Not-so-happy accident

9 Comments February 13th, 2009 | breeding · dog attack · ewes · sheep

I planned to post an “Ask the Shepherd” tonight but some actual shepherding will have to come first. Salina, my sweetest ewe, has broken a leg. We thought she might be being beaten up a bit because she has been covered in mud for the last couple of days, as if she’d been pushed over. Since we put FDR into the ewe pen for breeding on Sunday he is the most likely culprit.

We isolated Salina and called Dr. Hammond, the Hudson Valley’s own James Harriott. He said she’d be fine till morning when he can put a cast on. He also said the prognosis is pretty good since it’s a hind leg, it’s broken below the hock and the bone isn’t poking through the skin. I am still worried though. 

Salina is the same ewe who was attacked by a dog last fall. After the attack, she had a series of seizures and I was certain we were going to lose her. She hung in there, though, and became quite affectionate with us during while we were nursing her back to health. Erin and I both adore her and would be bereft to lose her.

FDR will be coming our of the ewe pen tomorrow. Of course, we don’t know for sure that he is responsible for Salina’s broken leg, but it would be irresponsible to leave him in with all the bred nanny goats and ewes. I’ve never known him to be aggressive though, so I’m withholding judgement on what to do about him.

I’ll update you tomorrow when we get home from the vet’s office.

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Weekend at the New York farm

7 Comments September 23rd, 2008 | CSA · dog attack · hudson valley · tree house · yarn

For the first time in ages I went down to our farm in New York with Patrick for the weekend. I don’t usually get to go because I have to (I mean “get to”) stay home and take care of the animals. But now we have Erin and life is so much easier/better/less insane than it was a mere month ago before she started. Our lives have changed so much that I kind of can’t believe she has only been here for a month.
Our farm in NY is called Hopeland Hill and it used belong to Patrick’s grandfather Harry. Harry was a newspaper publisher and an inventor and he ran a camp for under privileged boys in the summertime at what is now our house. Patrick’s parents live across the street, and until we moved to the Vineyard, he had lived on the same street his entire life.
The farm is a lovely place, and I got to spend a lot of time with Harry and Logan, which is always fun. And, for those of us who live on an Island, nothing beats a trip to Target. Seriously, I could have spent three hours at Target but they were pretty adamant about closing at 10 p.m.

Patrick and his friend Paul have been building a treehouse for Logan since Spring and every weekend they swear they are going to finish it. It is a pretty great treehouse, and they did get the siding on it this weekend, but no, it’s not finished.



While the men hammered and drank Corona’s, I dyed lots and lots of yarn. It was a good weekend all around.

Harry has become such a great knitter in such a short time. I was a little worried that he would stop knitting when he got back to high school, but he told me that on the first day of school, his knitting fell out of his bag by his locker. A “skater boy” handed it to him and said, “You knit? Cool. I crochet.” Isn’t that awesome? He is starting a knitting group at his school. I am so proud of him. Here he is knitting a scarf in our Avocado worsted weight cormo.


It was a lovely weekend.  On Monday, Erin and I got almost all of the rest of Spring 08 Shares mailed. That whole bin is filled with boxes of yarn!
Erin had intended to get all the shares out on Friday but everything else went out the window when Salina was attacked by a dog. She is doing much, much better now. Thanks to everyone for the kind words and healing thoughts you’ve been sending her. This pic were taken Monday night, and Erin assures me that she looked a thousand times better than she had before. Most of the cuts are on the other side of her face but you can see how swollen her eye is. I’ll take a better photo tomorrow.
XO
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The country's first Yarn and Fiber CSA raising registered Angora Goats, registered Cormo, Cotswold and Babydoll Southdown sheep. We sell fleeces, roving and yarn and shares in our spring yarn harvest. We also offer farm consulting services. Advertise on this site.