The lambs are here…but boy are they crazy creatures! All I can think is, really, I waited almost three years…for this???!
Yeah, I’m a bit disappointed. All my dreams of rich creamy yogurt and cheese have gone out the window because these sheep are insane and their brains must be tiny. They are so skittish/terrified of us they would rather bash themselves into walls than risk having us touch them.
It’s not what I expected after all this time and research. Katahdins are supposed to be so much calmer than many sheep. And the baby ewes (ewelings??) were chosen because they have the best milking potential. Though Katahdins are not actually true milking sheep they survive better than wool milk sheep do here in Texas. It’s not the heat that gets them, it’s their delicate system and the terrible parasites in hot, humid central Texas. Katahdins are a meat sheep that many people end up milking. You can milk any animal, right? Well, I don’t see how to when they’re this wild. Ours are young and need time to bond. I’ve just never actually tamed a wild animal like these before. Christine says they resemble abused dogs all hunkered down in the corner cowering in fear. And they weren’t abused; they were simply on a pasture and clearly didn’t get human interaction.
I have to keep telling myself “A sheep is not a goat. A sheep is not a goat.” Perhaps these guys are the perfect lesson in patience for me, but I’m kind of busy to have to spend this much time with just one set of animals.
I keep joking (or am I?) that we have some expensive meat in our backyard now. The original plan had been to raise them til they’re adults, breed them, eat the two rams, then raise the babies for meat while we milk the two ewes. Now I just don’t know…
In other news, we have another new farm guest: an 18 year old tortoise. He’s the same kind as Tucker (Sulcata) but ten years older and 25 pounds heavier (70 pounds!!). He was given to us by our hairdresser who had him from birth onward and she said he was getting out of her fencing and kept ending up in the street. We have more land and stronger fencing for him. He’s a lot naughtier than Tucker–he currently lives with the bucks (male goats) and he enjoys chasing them at top speed (tortoises are actually quite fast!) and biting their back legs. They were terrified the first few days and now they just know to get out of his way. The long term goal is to have him alone in that enclosure and move the goats onto fresh pasture but we first need to train them to the electric netting and it’s just too darn hot to do that kind of thing right now since it involves us sitting out there with them ensuring everyone is safe. By the way, two male tortoises do not do well together unless raised that way and considering this guy is 18 and has always lived alone it is NOT a good idea to try that.
In other news, I picked up four black Silkie chicks last weekend that were newly hatched that morning. They are TINY. My plan is to breed them next year and sell Silkies. Black ones are almost impossible to come by around here! Of course with Silkies you can’t sex them so five months from now we may realize we have just purchased four roosters. Hopefully not. We also have Mr T, our buff Silkie roo that was donated to us, a white Silkie and a partridge Silkie both still too young to tell the sex of right now. Between the seven we should have some cool babies. And we’ve never had baby chicks born here so that’s a whole other fun experience coming in 2021.
Oh gosh, I forgot to mention our newest goat on the farm that we picked up about ten days ago. Meet Shindig, named for the best episode of Joss Whedon’s Firefly. He’s our new Mini Nubian buck, though he doesn’t seem like he’ll be ready for breeding this year.
In other news, we are having to wait on milk/cheese/soap for the next month because one of our goats came down with a bad case of barberpole. This is SO common in our area but we managed to control any issues for the past 19 months with just herbs, essential oils, and garlic/ginger paste. This doe though, she’s the one who had quadruplets in the spring and she just hasn’t done well fighting off the parasites. So we have resorted to chemicals after trying and failing with herbs this time around. It doesn’t feel like a failure because we have given so much and really did what we could. This is one of those times when chemicals might be necessary. As a side note, I don’t have any close friends in my area who have not lost a goat this year to barberpole. LOST. And the woman I bought the four Silkies from lost SEVEN this year. Seven goats out of 24. And she uses chemicals, she is not relying on herbs. So that also shows you that chemicals do not always work, either. My other friend who uses three chemicals at once and worms very regularly lost one this year. Chemicals do not mean you can save them all. I hope with our Bridget that because we so rarely have to use them that they will work well and that we are able to boost her up with other natural things to keep her rumen healthy–we give her molasses for iron, yellow dock for iron as well, and Vitalherbs, Immune support herbs from Fir Meadow, and they’ve got their mineral cafeteria set up again that she can access throughout the day with 16-18 individual minerals. A month without milk though because dumping it is required with the chemicals really sucks. I’m sad about that. Making my last batch of cheese tomorrow and then it’s a long wait.
Keep Bridget in your thoughts and prayers–she happens to be my kindest, gentlest goat who is most in tune with human emotions. She’s really a special one. <3
