Update on Lourdes..

As I suspected, Lourdes was pregnant with multiples - but only with twins.  The little ram was dead, but the ewe was born very healthy and strong!

                                            Cute hardly describes how adorable she really is.

                                                        Here she is striking a pose!

Waiting - waiting - waiting...

Meet Lourdes!  She is our best ewe and (obviously) pregnant...and obviously pregnant with multiples.  At this point with every passing day, I add 1 to the count of how many babies I think are in her!...

Because...

This is what a normal sized Cheviot Sheep looks like.

BEEP BEEP BEEP...... Wide load coming through!!

12 Years Later..

We added a little addition to our farm that should have been built when we first built the barn... a well house. Although it is not yet done, as there are still a few details to be added in the interior and it has yet to be painted (white with black trim), I could not wait to post about it.  

For one, did you know that out of all those barn and metal building companies, we could not find one that had a specific well house plan.  We have already had to have our well redrilled once - so we needed something with a removable roof.  Thankfully, one of our friends is a really good builder and fashioned this for us.  Do you see the ring bolt in the center of the roof?  It is there so that after we unbolt 4 fasteners on the interior, the entire roof can be lifted off in the case that the well needs to be drilled once again.

Sounds silly - but I am just tickled pink with it!!

A Hard Weekend..

.. we lost our baby lamb.  After all the progress - he came down with phneumonia.  I know this is going to sound terrible... but I was exhausted and at that point, I stopped fighting for him too....

Our small flock is staying in the foaling stall of the barn through Thursday - which seems to be the last day of close to freezing temperatures.   I know one of our best ewe's is getting ready to give birth and judging by the size of her (she looks like a table top) she will also give birth to multiples this year.

Update..

Don wants to name him Lucky... but he said not to name him anything for a few days...so I guess he has to earn the name 'Lucky'.. maybe I need to call him "Blessed" until then!.. you know - the call it as you want it theory!!

So he is doing better, but is still quite behind what I would call normal.  He eagerly brays at me and eats when he is hungry.  We always keep lamb milk replacer on hand.  He is going to the bathroom on a regular basis and he can stand up for several minutes by himself.  What he has not been able to do as of yet is walk or get to a standing position on his own.  I set up a large dog crate in our den, lined with a towel.. several more atop for multiple changes as needed.  Can you tell we have been through this before?

Here is a picture of the first lamb we raised on a bottle: Roman.

Roman lived upstairs with us and slept in a crate.  He was bathed in the bathtub and loved it...even once jumping into the tub with me.  He was leash trained and he followed us everywhere ...but he grew and Grew and GREW... and as hard as it was... we had to do it..

We had to put him outside with the other sheep...and he stood just like this for days .. crying for us to come and get him.  I hated that...

..but he did get used to it and he is still the sweetest thing.  Although he is a miniature breed of sheep, he is fat and still tries to sit in my lap!

I Have a New Little Buddy...

I went out to feed this morning and saw something that made my heart sink... one of our ewes over by the fence screaming by 2 little white things - and neither one moving or making any noise.  I waked over to her and looked down at the first lamb.  I lifted it's leg to see what sex it was - a boy.  obviously the first born because he was quite cold already.  I then walked over to the second lamb.  This one was splayed out on the dirt like it had been hit by a car.  I did not even want to touch it, but I always want to know the sex, so I grabbed its back leg and it barely raised it's head and made the softest baa sound.  I grabbed him up into my jacket.  Of course, last night was not only cold, but very very windy.  I tried to stand the lamb up under his momma, but after sniffing him for a moment,she would have nothing to do with him....so here I am, in my office with a little mascot.  I do not know if there is something wrong with him or if he is just cold and weak.  He did drink some lamb milk supplement - but as of yet, has not been able to get up on his legs.

What shall I name him? 

More Questions Answered..

I found the light fixtures at Lowes a long time ago.  I love them - just because of the initial Wow factor when you open the barn doors and turn on the lights.  (It is just the 'girl' in me!!)  The previous flourscent lights were horrible because they did not want to work when the temperature was under 50F.. which is not that often down here, but still very irritating when you need light!

As for cleaning the barn:  Once a year we do a BIG clean.  I take the horses out on a low humidity sunny day.  Strip the stalls down to the rubber mats.  I use a water/amonia mix on the mats.  I use a cobweb 'broom' with an extension pole to get the bulk of the spider webs out.  Then spray everything down with a pressure washer.  That gets rid of the rest of the cob webs and dust.  This is a 1 day project ...and it helps if you start by taking a diet pill...ha ha !!!   I do this in early Spring and try to time it right before any foals are born, if we are expecting that year.

