Two sheep in the hand are worth a goat in the bush

Yet another rescue was completed today by your friendly Iowa blog buddies. Today, we rescued a goat and two sheep, of course, from the Animal Rescue League. We love our shelter - and they love us! These critters were surrendered by a farm in Northern Iowa but the shelter in their area only took their dogs and cats. That shelter called our shelter to see if the goats and sheep and horses could be brought here, which they were. Not long after that, the shelter contacted us....their favorite farm folks. And there began the story.

I went to see the trio on Thursday at lunch hour. What a sorry state they were in. I have never seen so many burrs on any animal in my life. But other than the condition of their fleeces, they were relatively healthy looking. Their hooves were fine and their weight seemed normal, so I agreed to take them on. This afternoon, around 3, we went to the shelter. It took some effort to load the sheep into the back of the pickup. Primarily this was because they lay down as soon as we put a lead on them. These are not small sheep. So the loading of the sheep required heavy lifting, significant persuasion, and a lot of heaving and shoving. Once they were in, we proceeded to load the goat. She was a different kind of trouble. Once on a lead, she decided to demonstrate her strength and determination. It took us both to get her loaded, but only after she took Kelly on a bit of a joy ride.

So, we brought them home, and decided to deal with the goat first, since she had some burrs in her fur, but nothing like the sheep. I honestly believe that animals can choose their own names. As I began brushing her out with a curry comb (which was highly effective in burr removal), I encouraged her to consider her name. I hugged her and pressed my forehead to hers, willing her to tell me her name. I suggested "Latte" and "Cocoa" and other names that pertained to her colouring, but nothing worked for her. Finally, after brushing out all the burrs, we took her out to the goat pen, to meet all her new friends and family. As I was holding her by the gate, it was as if she screamed her name into my head. It came in a burst of colour and light. Tulip. The name she chose was Tulip. So vividly she told me, I swear she spoke it. Off she went into the herd, to meet her new friends. Tulip had finally come home.

I'm not sure what breed(s) she is. She is extremely strong. She certainly hasn't got Boer or Nubian ears, although she has Boer strength.

She is quite stocky, but has a stripe down her back. She is way too big for pygmy. Any thoughts? I'm accepting all guesses and suggestions!

We went back into the barn and dug out the sheep shearing clippers that Kelly had purchased a couple of months ago. I also got out some garden snips, that I thought might be useful for areas that were tricky to shear with the clippers.

We knew it was going to be a tough task. These sheep were absolutely covered in burrs.

The condition of their fleece was appalling, especially around their head and neck.

I began with the snips, just to see what I was getting into. After a few careful snips, lo and behold, white fleece began to appear underneath the mess!

I progressed to the clippers and got about 1/4 finished, when the clippers decided to sort of explode in my hand, with pieces going every which way. Wow. Spectacular! Unfortunately, the tab that held the pieces in place had sheared, and we need new parts. So, the rest of the sheep was shorn using garden snips. Thank goodness they were sharp. It took about 2 hours, much of which I spent laying on the concrete floor of our unheated barn while Kelly held the sheep steady.

I was able to remove about 1 to 2 inches all over her, and still leave her with about 3 inches of clean fleece all over. As I clipped, I asked her about her name, of course. Just like the goat, she told me clearly. Buttercup. And so shall she be. I am sure she will remain warm in these cold days, and yet she must be more comfortable now. Her fleece, to my untrained hands, felt very greasy. There must have been a lot of lanolin I suppose. My hands feel very soft and smooth now. There might even be enough to have a decent amount to spin when she is properly shorn in the spring.

Look - a brand new sheep! She must feel so much better now!
What a tremendous difference.

Is that yet another sheep? Oh no, that is just the parts of Buttercup that ended up in a heap on the floor!

It was nearly 9:30 pm by the time we finished with her, so we will do her sister tomorrow. I haven't got a name from her sister yet though. We put them in the pen with Stuffin and Puffin for tonight, because they don't know any of the sheep outside, and it was dark, so we thought that might distress them. Look how grubby her sister looks with all those burrs in her. Poor thing. Just hang on until tomorrow!

I feel really good that we adopted these girls and have given them a new home where they will not only be well fed and housed, but will also be properly groomed and cared for. It is the very least that they deserve.

Anyone at all with suggestions on their breed, please speak up!!

Sometimes, things are not what they seem!

You might remember that I got a pigeon from our Animal Rescue League, just after Christmas. I was pleased to give him a home, and he seemed pleased to be here. He had been at the shelter for nearly a month, when I got him. He did a lot of cooing, bowing, and circling in his cage, and behaved in ways that pigeon owners told me was decidedly male. So, fair enough, I named him Tarquin.

