11:16 PM, 10 April 2010
Cool & calm, clear skies

Today was a very busy day, with trips to the farm store and to Home Depot both. We obtained tetanus toxoid for when we go to wether ram lambs, along with an elastrator and bands for said purpose; bales of straw; wooden planks for further rabbit box construction; hypodermics for the giving of sheep vaccinations; poultry and rabbit feed; and various other items.



The ducks have begun making nests under cover of the tarp we use to protect the bales of hay and straw. We discovered this while putting away the straw; fortunately, it does not appear to have alarmed the ducks yet. Hopefully they will not abandon the nests. In any case, the geese we'd ordered finally were delivered to the farm store. Much to our surprise, they turned out to have only been hatched on Monday. While they're extraordinarily cute little peepers, it'll be a while before we can use them to mate with the junior gander.

Today we rounded up the lambs in the ewe flock - we're up to nine of them by now. We examined them and found no hernias, cleft palates or joint issues, and there are three ram lambs and six ewe lambs in total. We've also discovered that we have one ewe whose registry number does not match our paperwork, and we've put in a query about that to the original breeder. The ewe in question may be pregnant but does not appear to have already lambed this season.

The barn cats enjoyed the sunny weather, although we had to break up a jealous fight in which the gander who is so fond of one of the farmers attempted to peck viciously at Peter; said gander has also been trying to peck viciously at the other farmer, finding no room for romantic competition. Fortunately, said farmer wears baggy jeans, but the gander has been learning to his chagrin that she is much bigger than he is, and of no tolerant temperament when it comes to such behavior.

Tomorrow there will be pasture shifting and shelter moving. Tonight the farmers are sore and tired after being repeatedly but not in the end successfully outrun by nine little lambs.