Kate watching the flock. We think the puppy months are winding down. She has been less distracted lately and focusing more on her job.
The unpaid hired-man has the grounds in pretty good shape this spring.
The south pasture is looking healthy after a wet spring. All animals are off the hay and eating fresh green grass.
First outdoor project of the spring - new fencing along the south end of the pasture. Riley’s horse, Bleau, can’t resist getting in the way and getting into everything, including the pickup cab. The only reason new fencing was necessary is because the horses paw at it and tear their shoes lose, which leads to shoes falling off.
Buster, Mary Belle and Trixie love to play on the box that Scott built for them. They play King (or Queen!) of the Hill all day and take naps on it. Sometimes they jump around on top and spin around so fast that they launch themselves off the box. As you can see their fleeces have already grown back quite a bit. They are so funny - they provide much comic relief throughout the day. I am beginning to suspect that they actually enjoy having their pictures taken. They are suspiciously eager to pose whenever I pull out the camera!
Today I (Katrina) tacked the first shearing of our Pygora kids.
Here is Trixie, starting to emerge from her fleece. One of the challenges of raising fleece animals is that they look really “fat” - but really they’re just fluffy.
Here she is - freshly shorn. A much smaller goat without all that long fleece!
Trixie modeling her new sweater. She really didn’t seem to mind. The breeder had recommended sweaters for the winter shearing - right now it’s pretty mild so they’d probably be just fine, but they really don’t have much protection right now so I don’t mind giving them a little more warmth while their fleece grows a bit.
Here is Mary Belle prior to shearing. This year is a major learning experience. I’ve never worked with fleece goats before, and if you let them grow too long their fleeces start to mat. The kids are now 7 months old, and although Trixie’s fleece seemed to be just fine, Mary Belle and Buster are definitely becoming matted. I should have sheared them earlier this Fall. I had to snip out the mats in Mary Belle’s fleece prior to shearing. I believe the fleece is still salvageable for processing into roving and/or yarn.
And here’s our little Mary Belle free from fleece and warm in her sweater. She is much more timid than Trixie and wasn’t quite so sure about her new look.
Tomorrow I will shear Buster and then shearing will be done until Spring. Maybe next year I will find some Christmas sweaters for them!
Kate update: she is growing like a weed and has learned that it is a lot of fun rolling around in the manure with the neighbor dogs. No matter how filthy she is, her little face stays white!
Snow has begun this evening; it snowed a bit last night but melted off. At the rate it’s coming down we may see some accumulation.
Meet Kate! Our newest addition - a livestock guardian puppy to help Otto and Sweetheart with the sheep. Right now she is living with the baby Pygora goats while she learns about her role at Rose Butte.
The sheep gather around Otto for security during their afternoon nap.
Otto watches over the flock in the pasture.
We are very fortunate here at Rose Butte Ranch to have two Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs who dedicate themselves to watching over our flock. Otto and Sweetheart are a very important part of the “team”, making sure that the local coyotes (who are very active; they killed a deer here last week) don’t decide to make a meal of our sheep, chickens, cats, etc. Otto and Sweetheart were already living here and decided to stay on and watch over our new flock. We share them with their owners, our neighbors.
Our exciting news is that we will be adding a puppy (likely this week) to share responsibilities with Otto and Sweetheart. The puppy will start out sharing living space with the baby Pygora goats until she is old enough to start training with the Pyrenees.
Sweetheart is very shy of people but Otto loves attention and is very tolerant when both he and the sheep are begging for some affection. Here is Otto along with Thor (back left), Ariana (back right) and Magnus (front and center) as they were all following me around. I had to keep saying “stay” and backing up to get this photo as all four of them kept mobbing me to be scratched. Especially Magnus, as you can tell. I call the Gotlands “my little tail-waggers” as they like to wag their tails as they are being scratched.
For your amusement, here is a photo of Sugar and Junior scratching their backs and getting thoroughly dirty right after a ride. Of course we had just finished grooming them!
Pronounced “Blue”, Bleau is short for “Heart of Bleau”, his registered name. Of course he gets part of his name from the fact that he has an adorable heart on his forehead.
He’s a very handsome 16+ hand bay gelding (for non-horse people, a “hand” is a measurement equalling 4 inches; measurement is taken to the top of the shoulder or ‘withers’ of the horse) belonging to son Riley. He is the “baby” of the herd at only 6 years old, and accordingly, is the most likely to be getting into trouble. He likes to spook the sheep (who run in terror from him) and pester Sugar. He has only been shod once since moving to Rose Butte Ranch and he’s already thrown two shoes. But he is a super sweet boy and he loves getting attention and going riding with Riley. He just can’t help being a pesky adolescent sometimes!