Today, Tarquin did something that was decidedly not male.
Of course, the egg will not be fertile - there is no boyfriend with her. So, the question becomes, what do I name her now? Tarquinette? Tarquinelle? Tarquanna? Oh dear, every day when I get her out for a little cuddle session, I always say things like "Oh he's such a good boy" and other silly nonsense in my best pigeon voice. Now I have to change all that and say "...good girl" instead. This will take some adjustment.

In other news, the sheep have been pronounced ready to come home by the vet at the shelter. His opinion is that the skin irritation is a result of all the burrs. So, we will probably pick them up tomorrow. The goat is bonded to the sheep, so she comes too. New names for everybody. I am not fond of Thelma and Louise as names for sheep (Louise is my middle name) and anyway I'm kind of partial to non-human-sounding names for our flock. I'll be working on that.

And the final bit of news - hatching of some incubated eggs began today. Just 3 today. They are, I think, Rhode Island Reds. I ordered some hatching eggs after the holiday losses, and in my anxious and rushed state, I put them into the incubator with the hatch date, but not the variety. So now I have all these eggs with dates but no breeds. Oops. I'm sure they will sort themselves out over time as they feather out.

No news on Stuffin. She really is a bit of a tease. Her back end seems to have gotten narrower, and her tail feels loose to me. I keep expecting some activity, but she feels otherwise. Of course, since this weekend is due to be extremely cold, she will probably decide that is the right time. Any bets?

Sheep Picture

Here are the sheep - the shelter just sent me a photo. I think they are Dorsets....does anyone agree? You can't see their fleece really well in the photo. I'll take more when we get them. Poor things are so matted with burrs. The goat I am not sure about - it isn't a pygmy - too big. It isn't a Nubian or Boer goat. It might even have some Oberhaslii in it? Maybe? I think it's definitely a mixed breed. Their names are Thelma and Louise, but I might change that.

Help! Sheep Skin Problem

I never do blog posts from work, but I'm making an exception, so this is short and to-the-point. We are adopting 2 sheep from the shelter who just came in. They have so many burrs that you can barely separate their fleece. They look like Dorsets to me. They have not been sheared in quite some time. We will need to "start over" with them in the spring after a good shearing.

I was inspecting them at the shelter and finally managed to get through to look at the skin in some places. Their skin has a problem. I can only look at their skin on their backs and flanks, but I can see that their pinkish-white skin is covered in these rust-brown colored patches, everywhere. The patches are not raised. They do not appear to be itchy but I can't really tell for sure. You can see some areas where wool has fallen out, but that might just be because they haven't been shorn. It just makes their skin look all mottled.

I have been Googling sheep skin diseases with no real "aha" moments. Can anybody who is a sheep expert give me any advice? The shelter vet will be looking at them but his specialty is really companion animals, not barnyard buddies.

Any advice and suggestions appreciated! Very much!

Award, Advice, Patience, and Pigeons

Can you even begin to figure out that title? Well, I don't blame you if you can't. I have a bunch of things to blog about and they're all sort of disconnected, so don't try to connect the dots in the title. They're just not connectable.

Award:
Thanks and "cheers" to Laughing Orca Ranch for giving me the second version of the Lemonade Award! Lisa is a great blogger and keeping up with her current condition makes me grateful, every day, that I can walk! Lisa is getting over surgery for a torn ACL and meniscus in her knee, and she is suffering from farm critter withdrawal in the worst possible way. I wish her a speedy recovery and a faster return to horse riding than she currently expects. May the healing winds be blowing her way.

Of course, this comes with the usual rules about awarding 10 other blogs for gratitude and/or great attitude, which I did do earlier this month. So, I did a new thing. I decided to be creative for once, and make my own award. You know, it's my blog, and I can be my own creative soul, so this is my award - the Wonderfully Woolly Award, and I'm awarding it to five sheep-related blogs that I enjoy. Those blogs can either choose to award it, or ignore it, as they wish. It would be fun if they award it to others, but no obligation!
So without further ado, I hereby award the Wonderfully Wooly award to:
1. A Shepherd's Voice
2. Sheep Thrills Farm
3. Kalwa Taure Shetlands
4. Zephyr Sheep Farm
5. Laughing Orca Ranch (cuz she got this whole thing started!!)

Last minute edit: Edited to add Harvest Thyme Homestead to the Wonderfully Woolly award winners, because she just got on the waiting list for a black Leicester Longwool, and I am insanely envious!

Advice
My advice for today (take it or leave it) is: Don't bite off more than you can chew! Sometimes, I need to learn to say no. There are so many wonderful things I enjoy doing. There are many things I want to learn. There are many things in which I want to participate. Sometimes, I overestimate my capacity to do things. Today was such a day.

