Saturday, May 30, 2009

Water- Starting a Rain Garden, Building a Wall

I was so excited to start my new rain garden, did a little web research, checked out some pictures, ran home and started enthusiastically digging. Next day at work, I did a little more research, actually read a bit this time and realized I'd put the rain garden too close to the house. This is bad because the water seeping down can mess up the foundation. Ugh, back home, fill in hole and dig again this time further from house and with far less enthusiasm. Filled it in with a few Irises and some Millet and tried to convince Shermen it was a good idea.

Meanwhile, Shermen is building the cool sandstone wall on East side of house along the drainage ditch he dug last year to keep water away from house / foundation. It looks cool already, can't wait to see it when all the Creeping Thyme, Creeping Jenny, Phlox, Scotch Moss and others start to fill in. I topped off the ridge with some Daisies, decorative grass and Calendula. Should be absolutely lovely in a few weeks.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Kittens and Chicks

Julie, daughter of Maude and still essentially a kitten herself, finally had her kittens. 5! Born Thursday May 21st sometime in the PM, in Kaaren's luggage, relocated to cozy towel lined box.

Wednesday May 20th I picked up the new chicks for Mom and I. Barred Rock, Auracana, Light Brahma and Golden Queen. Thought I was doing great this year, really becoming an adept Poultry Farmer, because I didnt "lose" any due to drowning, overheating or just weak chicks the first few nites. I didnt have a chick feeder tray, the ones with the holes in them to keep the chicks from standing in their food tray. I was using a small household serving tray, and it seemed to work just fine aside from the chicks throwing their feed all over. Then we had a cooler nite and the chicks crowded onto the tray and one of the Barred Rocks was trampled to death. The Barred Rock must be a more fragile breed, I remember that was what I lost last year.
On May 29th I noticed I lost 2 more chicks....another Barred Rock and a Light Brahma....not sure why this time, they werent trampled, cold or overheated, and they had food and water. The only thing I noticed was the food was getting low, and the chicks had to reach down into the holes of the feeder to get at it....possibly the two that died werent able to reach down that far? Or possibly just weak chicks, which does happen.

Chick tips:

  1. Do not put water dish under heat source, they will crowd under heat source and chicks can drown
  2. Do not put heat source too low, chicks can become overheated and die
  3. Do not use dish with any sort of depth, chicks will crowd in it and trample eachother
  4. I read not to feed chicks the layer mix, it can mess up their reproductive system, use starter grower feed
  5. Make sure the chicks can reach inside the holes of feeder trays to the food, if food levels get low, some may not be able to reach all the way down to reach the food.


Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sexy Tractor

Shermen is now the proud owner of a very hot old Farmall International.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Sheep Bloat: Cause, Symptom, Cure

Our usual winter sheep feed is a round bale of hay, supplemented with feed mix prepared by a local mill and purchased in 500 lb minimums. We ran out of the mix, so I grabbed a bag of cracked corn from Farm-n-Fleet to tide us over until I could get back to the mill. We were feeding the sheep about 2 large coffee containers full of cracked corn with a bunch of dry hay once daily. At the end of the bag of corn, we poured out the remainder for the sheep to eat up, about twice to three times the usual amount. Bad move. Apparently, sheep are extremely sensitive to any changes in their diet. The next day, a Sunday, I noticed one ewe standing away from the group, totally uninterested in eating. Her shoulders were sort of hunched up, and her head kept drooping down, her ears were droopy, her eyes glassy and she kept slowly closing then snapping them open when she brought her head up. She still ran from me when I tried to catch her, but had very little energy and once caught, was very docile and didn't really struggle to get away. Closer inspection revealed a rock hard and bloated tummy, that sounded hollow when tapped, and when moved, you could hear water gurgling around inside.

I researched the web and the text book the FFA teacher at school loaned me and learned that she probably had "bloat." She had "feed bloat" caused by excess fermentation of grain intake. The other kind is "frothy bloat" caused when sheep are released onto full green pasture, covered with dew sometimes, and they gorge themselves on green material after winter of dry hay. Both are very dangerous for the animal and can be fatal. It was Sunday, and I didnt have any large animal vet contacts, so we gave the treatments found on the web, (below) and hoped for the best.
The next day, Monday morning, I checked in before work, and the ewe was now down, with her head up, but wouldnt get up at all. At work I was finally able to get in touch with a large animal vet, his opinion was dire. He confirmed that it was probably bloat, and had same advise for treatment that I'd found on the internet (below.) He was very kind, but predicted she would probably be dead by the time I got home from work. His only suggestion was to continue to treat and wish for the best. I raced home during my lunch and ran up to the sheep barn still in my "teacher clothes" to check on my sick ewe. She was up and active, her tummy flatter and much more pliable, and she was eating hay! I gave the whole group a quick dose of the dry baking soda per the vets advise, and Hilda (the sick ewe) one more big drink of the soda water mix.

Treatment for sheep bloat can run to the extreme, in dire cases they suggest puncturing the side of the sheep to quickly release excess gas to prevent death from collapsed lung. Thank god we spotted our bloated sheep in time, and were able to cure the bloat by:

  1. 1. Removing all grain feed, replacing with only dry hay

  2. Feeding the bloated sheep mix of baking soda, water and mineral oil- about ½ cup soda, ¾ cup warm water to dissolve soda, plus a couple tbsp mineral oil. I didnt have any large syringes to administer the mix, so I used an old plastic Dasani water bottle.
  3. Manually massaging, (gently) the bloated tummy to help force out gas
  4. Encouraging the ewe to walk to help eliminate gas
  5. Feeding other sheep dry baking soda in a pan, they help themselves to a few bites, to prevent bloat in rest of flock

The one good outcome from this scary situation, Hilda the sick ewe, is now much more tame due to all the handling. She is actually eating out of my hand.