Cool Morning

It’s the first cold rainy morning since we have gotten the animals.  It really isn't that cold 50 degrees and not that much rain (it isn't measurable) but it’s the first for us.  The cats are not happy to be out of the house, but the kittens followed us as we took care of giving the cattle hay and walked the sheep from the night enclosure to the day grassy/leafy area.  The kittens were walking slowly so Deer ran up and nosed one of the kittens.  Oh those Crazy animals!  

Installing the Aeration System

Sunday morning Darling Husband fixed the electricity going down to the pond and started hooking everything up to aerate the pond.  The aeration system pumps air into the bottom of the pond and circulates oxygen helping to break down toxins in the water and making a healthier environment for the fish and without so many toxins the hope is we will not have as much for the algae to feed off of.  Some old ponds will have such a bad problem with oxygen depletion that the pond will have the fish die because of lack of oxygen.  This happened to the pond right before we moved here and it is something we work to avoid every summer. 

The pump is plugged in down by the well we have that doesn’t work.  (it is on the to do list somewhere between 140 and 400 – should be happening soon) Then the air line goes down to the pond, 

 When it gets to our bridge it splits into 2 lines so it runs on each side of the island.  Then weighted air hose goes into the pond connecting the air pump to the diffusers and our goal was to put one diffuser at the deepest spots on both sides of the pond.  We didn’t buy enough weighted air hose so ended up using some air line we already had and still do not have the aeration diffusers as far out in the pond as we were hoping.  We will probably switch the air line to PVC pipe, still thinking on it.  Then we can use our existing air line to put the diffusers out further into the pond.  (That job is probably 75 on the list.)

We had the sheep out all day enjoying eating outside of the area that has the electric fence again.  They were much more adventurious than they had been the day before.  They ate between the pond and the house and they decided they love my lawn.  Those lovely sheep spent most of the day fertilizing and mowing my lawn.  UNTIL they became

 THE HUNTED

After a while the kittens decided that grasshoppers were easier prey and gave up their dreams of bringing down a sheep.  

Sheering

I discovered the sheep sticking their heads through the netting and freaked out.  When I came home from doing morning duty I got out the dog trimmers, spent a long time chasing Dot and Max.  Finally I caught Dot and put her on the halter and started walking away.  Max didn’t want to be left behind and followed us out of the electric area.  I attempted to shave their heads so they would feel a shock when they try to stick it out of the netting. 

Dog Sheerers do not work very well on sheep I need to do more research before I try this again.

Cling wondering if she should hunt the sheep or just supervise me.  

My other supervisor.

  

Cats and Sheep

 There are lots of stories out there about the differences between cats and dogs.  Most are awesome and true.  I thought I would share my experiences with the differences between cats and sheep.     

We have had  3 of our sheep  a few weeks and 2 for 6 weeks.  In the morning we let them out into whatever area we have fenced off and at night we move them back into the enclosure that we hope is coyote proof.  We have moved the paths they take so every day has not been the same.  Most evenings the sheep happily go from the weed filled pasture into the enclosure just with me opening the gates and one or two of them run around the enclosure 2 times then they run in happily.  We give them a little corn and hay and they spend the night.  In the morning they happily go back into the electric fence area and eat all the weeds. 

We have had our older cats 3 years.  Every night, we bring in the cats in, in the morning we try to put them out unless it is raining.  At night the cats get their food AFTER they come in.  The cats have the choice of not just the people beds but also they have also taken over our dog’s bed.  They should be happy about coming in but being cats they circle me just outside of my reach.  They look at me and taunt me with their sweet meows, roll over for me to scratch their tummy and as soon as I bend over they run away.  They are coming in for dinner not to be tortured but every night my children, husband, and I open the door 8 times to get 4 cats into my house. 

  In the morning our Princess Cling sits at the door crying to go out so we get up and open the door and she puts her nose in the air walks away and swats the dog’s nose. 

 Our cats and sheep have basically the same schedule.  The sheep figured out what to do in an average of 3 days the cats just enjoy proving we will open the doors for them over and over again.  Maybe we are the trained ones.