There's Somethin' in the Water This Time of the Year!

Well, we have been a little busy lately here at Blue Mountain Farms!  First, I would to report on the kids.  Daphne, Scooby, and Shaggy are all doing very well!  Their daily routine is the following: eating like crazy, bouncing around, and sleeping.  Meanwhile, I have been putting Peek-A-Boo in a sling every day three times a day.  It isn't an easy task, but it needs to be done.  She has shown so much improvement that it is hard to believe!  She is trying harder everyday and I am really hoping that she can stand on her own soon.  Our veterinarian, Cindy, was even impressed when she saw Peek almost stand.  It was pretty interesting that Peek wanted to get up mainly because she is not a fan of the vet!  Quite surprising since Peek-A-Boo loves almost everyone.

On March 18th, Flo, Ashley's sheep, was contracting!  She was not acting like herself since that morning and now, she was having her lamb or lambs.  She pushed about two times, then hooves, and finally, a ram lamb!  Right away she was licking and cleaning off her little lamb.  A few minutes later, she started pawing at the ground.  "Was there another one?"  we all thought, but my mom was thinking this from the start.  We all thought that Flo was done after the first lamb, so we didn't believe mom until Flo started pushing again.  Like always, mom was right.  Another ram lamb!  Flo is such a wonderful mother!  She has, now, two happy, healthy ram lambs.  

Since Flo had her lambs, we knew that it wasn't going to be too long before everyone else had their lambs.  So we had a hourly barn check.  Every time we would go out to the barn, we would have to check Flo and her lambs, Pam (Flo's sister), Oats (another one of Ashley's sheep), Harley (yet another ewe of Ashley's), Willow (one of my Angora goats), and finally Borealis (another Angora goat).  The days just kept on passing by until finally, on March 29, yesterday, Pam went into labor.  I went out to the barn to check on everybody and give the kids their bottle.  I looked in Pam's pen, and there she was, pushing!  I ran to the back door to call for mom and ran back out.  She pushed and pushed and then mom said, "She needs help.  She is having trouble."  My dad went in to hold her and mom tried to pull the lamb.  I ran into the house to have Tyler come out to the barn, but, by the time we arrived, the lamb was out, another ram.  To our surprise, it was all black!  This was new and quite shocking since both parents are white!  Genetics are a curious thing.  

After about twenty minutes, Pam had the lamb all cleaned up and he was already trying to stand up, but Pam started pawing again.  We did not expect her to have twins!  A few pushes later, a new born ram.  Oy vey, another ram.  How many rams are the sheep going to have?  There were still two more sheep to go, and hopefully one of them has at least one ewe.  Unfortunately for the second ram lamb, Pam had no intention of cleaning him off.  She wanted nothing to do with him in fact.  This meant that she was rejecting him!  We can never really understand why a mother does this, but sometimes it happens.  Needless to say, he spent the night in a crate in Ashley's room, but all he did was cry.  He cried all night long and let's just say that in the morning, the crate went outside to the barn.  No worries, he is getting plenty of attention and bottles.

This morning seemed normal, so I didn't think that there would be any lambs or kids today, but around lunch time, when only Ashley and I were home, Oats started crying, a lot.  I ran out and watched her for a little while until she began contracting.  Immediately I ran to call Ashley, working in the mill, and raced back to Oats.  Ashley came down and we waited and waited.  She was pushing but nothing was happening!  We waited for about seven minutes, then we saw hooves!  We knew that she had to have this lamb soon or else it was going to die.  The only thing was that no one else was home!  It was just Ashley and me.  We knew that she was going to need help, but finally, after what seemed an eternity, mom pulled into the driveway and I alerted her about Oats.  She didn't hesitate to run to the action packed stall.  After Oats pushed about two more times, we knew she needed help.  My mom and Ashley went in and Ashley tried to pull the lamb.  Mom held Oats and calmed her down.  In less than a minute, one ram lamb was welcomed to Blue Mountain Farms!   He is strong, healthy, and Oats loves him!  Hmmm - Ashley currently has a perfect record of ram lambs with only one more ewe, Harley, left to go.  

