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Tag Archives: puppies

Pollination

I stand with the bees!
Dandelions’ sweet bounty,
Spring’s ready nectar

 

 

 
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Posted by on May 29, 2022 in Animals, Dogs, Musings, Nature and Wildlife

 

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Ladies in Waiting

pregnant ewes with the new shed

guard dog doing her job

guard dog puppy playing with Border collie puppy

ram lambs hanging out

rams, llamas, bulls at Powder Flat

Solano, pet lead sheep, hanging out with Border collie

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2022 in Animals, Cattle, Dogs, Llamas, Sheep

 

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Babies in May

 
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Posted by on May 19, 2020 in Animals, Cattle, Dogs, Horses, Sheep

 

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The Fall Sort

ewes trailing into the Sheep Mountain pasture

 

October 1st is the off-date for our summer grazing permits on the national forests. We spend a lot of time staging the trailing off of both cows and sheep. We consolidate sheep bunches, move them onto private pastures, and bring every ewe and lamb through our corrals and sheep chutes at the Home Ranch. We sort the lambs off the ewes. Some lambs will go to a feedlot to gain more pounds, and some will stay home and become replacement ewe lambs.

The ewes are sorted several way. Ewes with good health and good udders stay with our bunches. The “good old ewes” who are short on teeth but otherwise sound will go to buyers, usually in the Midwest, who can care for them for several more years, in conditions more forgiving than Wyoming’s Red Desert. The “killer ewes” or culls will go to slaughter.

All this involves a lot of moving parts, but when we’re done, we’re ready to move onto other late fall pastures before the long trail to the wintering grounds.

Meghan, Cora and Raul bringing up the sheep

ewes and lambs heading down the chute

 

Edgar and Cora at the sorting gate

Meghan and Leo

Meghan sorting lambs

 

ewes lambs in the corral

Pat, contemplating

Cora is a working mother. Puppies for sale!

 

 
 

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Guard dog and puppies

taking a break from guarding the sheep

 
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Posted by on January 4, 2018 in Animals, Dogs

 

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Mom of the Year–Lady and the lambs

Sam and Siobhan feed the plethora of bum lambs

Sam and Siobhan feed the plethora of bum lambs

 

Every year, we end up with a number of bum (orphan) lambs. They are motherless due to a variety of circumstances. Some ewes have more lambs than milk. Sometimes a ewe dies, leaving an actual orphan. Some lambs are weak, or injured, or just lost.

We sometimes are asked why these motherless lambs are called “bums”. It’s because they are “bumming” milk from their compatriots, or at least the most successful ones do.

This year, we have ended up with more bums than usual, partly due to our decision to lamb all the almost two-year-old ewes in the sheds. They did produce more lambs than milk. These are lambs that might have died on the range, so we are glad to have them back at the Home Ranch. This year, we decided to go all in, and raise them in an “organized” manner.

Raising bum lambs involves a lot of extra time, labor and money, as we purchase lamb milk replacer, which costs somewhat more than illegal drugs. This year, our efforts to supplement the lambs has been aided by Lady,  the livestock guardian dog mom. We put her and her seven puppies with the multitudes, figuring it would be a good bonding experience for lambs and puppies alike.

Little did we expect that Lady would take her responsibilities so seriously.

Lady nursing two of her puppies and two of her lambs

Lady nursing two of her puppies and two of her lambs

the Lady and the lamb

the Lady and the lamb

 
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Posted by on June 16, 2016 in Events

 

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Surprise!

six males, two females

six males, two females

 
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Posted by on May 15, 2016 in Animals, Dogs

 

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Puppies, and colts and lamb, oh my!

a plethora of guardian dog puppies

a plethora of guardian dog puppies

Siobhan with guardian dog puppies--we like 'em socialized!

Siobhan with guardian dog puppies–we like ’em socialized!

