"One of these things" contest winner

Hi, I think I forgot to tell you which of the three mamas had their babies that day...  Sorry about that!  It got real busy, real fast...  

It was Sunny, the sheep!  

Twin ram lambs.  One black, one white.

I was hoping for a black ewe lamb from her, to keep in the flock.  "Alas, earwax"...  (Oh, that's a silly Dumbledore quote from Harry Potter)  :)

Now Bea the pig has had her babies and is blissfully nursing away.  Two didn't make it to the 24 hour mark, so she has 7 spunky, curious piglets of the blackest black that they look almost deep blue.  So adorable with their tiny curled tails and baby ears.

Only Dazzle the goat left to kid.  She was bred at my friend's place, so the guestimated due date is "April".  Besides her full udder and the fake or real contractions that she's been having this week, I don't know anything more definite than "April"...

In the sheep pen again, May and her daughter Merry appear to be pregnant, but I am no longer holding my breath to guess "when".  

This is what happens when I use two inexperienced rams, I guess.  Maybe Luther bred one ewe per 17 day cycle and this will stretch on forever...  Joking, just a little.  

I am going to call the shearer, and then we'll see a bit more clearly if there is udder development and a nice round belly under that wool.  We were holding off on the shearer and his twirling and man-handling for the sake of the ewes, but now, for the sake of the ewes, they need to lose their winter coats before much warmer weather arrives!

 

Laura

Nesting Instinct Extraordinaire

It started with nest to top all other nests.  

Big Bea woke up this morning, clamoring for her breakfast as soon as I walked into the barn.

She proceeded to dump her shallow pan of fresh water, because there MIGHT be one more tidbit of grain underneath...

Bea settled in to munch her morning share of hay, the good stuff that we bought for Bessie the cow...because she was now convinced that I had not hidden one morsel of grain anywhere else.

I've been waiting for these piglets for over 5 weeks now.  Two weeks in the maternity stall "in case" the break-in by Bea INTO young boar Chip's pen produced babies...  That unlikely due-date came and went, with no great surprise.

Another week of waiting and watching, because I observed what seemed to be a successful mating with Lawnmower back in November... No, despite what I witnessed, they decided to prove me wrong.  I'm sure they laughed in cackled and squealed in secret about how they had fooled me.

And now three more weeks of waiting, because when the witnessed act did not produce piglets, the next most likely scenario was....on the next cycle, unobserved by human eyes, Lawnmower the boar and Bea the sow got very cozy during the sub-zero chill last December.

Finally, a correct guess.  And the timing is more what I had planned on way back in October, before Lawnmower was supposed to be sold and the winter weather rearranged hog-meets-hog first dates.

So, it starts with this monstrous, elaborate nest.  Bea built it in short order while I was feeding everyone else this morning.  Walking back into the barn, I see little of Bea and much hay and straw.  Every available and dry piece of hay and straw from her stall was pawed into place for this enveloping nest.

Not too long after, the muffled sounds of a pig in a bit of physical distress start issuing from the coziness of the shroud...

And then she starts shifting uncomfortably, kicking softly at her huge belly.

A few times she hoisted herself up with much grumping and huffing, to settle back into the nest and continue in discomfort.

Just before noon, with quite a bit of scooching and hunching, the first piglet was born.  

Farm dogs Taffy and Remy each took different approaches to the activity inside that stall.  Taffy had to know everything that was going on...and then she left to survey the rest of her domain from the back step of the house.  Remy wants nothing more than to be close to me, so he just settled in with a yawn, took no notice of the pig or the tiny squeals, and slept while he waited for something fun to happen.

An hour later, Bea had had nine.  The first wave of five were snuggled up under her rather large jowls, while the last wave of four piglets were still experimenting with where the milk comes from.  Bea is very well endowed when it comes to the milk bar...  

Whew, glad that waiting is over.  

Now, to watch them for the next 24 hours.  It has been a rare 24 hour post-delivery window where something does not happen to claim the life of one piglet from any given litter.

 

Because I posted these very photos on Facebook, someone from Indiana is already telling me that she wants at least one of these piglets for their breeding program.  Bonus!  All I wanted to do was share my excitement with the fellow Guinea Hog enthusiasts who were online, before I crash onto the couch for a well-deserved mid-day nap.  

For now, mama Bea looks so content.   The goat who is trying to go into labor seems to be taking a break.  I'd better get a short nap, before the chance is gone!