Now it is Willow's, Borealis's, and Harley's turn.  I hope they have no trouble and they are all healthy. 

Peek-A-Boo this morning.

Peek in the sling this morning.  She loves when I give her snacks! 

Pam's lamb.  Isn't he cute? 

Pam's other lamb, Suess.  He is the poor lamb that Pam rejected, but he is happy with his bottles, attention, and crate!

Willow and Elle are pretty funny goats, don't you think? 

Secret is enjoying the Spring like weather! 

Ashley having some fun with the kids

I'm not Kidding Ewe!

Hello everyone.  This was a very interesting weekend.  First, I have to start with what I was doing.  I am a part of the 4-H Exchange club, and what we do is do an exchange with another group of wonderful 4-Hers in a different state.  So, this year we are exchanging with a group of kids in Montana!  Obviously, we will need some money for that, so we had a fundraiser this past weekend.  We were actually able to help at a dog show for our fundraiser!   We always help with ring crew, setup, and tear down.  It's easy to say that this is my favorite fundraiser that I help with.  I love to watch the dogs run their course and have a great time doing it!  I was there on Friday and again on Sunday.  My mom, Papa, and I went on Friday and on Sunday, Tyler and I went.  

For the past few weeks, my mom and I have been keeping a close eye on my goat Peek-A-Boo.  She was due to have her kids and we knew that she was going to go soon, until last week she went down.  She laid down and couldn't stand back up again.  This was terrifying considering that there was a chance that the kids would have to be pulled.  Right away our vet received an email from us that Peek wasn't doing well.  She replied within minutes and told me about a few shots that I should give her.  I also gave her CMPK drench for some energy and strength.  She still wasn't standing so I just kept an eye on her and kept contact with the vet just in case.  Within a few days, Peek still was down.  We asked Cindy, our vet, what we should do.  She said that we should induce her labor with 5 ML of Dexamethasone.  We waited 24-36 hours, but the medication didn't take.  Cindy told me to give her 10 ML.  I, of course, did what she said, and then the clock started, again.  

I was hesitant to go to the dog show, but I went.  On Sunday, I was in the ring at the dog show when Tyler came up behind me and said, "Hey, Peek-A-Boo had her kids."  A million questions rushed through my head at that second: Is she okay? How many? Boys? Girls? Are they okay?  I also thought, "Did mom have to pull them?"   This thought scared me because I knew how hard it was for Cocoa deliver Bubba and she was strong, but Peek-a-Boo was weak.  As far as Tyler knew, she had triplets, two boys and one girl.  He also knew that they were not positioned correctly. 

I waited, for what felt like forever, until the class of dogs was finished so I could share the news.  I was very excited to come home to see the three kids!  The one thing that I was not looking forward to was seeing Peek as weak as I could imagine her being.  

After the next few hours, it was time to go home.  Once we made it home, I met three beautiful goat kids.  One buck weighed ten pounds, the other buck weighed eight pounds 7 ounces, and the little girl, who is just a peanut, weighed five pounds 4 ounces.  The sight of them made me happy, but in that same stall was Peek-A-Boo with her glazed-over eyes.  She was still laying down.  She had been through a lot that day and there was more to come.  We have been trying to rotate her from one side and back to the other, but she always rolled back onto one side.  By doing this, she made her right hind leg useless.  We had to get some blood-flow to that leg, so we put her in a sling.  As carefully as we could, we rubbed her back leg to make it less numb.  

Another thing that we had to stay on the clock with was feeding the kids.  They needed the colostrum in their system before they became weak as well; since Peek wasn't going to be able to nurse them on her own.  One of the bucks was curling his back legs and he couldn't walk.  I had to put splints on him to make them straight which seemed to help him walk a little bit better.   

Thank Goodness that my mom is a trooper because she took the 1:00 am shift to feed the kids.  I also made sure that Peek was eating and drinking.  The kids were a little weak the first day, but by today, they are bouncing around and drinking, a lot!  (we had a surplus of frozen goat milk which is now being used for the kids) We are all working together to get Peek-A-Boo up and moving, but she isn't up yet.  She is showing some improvement though!  We have started putting her up in a sling for a few minutes three times a day.  Today she put some weight on her back legs and tried walking on them!  I am so glad that I have all of the chances and opportunities that I have!  

