Baymule’s Farm

[baymule]

We stuffed Rocky in the back of the truck Thursday morning. I left at 6:50. Got home that night at 8:10. Long day, included an hour at a standstill on I-40 because of a wreck.

Got Rocky unloaded into the front yard. He had grass and water. Ringo 2.0 was in the pen with the dog kennel and they stayed next to each other. Friday morning I moved Rocky in the pen with Ringo 2.0. Ringo had feed, Rocky had to figure out how to get in the kennel.

They played ram games. Rocky is on the left. I have to look twice to tell them apart.

Rocky has learned to go in the kennel for feed. That didn’t take long! He and Ringo 2.0 are becoming friends. Ringo 2.0 cried when I took Mr. White away. He was all alone for a few days until I got home with Rocky. Rocky has learned where the hay is. I feed them grass hay with a half flake of alfalfa, twice a day.

I’ve gone in their pen several times a day to offer animal crackers. Ringo 2.0 leads the way, I raised him, so he is not afraid of me. Rocky gets his animal cracker and runs. I don’t want them to be pets like the ewes are, but I want them to be a little shy and respectful. A ram can do a lot of damage and I don’t need a broken leg. They have to learn their manners.

Rocky’s sire is a huge ram, 270 pounds, long body, excellent confirmation and bloodlines.
He was in a field with ewes and was unhandled, so pretty wild when Mike and Teresa got him. He hit Mike in the hip, slammed him into a wall and hurt the other hip. Mike named him Oshi. All he got out of his mouth before getting rammed was O-Shi.

It was about 1500 miles round trip, but well worth it. I got to see my friends again and meet farmerjan face to face. I’m excited to have Rocky, he will be a valuable asset to my flock.

 

[Phaedra]

Rocky’s sire is a huge ram, 270 pounds, long body, excellent confirmation and bloodlines.
He was in a field with ewes and was unhandled, so pretty wild when Mike and Teresa got him. He hit Mike in the hip, slammed him into a wall and hurt the other hip. Mike named him Oshi. All he got out of his mouth before getting rammed was O-Shi.

So when an 'Oshi' doesn't behave, he might become an 'O-ii-shi' (Japanese 'delicious')

Hopefully Rocky will become a gentleman soon in your kingdom.

 

[SPedigrees]

So when an 'Oshi' doesn't behave, he might become an 'O-ii-shi' (Japanese 'delicious')

Hopefully Rocky will become a gentleman soon in your kingdom.

A farm near us posted pictures of a couple young steers being trained as oxen to perform various farm chores, with the caveat that if this career path didn't work out, they had a fall-back career... beef! (That was some years ago and I know these steers did become useful draft animals in the interim, but whether or not they ultimately were headed for the freezer, I couldn't say.)

 

[baymule]

So when an 'Oshi' doesn't behave, he might become an 'O-ii-shi' (Japanese 'delicious')

Hopefully Rocky will become a gentleman soon in your kingdom.

Hahaha! I’ll have to tell Mike and Teresa that!
O-i-shi means delicious! Hahaha!
Oshi is in no danger, his owner/breeder didn’t really want to sell him, and charged a large price on the agreement that he would buy Oshi back for what they paid.

 

[SPedigrees]

We stuffed Rocky in the back of the truck Thursday morning. I left at 6:50. Got home that night at 8:10. Long day, included an hour at a standstill on I-40 because of a wreck.

Got Rocky unloaded into the front yard. He had grass and water. Ringo 2.0 was in the pen with the dog kennel and they stayed next to each other. Friday morning I moved Rocky in the pen with Ringo 2.0. Ringo had feed, Rocky had to figure out how to get in the kennel.

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They played ram games. Rocky is on the left. I have to look twice to tell them apart.

View attachment 61598

Rocky has learned to go in the kennel for feed. That didn’t take long! He and Ringo 2.0 are becoming friends. Ringo 2.0 cried when I took Mr. White away. He was all alone for a few days until I got home with Rocky. Rocky has learned where the hay is. I feed them grass hay with a half flake of alfalfa, twice a day.

View attachment 61599

I’ve gone in their pen several times a day to offer animal crackers. Ringo 2.0 leads the way, I raised him, so he is not afraid of me. Rocky gets his animal cracker and runs. I don’t want them to be pets like the ewes are, but I want them to be a little shy and respectful. A ram can do a lot of damage and I don’t need a broken leg. They have to learn their manners.

Rocky’s sire is a huge ram, 270 pounds, long body, excellent confirmation and bloodlines.
He was in a field with ewes and was unhandled, so pretty wild when Mike and Teresa got him. He hit Mike in the hip, slammed him into a wall and hurt the other hip. Mike named him Oshi. All he got out of his mouth before getting rammed was O-Shi.

It was about 1500 miles round trip, but well worth it. I got to see my friends again and meet farmerjan face to face. I’m excited to have Rocky, he will be a valuable asset to my flock.

Glad poor Ringo has a buddy again.

 

[baymule]

Glad poor Ringo has a buddy again.

He cried when I took Mr. White away. Sheep don’t like to be alone. When I got out of the truck Thursday night and spoke, he started BAA BAA BAA BAA! Maybe he missed me? LOL He is happy to have a friend again.