As some of you know, I work full time in a legal role, as a patent agent, which is stressful and intense. As some of you also know, I attend law school part time. This is also stressful and intense. (and no, not all lawyers are evil and repugnant). On top of that, we have a farm with a whole lot of critters. I also have the usual chores, like laundry and other household stuff. Oh, and I'm also taking spinning classes, as mentioned in some of my other posts. It was my intention to also take knitting classes. That was supposed to be tonight. And then I realized...too much...overload alert! Can't do all my necessary studying and housework and barn chores and my regular job....and keep up with knitting.

One. Thing. At. A. Time.

It is not necessary to be and do all things at once. In fact, it is counter-productive. My advice is, don't even try it.

Patience
Stuffin is still pregnant. She still has a puffy udder. She still hasn't had a baby. She still feels like she has loose ligaments. Patience is a virtue. She knows this....why can't I follow suit?

Pigeons
We have 4 roller pigeons. Two pairs, in fact. I haven't blogged about them before - they are not all that exciting. But about 18 days ago, one of my pairs laid 2 eggs, and today, one of the eggs hatched. Baby pigeons are cute, in an ugly-cute sort of way. Here is my first, ever, baby pigeon. I took a quick pic when the parents were switching duties. Hopefully the baby will make it despite our cold temperatures.

Here is the mom:

Here is the dad:
Here is the little pink baby pigeon. Much less capable than a newborn chick. But apparently they mature much faster. We shall see how it goes.

That's all for now. In the meantime, stay warm, do what makes you happy, and laugh a little every day.

Short, Sweet, and Full of Hope

No updates on Stuffin. Her udder is fuller today than yesterday, but no babies, and no signs of initial labour. We keep hoping it won't happen in the middle of the night!

Tonight, we had our spinning class. We did plying tonight. Here is my first plying attempt. I am calling it "Candy Cane" yarn. I had to use my not-so-good cream stuff with my slightly-better red stuff for plying. We put it on our PVC niddy noddy and tomorrow it will get its first water bath to help it remember its twist. It's still pretty chunky looking but I guess it's OK.

Tonight I have to read some material for my class tomorrow, so not much time to chatter, but I want to say that today, I watched the inauguration, the oath, the speech...and for the first time in my 6.5 years here, I felt proud of the leadership and future direction of this country.
Even I, the non-citizen, who can't even vote, had a tear in my eye and a song in my heart. I wished that Stuffin had kidded today because one of those goat-lettes would have been named "Hope" in honour of the day, because that, more than anything, is what I feel. It's been a long time coming. Congratulations, America! What a historic day and a grand new beginning.

Goats as art: how to glue your goat to the wall

We love our goats here on the farm. In fact, we love them so much, that we thought they would make great art pieces on the wall. Therefore, we share with you these simple instructions on how to glue your goat to the wall for an interesting art piece. Of course, it is recommended that you place a bucket below the goat during the time that you have it mounted on the wall, in case it decides to relieve itself. Also, we recommend mounting a feeding/watering cup beside your goat, because of course it is a living art piece.

Step 1. Select most artistic goat from herd.

Step 2. Approach goat with treats. Goats are always interested in treats and are much more liable to approach you when you are luring them with said treats.

Step 3. Firmly but gently grasp your goat and lead it inside.

Step 3b (optional). Wash goat to make it smell nice. (see previous post on how to give a goat a bath).

Step 4. Invert goat onto its back. It is best to have a helper for this stage.

Step 5. Apply generous amount of crazy glue to each hoof.

Step 6. Carefully position goat upon wall in most artistic way possible.

Step 7. Hold goat in position for several hours. Crazy glue is fast, but not that fast.

Step 8. Step back and admire your handiwork. Well done!
Okay, seriously everybody, this is a PARODY! No goats were harmed in the making of this blog. Please don't call PETA, we do not glue goats to the wall...

It just so happens, Puffin the goat is an acrobat. She just loves to bounce off the walls of her pen. Here she goes again, this time with the head twist so she can see where she's going to land. (Incidentally, do you have any idea how long it took for me to get these pictures? I had to take so many shots before I got these....)
Puffin is inside with Stuffin right now (they're sisters) because we thought Stuffin would like some company in her late pregnancy.

Speaking of Stuffin, see the baby bump? We don't know when she is due, but it must be soon!

Stuffin and Puffin also have Disston keeping them company right now, as he learns the ropes on the farm. Puffin thinks it is fun to pat his bottom...
and to scratch her head on his tail feathers.

Yes, we have an odd, acrobatic goat, but we love her!