We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave

As I sit inside being blasted by a fan I thought I would post a quick update. We are suffering in a heat wave here in Massachusetts at 1oam it was already in the 90's. For my friends/family in England that translates at around 30+ degrees. Throw in some humidity and it's pretty yucky outside right now, and not much better inside with no A/C. In fact I am going to a movie theatre later today just to appreciate the cool for a few hours! The animals are doing ok, the fans are blasting in the sheep barn and there are buckets of water a plenty. The other night it was a little cooler (ok so there was a breeze), and I managed to get some halter work done on the lambs.

Eliza still isn't sure about it, but has started to eat animal crackers and I think this will help things progress.

Eleanor was even less unsure. But if a cookie happened to be dropped near her she might be tempted to eat it. Still a mommy's girl she has been the hardest to train, but still any progress is good right now (just realized the picture makes her look like she has 3 legs lol)

Rad is a delight to train. He has become friendly and curious about me and I can even play with his legs already.

My son Ian has taken over training and looking after our wether Vlad, the two of them get on very well, and I think it is sweet when Ian asks if we can "go and walk the lambs tonight?"

Fruit bushes are doing very well. We had so many strawberries this year that we made jam. I still have goosberries left to make jam from as well, when the weather cools down a little. Blueberries and raspberries have a little less fruit on them.

Wonder where the ripe berries have gone?

They are on the way to the pool, and might just get picked in passing on the way there and back again.

I also was busy doing another dressage show with my horse Muppet last weekend (sorry no pictures) and was so happy with him as we scored in the 60% in all 3 tests, he was also such a grown up and really listened.

That's all for now. I hope you (and your animals) are staying cool. Do you have any tips for how to beat the heat?

Halter training (picture heavy)

This evening my partner and the kids took part in the ever fun halter training of the lambs. I try and get all of my lambs introduced to halter work before they leave, although I warn new owner that it is a work in progress, and something they will have to keep doing. This year I had quite a few leapers, although a couple of the boys also really behaved well which was nice.

This is Wilbur by far the best behaved of the bunch! He has what I suspect are small scurs which I thought was quite interesting.

And this is Winston another well behaved ram lamb who only assumed the napping position once on his walk.

Dixie did not like the experience at first....

although she got the hang of it eventually.

Diana thought that lying down and being petted was actually the aim of the game. Now if someone could bring her out her hard feed it wouldn't be a bad life.

Wallace threw himself around like a banshee until finally understanding life was better with 4 hooves on the ground.

Delia did pretty well and even tried some cookie.

Dakota didn't think much of the whole experience.

We even brought Jaqui out to show them how it is done. As a yearling I am hoping to show her this year. She is very solid, and has a beautiful fleece under that coat. On the plus side she also remembered her leading lessons from last year.

So that was this evenings fun. Now I'd quite like a nice glass of wine. All of the lambs will be leaving in the next few weeks. I will miss this group and their beautiful fleeces. I also have a couple of grown up sheep leaving for various reasons. But I have 2 new lambs joining my flock that I am very excited about. Now about that wine...

Walk, leap or lie down?

Yes it does sound like a the name of a game show, but it's actually the big decision every lamb has to make when he, or she starts their halter training. Our lambs began theirs on Saturday and here are the rather comedic outcomes.

Cheyenne was the best at walking straight away with her halter. She only had a few moments of lying down but she did very well.

Cinnamon lay down a lot before she understood.

Xavier did the best leaping.

Before her got it.

It was all too much for Crystal though who just lay down.

Xander played dead. We did manage to coax him into a more upright position later on.

Colby half got it. Sometimes she lay down and sometimes she walked ok. 

It really was a shame not to catch some of the more put out facial expressions. But hopefully you have a taste of how halter training went. Right now they are a work in progress.