Baymule’s Farm

Phaedra said:

My hero! 🌷

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baymule said:

Ewenique has had me worried the last few days. She walked real S. L. O. W.
Waddled is more like it. She trailed behind the flock, big, fat, uncomfortable.

Yesterday , she was clearly uncomfortable. Laid down, got up, wandered aimlessly, laid down, got up, rinse, repeat. The flock would wander off, she got up and followed. Then she would leave the flock to go lay down, get up, up, down, up, down. Wander back to flock, leave the flock.

Her udder was enormous, ligs were gone, sides hollowed out, belly hanging low.
Ligs means the ligaments over her hind end, at the spine. Normally tight and firm, they loosen up preparing for birth, for the lamb to be able to pass through. I could grab her spine at the base of her tail and both sides were soft and mushy.

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Her sides were hollowed out.

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Her belly dropped, getting the lambs in position for birth.

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That extended stiff back leg, another sign of labor.

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All. Day. Long.

At 10 years old, heavy with twins, heck she’s so big, maybe triplets? My old girl, the last one of the original 4 ewes that BJ and i bought, maybe she needed help? I checked on her all morning. Finally gave up and just sat outside, watching. She laid down, threw her head up in the air. Bingo! She is in labor!

My son showed up, his job ended. So we “placed” where I’m going to put the barn. Changed my plans, changed where, changed which way it’s facing. I kept an eye on Ewenique!

Chase came over with his tractor to cut up some red oak from a tree that had to come down up front, for the new fence. He cut a front end loader full of red oak and the 3 of us stood there talking. I turned my head to see a baby on the ground!

I went in the pen to see if she needed assistance, but Ewenique had it under control. I made sure the lambs nose was clear and plop! Here came another one. I cleared its nose and moved it out of the fluid puddle. We watched her clean her babies, watched as they wobbled to their tiny feet and got their first milk.

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I moved the lambs to a small pen, with Ewenique right beside them. I fed her separately and she got her alfalfa too.
I’m pretty sure they are both ewes.

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baymule said:

The past 3 weeks I’ve been helping a friend taping and floating sheetrock. He is building a barndominium. He and his wife are purely city, bought 28 acres with a small 800 square foot cabin on it couple of years ago. They were green as grass. They have learned a lot in this short time.

As many new homesteaders do, they got everything. Saint Croix sheep, black Spanish goats, Kune Kune pig, chickens, 2 red Devon heifers, and 2 Anatolian sisters. They are figuring out that they need to narrow it down to sheep, goats, Anatolians, chickens and a garden.

Wonderful people, the kind all of us would love to have for neighbors. A mutual friend introduced us. They had a ewe lamb born who couldn’t hold her head up to nurse, called me and she became a bottle baby. I called a couple of weeks later to check on the lamb and he told me he and a friend were hanging sheetrock. I offered to help with taping and floating. I worked 3 days week one, 3 days week two and 4 days this week. We have it all taped and floated as of yesterday. Most of it is sanded and 4 rooms have the second coat of mud. We are sliding into the home stretch.

My friend has Hydrocephaly ( if I spelled that right) from being thrown off a bicycle at high speed and hitting his head. That’s water on the brain. He has a shunt in his brain to keep fluids drained off. It sometimes gets stopped up and then it’s emergency life or death surgery. He has had 6 brain surgeries. Each one may be the last one.

He told me that he wants to build this nice home for his wife so she will have a nice home to live in. He’s concerned that the Lord will take him home before he finishes it. So I decided that I would see it through to get the taping and floating finished. He mentioned one morning that he spent the night before throwing up because looking up makes him violently ill. Good grief. So I told him no more trying to do the ceiling, I would do them.

I gotta tell ya’, after 3 weeks of doing sheetrock and concentrated staring at ceilings, my neck and shoulders hurt so bad last night, I could barely turn my head. I got a small glass of wine, then another and then another. Almost finished off the box of wine that has lasted over a year. Yeah, I know, I got a drinking problem. LOL

I slept until 7:30 this morning. Going for second cup of coffee. Got 2 dump truck loads of dirt coming at 9:00 and I haven’t even done chores yet. I have a lot of work to catch up on here, but I’ll go back to finish sheetrock on Monday morning.

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baymule said:

The past 3 weeks I’ve been helping a friend taping and floating sheetrock. He is building a barndominium. He and his wife are purely city, bought 28 acres with a small 800 square foot cabin on it couple of years ago. They were green as grass. They have learned a lot in this short time.

As many new homesteaders do, they got everything. Saint Croix sheep, black Spanish goats, Kune Kune pig, chickens, 2 red Devon heifers, and 2 Anatolian sisters. They are figuring out that they need to narrow it down to sheep, goats, Anatolians, chickens and a garden.

Wonderful people, the kind all of us would love to have for neighbors. A mutual friend introduced us. They had a ewe lamb born who couldn’t hold her head up to nurse, called me and she became a bottle baby. I called a couple of weeks later to check on the lamb and he told me he and a friend were hanging sheetrock. I offered to help with taping and floating. I worked 3 days week one, 3 days week two and 4 days this week. We have it all taped and floated as of yesterday. Most of it is sanded and 4 rooms have the second coat of mud. We are sliding into the home stretch.

My friend has Hydrocephaly ( if I spelled that right) from being thrown off a bicycle at high speed and hitting his head. That’s water on the brain. He has a shunt in his brain to keep fluids drained off. It sometimes gets stopped up and then it’s emergency life or death surgery. He has had 6 brain surgeries. Each one may be the last one.

He told me that he wants to build this nice home for his wife so she will have a nice home to live in. He’s concerned that the Lord will take him home before he finishes it. So I decided that I would see it through to get the taping and floating finished. He mentioned one morning that he spent the night before throwing up because looking up makes him violently ill. Good grief. So I told him no more trying to do the ceiling, I would do them.

I gotta tell ya’, after 3 weeks of doing sheetrock and concentrated staring at ceilings, my neck and shoulders hurt so bad last night, I could barely turn my head. I got a small glass of wine, then another and then another. Almost finished off the box of wine that has lasted over a year. Yeah, I know, I got a drinking problem. LOL

I slept until 7:30 this morning. Going for second cup of coffee. Got 2 dump truck loads of dirt coming at 9:00 and I haven’t even done chores yet. I have a lot of work to catch up on here, but I’ll go back to finish sheetrock on Monday morning.

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