 

[baymule]

Been a busy week. I ran doctor appointments for checkups, all is good.
Thursday night got 4 1/2” of rain! It sure was needed, only have one puddle, all the rain soaked in.
Yesterday I did a burn pile, it was still smoldering late last night, there were some large cuts of a massive oak in the pile and I’m anxious to see how much is still left of them. Yesterday was a beautiful day, the wind was low, perfect for a burn pile, especially after all that rain.

I found a big patch of Jerusalem Cherry Nightshade and pulled them up. Made several trips to the burn pile.

I turned Cooper the ram and his six ladies out in the field and turned the Ewe Crew out in the yard. There is 24 in that group.
Carson considers himself a livestock guardian and does a good job of it.

The fire burned down and I picked up 8 front end bucket loads of oak branches to go dump on the fire.

A lovely day, I loved being outside working. I did the evening feeding of all the animals and stayed outside until nearly dark.

Sheba said she had a hard day and laid up in the fern bunk. LOL

 

[baymule]

I’m doing a burn pile. It’s the leftovers from the gi-normous dead oak that was in the front pasture, close to the house. It took 3 men, a chainsaw, axe, wedges and a tractor to bring that tree down. Then I had a giant tree on the ground, wondering what I was going to do with it.

Last winter these 2 Yay-hoos wanted to cut it up for firewood. Great! Come take the whole thing. They came, sawed in slices, split it, loaded up-when they had some sold.

I thought they were going to haul it ALL to their house and sell it from there. Nope. They used me as a storage and came and got a load at a time. I wasn’t real happy about that.
Finally they just didn’t show back up, didn’t return or acknowledge calls or texts. I was mad, but got over it. I looked at it like most of the tree was gone, and I didn’t have to do it. They left probably a good 2 cords, cut, and laying on the ground, scattered around. A neighbor pushed it up for me, so I could mow.

So here’s this big stump and a long row of cut oak, rotting. It’s precisely where I want to put a 3 sided barn for the sheep. Neighbor came back and fixed me up a pile-on the stump-to get started.

I lit it up this morning, we’ve had 5 inches of rain lately so it’s wet. It took a bit to get it started. I trudged over to the clearcut and dragged pine tops to throw on the fire. Once I got the fire going, I piled oak, cut into firewood, in the bucket and dumped on the fire.

For a good 6 hours today, that’s what I’ve done. Push on the pile to warn any snakes that might be denned up, lower bucket, get off tractor, load bucket, get on tractor, go dump bucket, rinse, repeat. Then neighbor came over and pushed it up in a good pile for the night. He also scraped grass around the fire to the dirt. I quit feeding it, to let it burn down for the night. I’ll be back at it in the morning. Neighbor will come back in mid morning to push several very large chunks in the burn pile.

It’s been a really good day! Got gobs of wood to burn and get out of the way. That dumb yay-HOO could’ve loaded it up, taken it home, stacked, covered and had a couple cords of firewood to sell now. I’ll be tractoring and burning for days.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I’m doing a burn pile. It’s the leftovers from the gi-normous dead oak that was in the front pasture, close to the house. It took 3 men, a chainsaw, axe, wedges and a tractor to bring that tree down. Then I had a giant tree on the ground, wondering what I was going to do with it.

Last winter these 2 Yay-hoos wanted to cut it up for firewood. Great! Come take the whole thing. They came, sawed in slices, split it, loaded up-when they had some sold.

I thought they were going to haul it ALL to their house and sell it from there. Nope. They used me as a storage and came and got a load at a time. I wasn’t real happy about that.
Finally they just didn’t show back up, didn’t return or acknowledge calls or texts. I was mad, but got over it. I looked at it like most of the tree was gone, and I didn’t have to do it. They left probably a good 2 cords, cut, and laying on the ground, scattered around. A neighbor pushed it up for me, so I could mow.

So here’s this big stump and a long row of cut oak, rotting. It’s precisely where I want to put a 3 sided barn for the sheep. Neighbor came back and fixed me up a pile-on the stump-to get started.

I lit it up this morning, we’ve had 5 inches of rain lately so it’s wet. It took a bit to get it started. I trudged over to the clearcut and dragged pine tops to throw on the fire. Once I got the fire going, I piled oak, cut into firewood, in the bucket and dumped on the fire.

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For a good 6 hours today, that’s what I’ve done. Push on the pile to warn any snakes that might be denned up, lower bucket, get off tractor, load bucket, get on tractor, go dump bucket, rinse, repeat. Then neighbor came over and pushed it up in a good pile for the night. He also scraped grass around the fire to the dirt. I quit feeding it, to let it burn down for the night. I’ll be back at it in the morning. Neighbor will come back in mid morning to push several very large chunks in the burn pile.

It’s been a really good day! Got gobs of wood to burn and get out of the way. That dumb yay-HOO could’ve loaded it up, taken it home, stacked, covered and had a couple cords of firewood to sell now. I’ll be tractoring and burning for days.

You could push some dirt up on wood like that and make fertile mountain. Of course you may want to move the wood first to somewhere else. Its all the rage the hugelkulture.

 

[baymule]

You could push some dirt up on wood like that and make fertile mountain. Of course you may want to move the wood first.to somewhere else. Its all the rage the hugelkulture.

I’ve done hugelculture before, but not here. I didn’t see a lot of benefit to it. I dug long 4-6’ wide trenches, laid out dead wood and covered it up. Layered it with compost. Saw no difference between the hugelculture bed and regular. It’s a nice way to not burn wood, but more work.