Boo and Marcel.
Wee Marcel is still slowly improving. he is even gaining weight. He sleeps well and took two little walks outside and around inside the barn yesterday. Tonight he will go to tiny feeds every three hours. Altogether he drinks a little over two cups a day of milk and plenty of water in between and the same during the night. He drunk cows colostrum for the first 24 hours and now his milk is fresh raw cows milk with an egg and honey. All systems are go.
The first Cardinal came to visit today. Below is rather a bizarre shot .. I do not have a bird watching lens, but I could not let him go un noted. He comes every year at this time to scope out the location. Soon he will fly away again, back to town where it is warmer no doubt and when he returns he will be bringing his brother and their wives and it will be spring. They do this every year. He is right on time.
My milking machine did not turn up yesterday as promised. Maybe it will come today.
Mr Sperm has advised us to start Sheila’s hormone treatment today instead of yesterday. So her hopeful heat will coincide with the delivery of Herchel’s sperm. The little overnight delivery man will drop it out here on Tuesday morning. My sperm! I will say, effusively; rather an awkward word but you know what I mean. It sounds too much like effluent to be a really nice word. Thank you! I will say. You are so kind.
And I will put the three doses of baby Herchels in the fridge and then as soon as Sheila is in standing heat, (which means she will stand still with her back legs straight down and locked and her ears and head up – hoping I am a boar while I sit all over her back) hopefully that day and then the day after, we will do the deed thrice. So much for me to learn here. But first, today, we will flood her system with estrogen. And hope against hope that she winds up and comes into heat. Or she will spending the rest of her life posing for calenders and hocking them off to pay for her feed.
Grazing the floor. Marcel investigates everything twice.
Good morning. If Marcel continues to do well and as soon as he is stable, putting on weight, and on four hourly feeds, I will make a warm pen for him next to the sheep in the barn. He is not a pet. He does not belong in a dog crate. He is a sheep and for him to be able to think like a sheep and behave like a sheep and be at ease in a flock of his own, he needs to be with other sheep, even if it is through a fence. Otherwise he will be bullied. Also he needs to be able to run and jump and be a lamb which is impossible on hard- wood floors. He is not a cat or a dog and though it is very convenient to have him in the house I would be doing him a disservice to keep him in here too long. I have a feeling that Mama may take him under her wing, she is very protective of the others but all these things must be done slowly and in a timely fashion. There is that Time thing again.
I love seeing animals in the fields, don’t you.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
P.S. This time last year Mama’s four lambs were a day old. There is a lovely shot of Tilly here when we still thought she was a Murphy (boy).
This time two years ago, there were plants sprouting in the garden. (And a very sweet shot of Queenie on a string. )
The Kitchen's Garden 
69 responses to “a calm busy day before another calm busy day”
I’m happy to see Marcel improving! Also, very happy that the cardinal is on time. This winter has been so bizarre. It must be especially difficult for the birds and all the creatures who live outside.
For some reason, with all the busyness it entails, this all struck me as being the slowness and gentleness of life! Always a delight to visit here, even with all your snow this winter.
Have you talked to Sarah The Crazy Sheep Lady about House Lambs? She seems to have it down to a science…Seeing Marcel up on his little hooves warms the heart, for sure!
Crossing fingers and toes for Our Piggie…life as a calendar girl would be so unfulfilling…
I was very curious about how Marcel would be “folded into the fold” so to speak, and you’ve explained it all. I’m glad you think Mama will take him under her woolly wing. Let’s hope she does, living up to her name. Your comments about Marcel not being a house pet remind me of Temple Grandin and all she’s taught us about loving animals. What’s at question is their well-being and their happiness on their terms, according to their natures. (Actually, an excellent lesson about love in general, don’t you think?) So here’s to you and your wisdom, Celi. And here’s to Marcel being a real little lambikin in the springtime! Frollicking, high kicks, aerial acrobatics and all…set against wide open green and fresh fresh air. All that he could dream of.
How I wish more people would embrace the wisdom of Temple Grandin! Some of the over the top animal rights people would do well to learn from her. I love all my animals, my dog is a family member but bottom line he is a DOG! I will not dress him up like a person or drag him around in my handbag, I love him enough to let him be a dog!
It is quite something not to get too attached to your animals C. Well you know what I mean. You are attached to them all, but somehow there is a difference with a pet, so as hard as it is, you are always doing the right thing.
Have a beautiful day and hope it is a wee bit warmer.
🙂 Mandy xo
Mr. Sperm – ROFL 😉
BTW your link to the four lambs isn;t working – one too many http:// at the beginning of the link.
oops, i need to write this whole page again, so many mistakes.. sleep deprived i think.. c
ok fixed it.. thank you mad.