 

Laura

Sesame Street Farm Games

Let's play a Sesame Street game... One of these Things is not like the Others. 
 Our contestants: Fainting Goat, Guinea Hog, Southdown Sheep  (announced by Guy Smiley)

Ahem...

All three have been hugely pregnant for longer than I care to think about. 
 Two were not bred when I observed a "successful" breeding and became pregnant on the second cycle, 3 weeks later. They forgot to inform me of the change in plans...
One came to the farm after she was pregnant.

One might have been due 3 weeks earlier than that, from when she nosed the hog panel up and over herself and went to visit young Chips who was unsuccessful...

All three were having strong contractions today. 
 All three look "ready" (under their tails.... Yeah, you get to be really familiar with that area, towards the end of livestock pregnancies...)

Only one had babies today. 
 Hint: One baby was solid black. Well, that could be lamb, goat, or piglet.

Better hint: Only one mama was also born here at Dykstra's Farm. She is the different one, the one who actually had her babies today.

Guesses?

 

Laura

Unwelcome fever, farm life goes on

In bed, with a fever.  

Jeff is watching our granddaughter, who is needing entertaining and the doggies have been banished from my bedroom so that our little L can coo and make adorable noises at them...  

Pig Bea is lying in the barn, huge and breathing heavily but not giving me anything to take my mind off of the fever...

The last remaining pregnant goat Dazzle is acting like she's going into labor, but....no progress.

Moose Tracks the fainting buck is blubbering and slobbering so loudly about having a yearling doe (Pixie) in with him that it is making me cringe when I go out there.  Poor Pixie.  But she WAS flirting and wagging her tail at him, so the timing was right for a very awkward introduction.  Yes, if you've seen those videos of a goat blabbering with his tongue out, spitting, making all kinds of crazed noises over a female goat (or human for that matter), it is all sadly, disgustingly true.

Two little goats, Wendy and Ivey, are missing their friend.  They are back in the goat shed by the willow tree...but it's best if they stay in that fenced area so that poor Pixie does not feel any worse about the buck's amorous intentions.

Remy the farm dog is so tired of being closed in his stall that he is experimenting with jumping high with excitement when I trudge out there.  He could clear the fence panel if he thought about it.  The stall is just a formality at this point.  It contains him at times like today, when I can't jump up to correct him if he barks at the goats or chases a chicken.  He learns so quickly, but is still learning what's allowed.

Mocha and Zaney's babies are 4 weeks old now.  Time for CDT shots for all the kids, hoof trimming and deworming for the mothers.  Then they will move as a mother/kid group to the shed by the willow.  The forlorn Wendy and Ivey will have to defend "their" territory against Mocha, who is the herd queen...  CDT and hoof trimming, and the move to the goat shed, will not happen today...

The squealing of indignant piggies behind the barn has died down, thankfully.  They were combined into three groups yesterday, rather than 5 separate pens.  Oh, the biting and chasing and squealing.  Until I dumped some barley in for them.  Then they were all-for-one and all-for-one...  (None for all, obviously.  They are pigs.)  It was a great bonding experience and by yesterday night the entire new group in each pen was snuggled into their pen's communal shelter together.

We have one class of prekindergarteners coming this week for a farm tour.  I'll need to be better by then.

 

Laura

Feels like spring!

March 31st.  Savvy had twin doelings.  Just beautiful. (I thought we had a buyer.  He tried to talk me down $200 on the price for mom and the white baby.  Um...nope.)

Enjoying these two beautiful little kids.  One goat left to have her babies...

March 30.  Lawnmower the boar left, and in his wake sits the disgusting pen that was never intended for winter use.  Ankle deep grossness...  I am sad to see the empty pen, but happy that he is in a better place.  Literally.  He did not go to the butcher, but to an experienced guinea hog breeder, who is excited to have him.  (That's Lawnmower in the photo with Cameo, who is also out of that ankle-deep muck and enjoying the churned up dirt in a different pen.)

Recently.  Moose Tracks the fainting buck...he has challenged me and then Jeff.   He is for sale, but I will likely breed him one more time and then he will feed three families as his last legacy.  It's the harsh reality.  Gorgeous boy, everyone loves his stunningly handsome looks, but he can't rear up on his back legs and challenge us.  The barnyard needs to be a safe place for man and beast.

Pig groups were rearranged today.  

Mitch the boar is now in with Rose's daughter from last May.  

