Same lesson learned again

Before I start this post I should say that Rusty was not supposed to publish his post to MY blog. He has his own now. I don't know what gibberish he was thinking when he wrote that. It must have been the drugs he was given. MY BLOG POST: What lesson is that? The one about not putting off things that should be done now.This may look like a gate, but it is not. It is a welded wire panel that I open to get in this pen. A gate has hinges and it swings. But enough of that. This panel has to act like a gate in that I need to be able to get into the pen and let my dog into the pen. Here is another view of the panel.

Do you see a problem? If a Border Collie (or a person) goes running through this opening solely focused on sheep he might run into those points. I used to have this covered, but the covering fell off a couple of days ago and I hadn't bothered to find the wire to fix it. This is the result:

It could have been much worse. Several years ago we had an emergency vet visit for a pig that tore open several inches of skin and fat and was supposed to go to the fair the next day. I guess I could have sewn this up myself but I live only 10 minutes from the vet and she happened to be in and I didn't want to be bitten and I don't know what I'm doing. So Rusty had a vet visit. (When he wrote his blog he didn't seem to know what had happened to him. I didn't even know he had been injured until later in the day. He ran right past that fence and worked the sheep like he was supposed to.)

So here is the fix for the fence. (Now you know why you haven't thrown away all the hoses with bad ends.)

Here is the fix for the dog. There are staples and a rubber tubing that acts as a drain. Isn't that one sad puppy? He wants back in the sheep pen.

"What about Me?" says Rusty

"I just read that last post that Robin wrote and the most important face wasn't there! I'll take care of that." "This is me when I first came to live with Robin and her family."

"I remember this day. Robin was taking picture of baby lambs and this one just didn't understand that I'm in charge here."

"Who ever heard of a lamb in the house? I don't know why those people think lambs should be in the house. A lamb in the house...Geeez! (By the way, I think this lamb now lives with my friend, Mobi. I hope Mobi's mom doesn't bring the lamb in the house.)"

"This is where sheep should be and this is what I should be doing about 20 hours/day."

"Sometimes I get to go for runs across the road. Not quite as good as herding, but when there are no sheep around, it's OK."

"Robin and her crazy husband took me on a 14 miles hike. I don't know why they didn't cool off in the water at the end."

"Here I am keeping the Farm Club in line and making sure that lamb doesn't escape."

"Do you like hearing from me? This is kind of fun. Maybe I'll sneak to the computer again sometime."

Yesterday

In a round-about way I figured out how out how to find my photos that are resized for the blog. I will probably learn a better way later.

My friend, Jackie, had asked me to check Rusty's social calendar  for Wednesday because she needed help moving her sheep into the shelter in preparation for shearing a few of them today. What a difference a dog makes. Poor Rusty didn't get to do much because once he showed up the sheep WANTED to go in the shelter with the llama.

Back at the shop, here is what UPS delivered today. This is silk/merino sliver in several colors. Soft, ready to spin.

And this is soft Merino fiber. Now I need to get this posted on my website.

Christmas photos

I had this idea to take photos of a sheep and my dog with a Santa hat. The sheep were in the pasture yesterday, but I thought we'd try the dog since Jackie was willing to help. It's not that easy to get a good photo.

Rusty is  not looking very enthusiastic.

Ok. Now he's obsessed with shadows on the ground. Let's try again.

In the meantime, Jacki's dog, Mobi,  cooperated a little better.

Rusty, Take 3. At least he doesn't look too unhappy when he's watching shadows.

This is the best we could do for that day. Maybe I'll try a sheep.

A fun weekend away

  I spent the weekend with Shannon of Kenleigh Acres and Joan of Mud Ranch at Shannon's place in Oregon. The original purpose of the visit was to pick up Clint, a ram lamb for this year's breeding line-up.

But Joan and Shannon and I turned it into a private retreat.   I taught Joan to spin. Joan gave me photography pointers. Shannon helped both of us with sheepdog issues.  I was trying to figure out what Shannon got out of this deal and I realized that it was Houseguests.

Here is Joan spinning away on the Ashford Travellor double treadle wheel, which worked really well for her.

Shannon is giving Joan's collie, Hank, his first lesson.

Joan's Dad is getting pointers from Shannon on how to train his Australian Shepard, Harley.

This is the English Sheepdog puppy, Tolo, at the end of a leash held by Joan's mom.

Rusty waited patiently for his turn.

Shannon put Rusty through his paces.

It could be said that Rusty is a little too enthusiastic. But more to the truth is that Rusty has been confused by his handler (that would be me). It was very helpful to work with Shannon because she saw things that I was doing that are counter-productive to the way I'd like Rusty to behave as a sheepdog.