We had a Barn Master metal barn in our former house.  It started rusting less than 5 years after it was errected and the condensation in the tack room made it impossible to store anything made of leather in there.  Here in South Texas, it is usual to have not only high heat in the afternoons, but very high humidity as well.  Add cool mornings to that mix and condesation was dripping off of the metal walls... wood is much more forgiving.

We designed the barn around the fact that the minimum living area, per the building restrictions, had to be no less than 1800 square feet upstairs.  There are 6 - 12x12 stalls, 1 - 12x18 foaling stall with a turn out, 1 - 12x12 wash stall, 1 - 12x12 and 1 - 12x6 open storage area, a 12x12 laundry room with 1/2 bath and 12x12 tack/feed room both of which are climate controlled.  The center isle is 13' wide.  We put both hot and cold water into the wash stall.  The real blessing of this is when you are teaching a young horse to stand to be washed.  Warm water verses cold acts as a tranqualizer and calms the horses down.

The plan was to live above the barn for about 5 years and then start construction on the house, leaving the barn apartment to be used as rental property... but then we found out Don was ill.  We still do want to build our dream house, we are just now taking a much more conservative approach to it all.  Here is an inspirational drawing of our dream house.. but with a grey stone exterior with black shutters:

Barns...

..do not have to be massive to be beautiful.

 While we all ohhh and ahhh over barns and facilities like these, they are rarely privately owned.

 I prefer to peek into barns that are privately owned.  This lovely one to me was medium in size.. so lets look at some smaller ones...

 While this looks magnificent at first glance, it is a relatively simple design with a spectacular entrance..and great details.

I am passionate about details.  Here we have unique stall fronts and lanterns.

Look at this quite simple barn, made unique by the fact it is pristine and the wonderful copula bell tower.

Here is a very small barn with a cottage feel that would make a lovely addition to any property...I believe this is owned by Gweneth Paltrow.

..and another with more of a western country flair.

..such a simple detail like a lantern adds character..

Look what unique hardware can do for the overall look!

Correct placement of fencing and landscaping can take a simple design to the look of high end!

 ..and here is some more unique hardware that I wanted to include.

This is my barn...errrr - my house.... ummmm it's everybody's home- both 4 legged and 2!

Here is a peek of the interior.  Since the original construction, we replaced the horrible overhead lighting with the wrought iron fixtures, we installed the smaller lanterns beside each stall, and replaced most of the cheap hardware with better iron pieces...all details ...

Just because someone always wants to know - the answer is No, I have never had a horse spook at the light fixtures!

The best choices I made:
1. Concrete center isle.  It is so easy to clean with a blower!
2. Climate controlled tack/feed room - no more moldy leather and no vermin in the feed!
3. Climate controlled laundry room down stairs with a 1/2 bath.
4. Foaling 12x18 stall with turn out

Would have changed:
1. Wish for 2 foaling stalls as the larger stall works so well for our stallion.
2. Copula on the roof is too small.

Whoo - Hooo...WE ARE DONE!

..with the round pen!!

Wish I was off so I could be riding in it now!

Progress - part 3

The pad is in... 30 loads of clay and who knows how many of top sand!

It does not look like that much dirt from this angle:

..but if you walk around to the back, where the ground used to slope down,  you can see why it took so much to get the pad level.  That clay colored dirt is just under 3 feet high!

Later this morning, the round pen will be delivered and set up this afternoon.  We should be riding in it by tomorrow!!!

More Round Progress...

..the shrub tree is gone...before:

.. and after:

20 truck loads of a clay base then a 3" top coat of sand is being delivered today... will post more pics later!  Yippie!!!

...And Let The Construction Begin!!

...on the round pen!

It does not look too unlevel to the eye - does it???  Believe it or not, there is a 2 foot difference in elevation from one side to the other!  When it is all done, this will be a great place to canter a horse for the first time, to work young horses, to teach a young grand child to ride...and even to ride aside on a horse for the very first time!!

Those New Projects I Was Talking About....

One of them will be a round pen.  Honestly, I am not sure how we have worked without one for so long.  Especially with young horses and trying to teach my Grand Daughter how to ride my feisty Saddlebreds, a round pen will really be handy!

Kind of hard to see but it will be situated to the right of the newest paddock...

That small bushy area of underbrush needs to be removed so I have more room to drive the truck and trailer through.  The round pen will be beyond that.

We are going to have a 70' pen put in and it is going to be heavy duty.. able to handle large horses as well as something that will be around longer than I!!

Tomorrow one of our neighbors is coming out to look at the property.  He has a construction business and owns a bull dozer.  Can you believe the elevation difference in that small 70 foot area is almost 2 feet!  The ground is going to be leveled out and we will have to have more sand/dirt brought in so it can be used shortly after it rains.  I just want it to be done right!