The day-to-day...

What is this chopped garlic all about?  It's my cure -- my home remedy.  Yup.  I eat raw, chopped garlic to fight colds and flu.  Since getting home, I've come down with sniffles, sneezes, headaches and and achy body.  I've been slurping  up lots of liquids and hot drinks and besides this, I'm throwing back the garlic.  I chop it up small and then swallow the bits with a large glass of water twice a day.  I have bad breath, yes, but I'm feeling better and it's worth it....to me. Hubs asked me if I brushed my teeth today (and I did).  Oh well.

 This orphan lamb was feeling terrible.  I think he had a belly ache so I brought him home, warmed him up, and fed him some colostrum (first milk). Within minutes he perked up and seemed well so I drove him back up to the bum pen to be with his friends.  I hope he continues to improve.

Here are the wiggly friends (who make photography difficult).  We are all spending lots of time at the lambing barn.  We have continued to have lots of multiple births -- mostly twins, but lots more triplets than we have ever had.  I'm not sure why.  Generally, all three triplets don't end up staying with their mothers.  We usually take one away and try to graft it onto another mama ewe or else it goes into the bum pen.  Right now, I have six lambs in my bum pen. Six bottles to feed every 4 hours.

I've been researching the best way to feed my lil bum lambs once they are weaned from milk.  Powdered milk replacer is so expensive, that I am determined to get my bummies on solid feed ASAP.  Last year I made a feed mixture of molasses-sweetened rolled corn/oats/barley  plus some soybean meal and alfalfa pellets.  The lambs really liked the sweetened part of the mix, but didn't like the rest of it so much.  So far, I think that alfalfa hay will be my number one feed along with sweet COB (corn/oats/barley) and possibly some rolled soybeans.  The key is high protein.  Green weeds and grass will be their mainstay when it begins to warm up.

We've been blessed, so far, to have excellent weather for lambing.  Last year we fought deep snow and sub-zero temperatures and lambing season was hard, hard, hard.  This year it is still a big job with all the multiples, but we don't have the weather to fight ...yet.  The weatherman is predicting snow and cold for us yet this week.  We shall see what transpires.

 

 The hens are laying nicely.  Today I gathered 11 eggs.  Is there anything prettier than a bucketful of eggs? Maybe a basketful of eggs!

Speaking of eggs, I received this flyer in the mail from our local feed store.  It reminded me to order my baby chicks for spring which I did right away.  They should arrive in April.  Isn't this a cute, 1950s vintage advertisement?   The nice people who work at the feed store are just the best -- one of them is my sweet son-in-love. 

Well, my afternoon coffee break is over.  My cup is empty, and my lemon cloud pie is ate up.  Time to tidy up my house and get ready to check the ewes.  Then it will be time to feed the bummies and put the ewes and lambs inside the sheds for the night.  We're expecting snow after midnight tonight.