomato teenagers

There’s been plenty to do to get ready for spring and summer around the farm.  We very successfully mended all of the horse pasture fences so that we’re ready to move them around.  The current paddock/pasture that they reside in is what we call “The Park” and its status is muddy, contributing to a raw condition that afflicts the horses as “scratches.”  Its something we try to avoid and so less mud is better.  We are working hard to scrape their paddock as it defrosts and to keep the stalls dry – an enormous challenge as our barn is built in the wettest location on our property, with the exception of the pond.  It wasn’t for nothing that we installed a peace-dove windvane atop the cupola when we built it!  In the summer, when we can get to it with some proper equipment, we hope to add about 4 inches of gravel to the stalls and then put rubber mats atop them to avoid the problems of flooding next year.

King (or Queen!) of the Rock!

The sheep are to be shorn on Friday – hurray!  We’ve managed to separate the ram, Balrog, from the breeding group and he spends his days baah-ing and bashing into the door on his stall.  It is rather stressful.  The breeding group has joined the lambs/wethers and everyone is harmonious again.  The shearing-day shall help me to identify if any of them are “with lamb!”  I calculated that, at best, if Maggie were pregs then she would be due on or around May 8, 9 and 10…exactly when I am due to be in Cape Cod at a Conference where I am presenting a workshop!  Oh well, I can only hope that she is pregnant, and the other ewes also, so that having this little ram has been worthwhile.

Balrog misses the girls

Another sign of spring is Greg Dowd’s visit to give the horses their spring vaccinations on Friday.  Hopefully all is well during his visit.  I don’t anticipate any surprises and its always nice to see Greg.  Last year he got stuck on our road and it turned out to be a party of sorts!  Jim had a great time pulling him out with his ’67 Scout…

slightly better runout

I ventured into the evening last night so that I could attend my daughter Sarah Jane’s piano teacher’s recital at Bennington College.  A little sad that no one would accompany me, I headed into the dark and managed to smash through most potholes along the way.  There is no easy way out of our road, either left or right, during mud season.  And if the third-world-roads adventure wasn’t thrilling enough, I got slammed into by a good sized deer as I finally neared pavement.  So sad, always, to confront an animal on a roadway.  I always feel so guilty to be in their space.  Fortunately the deer bounded away and as I observed, stopped, to see that it was not hurt, I was comforted to know that if it could bound and leap along as it did, it was hopefully well enough to heal from any injuries it had sustained.  I hardly cared about the car, though I did note that the drivers’ side door would not open properly.  Alas, another reason to take it in to the garage, along with the recent engine troubles we’ve been having.

Arriving in time to select a seat where I could observe Chris playing, I settled in and quieted down inside.  It wasn’t long, though, before an old acquaintance and her family sat nearby and we chatted a bit.  Without commenting on why, it wasn’t a comfort to see this old ‘friend!’  So I think that there must’ve been some lesson waiting for me in all of the drama leading up to the concert…one day I will realize it.

Chris’s recital was amazing.  I was not prepared for his hour and forty five minute program, completely memorized, which transported me to a very zen place!  He played 6 Preludes from Book II, Debussy, accompanied Mary Cleary, a soprano that sang Debussy’s “Trois Chansons de Bilitis”, then presented Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Chopin for another hour.  I was fascinated and impressed.  I hadn’t realized the brilliance of his company in all of those times of dropping Sarah Jane off or picking her up and being amused by his very dry sense of humor, his low-key presence, his quiet demeanor…I walked away star-struck!  The concert was held in a carriage barn-space which was packed…apparently others were informed of his brilliance, though I was there by accident.

Humbled by such a presentation of hard work, talent, lifetime devotion, I headed home in the hopes that the excitement of the evening would be behind me.  And it was, for the most part, as I arrived home safely.  For some reason, though, I awoke ill last night and have been in a bit of a fog for this grey day.

Hence the need for the soil therapy – not only to upgrade the accomodations for the tomato teenagers, but to be transported into that conservatory world that working with the earth and living plants provides.  I imagine the placard on my door, “Wing and a Prayer Farm, Tammy White – Plant Therapist!”

tomato seedling ready for the growlight
Uncategorized

Winter chores

, , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

"Up, up, Nite Nite!"

this little pony is full of energy

2 feet of snow!

2 Feet of Snow in the storm after Christmas 2010!

We’ve been having snowstorms weekly since Christmas.  It makes for a beautiful and bright landscape.  The fences are down, though, in certain pastures and so little Nite Nite, the Shetland Pony, is frequently found ranging about, for the fun of it, because she can step between the gaps.  Fortunately the rest of the herd is not escaping, instead just entertained by her progress.  Usually one only has to go out and rattle a bucket to simulate grain or pull hay out for the others and she trots up as if to say, “Hey, can you help me figure out how to get in there with everyone else?”

Today I was trudging through the snow to take care of everyone in the hen-house and everyone in the barn and I had an opportunity to use “visualization” techniques to lighten my load.  I imagined that instead of stepping/crunching/collapsing/pulling my feet in and out of the deep terrain, I was lightly treading upon soft grass…the kind that we won’t see until sometime in June!  You see, these days there is a nice crust atop the deep stuff and the paths are a mess…so while one is carrying full, slopping ice-cold buckets, one gets to trudge along and enjoy a vigorous cardio-workout in the course of taking care of the animals.  And yes, sometimes it is more work than I would like it to be!

