I'm not sure Rufus is as excited by this as I am. You mean we have to keep him? Ernest passed the vet inspection, getting good ratings for his coat and foot condition. He did have to get his teeth "floated," which meant he was sedated, rigged up with a wicked looking metal halter that pried his mouth open, and his teeth were filed with an electric grinder. The vet said older equines sometimes have the outside of the teeth grow too long, and that's probably why Ernest was packing his cheek with chewed food, which isn't good for his teeth. Ernest balked when he saw the needle, but once that part was over he handled having his teach filed pretty well. He wobbled and sneezed from the sedative for the rest of the evening.
Our ewe, Lambchop, never had a baby. Brandon is nearly finished with the fencing on another small pasture, so we can rotate our grazing, and we have two more ewes on order for May. We're not counting lambs before they hatch, of course, but we're hoping that next spring will find us with lambs for the freezer.
Sienna, our newest livestock gardian (ha!) dog, killed and ate one of my chickens yesterday. Sigh.
We might have flurries tomorrow, and a few nights of below freezing temperatures, but I think winter is behind us. The frogs are calling furiously from the neighbors pond, the birds are in a twittering frenzy, insects swarm my headlamp during my nightly rounds, and the plum tree has so many blooms that the air smells like candy!