I spent some time working on one of the many projects that I brought with me.

I'll post photos tomorrow of what this became.

Shannon felted a bowl and several soaps while I worked on my fiber project.

It rained all weekend. After all, this is Oregon-what did we expect? The rain cleared on Saturday afternoon, but on Sunday it seemed continuous. The rain has its advantages however.

This fence post holds a whole ecosystem on it's top.

On the way home I felt as though I had changed seasons. After about 3 hours of driving in the rain I was back to California.

Mt. Shasta always is a spectacular scene.

Rabbitbrush in bloom is a colorful contrast to everything else that is so dry and dusty right now.

Farm Club Shenanigans

We had an unscheduled Farm Day yesterday.First order of business was chores.

Stephanie greets the Farm Club. She seems to enjoy pestering Kathy. I think she must smell Kathy's goats. Everyone had a chance to milk a little.

We're only milking one side because the kid is nursing from the other. This is Tina milking.

Here is Shelby. I haven't been putting Stephanie on the stand because she is easy to milk and I'm only milking one side once per day.

We were going to start trimming feet, but got side-tracked when Rusty decided to roll in the leftovers from yesterday's butchering. The guys that butcher clean up well, but there is always something smelly left. I think he found the rumen contents.  I had just made Rusty an appointment at the vet to remove a foxtail that he'd picked up that morning. I didn't think that my husband or the vet would be too crazy about holding a really stinky dog. So dog-washing was in order.

We don't get too fancy with this. A hose and some soap.

Usually I wear my rubber boots or flip-flops. We were trying to keep our feet dry but get all the soap off of Rusty.

Tina and Kathy are trying to get the dogs to pose. Rusty is back from the vet already (foxtail in right ear) and Mobi (Jackie's dog) wants to play.

We moved on to trimming feet, putting my squeeze chute/flip table into service again.

To get more work done we also tied some of the sheep to trim feet. This is a lamb that needs to be halter broke anyway because she is one I've chosen to keep.

The dogs keep watch. Note the trimmed feet. I have trimmed his feet three times this year to avoid foxtails in the toes.

"Well, if you're not going to let me work, I'll just lie here."

We quit trimming about noon. I forgot to take photos of the chute being used for sheep with varying horn types. I think I need some modifications to use it more effectively. Shelby offered to be a sheep. I'm not sure these are the photos I need to work on the modifications, but laughter is always a good thing.

Somehow the Farm Club is starting to remind me of the YaYa Sisterhood. We're accepting more members!

Earning your keep

Alas, no photo. But maybe you wouldn't want this photo. Ozzie, our kitten (who is featured in a few blogs not too long ago) killed his first mouse! I felt bad taking it from him, but I was not sure that he was even big enough to eat it. So this is great news!   ...but Ozzie lives in the house and doesn't leave it (too close to a busy road)...that means he found the mouse in the house. Not such good news. While Ozzie is hunting to protect our stores of food from ravenous rodents, Rusty earns his keep with sheep.

This is the group of ram lambs that are left here.

The other day I took Rusty over to work with Jackie's sheep. She has four sheep and is anxious to start training her dog using her own sheep. We're using Rusty to get her sheep accustomed to being worked by a dog.

Marley, the Wensleydale, wasn't cooperating at first. Rusty is hesitant when a sheep looks like it is going to resist. He has been bashed by more than one ewe with horns and I am trying to help him become more forceful.

We're getting movement.

Job well done.

This seemed to be the coolest place for Rusty. Or maybe he thought that it was the only place that the guinea hens weren't going to bother him.

Another sheep show and new friend?

Only 3 days after Black Sheep Gathering the crew is together again.  This time it is at the Solano County Fair in Vallejo. Julie (Black Oak Jacobs) and I both have our sheep there right now and today was show day.

Julie and I showed both of my yearling rams. Savor is on the left and Tioga is on the right. They look a lot alike in this view, but they have very different fleece types, both within the Jacob breed standard, but quite different. I should take photos of fleece tomorrow.

After a quick sheep handling lesson, Chris helped me show in all the other classes and Shelby helped with Julie's sheep.  Thanks to both of them for helping out. Thanks also to Jackie for taking photos.

One of Julie's sheep had a surprise baby this morning and Shelby took over baby-sitting.

Back home this evening. What are those dogs looking at?