Me with Daphne

Well, I think Maddy has a favorite. 

The one the purple is Daphne, the little girl, and the boy in the green is Shaggy! 

Scooby!

Daphne just chillin'

Bubba is enjoying the warm weather

Daphne!

He loves to pose for the camera

Shaggy is getting used to these legs of his 

Maddy, my friend, and I have decided to make it a project on clicker training the three kids!  I am so excited to get started!  

We Aren't Kidding Ewe...

Hello everyone.  It is feeling like spring, finally, but, when comes spring, comes kidding, lambing, and calving season.  This past weekend was very busy and interesting.  Where do I start? Well, Friday evening, my mom went out to the barn for the annual every hour on the hour barn check.  To our surprise, Rosalind, Tyler's cow, was in labor!  In the amount of time that it took for my mom to run to the house, call me down, and run back to the barn, Rosalind had already delivered a beautiful, happy, healthy bull calf. The really good news is Rosalind is a wonderful mother and protects her little guy all of the time.  

Now, when Saturday rolled around, one of my friends, Abby, was here and she was excited to hear that there may be some kids in the barn later that day!  We checked on Peek-A-Boo and she wasn't getting up.  You know something isn't good when the hair on the back of your neck stands and a shiver runs down your spine.  My first thoughts were, is she okay? Is she in labor? Will she be able to stand soon? Is she going to eat her grain? What should I do? Right away, I let my mom know and she contacted the vet.  I did feed Peek and she ate all of her grain as if nothing was wrong.  During all of this, the animals still needed to be fed, so Abby, Tyler, Ashley, and I had to continue what we were doing and feed the rest of the animals.  Around lunch time, we checked on the animals again.  Peek still wasn't standing, but she was looking a little bit better.  We made sure that she drank some water and we even gave her some CMPK drench, a calcium supplement, and Nutra-Drench to give her some energy.  She did try to get up, but instead just rolled on to her other side.  We then checked on Cocoa, I didn't expect to see much, and she was laying enjoying herself.  After that, I came in the house and we all had lunch.  

My other friend, Maddy, was on her way to come and visit for a while too.  So, after lunch, Maddy arrived and we checked on everyone once more.  We peeked on Cocoa and she looked fine from what I thought, but within fifteen minutes, my mom called us back out to the barn!  I could hear the excitement in her voice.  I knew that one of the goats was in labor!  We all thought that the attention was on Peek until we saw Cocoa pushing!  I couldn't believe my eyes when I finally saw what looked like the hooves of a baby goat, but, it wasn't the hooves.  I felt that hit to the stomach when you know the kid isn't positioned correctly and you have little time to save it and its mother.  My mom and I rushed in and were scared to see a ear and the side of a jaw.  This wasn't going to be easy!  My mom looked a little pressured when I saw that she had a crowd around her.  Abby, Maddy, Maddy's mom and dad, Bri and Olivia (Maddy's sisters), and my dad.  My mom tried and tried to find the hooves when, finally, she found them!  Cocoa pushed and my mom pulled.  The worry on everybody's faces when my mom said, "I can't do it! I can't find the nose"  Right away, I tried to find the nose.  My mom took a deep breath and tried again and finally was able to pull out an adorable buck kid! All I heard was a big sigh from everyone as a cry came from the newborn kid.  

Today during feeding, I saw the kid, named Bubba, hopping all around the stall!  I am so glad that Cocoa is a wonderful mom to this kid and thank you for reading this blog.

Bubba!

He looks like he is smiling!

Coco and Bubba!

He has his little sweater!

