A Christmas Story from the Farm

This Christmas story begins with a red hen Rachel has named Mary. Mary in fact is our only laying hen right now while we wait on the young chickens to mature. Before the last storm we moved Mary into the barn where she is free range. We just found her nest and where she has been laying her eggs. Rachel has been collecting the eggs. As she collected yesterday she says "I hope Mary lays a Christmas egg." I say why. "So we can have Jesus." It would have to be the immaculate chicken conception since the roosters are penned away from Mary but I did not get into that.
Wishing all a Merry Christmas!
Michele

Shepherd Abuse

It is a fact of life if you are your own shepherd or if you farm you will have the bumps and bruises to show you do some physical labor for a living. Summertime I really should stick to wearing long pants to cover the usual bruise or two I am sporting on my legs. These usually come from catching, weighing, vaccinating, deworming, or tattooing lambs that sometimes catch me with a kicking hoof. This past week with the snowstorm we got about a foot of wet heavy snow. Before the storm came I moved the ram group and pony into the barnyard so they would have some shelter. Once the storm passed, freezing below zero temps were on the way so I worked to clear the snow that accumulated around the livestock gates with a shovel before it froze so I'd be able to open the gates again to get the animals back out to pasture when the time came. I shoveled most of one gate and then pulled on it against the snow to see how much farther to shovel and wham the 16 ft. gate came off the hinge, hit me in the head right above my right eye, and down I went with the gate on top of me. Got back up and tried to put the gate back on the hinges but needed help to line it up. I have a black eye from the ordeal (actually a deep purple that looks like permanent eye shadow). I've had this colorful eye now for a few days and of course people make comments like "I'd like to see the other guy." At least I do live in a rural community so most people do believe my story (I think!). Some people don't ask and just look and you wonder what they are thinking happened. I've decided I'd just like to simply reply "shepherd abuse."

Puppy Grandmother Brag

Ok, so not much about sheep yet but they say Variety is the Spice of Life!

Visited a litter of puppies, the first litter produced by "Ella" a daughter of "Tex" my Cardigan male, CH. Byrnecrest Tri-ed To Tell Ya and "Val" MJ R Mere Valentine HT, TDI.
Ella is owned by Drakewood Cardigans and Drakewood owns Val's father. This litter has 7 lovely marked puppies and I am pleased as her litter sister "Bo" free whelped 10 puppies this summer for her first litter. Bo's litter had blacks with tri or brindle points, and blue merles. Bo is owned by Caernarvon and they own Val's mother, Rhosy. Ella's litter is red/sables and brindles. See photo! No mismarks or fluffy coats in either litter. It makes me feel good knowing the generations will continue through Val's one and only litter. Both Drakewood and Caernarvon have been involved with Cardigans since the 1970's. Love those puppy kisses! Rachel has visited and played with all these puppies and we have managed to come home without one. I guess because she considers "Alfie" her puppy yet (litter brother to Ella & Bo) all is ok!

I am attracted to the reds and many of these pups remind me of Tex, my big red boy, when he was little! I will try to include a photo of Tex at the 2009 Nationals as Best Red dog in the Megan competition. I promised him he is retired so this is his last show pose! Maybe one of these puppies will be in one of these poses someday at a National? I am sure they will be loved by whomever selects them.

Breeder vs. Collector

This subject hit home the other day when Rachel & I were at the Midwest Mini Rex Rabbit Club Specialty showing her 2 does. We had developed a plan over the last few months and acquired these does to complement the buck I bought Rachel for her birthday. The buck is a little over-sized but when shown at the fair we were told by the judge to breed him and find smaller does. So we have a Black Otter buck to breed to a Black Otter doe with a plan to hopefully get a correct sized good quality buck to breed to the Broken doe we have. Sounds simple enough except for the fact at this show they had a silent auction for Mini Rex rabbits. Rachel bid on a Castor Jr. doe which should really be bred to Castor bucks, then was outbid and wanted to bid on an Opal doe which we also do not have the correct color buck to breed to. Of course they are cute and you want them all so then she walked around looking for the "for sale" rabbits. I redirected her to the raffle and gave her $1.00 to buy 4 raffle tickets. Should have looked over the prizes more closely as there were a few rabbits donated to the raffle. Rachel put all 4 tickets in for a black French Lop Jr. buck and fortunate for us ended up not winning. I explained you can be a collector or a breeder, and breeders have and set goals. Collectors see something they like and collect, or search out and collect. She got this when I gave the example of what we want to do with her rabbits and if she tries to buy everyone she likes then we may not have room to produce our own and won't it mean more to you to have bred and produced that "special" rabbit you intended? I told her I have goals for every sheep breeding group I assemble each fall and my flock means more to me because I built it from scratch with 2 bred ewes to start out and I've added important bits and pieces along the way and continue to work at it and the reward is reaching each goal.
The next point is collecting animals is an expensive hobby as they eat too much so best to collect something not alive!
What I did not tell her is I once brought a rabbit home with me from a visit to relatives in Oklahoma when I was about her age so I know where she gets this but the difference is my mother was not the animal lover her mother is and we did not live on a farm.

Signs of winter is here with a little white stuff on the ground and the ewe flock just got arranged in for winter quarters with water heaters.