Prison Breaks and Newborns

3:26 PM Monday, 8 March 2010
49 F, clear & sunny

Yesterday began with a bang as we discovered the sable rabbit had escaped her ark and was hopping around and being chased by the barn cats, who'd been let out to explore. We managed to catch her fairly quickly if painfully (bare feet and gravel and blackberry thorns do not combine well); she was put away, and the feeding for the morning session began.

It was during the morning feeding that we then discovered the buck was also missing. He didn't turn up right away, but eventually did turn up underneath the IBCs to one side of the workshop, which was also where we'd trapped the sable. It strongly suggests that the two buns managed to get together while out; we'll know more in a month or so. Right now, the principal suspect in the escape are the muscovy ducks, who do like to pluck at string and cord. We suspect they'd managed to undo the knots holding the grazing arks closed. Cages are our likely solution.

If this were not eventful enough, in the late afternoon right before the rains started, three of the ewes in the ramless enclosure got out due to a stake popping up during pasture shifting. They were eventually cajoled back in via a slightly earlier than usual evening feeding session and the combined fact of the rain arriving.

A trip to a couple of the local farm stores determined that pre-made cages are too expensive to be worthwhile; however, we can get the wire and assemble it ourselves and it should not be too difficult nor once we get the hang of it, too time-consuming. If this should prove false, there's a local handyman who will assemble them for us for a fee; it will still work out to less than the $40-$80 per cage that it would cost for pre-cut wire cages (most of which still require assembly on our end).

The apple trees so far appear to be holding up. We'll see how it goes in the long run.

We are allowing our ducks and geese to become free range within limits, as at this point the ducks in particular are difficult if not impossible to keep confined. The geese are more easily confined, not being able to wing it as well, but they appreciate the access to the pond so much that at this stage, we're confining them only at night and during the day, letting them graze freely.

There is a striking black and white cat we've noticed several times on our property. Yesterday, he or she decided to investigate the workshop via the open door. Doing so resulted in a very hurried exit and some feline cursing from the barn cats, who (rightfully so) consider themselves the legal tenants!

This morning dawned bright and clear with no trace of yesterday's rains, but a bit of wind remaining. It had somewhat opened the plastic sheeting on the greenhouse; fixing it showed that while no seedlings are yet poking their heads up, it has been doing an admirable job of keeping things under the sheet significantly warmer (even with gaps) than outside. The plants were watered, at which point we noticed that the other pregnant polled ewe had just finished giving birth. We now have two more solid black lambs, this time with no blazes on them to help us tell them apart. Mother and lambs are doing well so far, with the usual wobbliness of the newborn slowing them down only a little.