Queen Bee and Queen Polly

Hello everyone!  Things have calmed down here a little after the whole Shadow Cat ordeal and I'm proud to say that she is doing very well.  So, my mom, Ashley, and I all planned on going on a road trip to visit friends in West Virginia.  This was exciting for me because a few months ago, Kelly (our friend) offered me a lamb.  Kelly, from Hopping Acres, has been involved extensively in the success of the wonderful Leicester Longwool breed as she has been working tirelessly for over 20+ years now.  When we saw her about a month ago, she actually said that she was giving me TWO lambs instead of one!  I was so excited for this because she puts a lot of work in raising her Leicester Longwool sheep.  

The Leicester Longwool breed is actually on the conservancy list, meaning that there are very few of them in the United States.   This May, the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool festival will be held.  Kelly and her friend Joan are a big part of this event and they have their own booth there.  They are going to be very busy from the time they arrive to the time they leave because this is the 25th anniversary of when the Leicester Longwool was reintroduced to the United States.  There will be a card grading event which will evaluate each sheep to the breed standard which is a very important part of making sure that the breed conforms to what the breed says they should be.  You want to preserve this wonderful breed, but we also need to make sure that we are doing it the right way.  In addition, there will be a country store and educational exhibits featuring the Leicester Longwools.  With all this extra work involved, Joan and Kelly won't have much time for their booth.  They asked us if we would be interested in watching their booth and we could even have some of our own items in the booth.  We, of course, said yes!  

Tuesday, we woke up at 5:00 am and headed down to West Virginia!  I was so excited and yet, a little tired.  I couldn't wait to met the lambs!  So, after a drive that felt like forever, we finally arrived.  We were greeted by a few dogs, Kelly, and even Joan was there!  After a long conversation about Maryland for the Sheep and Wool festival, we talked and laughed and talked some more.  We had a great time.  Kelly even made chili with Beefalo (Buffalo bred with Angus cattle)!  My mom made a batch of cornbread to go with it.  After a wonderful lunch, we talked a little longer about Maryland.  Can you believe how nice they were to let us use part of their booth to sell our own products?   

Around 1:00 pm, we went outside and I finally met the lambs!  They are such a nice representation to this breed and I can't even begin to tell you how happy and thankful I am for Kelly trusting them to me!  I am happy to say that I have three Leicester Longwool sheep now, Boo, my ram, Queen Bee, and Queen Polly!  All such nice sheep.  I can't wait to continue with this breed.  Thank you Kelly!   Hope to see you all at the Maryland Sheep and Wool.  If you are there, stop in and see us at the Leicester Longwool booth. 

Kelly and I with Queen Bee and Queen Polly hiding in the truck.

Queen Bee!

If farming were easy, everyone would be doing it!

Hello everyone!  There was a bittersweet experience in the barn on Monday morning!  Shadow Cat (one of my Angora goat does) was down and not even able to walk.  Without hesitation, we carried her to her own stall and immediately called the vet.  She didn't have a fever, but she wasn't doing well at all.  She couldn't even hold her head up, she was twitching, and I was very scared.  The only way that she would calm down, was if I would pet her and talk to her while I sat on the barn floor next to her.  If I would get up, she would become very stressed!  So, I stayed with her in the stall while my mom called the vet.  About  two hours later, our vet arrived and gave us three options.  One of the options was to throw the medical book at her to save her, but still have the chance of her and the kids not making it.  The next option was cutting her open to take out the babies because she was suffering from pregnancy toxemia.  Finally, the last option, was try to save her and induce labor because the pregnancy was what was causing her illness and possibly lose the kids depending on how far along they were. 

She hadn't bagged up as yet, so we were thinking that the baby or babies weren't going to be ready yet, but we didn't want to lose Shadow Cat.  The vet also told us that we were her 6th call in the past three days for the very same thing and the outcome for the doe, in all 6 of those cases, wasn't good.  I chose to do the final option.  While I was excited to see babies from her, I didn't want them at the expense of Shadow Cat.  Shortly after we had given her all the medicines, she was finally able to just rest.  Boy, did she rest.  At one point, she was in such a deep sleep that she was snoring louder than a lumberjack cutting down an oak tree.  

