Farm Fresh Blog

Those of you on Facebook already know this, but since the bulk of our readers are not on Facebook, I wanted to post it again, and give an update to the Facebook readers:

Sadly, we lost Roanie this week. Longtime readers will remember that years ago Roanie was one of the two ewes who were attacked by Other Half's patrol dog, Oli. The other ewe died following the attack. Roanie gamely hung on and forever earned a place in my heart. She was recovering from the attack when Briar was a puppy and they became good friends.

Roanie regained the use of her back leg and except for a slight limp, showed no evidence of the attack. Her sweet nature and her will to survive earned her a spot in the flock even as I sold off better ewes.  Not only was she my favorite, but I was always touched by her friendship with Briar. Despite being almost killed by a dog, she had no hard feelings about dogs and didn't hold it against her big white friend.

With all the rains, this has been a bad year for worms. When you add the stress of a move across Texas, and the additional stress of giving birth, Roanie's immune system was taxed too much. Despite the fact that the flock had been wormed multiple times for strongyles, these nasty barber pole worms got a foothold. We were able to save two anemic dairy goats, but were unable to save Roanie.

 This left Roanie's young ram lamb without a mother. Fortunately young Checkers was already eating solid food, but there is more to being a mother than just providing groceries.

Enter Dear Friend Clyde:

The girl goats and sheep are still staying with Dear Friends Kim & Clyde until we are completely up here full time. As you can see from the above picture, they couldn't be in better hands. Young Checkers got wet during a thunderstorm last night, hence he was brought into the house for the evening.

 Yes, that's a sheep in a wading pool, in the house.

Just like his mother, Checkers is special.

Many, many thanks to Dear Friends Clyde and Kim for taking care of him and the rest of the flock. This move across Texas has been a tough one and we couldn't have done it without friends on both sides of the state. Remember this when you count your wealth. Friends are worth far more than money in the bank. Dear Friend Kim shared this truism:

"Your time is the most valuable thing you can give someone."

I thank God for our wealth in friends who have given so much of themselves to help us.