I'm blessed to have one amazing Greg in my life as a permanent forever feature but right now and for the next few weeks.....I'm even more blessed to have two great Gregs !!!
Greg (2) has fitted into ranch life as if he was born with rubber boots on and a pitchfork in his hand. He and Greg (mine) have been busy over the past few days as Thanksgiving and Christmas draw nearer. Sadly, the turkey pen is now almost unoccupied. Tom the Tom turkey ( original eh?) is now master of a harem of three hens. Why three ? We had the original pair of breeding turkeys and it was always our intention to keep Tom and Tilly.....unfortunately the turkey poults morphed into mini Tillys and as the poults grew, momma turkey blended into a sea of identical black brown and grey birds. Clearly this left Greg with a problem as the number of birds in the turkey pen declined. One hen ensured that she was not going to feature on a Thanksgiving dish, made a break for freedom and disappeared with a flurry of wings over the tree tops leaving Greg with just a handful of feathers. I guess she decided that if the President could pardon a turkey then she was going to survive the Thanksgiving and Christmas cull too. The other hen still under Tom's watchful eye was just very lucky that (1) Greg ran out of daylight (2) it was bitterly cold and (3) she was on the shortlist as a possibility for mom turkey. I guess we'll do well for turkey eggs in the Spring. The escapee wasn't really as smart as she thought she was.....it wasn't long before she walked back home and into the pen. All four have a reprieve....the President only pardons one !
We were fortunate to have Greg (2) Tyler, Carly and Joanna helping and I would like to thank them all for giving up their Saturday for the cause. We couldn't have done it without you all.
Over the past months, we have determined that we are going to lighten our load here on the ranch and ease the work for our ageing bones. This weekend has (temporarily) added to our daily schedule as we have added 6 pompom med alpacas to our livestock itinerary. The alpacas have been displaced from their home and needed sanctuary. Greg (1) has a healthy dislike for all species camelidae after a couple of unfortunate run ins with kicking spitting nasty Llamas and Greg(2) was quite obviously unsure about the strange hairy creature on the end of his leadrope particulary after he was told that they behave better if you don't look at them. GREAT....we were fine with that. smile. Loading the animals into the trailer was not without incident, increased Greg's dislike of anything llama like and ensured that we would never be adding another to our pastures. Secretly I think they are quite cute.....!
There is also another addition to the cow barn and yesterday the valley echoed to the bellows of Pixi Forest Moulder.....a VERY well endowed black Dexter bull. Daisy Mae has repeatedly declined to get pregnant and clearly Wayne the man with the semen straw just wasn't doing it for her. After much discussion, we have leased Moulder and his oversized assets. He appeared to be very interested in Daisy.....now we watch and wait for nature and testerone to take it's course. Moulder will be lumbering through our pastures for the next six weeks and the cow barn is once more resembles Jurassic park with all the electric fence wire.
Time to go, it's freezing and foggy.......again ! Take care, keep safe and warm. M
Greg (2) has fitted into ranch life as if he was born with rubber boots on and a pitchfork in his hand. He and Greg (mine) have been busy over the past few days as Thanksgiving and Christmas draw nearer. Sadly, the turkey pen is now almost unoccupied. Tom the Tom turkey ( original eh?) is now master of a harem of three hens. Why three ? We had the original pair of breeding turkeys and it was always our intention to keep Tom and Tilly.....unfortunately the turkey poults morphed into mini Tillys and as the poults grew, momma turkey blended into a sea of identical black brown and grey birds. Clearly this left Greg with a problem as the number of birds in the turkey pen declined. One hen ensured that she was not going to feature on a Thanksgiving dish, made a break for freedom and disappeared with a flurry of wings over the tree tops leaving Greg with just a handful of feathers. I guess she decided that if the President could pardon a turkey then she was going to survive the Thanksgiving and Christmas cull too. The other hen still under Tom's watchful eye was just very lucky that (1) Greg ran out of daylight (2) it was bitterly cold and (3) she was on the shortlist as a possibility for mom turkey. I guess we'll do well for turkey eggs in the Spring. The escapee wasn't really as smart as she thought she was.....it wasn't long before she walked back home and into the pen. All four have a reprieve....the President only pardons one !
We were fortunate to have Greg (2) Tyler, Carly and Joanna helping and I would like to thank them all for giving up their Saturday for the cause. We couldn't have done it without you all.
Over the past months, we have determined that we are going to lighten our load here on the ranch and ease the work for our ageing bones. This weekend has (temporarily) added to our daily schedule as we have added 6 pompom med alpacas to our livestock itinerary. The alpacas have been displaced from their home and needed sanctuary. Greg (1) has a healthy dislike for all species camelidae after a couple of unfortunate run ins with kicking spitting nasty Llamas and Greg(2) was quite obviously unsure about the strange hairy creature on the end of his leadrope particulary after he was told that they behave better if you don't look at them. GREAT....we were fine with that. smile. Loading the animals into the trailer was not without incident, increased Greg's dislike of anything llama like and ensured that we would never be adding another to our pastures. Secretly I think they are quite cute.....!
There is also another addition to the cow barn and yesterday the valley echoed to the bellows of Pixi Forest Moulder.....a VERY well endowed black Dexter bull. Daisy Mae has repeatedly declined to get pregnant and clearly Wayne the man with the semen straw just wasn't doing it for her. After much discussion, we have leased Moulder and his oversized assets. He appeared to be very interested in Daisy.....now we watch and wait for nature and testerone to take it's course. Moulder will be lumbering through our pastures for the next six weeks and the cow barn is once more resembles Jurassic park with all the electric fence wire.
Time to go, it's freezing and foggy.......again ! Take care, keep safe and warm. M
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