We spent the rest of the day checking in on her every 30 minutes to make sure she was okay.  I had to attend a 4-H fundraiser later that day and really didn't want to go, but I did.  I spent the whole time selling milkshakes thinking about Shadow Cat!  I am glad that mom is such a trooper and was able to give up time in her day to check on Shadow Cat for me!  By the nighttime feeding, Shadow Cat was standing on her own and eating a little bit of grain.  I continued to drench her with Nutri-drench and Dextrose in hopes of making her stronger again.  By Wednesday, she was back to her old self.  She was eating, drinking, and moving around on her own.   To my surprise, at 8:00 P.M., she delivered two little doe kids; however, they didn't make it.  They were both stillborn because their lungs weren't fully developed.  This feeling is like a hit to the stomach considering that you wait for five months and see your own goat suffer and lose her kids.  The heartbreak was compounded as I held one of the kids while Shadow Cat was doing her best to clean the lifeless, little one.      

I cleaned out her stall and brought two of my other does to her so she would have company.  By Friday, she was eating, drinking, seemed to be much stronger, and was even the Alpha of the pen again, but sadly, she was still calling for her babies.  I couldn't feel any worse about the outcome of this whole thing, but like I said, I didn't want to lose her and judging by the size of the kids, I'm not sure that she would have been strong enough to continue her pregnancy until she and the kids were ready.  I am happy that I made the choice that I did, because if I wouldn't have, I would have lost all three does, the two kids and Shadow Cat.  I can say though that even as hard as this experience was, I did learn a lot and I am glad that I have such a great veterinarian that taught me a lot of what I know now and I hope that some day I can be a veterinarian like her!

Here is Shadow Cat saying hello to Willow the day she came here!  

Her bright blue eyes shining for the first time since last Monday!

Shadow Cat makes a lot of funny faces!

Shadow Cat and Willow today

PaSRBA

Hello everyone!  This past weekend was a very busy and exciting weekend for me.  I have talked about ARBA and Farm Show, but this time, I want to write about PaSRBA!  PaSRBA, the Pennsylvania State Rabbit Breeders Association Convention, started on Friday and ended on Sunday.  There was a royalty contest for the youth to participate in with winners announced at the Youth Banquet on Saturday night.  After submitting a lengthy application by January 1st, all of the contestants judge four groups of four rabbits, complete breed ID, and attend a face to face interview. For the judging, you have to place four rabbits the way that you think a rabbit judge would place them in each class, and you only have seven minutes to do it.  As for the Breed ID, there are at least 25 rabbits and/or cavies (guinea pigs) that you have to identify by writing on a sheet of paper:  the breed of the animal, it's variety that it would be shown under, if it is shown under four class (a small rabbit) or six class (a larger rabbit), and finally, the registration variety.  Duke, Duchesses, Princes, Princesses, Lords, and Ladies are required to do Showmanship as well.  Instead of doing Showmanship, the Kings and Queens have to prepare a 3 - 5 minute presentation.  The top two get to present their presentation at the banquet.  All of the youth participating in the royalty contest, will have to take a written test.  The ages for each of the categories are as follows:  King (Boys, Ages 15-18 years), Queen (Girls, Ages 15-18 years), Duke (Boys, Ages 12-14 years), Duchess (Girls, Ages 12-14 years), Prince (Boys, Ages 9-11 years), Princess(Girls, Ages 9-11 years), Lord(Boys, Ages 5-8 years), Lady(Girls, Ages 5-8 years).

I ran for Duchess and I always love to participate in this contest. Two of my favorite events include Breed ID and showmanship. I also like the interview because, well, I like to talk to people! When it finally came to the time of the banquet, I was very excited! After everyone ate their food, we held an auction with some amazing items to raise money for our program.  I was proud to have donated an Angora scarf that I had woven at the Pa Farm Show as well as a pair of fingerless mitts that I had knit with my own Angora yarn.  The scarf and mitts sold for over $200 and that money will go back to help fund the youth program I enjoy so much!  