Chips the boar is in with Cameo's daughter from last April (who is likely already bred by Mitch) and also with Bea's daughter from last June.  Chips may be on loan to a friend of mine for the summer, so we will try for one more litter from him before he leaves.  

Cameo is now in with her baby boar and a barrow from last October.  She is so obviously carrying Lawnmower's babies that I'm not at all worried that her young son will breed her...

Lambs are doing well.  There are 4 ewes who still haven't had lambs...  I admit, I was feeling udders today, to see who is filling up.  They were not at all amused.  Maybe two of them seem to be near delivery.  

So I let Boy Blue the ram in with the ewes, so that if the breeding season is not over, he can still make babies with any that aren't due soon.  He lost his chance last fall when he didn't show any interest in the ladies, so....last chance for him.  

Any lambs born in the next few months will be from Luther, five months from now we can thank Boy Blue if he sires anything.

The steer left today.  His new farm home has a young weanling heifer (female) that they are going to keep with him, so that the two calves aren't alone as he gets used to the new place.  Then he'll be put in with their larger herd of beef cattle.

Big Bea is still grossly pregnant.  I must have seen a breeding that didn't "take" back in November, so now we're on baby watch for the 3-weeks-later date.  It hurts to look at her humongous belly.  I'm sure she isn't too thrilled about the size of it, either.

Let's see....   Chicks have hatched in the incubator, and are cheeping in the basement.  

Friends are talking about selling fainting bucks or Southdown ram lambs, and I need to consider the breeding line-up for fall already.  

I seeded the bare area of what used to be "lawn" (weeds), and we'll see if any real grass can take root there.  The pasture and fenced side-areas are next for seeding, once I'm sure the torrential rains are done and the expensive pasture seed won't wash right out of our property and into the corn fields.

Remy is fitting in so well.  Rocky tolerates him, Taffy loves him, and he is well-adjusted here on the farm.  We laughed when we realized that our son has a name that ends with "-remy" and we named a dog unintentionally after him.  Our "-remy" son felt a little smug about that. 

So, it's beautiful out, things are being accomplished, birds are singing (and chirping), chickens and ducks are laying as if there was never a winter lull...  Spring break (as in...vacation) is over, but the spring flowers are poking through last year's leaves and getting ready to bloom.  

All is right with the barnyard.

 

Laura

Family resemblance

The little family.  Lambs born on Sunday afternoon.  

Mama April is our original Southdown ewe, and she's had twins for two years out of the four years of lambing.  

Papa Luther was born just last spring at a friend's farm.  I purchased him last year, looking for a Southdown ram who would have less wool on his face and around his eyes.  He has matured to be a gorgeous boy, and his baby sons have inherited the darker shading.

He has no way of knowing it, but his pose makes him *look* like the proud papa.  

These twin lambs provided lots of entertainment and smiles for the three families who brought their kids to visit yesterday.  :)

 

Laura

Twins!

The title for this one could have been "Lambs!  And Convulsions!  And Vultures.  Oh my!"

  

True, after weeks of nothing....we have lambs.  

Today I went out to the barn because Big Bea the pig was twitching so violently (as seen on the barn camera) that she couldn't sleep.  No piglets, but...(distracted moment) what have we over HERE?!!!  

April was busy cleaning a tiny newborn lamb, and was not done yet.

As I hurried back to the house for my phone (to take photos with, WHAT has this society come to?!), I saw that Taffy was growling and barking at....  THREE VULTURES in the top of the willow tree.  

It was a crazy coincidence.  A lamb, a pig with twitching convulsions (sort of), and vultures.

It is almost 10:00 on a Sunday night, now.  April had twin ram lambs (in the photos).  

Big Bea is still not resting comfortably, and is quick to roll over onto her enormous side and expose her enormous belly (complete with nearly embarrassing endowments filling with milk)  But no piglets just yet.

And the vultures are who-knows-where, but at least they are not hanging around in our tree.

I have a feeling that baby season is back in business.  At least 2 of the other 5 ewes are showing udder development (yes, our sheep get a grape-fruit sized udder that shows when they lie down), so there are more lambs soon, I hope.  Two more goats are also developing udders and looking rounder.  

Did I mention that at least one of our female barn cats was visited by the resident wild male?  More kitties on the way, it would seem.

But now, off to bed.  I'm hoping I can get a full night's rest, but unless Bea is sleeping soundly with no more twitchy movements, I will not sleep soundly, either.  

Welcome, welcome, baby lambs!  We've been expecting you!  :)

 

Laura