Been looking around at Gideon’s pedigree and the farm/bloodlines that he comes from and found this page that shows his daddy and his grandpa!  Wow!  What gorgious boys!!!

This is Windswept Titanium…  Gideon’s Dad!  How beautiful he is!!!

And his grandpa…   Red Ram Billy Joel!!

Photos property of Windswept Farms…  

Wow.  I’m so excited!  Do you think?  Just a little bit?

Now you just gotta know… you’re truly a country gal when you’re more excited about your ram’s pedigree than your own!  Haha…

Gideon’s Pedigree Chart…  

Okay, I guess it’s time to get to bed.  I really have been on cloud nine today, just all floaty and excited.  I did do some chores and work, honest, but it still feels like I really didn’t accomplish a WHOLE lot…  I did witness a truly weird chicken thing today…   Caroline, one of our blue cochin hens was walking a little weird and then all the sudden, she laid a shellless egg!!!  Right in the yard.  And before I could do ANYTHING, three hens rushed over and ATE IT!   I was like, oh  my gosh.   I was kind of stunned.  Crazy chickens.  Gee….  okay, then.  And the weird thing was that I had JUST finished installing their new oyster shell and grit feeder.  I guess I was just a little too late, eh?  I had noticed that a few of the eggs were a little on the thin and fragile side, apparently it’s normal at the end of winter, because the hens are not getting as much protein and calcium in their diet, so I wanted to up it a bit and give them a nice free choice feeder.  I guess not a minute too soon, eh?

Maggie has been such a trooper… she has been working on mucking out the sheep shack and paddock!  Wow… a lot of work but she is staying at it.  Almost done.  six months of deep bedding can make for several days worth of pitchfork duty!  We have learned one thing.  We’re going to use just wood shavings (and yes, no walnut) for our bedding in the future.  The areas that we used shavings had composted down to this lovely nice nearly finished dirt… but the areas we used more straw?  UGH.  Just a thick matt of wet and nasty straw.  It is starting to break down, but it was nothing like the shavings, which were much much further along the whole compost down process.  And MUCH easier to pitch and clean out.  I was helping with the big barn and I could easily see the difference.  And since we used mostly straw in the sheep paddock and shack, well, it’s like 10 times harder to clean out.

Lesson learned!  I checked around and found 60 pound bales for $8.00 and 250 pound bags for $13.00  from good local sources, clean animal bedding for horses and cattle.  Perfect for hens and sheep!  WIll be going that route for sure.  And probably just in time… our hay dealer told me that straw is going to be expensive soon… the weird weather has made it so not many people have planted wheat this winter.  So even a better deal!

Of course, that is a good thing for my straw beds in the garden… they will hopefully last me two seasons!  That would be nice…

Well, time for bed.  No, way past time for bed!  Can’t wait to be dreaming about Gideon and my gang and little lambies next year…. ahhhh…….  oh boy!!!!