Diamond J Farm

2012-02-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

I have promised myself to begin posting again on the blogs as part of my resolutions for the year. Halfway through February, and I'm just starting to follow up on some of my intentions. It is always busy on a farm, even a very small one. Right now I have a few ewes lambing, and nine small ones already on the ground. These lambs are by the Scottish Blackface ram. It is very difficult to find Scottie breeding stock right now, so we've decided to just cross our hair work sheep on Scottie rams and see what we get. So far they are incredibly cute speckled faced lambs with nice boxy bodies and heavier than the hair lambs.

There are four lambs by the St. Croix ram that will be ready to wean March 1st. Then there is another batch of ewes bred a little later, that can begin lambing any time. The Scottie ewes should lamb in March or April. I tried to spread the lambing out so that I wouldn't run out of work sheep, but I hope to get it a little more organized so that I still have some puppy sheep available.

Sandy is due with her foal in mid-April. This baby is by Shiners Dew, a homozygous black Shining Spark/Grays Starlight bred Quarter Horse. Hoping for a grulla filly to join our two red dun mares, and Mouse, the grulla filly we bought last fall.

We are considering breeding the mares to a Highland Pony stallion this year. I have fallen hard for the Highlands, but like Gypsy horses, they are extremely expensive. They are much more rare than the Gypsies, which could make finding enough genetic variety difficult, but I am going to keep researching this and find out if breeding them is a viable option.

Highlands are like small drafts, nothing tiny about them. They are short, 13 to 14.3 hands, but very thick, with great bone, big manes and tails and feathering on their legs. They are considered strong enough to care adults and have a quiet temperament. They excel as driving ponies and trail horses, and have been used as farm animals and pack animals in Scotland as well. They are hardy and grow a great coat resistant to bad weather. And the icing on the cake is that they are often duns! Our special fondness for dun factor horses draws me to these little horses that come in colors like mouse dun, cream dun, and yellow dun.

2011-07-05T22:00:00.001-07:00

Guess I don't pay attention to what I tell myself because I haven't blogged more. Things happen every day, good, bad, neutral, interesting, boring. I wish I'd write more because there are things I shouldn't forget, things that change gradually until they're gone and you didn't notice them leaving, things that you hate that disappear and you forget, things you love that fade.

Here's one thing: the other day I saw a young bird on the ground, a meadowlark I think, with two of the dogs stalking it. I went over and told the dogs to desist, and the bird flew up and landed on my arm. I held as still as I could, and after a few moments it flew off. I can still remember the feel of its little toenails digging into my forearm. It seemed magical, though.

Okay, that was the sublime. Here's something earthier: last night Lasca threw up the number eight. She was heaving and I went to her to see if she was ill or just getting rid of something indigestible, and she vomited half an orange sheep ear tag with the number eight still on it. Don't know if it was 08 or 18 or 28, but here's evidence that ear tags don't break down in the canine stomach.

I have been fretting with the appearance of thunderstorm clouds around us every afternoon and our hay still down and unbaled. It is causing a low level anxiety that I would like to have relieved by seeing the hay stacked in the barnyard! We are running out of hay quickly and I'll have to go buy some in a day or so if we don't get ours in. I may have to buy some grass hay anyway to transition the animals to the new hay if it is rich. The work sheep broke out of their pen this morning and ate the last half bale of alfalfa I was saving for the horses. Guess they were tired of getting grass hay and cubes lately. Sheesh. Want the hay situation to resolve.

2011-03-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

I tell myself I need to blog more, to save my everyday work and thoughts, and I intend to, truly. But today is starting out as a more or less typical day. A friend called at 6:30 to say that we wouldn't practice with dogs and sheep at her house today because it rained all night and it's too wet. I poked my head out the door--still dark out but I saw no puddles, so none of the badly needed rain here, only wind. But as I stepped out the door to do chores, the rain began and the wind blew it into my face as I went out to the pens.