So, after a lot of studying and preparing for this contest, I was about to learn how I did.  I am very fortunate as my county 4-H program works really hard to help educate our members so we are prepared for the contests.  So many of the youth did such a great job representing this wonderful event!  For breed ID, I won 1st, third for Showmanship, and fifth in judging! I was very pleased with how I did in those three categories, and it was time for the royalty announcements! Lord and Lady are announced first, then Prince and Princess, Duke and Duchess, and finally King and Queen. When they began announcing the Duchess category, I was so nervous.  I could hardly believe it when they said, "The 2015 PsARBA Duchess is, Madison Shaw!" My head was spinning.  By Sunday, I already was beginning to think of things I could do to help promote this fantastic industry in a positive light.  The program has helped me grow so much as an individual and I am extremely proud to be a part of it.

I also want to say how proud I am for all of the other youth with how well they did and how nice this year's PaSRBA convention was because of all of the volunteers. Thanks for making this year's convention great! 

Breed ID awards

Awards!

Duchess! 

                                

                                          The 2015 royalty court! 

National Make it With Wool Contest

I am very happy to say that I am home from a wonderful trip to Reno, Nevada.  I had such a great time and I am glad that I was afforded the opportunity to go.  Thank you Pennsylvania Sheep and Wool Growers.  Two days before we left, our flight was canceled due to the impending "Snowmagedeon" and it took four and a half hours to reschedule it!  So, we now had a connecting flight to our destination which was to begin in Baltimore, Maryland.  At this point, I had packed my bag, and little did I know, I would be able to fit all of my stuff in one small duffle-bag!  Forgetting about the possibility that I would be purchasing any souvenirs...  Let's just say, I am glad that Mom and Ashley left some room in their bags.  So, we finally arrived and managed to get a shuttle ride to the hotel, which was made up of two huge towers, and checked-into our room on the twelfth floor.  I was only going to be able to stay with Mom and Ashley for Wednesday night and Saturday night.  The other nights I was in a room with three other girls from other parts of the country who were also there for the contest.  

Wednesday came and went so quickly that before I knew it, Thursday was here and it was time to check-in for the contest.  Right away, I took my stuff up to my room and noticed that two of the girls had already been to the room with their things.  I was excited to meet them.  That night, before we all had to go to the rooms for bed, there was a meeting for all of the contestants, directors, and family members.  After the meeting, we all had an icebreaker game called "Never Have I Ever".  We learned a lot about each other, ran a lot, and it was safe to say that we were all tired after that game.   Earlier that day, I met a girl from Wyoming and I did not expect to see her walk into the room that I was staying in!  Then a girl named Marie came in, she was very nice, and finally, a girl from Kentucky arrived.  Her name was Gillian.  I had some great roommates from all parts of our great nation!  

So the first day of the contest was set to begin.  The first thing that we had to attend was a workshop called "Behind the Scenes and Seams".  It was about plays, what costumes they used, and all of the detail that was put into each costume.  It was a very educational workshop and I learned a lot.  

We also had a lot of rehearsal for the fashion show that was going to be held on Saturday.  Rehearsal was about all we did on Saturday, before the show.  For the show, we each walked up on stage with flashlights and stood there until a certain part of the song "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling played.  We all turned on the flashlights and waited until the violin solo, we then turned off all of the flashlights and walked off in groups of three on each side.  Once everybody was off of the stage, we started the modeling.  I was second to go.  Everyone had to walk on stage to the microphone and say a fact about your state regarding the sheep industry and agriculture.  It was quite simple for me to come up with a Pennsylvania fact.  Mine was on the Farm Show.  I simply stated that, "My state's number one industry is agriculture.  We have the largest indoor agricultural event in North America which has a large showcase of sheep and wool exhibits."  After everyone went, we had the finale!  Again, we all walked onto the stage and a young, eight year old girl sang "Let it Go" to correspond with the theme "Frozen in Time."  The whole convention was a celebration of 150 years for the American Sheep Industry!  After the finale, we held the awards.  Even though I didn't win and award, I think that just being given the opportunities that I was given on this trip was an award in itself!  Hope you enjoyed this blog!  I'm already planning my outfit for next year! 

Me modeling my outfit for the state convention.

A few pictures from Nevada!