It is only early February, but we do have lots of young animals around. We have had more than one litter of Livestock Guardian Dog puppies (hence the difference in sizes), a litter of Border collies, last summer’s colt crop, and–oh yes–one lamb. The little ones are fun, but soon we will have scores of lambs and calves on the ground, so this is the calm before the storm. Barring bad weather, which we have definitely not had, I consider the time between when the bucks go into the ewes in mid-December, and when the purebred lambs and the heifers’ calves start arriving in early March to be the lull. How can it be going by so fast? And why do I still feel so busy?

Maeve and Siobhan with an adult livestock guardain dog, with the sheep at Lower Powder Springs

Maeve and Siobhan with an adult  guardian dog,overlooking the sheep watering at Lower Powder Spring (one of them isn’t dressed right!)

 

 

Five (of seven) of Sam's and Yonush's Border collie puppies

Five (of seven) of Sam’s and Yonush’s Border collie puppies

 

the colts check out Maeve (no coat in early February)

the colts check out Maeve (no coat in early February)

the colts hanging out at Powder Flat

the colts hanging out at Powder Flat

Learning to be horses

Learning to be horses

What does it mean when the (surprise) lamb sees its shadow on Ground Hog Day?

What does it mean when the (surprise) lamb sees its shadow on Ground Hog Day?

 
 

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New Year’s Day at Powder Flat

Winter cows at Powder Flat

Winter cows at Powder Flat

Pat and I celebrated New Year’s Day by visiting our employees, cows, horses, dogs and birds at Powder Flat (the sheep were a little father out). We could do this because we spent New Year’s Eve partying hardy with Pat’s Mom Marie, 98; Maeve, 8, McCoy, 4; and Rhen, 2. The cows are enjoying the bounty brought by last summer’s rain. They are still grazing, and looking fat and happy in spite of a couple of 30 below nights. We also admired two–count ’em two, litters of Livestock Guardian Dog puppies–seven each. That means puppies for sale! We also visited with last summer’s colts and a lot of birds who are enjoying the corn and hay.

Antonio and Tiarnan check out guardian litter number one

Antonio and Tiarnan check out guardian litter number one

Four noses:  Tiarnan, Antonio, guardian dog Mom, pups--litter 2

Four noses:                                                                      Tiarnan, Antonio, guardian dog Mom, pups–litter two

Antonio, Pat, Oscar, Tiarnan and Eduardo at Powder Flat

Antonio, Pat, Oscar, Tiarnan and Eduardo at Powder Flat

Mother and child reunion

Mother and child reunion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Future cavvy

Future cavvy

Birds of a feather

Birds of a feather

 

 

 

Battle Mountain and Baker's Peak from the west

Battle Mountain and Baker’s Peak from the west

 

 

 

Baker's Peak and Mount Oliphant

Baker’s Peak and Mount Oliphant

Winter grazing at Powder Flat

Winter grazing at Powder Flat

Powder Flat headquarters with Powder Mountain to the north

Powder Flat headquarters with Powder Mountain to the north

 

And on the way  home--the ones that got away, from the hunters

And on the way home–the ones that got away, from the hunters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Buck lambs bound for Iowa

Buck lambs, wet but eager to be chosen

Buck lambs, wet but eager to be chosen

 

Each year, our friends Rodney and Janet Fleming come for a visit from Iowa. It is a true busman’s holiday. The Flemings raise sheep in Iowa, and they come to see us so that they may visit sheep camps, participate in general ranch work and visit about dogs and sheep. They also pick out a couple of ram lambs to take home to their ewes in Iowa. We raise both Hampshire and Rambouillet rams to breed to our own commercial ewes. This gives us the opportunity to select for the traits we want, and that the rams, who have never been pushed on grain, are hardy when it comes time to go to work under sometimes tough conditions in Red Desert winters.

Meghan and Rodney bringing up the Hamp buck lambs

Meghan and Rodney bringing up the Hamp buck lambs

Jean Carlos coming to help with his entourage of guard dog puppies

Jean Carlos coming to help with his entourage of guard dog puppies

Jean Carlos and Pepe with more puppies

Jean Carlos and Pepe with more puppies

Rodney with his top choices

Rodney with his top choices

 

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