Monday, May 8

Daily Farm Photo: 5/8/06


This Is One Of My Favorite Photos

Lamb Report: Number of adorable, innocent lambs who kicked me in the mouth yesterday while installing eartags: 1 was plenty, thank you. (Now I'm not naming names--only because he doesn't have one--but let's just say he's sporting an eartag now!) Number of eartags installed last night before we realized 1)The lambs were on to us. 2) They were winning (and whupping my butt). And 3) it would no doubt be much, much easier to catch them up while packed in the barn this morning than racing around in a large pen: 4. Total number of newly eartagged lambs after this morning's injury free session: 13. Number of Classic Rock snippets I managed to sing after returning to bed from a 3am barn check before I was shut down: 3. Current Lamb Count: 21.

11 comments:

  1. I can understand why you like that photo so much. It is wonderful!

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  2. wow.. farm work.. who'd a thunk huh? I have been kicked, bit, run over, drenched wet, slopped thru mud, and had 3am wake up calls when I was growing up on our small farm -- am glad you are okay from your encounter with that lamb. (Tough guy huh?)

    How many more tags do you need to get for completion of ear-tagging events?

    Have a great day.

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  3. Did the lamb kick you in the mouth because he was flailing around and randomly caught you there, or was he aiming for the mouth? (Perhaps to disable a meat-eating predator?)

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  4. love the photo too. Hate the eartags though, not for the kick-in-your-mouth-thing (feeling sorry for you) but just the plain ugliness of those yellow earrings on cattle... In Holland they are big and yellow. Did I mention yellow?

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  5. My mental cup runneth over from the Sheep show and I still have room for more pictures of the lambies. I never really knew how small they were until this past weekend. They are just sooooooo cute and sooooooo soft. It's like a Charmin commercial, you just want to squeeze 'em.

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  6. Beautiful pic, FG!

    Maybe you should eartag the chickenz next....hahahahaha!

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  7. It's nice to read good news again. Well, it's not good that you took it to the chin, but that the momentum of farm life is chuggin' along.

    I give my husband updates on your site. You are affectionately known here as The Woman With The Rock n' Roll Sheep. :)

    Rock On Girl!

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  8. That is a beautiful picture. It looks really peaceful to me.

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  9. Hi Candy,
    Thank you!

    Hi Heather,
    LOL, great list, but you forgot scratched, knocked down, and peed on. Surely you didn't escape from those. : )

    We have 8 more untagged lambs--plus three more (I think) pregnant ewes. Almost done--finally!

    Hi Pablo,
    Ha ha, good one about disabling a meat eating predator. But I'm pretty sure it was a random but well-placed kick. Wham! Joe looked up at me after he heard the noise (he tags 'em, I hold 'em) and nervously said, "Did he just kick you in the mouth?" and winced when I nodded yes. Fortunately the majority of the visible damage is on the inside of my lips (and I still have all my teeth).

    I have since learned a better way to hold them--legs pressed tightly against their little bodies so they have a much harder time escaping. Only took me 11 years to figure it out!

    Hi Baking Soda,
    I have to agree that the lambs look better without their eartags, but they're really not too bad. Kinda cute, actually. We are using smaller ones than we used to. The girls get green and the boys get red--another extremely useful thing that only took several years to figure out! : )

    Hi Vickie,
    I'm so glad you had such fun at the Sheep Show. Yes, newborn lambs can be very, very tiny. Annette's twins that were born Saturday morning are still just a few pounds each. Have to be careful squeezing them when they're that small. : )

    Hi Jeff,
    Thanks. Yeah, I can just see myself trying to eartag a chicken. Let's not even mention the fact that they don't seem to have any ears to tag.

    On a serious note, though, if anybody reading this hasn't heard about NAIS (National Animal Identification System), I strongly urge you to visit a great website maintained by fellow small farmer and blogger Walter Jeffries: NoNais.org to find out more about this very, very BAD government plan. I have been meaning to write something about it for weeks (you may have seen the links I have on my homepage to Walter's site).

    And it won't just put most small producers out of business (thereby killing hundreds of small town economies)--it will affect every single person who eats.

    And, more importantly, Whitey & Lindy and all of the other critters (even if they are kept for eggs just for us, or for pets, etc.) would be required to have GPS tags--that aren't free, of course. Their every move would have to be recorded, or risk (literally) fines of $1,000.00 per DAY per animal.

    Own a horse? Any piece of property you ride it through would have to be registered with the government or you would risk fines.

    Wondering how these rules will be enforced? ANYONE coming onto your property will be told to check for illegally kept animals, etc. I'm talking not only vets, but people like meter readers. And no, I'm not being paranoid. This is very, very real. The government just isn't letting people know about it. They want it implemented before the public can realize what has happened--that govt. and big businesses have taken over the country's food supply.

    Thousands of people around the country have been doing everything they can to stop NAIS before the government declares it mandatory. But individual states are already putting similar programs into effect without farmers' knowledge. Or they use sneaky tactics to get farmers to sign up their property into the program without realizing what they are doing. It is horrible.

    Again, I urge you to visit Walter's site. Up in the top left corner of the homepage are helpful links to things like "What is NAIS?" and in the right sidebar are links to super flyers and handouts you can print out. There are even ready-made postcards to send to your gov't officials telling them you oppose NAIS.

    We're even trying to "storm" Oprah with emails requesting that she do a show on NAIS. Just go to her website, Oprah.com and follow the links to where you can email her about show ideas. Every little bit helps!

    THANK YOU.

    Hi GirlOnAGlide,
    Well, I have all kinds of nicknames but The Woman With The Rock'N Roll Sheep has definitely leaped to the top of the list. Too funny.

    Hi Sunidesus,
    Thanks. There's just something about it that really grabs me. I, too, think it has a peaceful feeling.

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  10. Hi Farmgirl,

    I thought lambs were just sweet' soft and cuddly!

    I'm curious, what classic rock songs were you singing last night... The one w/ the lyrics "kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em 1hen they're down, kick 'em all around"? (By Don Henley?)

    Bruno

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  11. Actually, after thinking about it, it must have been the lambs who were singing that song last night! Hope your healing quickly from your bout w/ "hoof in mouth".

    On a serious note, I will try to e-mail Oprah re: NAIS.

    Bruno

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December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

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