Because I enjoy the animals, and the fresh air is a wonder for clearing out the cobwebs of too much indoor-living at this time of year, I don’t mind the chores.  I have some wonderful new overalls that are insulated, along with my insulated oilskin jacket, two (yes, two) neckwarmers and a warm hat so that I can hardly tell the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperature.  My boots are fabulous Bogs, though they have a few tears they still keep my feet dry and warm.  And lastly, my hands can luxuriate in the leather gloves that I have written “Mom” on in permanent marker, lest they are abducted by anyone in the household that is not mom!  Upside down they say “Wow” which is amusing and a lift when I need it!

Chickens

The chickens and peafowl live here

So I set out into the cold and frosty farmyard and knock buckets together to free the ice from the sides and top off grain hoppers with more grain and oyster shell for the chickens.  The chickens like some hay tossed into their yard, too, along with some scraps from the house.  They are wonderful garbage-cans because they eat almost every kitchen scrap, aside from raw potato and coffee grounds.  They particularly love meat and so I gave them some enormous hunks of suet this past winter.  I’ve been giving the peafowl some suet as well.  They are separated from the chickens now because my female, Jewel, was being pecked by someone or someones in the coop and her wing was a bleeding mess.  She and her beau, Fig, are in their own house now and she is healing well.  I know that they will be happy for spring, though, as they really need to get out and stretch their wings.

Chickens in the snow

My chickens wish that the grass were green and not white!

The barn is bustling with baa-ing sheep that would like more hay and grain, please.  The horses are impatient about getting their morning breakfast and hay, but who can blame them?  They have nothing to graze on except any hay that we put out the night before and so they are usually ready for some fresh munchies.  Until the girls got an electric bucket for Christmas, we were having to break ice out of buckets everyday for the horses as well.  But now they have one large heated bucket which is positioned under the outdoor spigot and it makes the water-chore of taking care of the horses SO much easier!  We just lift the spigot handle and wait for the bucket of water to be topped off.

Yogi, the Shetland wether

Yogi, between bites of yummy hay, pauses to smile for the camera

Kittens and bunnies are waiting for some attention in the tack room.  Wasabi, the black kitty, is always campaigning for more food but I have her number.  She has to be carried out of the tack room to “work” for her living during the day.  We tuck her in at night with her friend “Niska.”  The two of them are supposed to be mousing during the day, and we think they do, but during the winter they would rather just stay in the tack room the whole day and have their bowl filled with kitty-kibble.  The bunnies “Cecily” and “Bean” are of the same opinion.  Their grain is hoovered between meals and we are trying to give them more hay, less grain these days.  The vet had told me that they should be eating Timothy grass and very little grain at all.  They have a grain-habit, though, that is not easily kicked.

Jackie "minds" the bunnies

Jackie is "minding" the bunnies in the tack room

I have two groups of sheep right now.  One group, my breeding group, consists of Maggie, Ruva & Lily and Balrog, the recently acquired Ram.  They are Shetland Sheep and I got Balrog in the middle of December.  Well, things don’t seem to be going so well in the breeding-department.  At least, not that I can tell.  I wish that something would happen, but I’m afraid I missed the window of opportunity because we got him so late.  There was some “hoof rot” in the fall which really messed up my plans for breeding the sheep.  When Maggie, then Lily, came down with what we thought was hoof-rot, we had to treat with antibiotics and soaks for almost 4 weeks to ensure that we had rid the flock of any potential spreading of the disease.  It was most inconvenient as the day that it reared its ugly head was the day I was going to pick up Balrog.  Live and learn, live and learn.

Breeding Group

Here is Balrog, purchased from "Contented Butterfly Farm" in Windsor, VT

The other sheep group consists of the two wethers, Yogi and Gandalf, and the two ewe-lambs Nikki and Pansy.  We don’t want Nikki and Pansy to be bred because they are so young(born last April).  This fall I will want to breed them, but not until then.  So they hang out with the two boys that are wethered and spend a lot of time eating hay.  Tonight when Sarah Jane and Charlotte were doing the evening chores they found that Yogi & Nikki had discovered how to get into the barn and up into the hayloft!  The girls said it was quite something to go upstairs and find them in heaven-on-earth for sheep!  The funny thing, they said, was trying to encourage those woolies to go DOWN the stairs.  Apparently they required pushing…!

Least favorite of all chores, though, is the winter mucking.  It’s just not fun.  The stalls are easier than the paddock as the shavings help keep things “pluckable” with a mucking rake, but the paddock is almost a lost cause.  The freezing of the manure in the paddock means that you really can’t pick it clean unless there is a bit of a thaw.  So it’s a rather untidy time in the barnyard.  But perhaps that whole topic is best left for another post…my daughters and I hold different opinions of what the proper way to clean a stall is.  There is nothing like arguing about whether more or fewer shavings is a more efficient way to keep stalls clean and Sarah Jane and Char would like to see it tested on Myth-Busters someday.  I am pretty sure my way is the better…..!

The white landscape does make it appear quite pristine and certainly beats a dull, brown, winter-dead pasture and lawn.  And then there are those days when the sun comes out and the sky is bluebird-blue….Jack Frost has left the world a-glitter…it makes me smile from the inside-out and I say “I Love New England!”

hay for the chickens

me, hauling hay to the coop for the chickens and peafowl