It shouldn't happen to a lamb...Poor Lamb Chop !!!! Yesterday was designated manicure day for our little man. Sadly Lamb Chop is not particular about what finds itself in his tummy and since single handedly trying to eat a whole salt lick block his digestive system has been seriously challenged.What has his digestive system got to do with his manicure ?...it is really not pleasant being in the vacinity of his butt !!! Actually, I will revise that statement ..it is VERY unpleasant, messy and decidedly smelly. Something had to be done, we tried Pepto Bismal, we tried Activia, we tried all kinds of stuff but Lamb Chop still has his "issue". After careful consideration Greg came up with the answer and lamb chops feet were manicured with little or no problems....out came the sheep shears and Lamb Chops butt has been sheared with possibly THE worst hair cut in the world but he still wears his woolly coat,...he has lost his dirty shorts !!!
Last evening was vaccination day for our bunch of babies. A considerable ammount of thought had to go into how we were going to manage to capture and innoculate 19 lambs...capture being the part of the equation that was causing us concern. Neither of us are spring chickens...and these are most definitely Spring lambs. Nineteen little lambs can cause considerable chaos and the object of the exercise was to ensure that 19 lambs were treated. The moms were initially curious when they saw Greg and I in the pen, concern grew as gates went up and no food magically appeared," their people" traditionally the providers of dinner but "their people" came and went, errected a cage ...and left. The ewes were clearly concerned when Greg arrived with food and I closed the gate..all was not well. The moms shepherded their babies into corners under feeders or stood over them but I had the breaker....peanuts. People with peanuts can't be bad, food had arrived and the ewes relaxed. Greg pounced and one by one the babies were grabbed and stabbed, inoculated put into a pen. Moms not sure whether it was appropriate to continue eating or panic...mostly decided that since dinner had arrived panic could wait until dinner had finished and besides, I still had the peanuts !!! Smudge being a really good mom and having a large percentage of the offspring in the cage,( bouncing triplets )was not being diverted from her maternal duties and for much of the procedure I had Smudges head and hot breath disconcertingly buried between my knees, nose through the bars of the cage bleating unconsolably. Fortunately before the ladies finished eating, before Smudge really got annoyed and before the babies formulated a successful break out plan, we managed to get the job done and hopefully all 19 babies are safely vaccinated. Thank goodness it's only once a year !!! ,
Time to go, back down to the barn. We have someone coming for manure..who says it's a pile of poo...."where theres muck there's money"...old English saying !!! (I think !!!) Take care, M
Last evening was vaccination day for our bunch of babies. A considerable ammount of thought had to go into how we were going to manage to capture and innoculate 19 lambs...capture being the part of the equation that was causing us concern. Neither of us are spring chickens...and these are most definitely Spring lambs. Nineteen little lambs can cause considerable chaos and the object of the exercise was to ensure that 19 lambs were treated. The moms were initially curious when they saw Greg and I in the pen, concern grew as gates went up and no food magically appeared," their people" traditionally the providers of dinner but "their people" came and went, errected a cage ...and left. The ewes were clearly concerned when Greg arrived with food and I closed the gate..all was not well. The moms shepherded their babies into corners under feeders or stood over them but I had the breaker....peanuts. People with peanuts can't be bad, food had arrived and the ewes relaxed. Greg pounced and one by one the babies were grabbed and stabbed, inoculated put into a pen. Moms not sure whether it was appropriate to continue eating or panic...mostly decided that since dinner had arrived panic could wait until dinner had finished and besides, I still had the peanuts !!! Smudge being a really good mom and having a large percentage of the offspring in the cage,( bouncing triplets )was not being diverted from her maternal duties and for much of the procedure I had Smudges head and hot breath disconcertingly buried between my knees, nose through the bars of the cage bleating unconsolably. Fortunately before the ladies finished eating, before Smudge really got annoyed and before the babies formulated a successful break out plan, we managed to get the job done and hopefully all 19 babies are safely vaccinated. Thank goodness it's only once a year !!! ,
Time to go, back down to the barn. We have someone coming for manure..who says it's a pile of poo...."where theres muck there's money"...old English saying !!! (I think !!!) Take care, M
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