HOT HOT HOT!!!

Wow, has it been HOT or WHAT!!!  It has been in the upper 90's with heat indexes of 105!  Last weekend Mr Paul and PJ and some young guys hayed the front field.  It was the first time they used the square baler and it did a great job.  Now we have fresh hay.  We have weaned half of the Icelandic Lambs and I am going to put my breeding groups together early this year as well.  All the lambs who were born in March have done great.  I am thinking about trying some hormone inserts made for sheep to bring them into estrus out of season.  Perfect, maybe I can get most to lamb in Febuary and the rest of the herd in March.  The lastest lambing I had this year was the middle of April.  That group of ewes was from up north and used to being bred in November, a couple did lamb in March.  We will use this from now on and pull the rams the first of December.  We will cull any ewes who do not breed early or try and induce estrus if they are a really nice ewe.  The Icelandics are a really flexible breed.  They are adapting well and dealing with the heat quite well in my opinion.  The Mini Cheviots and Shetlands do not even notice the heat.

The picture above is one of our Icelandic Ram Lambs.  He is sired by The Trump and is a rich Moorit color and his mom is a lovely silver gray.  The picture to the

right is another Icelandic Ram lamb who is probably going to be gray Moorit and his mom is gray, sired by The Trump.

We are dealing with the heat by getting out early in the morning, which is like walking into a sauna and doing what needs to be done.  Then heading indoors until after 630 pm in the evening and taking care of things.  One is soaking wet 5 minutes out in the air and quite often there is no breeze.  It rained a bit this afternoon and cooled off things a bit.  The problem with the rain is the humidity is now 100% instead of 85%.  I really do hate the months of Jun, July and August here in the south.  They are almost unbearable...

Wanted to show everyone a cute picture of Mr General rubbing up to Raisen as if to say, "I Love You!"  This picture shows his topline really well.  We took this right after we clipped him up for the show and he is out with the herd now breeding does for fall.

Here is a cute picture of a young man I took at the Goat Show.  He is in a Showmanship class and getting a bit bored.  His Nubian goat was adorable and so was he.  He did really well and I thought it was great when he won his class.  We need more things for young kids to be interested in and goats is a cheap thing for kids to do.  Cattle and Horses are expensive, but goats are not and kids have a great time training and showing them. Kids can do dairy or meat goats and they are easy to handle, even for the youngest of kids.  I thought everyone would enjoy this picture as I did watching him win his class.

Last, but not least, here is Grizzly driving Mr Paul's truck.  He has turned into quite the farm dog and really enjoys going to the farm.

Have a great Father's Day everyone...

Weekend adventure...

We have been out and about at a Goat Show.  We went to an ADGA Goat show in Georgia this last weekend.  We took 5 Nigerian Dwarf Goats, 3 does and 2 bucks.  We did well, considering the tough competition.  Oldesouth Blue Alexa is our yearling doe in milk.  She won first place and 3rd place in the 1 year and under two year class.  She is pictured below.

Oldesouth Mr Marine is a son of Mr General and his dam is our PromisedLand Thundersnow.  He is very dairy and has the signature topline Mr General throws.  Mr Marine won both his Jr Buck classes and is pictured above.

Oldesouth Galloway did well in a huge class of Jr does and placed 2nd and 4th.  She is a bit over conditioned and we will slim her down a bit before her next show.  She is pictured below and to the left.

Mr General won 2nd and 3rd place in the 2 to 3 year old bucks.  He has just turned two and needs to mature a bit, but really is turning out to be a stunning young buck.  He is pictured below and to the right.

I have to thank Mr Paul for taking most of these pictures with the new camera.  He did a great job and they turned out very nice.

The picture below is Udiamond, my Uni daughter.  She is growing into a beautiful doe and is pregnant by Mr General.  She placed 3rd and 4th in a very competitive class of Sr yearlings.  She is over conditioned according to the judges.  With a much wanted pregnancy, a little extra weight is alright for now, but we will keep it under control.

Mr Paul and PJ have set up the shoot to work the sheep.  It was set up in the new barn for shelter during any weather condition.  I had traded some goats a year or so ago for this Billy Goat Gruff shoot and head gate.  It has been sitting in one of the sheds waiting for us to decide where to put it.  Now that the barn is up, we put it on the west side and have built a catch pen in front.  The shoot is built for Boer Goats.  The few Boers we have left do not need to be put through a shoot, but could be for hoof trimming to save the back.  They just stand there for hoof trimming, etc.  We planned to use the shoot on the sheep so we would not have to chase them and lift them onto a stand to be worked or hoof trimmed.   Pictured below and to the right.

Sunday after we returned from the Goat Show on Saturday we worked all the ewes and lambs.  The shoot worked very well.  A couple of springs that operate the head gate door need to be replaced.  A couple of times it did not hold and the sheep escaped.  But overall, it worked great and my back was able to trim everyone's hooves.  The height of the shoot is perfect for me.  We eartagged for Scrapie, vaccinated, wormed if needed, trimmed hooves and resheered several of the sheep that were botched up by a so called pro sheerer.  The chunks of wool left behind was bunching up and ruining the fleece underneath and needed to be removed for a clean fleece to grow out.  We also weaned all the lambs which were old enough to be weaned.

Well, that is enough for now...  I need to go back to work to rest....