February Tasks

February is going to be busy month for me. I have ewes ready to lamb any day. Tonight I observed two ewes that could lamb at anytime. There were four other ewes ready in a few days to a week. A busy time. I am thankful the cold weather is gone for awhile. Perhaps we will not have anymore cold weather snaps this month.

One of my livestock guardian dogs is going to have puppies. The female is my best female dog. I only have one male livestock guardian dog, Bruno. I have seen him kill an armadillo once. This will be a good match, and the puppies will be very good guardians of sheep. I will need to get the dog house ready for puppies this week.

I moved sheep around today. I moved the ewes with lambs out of the barn area and back with the main flock. I left the ewe with her two day old lamb in the barn. The lamb is on the small side, so I want to make sure the ewe is producing enough milk for the lamb. I think the lamb is a little premature. I will keep an eye on this pair for the next few days. I wanted room in the barn for the new lambs that will be delivered soon. I usually keep the ewes with new lambs in the barn for a couple of days to make sure they are bonded well before replacing them with the flock.

The lambs I weaned in January are growing well. They are with my bottle baby Spot. Spot finally has someone his age to play with. They are the same age and size and doing good together. Spot still runs to me when I go out to do chores. He calls to me anytime I go outside, starting the other lambs to making noise thinking they are going to be fed. We have taught Spot he can no longer jump into our laps, but he still loves to be petted and scratched.

I am glad for the warmer temperatures today. I was able to clean out some water troughs and get everyone fresh water today. The sheep will eat hay, then get a drink and drop hay into the water. After a week or two, the water is a mess. Maybe it does not bother the sheep to drink the water, but I do not like the look of messy water troughs.

Granny