There is no pause button

Spring is in full force around here.  The birds are nesting, bees are foraging, and hormone levels among our guineas ducks and chickens are at the max.  I long for the quiet days of January.  I really didn't get to enjoy winter this year.  Not only did we have more icy days than snowy days, I was busy with my school course so I didn't get to spin wool, do felting, read books, order seeds, rest.

Glenn has been tending to a few dozen species of plants for several months and has already transplanted some out into cold frames and hoop tunnels.  He's been making batch after batch of aerobic compost tea with the bubbler system he bought this winter.  Between that and the new soil mix recipe we found, our tomato plants have never looked so healthy.  He also successfully started several dozen seaberry plants from seed we collected from our few fruiting bushes last summer.  He estimates that if we sold them as 2-3 year old potted plants we could make over $1000.

I haven't booked our shearing date yet. Hopefully I can get it done in the next few weeks, because I'm sure it's going to get super hot very quickly.  But for now I'm grateful they are still in fleece because the gnats are out and also a few types of biting flies.  Lacey ewe presented the left side of her face to me so I could find the ticks that were attached and remove them. She'd been bitten several times and had big crusty itchy skin reactions at the sites just like the horses do.  The horses have bloody ears from the gnats unless I put repellent ointment in there, or put on fly masks with ear covers.

The USDA vet came out last week for our Scrapie program inspection.  All went well but since Starburst had ripped out her ear tag and her replacement ear tag she needs to be tattooed.  I ordered the tattoo gun and letters for her ID as assigned by the board of health.  It's really a medieval-looking contraption with 0.75 cm spikes that poke into the ear when you squeeze the crushing clamp down. So naturally I have no interest in doing this to her myself, as she's going to scream like hell and be very distressed.  I'll have our vet out to do that and check on the horses at the same time.

New rules for the scrapie program also mean that in the next few weeks I have to have all of the sheep genotyped to see if they are susceptible to scrapie.  If any of them are, they have to have a rectal biopsy.  This is NOT what I had planned for spring.

Oakley had some foot issues that my farrier wasn't addressing, and as always I need to make sure his lungs are clear.  He's already having some allergic issues and his eyes are red and itchy.  Since Winston has 31 year old teeth and was anemic and thinner than I'd like, I've started him on full senior feed which means 4 pounds of grain two to three times per day.  I think he's responded well and has put on some weight.  We could recheck his blood work but I think I will wait until mid summer.  His energy and attitude have improved and his colour is better.

So I guess when I look at all of this that's been going on I should feel so disappointed that I haven't been starting seeds and prepping the garden.  All of this animal work (plus feeding, medicating, cleaning, bandaging, vet visits) is all my responsibility.  I haven't written about duck and chicken issues I've been dealing with.  I'll leave it at this: Fern is sick, Little Red rooster is doing well and still has one toe to lose, the three drakes I separated from the flock were supposed to move to a farm in Wisconsin this week but the woman called me and said she was divorcing and leaving the farm so couldn't take them right now. Amelia duck that almost died from head trauma after vicious mating this winter is doing well and is actually laying eggs, so I am relieved that her repro system wasn't damaged.  I can finally move her outside to a 20x30 secure pen where she can get used to the flock again.  Sculpin drake has been coming to the basement door to visit here every week, as did her sister Topaz.  And there's more, but I won't get into it now.

Oh ya, I've been seeing a neurologist and had three MRIs and an EMG this winter.  Long story short, I don't have a neuro disease. What an ordeal.

I checked the two new hives this weekend and both queens have been accepted and are laying eggs.


On Friday night G finished pumping out the backyard pond and we managed to get an underliner and the super heavy pond liner put in.  We didn't measure it correctly so need to order a bit more fabric.  It should arrive just in time for more spring rains.

Yesterday G worked on one of the horse pastures with the sub soiler and did some contour ripping. We overseeded into the rips.  So hopefully after rains it will make a difference to the pasture health. The next spot to work on is the back hay field.  That's almost 3 acres so it will take some time to get out there and mark all of the contours.  We may be able to achieve more of a keyline effect as there are some significant crests and valleys.  If we're short on time I may just rent a laser level so we can get it all done quickly.  I have some concern that it may be too steep for the tractor out there.  Here's hoping we don't end up testing the roll bar....

I've signed up for another course with Connection Training, which is a reward-based training system for horses.  It's already made a difference for Oakley in that he's less spooky and is more willing to investigate new things even when his fear arousal system is triggered.  It's been a great way for him to practice some emotional control.  For some reason he just doesn't learn on his own that things won't hurt him, even if he's exposed to the scary thing every day (like our ducks). We have so much to work on.  I wish I had more time.

So on that note, I'll sign off for now and go get things done.

Oh ya, and I've been asked to help implant transmitters into some bull snakes.  Not sure when that will happen but I think it will be exciting!


A short description of scrapie and genetic susceptibility:

http://www.oda.state.ok.us/ais/scrapiedisease.pdf


Photos should be up soon!