Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

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As you might have read or heard, we were overrun with rain and bugs this early summer.  The whole area was just wet, wet, wet.   And as a results we have weeds, bugs and more bugs.  It was awful!  Just walking outside meant that you were immediately bug bait for every mosquito for miles around!  It was awful.   This was the first time we EVER had to get bug spray and really coat ourselves!  I had to get spray for the horses and sheep and give them a little relief.  It was bad bad bad.

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We let all the hoofies into the dog yard to do a little clean up and I just thought they were so pretty out there.  I had to go and take some pictures.  Well, a zillion and one bug bites later, I did get some nice pictures, however, I think I itched all night long!

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All our spring lambs are growing up so nice and pretty.  Such beautiful fiber and such lovely lambs!   We are keeping all but one ram lamb who is going on to be a little stud ram!  I love that we are keeping this year’s babies.  They are all so beautiful.

That brown ram lamb is Basil, he is Emma’s son.  He is a beautiful little boy!   He’s going soon to get his boy parts ah, removed.  We really don’t need rams and he will make a lovely little whether. I hope that he retains his brown color!  I just love brown fleece for some reason.

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A strange looking sheep, eh?  This is Dammartin.  He’s a French Wheaten Marans rooster.  I just love my roosters and he is a lovely boy.  Very sweet tempered.  I love the Marans for this reason!

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Huldar and Henrick followed me out to take pictures, but really just because they thought they might get a bottle for their effort.   They are still not quite part of the flock, because they are still under observation and all, but I do take them out for little walks near the flock, just so they can see them and know that they will one day be part of that gang.

The minute I started to head for the screen porch, off they ran!  They know that the screen porch means food.  But when I stopped to watch the others, they come running back and got all puffy and indignant.

FOOD LADY, get your butt over here now!

They are not the sweet little cuddle buckets that our Shetlands are.   They are Norse sheep with attitudes.  They are not cuddly.  And they bellow loud enough to wake the dead!   It’s funny to learn and experience the difference in these chaps with other sheep.  They are so cute!

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Yes, hard to be tough Viking lads when you are still on the baby bottle.  They are five weeks old now!  Another three weeks on full bottle strength and then we will begin to taper them off a bit.  Usually over a few weeks.  We will probably go down to less ounces, three times a day and then eventually twice a day and so on.  Add a bit more water to their milk, things like that.  Most sheep are naturally weaned off their mothers around 8 to 10 weeks anyway, as we have seen.  They are doing good grazing and enjoying a little grain and sweet feed.   They are growing like weeds!

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Bonnie is rooing her fleece!  It’s so weird to see and she doesn’t want anyone fooling with it.  She is a weird lady.  We think she is some Suffolk and then possibly a bit of hair sheep?  She just has the weirdest fleece.   We didn’t shear her this year because she was heavy with twins and just so nervous about the whole situation.   We just felt it was best for her to wait till fall to be sheared with the goats.  But I guess she has second thoughts.

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This is Fennel.  He is so pretty.  He’s going to be a cream colored Shetland, but still, he’s got the prettiest little face and eyes and his fleece is tingued with baby brown.  He’s a sweetheart.  A perfect ramling if you ask me.   He’s not real pushy and I think he will be an excellent herd sire.  We shall see!

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This is Miss Laurel.  One of Bonnie’s sweet little daughters.   She is growing a very lovely soft little baby fleece.  I’m thankful that she is showing more of her Shetland daddy’s fiber than her mother’s odd stuff.  These twins are staying here and it would be nice if they can help out with the feed bill by growing some lovely fleece!  :-)

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My two little light Brahma hens…  well, they are pullets right now, still growing.  I think they are so pretty with their fluffy leg feathers!   The little Rhode Island Red is one of the six chicks we got in the spring.   I don’t think they are laying yet, but soon!  They all grew up nice and lovely.

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Emma says, take a picture of my boy!   He’s so handsome…  I want to put it on the fireplace mantle!   Stand up tall, Basil, my boy!

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Uncle Angus has the itchies.  They all like to rub on the slab wood fence.  I want to find a few old brooms and make a itchy station for everyone.   Been watching at garage sales and such…  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find some old bristles from a car wash!!!   Oh my gosh, the ponies, everyone would be so happy and never stop itching and scratching on those!

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Say CHEESE!  Haha… Shadow shows off his pretty teeth.  He is a such a funny pony.  He is very sweet and a nice boy.

 

 

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Cody and Shadow having a little talk…

Probably discussing my lack of snacks for ponies today.

 

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The pigs are all doing fantastic!  We haven’t lost a single baby.  My two sow girls are such good moms!  Of course, in all that mud, it would be easy to misplace one, don’t you think?

They are so good at enjoying their mud wallow.  They all love to lay in it and then after it all dries hard on their skin, they go and rub all over the side of the building or just lay on the hard grown and itch and rub.  Feels good!

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Only a face a mother could love, eh?  Happy hogs!

Ebony’s litter is just about close to new home day…  another week!   She is ready for them to stop nursing, that is for sure.   She has taken to laying down on her teats…  sitting rather like a hog Spinx.  It’s her way of telling them to get lost.  No chow.  They try to nurse, pushing and shoving on her but eventually she will bite at them and make them squeal!  She doesn’t hurt them, she is just telling them to find something else to do!   I suspect they are growing sharp little teeth and she is done with the whole mom thing for now!   At least until late October!

Cheyenne is still happy to feed her crew as they are about two weeks after Ebony’s bunch.   She has done very well as a first time mom.  All seven babies are fit and trim, growing like weeds!  We have one of her babies spoken for, but I suspect when they get closer and we announce their availability, they will go quickly too!   So far, we haven’t been able to keep any of our babies, they are in big demand!   That is great!  We just love these American Guinea Hogs…  wonderful homestead hogs!

 

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About Mobymom

the banjo player for Deepwater Bluegrass, and the editor of BuckeyeBluegrass.com as well as the main graphic designer of the Westvon Publishing empire. She is a renaissance woman of many talents and has two lovely daughters and a rehab mobile home homestead to raise.

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