This kitten has been hiding out under my shop for a few days. I started feeding it to entice it out. I don't want or need a cat, but I couldn't let it starve under there. He has been very hungry and I caught him tonight while he was eating. I don't know if he is truly wild because he has sure settled down quickly--not what I'd expect out of wild kitten. But if he isn't out of a feral cat then I don't know where he came from.  I'm going to have to keep him in the crate for now because I won't be home to deal with the dogs. I could barely get Rusty to eat  because he is so obsessed with the kitten.He has done nothing but stare all night. At least Rusty is entertained.

Anyone want a kitten?

Friends

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and three of us Jacob sheep friends got together to play with sheep.

This is Jackie with her newest acquisition, Sid, a Jacob wether. Sid will live here until he is weaned.

This is Julie with her puppy, Evan. The black and white border collie is Moby, Jackie's dog. That's Rusty on the deck.

Almost spring

It sure looks and feels like spring today.

Twenty ewes have lambed so far with 38 lambs. Only about one third of those are rams.

A few days ago I took photos of lambs for the website before putting the ewes and lambs into group pens. Do you think Rusty showed restraint?

Shearing Day

We sheared on Saturday. I used a new shearer this year and he did a fabulous job. He was fast (70 + Jacobs shorn before noon) and the fleeces and the sheep look great.

I am grateful for all the help I had. Linda gathered up and bagged wool all day. Other friends weighed wool, answered questions from visitors, etc.

My son, Chris, made sure that the shearer didn't run out of sheep.

We also sheared Colleen's CVM-cross sheep (while she took care of my shop) and...

Diane's goats. I have to admit they are stunning in full fleece.

These are Chris' goats and don't need to be shorn, but they never miss a chance to sneak some a meal.

I didn't skirt nearly as many fleeces as I thought I would. We just barely kept up with the fleeces that people wanted to purchase. I missed my friend, Joan, who usually spends all day at the skirting table.  I think it might be worth switching shearing back to Sunday so she can be here!

Here is one fleece spread out.  People asked about how to tell a good fleece, which is better than another, etc. I honestly answered that I don't have any sheep whose fleece I don't like.

The sunny day certainly helped make shearing day pleasant and I'm sure the sheep appreciated the warm sun.

Take a look at this shorn lamb. There was some discussion earlier this year about tri-colored Jacob sheep (if such a thing exists). I didn't know this lamb had those gray spots until she was shorn! I've never had another like this.

Here is another pretty lamb.

This is Violet, loading into her van. That's a cooperative sheep! Violet lived here until about a month ago. She is a wonderful friendly ewe and I'm so glad that she has a great home now with two other Meridian sheep at Aimee's place.

Rusty's brother, Jake, came to visit at the end of the day. The dogs were not too happy about posing for a brotherly photo.

But they were going to make sure these lambs stayed put.

There are more shearing photos that can be accessed on Picassa by going to my website and clicking on the photo in the shearing article.

Fall Farm Day

Today was a perfect day for the Farm Club (see link on the right).   Sunny, but not hot, no wind.  Five people came to spend the day on the farm. We worked in the morning and played in the afternoon. I had sorted out the spring lambs from the adult ewes. We separated the rams--they're done for the year. We treated all the ewe lambs, replaced ear tags (remove baby lamb tags and replace with larger, easier-to-read tags), and took photos of the few lambs that I have not yet registered. We also vaccinated the 2-month old lambs. It was great having help with all of this.

We sent Rusty out to get the second group of sheep:

After we finished with sheep chores we moved on to a few others.

Jill and Jackie sorted out this electro-net fence that had been tangled.

Kathy swept the barn.

Then it was time for lunch and relaxing. I appreciated the help with farm chores and enjoyed the company. I look forward to Farm Day in the spring.

More fun

We went back for the second day of sheepdog trials and Rusty won first in the Started division!

Fun with sheepdogs

I was at my sheepdog lesson Thursday (the lesson is more for me than the dog) and found out that there was a trial this weekend. The trainer encourages a few of us to go and the facility is only a mile from my house so, why not? Here is a picture of Rusty before:

I had to worm all the ewes this morning and at noon I had Rusty gather the rams for their treatment and then do some more work. Just trying to take the edge off so that maybe he'd be calmer in the trial.  That photo is how is looks after a dip in the wading pool and then a roll in the dirt.

After he dries off he doesn't look so bad if I brush him. Here he is waiting in anticipation for his turn.

We watched the Advanced competition, the Open competition and then we werer third to last in the Started dogs. Lots of waiting. Rusty did very well and came home with a third place out of 16 entries!

We'll go back tomorrow for another round of this. If he gets a qualifying score again then he gets a certificate of some kind.  (And according to the Wizard of Oz its those certficates that are important--don't ask me where that came from--too much sun?)