Vet visit day

        One of the rituals of spring is to get all of the animals checked out by the vet before they start having babies. The vet checks them over and gives required shots. As you probably guessed, that requires rounding everyone up so that she can take a look, and as with most things for us, we have gotten better at this with time. Catching sheep and goats is more art than science. Our first attempts were aided by a smaller pen within the larger pasture where we could contain the animals and systematically run them down. This often resulted in terrified sheep and exhausted farmers. Our next upgrade was a chainlink dog kennel that we would put hay in and shut the door once we had gotten all of our patients cornered. It became this by default since Cody can somehow climb out of it if he feels like it. The biggest problem with this was that it is really heavy to move so if you have multiple animals in multiple locations, you were out of luck.

 The livestock trailer has become the standby method for catching animals. The main trick is to skip a meal before they need catching and then put the feed inside the trailer. This often works best with two people. Sheep are especially leery and it helps if you are slightly hidden while another person spots them all inside so you can shut the door. With one set of especially wily pigs, I sat on top of the trailer for hours until hunger got the better of them and they were convinced no one was around. They walked in and I slid the door shut behind them.

This time, since we were just catching them for shots. We used feedlot panels (A 16' rigid steel wire panel) to hold them in a small area and the vet administered shots and inspections through the fence.

Round up time!

One of my dreams is to have real handling equipment that we can funnel the sheep and goats through and by switching the gate one way or the next, everyone goes back to where they belong. As always, this is very attainable....if you have a grand or two to spare. One thing I did discover was that should we get any more cattle, we will need something better. Erica managed to throw our very pregnant vet back and me sideways when the first needle hit her. A full body hold against the tractor by Karen and I kind of worked but if she gets much bigger that probably won't be very effective.


Before the shots-I believed that cute look....

Long story short, everyone checked out with a clean bill of health. Best wishes to Dr. C expecting her first child. Her help is always a lifesaver (Literally!) for the farm.