Do you think Sheila would agree to popping in the top picture of Boo and Marcel while collating her calendar? 🙂 Both Daisy and Queenies legs appear to be getting shorter – have their calves dropped? By the way 1st linky (to last year’s lambs) isn’t working? So good to see Minty, Tilly and Mama. Laura
they are standing knee deep in snow! Funny aren’t they.. c
The care with which read through these farming details surprises me. It’s all completely alien to me…..the mechanics of it all, that is. I’m delighted things are going better and that the cardinal has arrived to announce that Spring has not been forgotten. I was worried that it might have been.
Keep us posted about the lamb (and all the others…I wouldn’t want to leave them out). I love hearing about all of the animals. I’ll start my farm work on a CSA in April as usual and these stories really get me ready for it.
Sweet photos of Marcel and Boo, and such a lovely explanation of how it must be for Marcel to become a sheep and not a pet. You are wonderfully gentle but realistic with your reader’s about farm life. Thank you for that. Here is a dose of positive energy and hope that Mama takes Marcel as her own, and that Sheila blossom’s in heat. There is another educational read for us there… I’m curious how you will accomplish insemination. It sounds rather difficult!
No matter how heart melting that first photo is, you are right! Wee Marcel does need to be close to his own kind. The Cardinal splash of red brings much hope for all.
PS, The link to the four lambs from last year, will not work for me.
While I’m a firm believer in not overfeeding bottle lambs and I don’t know how big Marcel is, 8 oz doesn’t sound like enough daily milk and if he’s trying to fill up drinking very much water, at this young age, he may not be getting enough nutrition. The rule (made to be broken when needed of course) of thumb is 15-20% of his body weight per day. And while he can pick at hay and even a little food, his system doesn’t really start processing it until I’m thinking at least two weeks.
Oops so sorry, I will go back and amend this .. obviously I was not clear. He has about a cup per quarter. Because I feed him often, little sips, it might end up being a bit more than that anyway actually. Today I will make notes and measure it!! I do hate writing numbers because even though I have raised quite a few lambs on bottles I just feel my way through, thank you for the formula though. I think I am about right as it all works out to be about 4 cups in 24 hours. I should NEVER write in the middle of the night when I am sleep deprived. Thank you for pointing out that error. Thank you for clarifying the hay. At his stage they pick on it to stimulate the rumens development. I will go back in and fix the post, I would hate you to think I was starving him! (laugh!) c
I could just as easily have read it wrong too early in the a.m. as well ;-). I’m glad he’s doing so well. Sheep and lambies are tougher than most people think :-).
This one is a great surprise to me. That he survived, he is already putting on weight too which I am grateful for. I am also grateful that you popped in to correct my error. I am always open to advice. I need to go back and read how you introduced blossom back into the flock when she was older, I am afraid my three girls are a bit bossy.
Not to worry, mine have all integrated just fine and Crazy Maisie even lived in the kitchen for at least 10 weeks. She was the super tiny lambie that couldn’t tolerate “formula” and nearly starved to death while eating well before the local dairy goats started milking. Whew! http://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/2012/12/funny-maisie.html
I hope you really don’t mind my chiming in. I figure, as they say, we are all walking each other home. I know how concerned you are about your animals and maybe if something doesn’t help you it might help someone else…
I really do not mind at all, one of the best things about this group of people is that we all can put in our tuppeny’s worth with tons of care and kindness and feel confident in our reception.. . also i do add the vit e once a day.. that was a great tip too.. thank you.. c
You are so wise in the ways of animal husbandry. But I have a sneaking hope that Marcel always remembers his first nanny and surrogate mother (Boo and you).
I’m so glad you’re seeing signs of Spring. I planted some dwarf narcissi bulbs in tubs last November, and they are already showing colour, and their heads have bent, showing imminent flowers. That cardinal bird is nothing like the cardinals we had in Seychelles, which we loved to bits and which used to land on our breakfast table and pinch our toast.: Different continent, different birds.
Vx
The time thing again… There’s new life coming, new life already here, lives being lived and lives ending. It’s how the world turns, but I love how you observe and record it. Marcel might be needing a bit more milk, I think, but you’re the one on the spot, and I can’t see you force feeding him if he doesn’t want it…
I do see what you are saying, but cows milk is not easy for a lamb to digest so at the beginning I go very very slowly, lots of water mixed in, his volume is more than his 2 cups a day of course. Then there is another 2 cups at night too. I have gone back and amended that whole paragraph, I was even getting myself confused!. I was quite garbled..maybe I will get a little more sleep tonight.. c
The picture in my head of you, um pretending to be a boar for Sheila is hi-larious! Oh, the pictures of that would be priceless. Here’s hoping she cooperates.