Found a new set of twins and the mother rejecting one of them. Went into the lambing pen and put a rope on the ewe. She's gentle and calm, one of my best puppy sheep, and previously a good mom. She loves the white ewe lamb and has been nursing it but rejected the black ram lamb. Got the lamb fed, both lambs navels dipped and injected with BO-SE.

Fed the horses hay. They've lifted a gate off its hinges and the only thing holding it up is the chain fastening it closed and a piece of twine the previous owners had tied around the gate and the post that I haven't gotten around to cutting off. Maybe this happened before? Went back and mixed grain for the horses. Lexie is bred and getting extra vitamins and minerals.

Fed the sheep. There are four pens now, not counting the two lambing pens: The ram and whether, the Scottie pen, the ewes with lambs, and the work sheep. Got the Scottie lamb fed whose mother doesn't love him. She's a first time ewe and he had crawled through the fence after birth so she really doesn't think he's hers. The lamb is six days old now and I no longer have to rope and tie the ewe, just stand and look menacing at her and she lets him nurse. But she won't do it if I don't stand there.

Fed the geese, ducks, and chickens. Checked the new chicks that arrived yesterday and found I'd lost two more. I've always had wonderful luck with this hatchery and wonder if these chicks got too chilled or were roughly handled. I've lost four now and rarely lose any.

Ran the dogs, raked up some loose hay and put it over the fence for the sheep and fed the chickens some kitchen scraps.

Came in the house and noticed one of the young pups had chewed up a tumbleweed on the couch overnight. It must have blown over the fence into the dog yard. Finished putting dishes away and filling the dishwasher, started a load in the washing machine, put some paperwork away and watered some house plants.

Now, it's 8:30 and I'm sitting here blogging, and I've barely gotten started on the day.

Today I need to do some work for a client, look at the insurance claim papers to make sure I do things right with the contractor on our old house, pay some bills, get a thank you note sent to the Cooks thanking them for having me over for their shearing. Need to get ahold of the vet to castrate the colt, contact the stallion owner about breeding two of the mares, and water the pasture if it doesn't settle in to really raining.

If there is time, I badly need to work dogs, but I've been hauling grain, talking to contractors, talking to prospective fence builders and fencing material sellers on the phone, buying grain and hauling, and dealing with the bank on my husband's retirement account. Maybe if I had a lighted pasture I could do it in the dark?

2011-03-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Looks like we'll have another mild day. With the last two winter lambs born yesterday, I have a break until the spring lambers begin. We'll get the Scotties shorn in two weeks and then be able to tell how far along or even if they're pregnant.

Had one ewe hang back at feeding time this morning. She lambed a week ago and should be feeling okay, so I gave her some penicillin in case she's working on a uterine infection. She has beautiful twin ewe lambs and I hope she doesn't have a serious problem.

The horses have started shedding some hair, even though we have lots of cold weather left before spring. The colt is so woolly still he sweats a lot whenever he runs. He's ten months now and very tall and stout. His dam is bred back but hasn't gotten very large and I'm hoping she'll have a nice little filly this time.

We have accumulated a number of doves who come for the chicken feed and a pair of ravens that stop in once in a while to see what's going on.

I really want to work the dogs again so I don't forget what I learned over the weekend, but I have to meet with a contractor at our old house and do a major grain run today. Yesterday I was just too beat after the big weekend and spent most of the day putting things away and getting everything back to normal.

Hope the weather holds for practice tomorrow and then maybe in to Gardnerville on Thursday.

I've posted a couple of photos from last week's snow: Bun toddling along; Vider, who'll be 10 next week; and a picture of Lasca loping with Nan really turning it on in the background.

2011-02-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

We had a great weekend at the farm hosting lessons with Dianne Deal. Dianne flew down from Idaho and gave individual lessons to a bunch of us, plus she handled a few pups for those of us with very young dogs.

It was cold and windy on Saturday but the attendees hung in there and participated. We worked in the front pasture, the field on the north where Gloria and I had set up a mini course of panels and pen, and in the newly set up round pen.

A lot of Border Collies, some Aussies and a McNab came with their handlers. Dianne is a patient, perceptive and kind instructor and helped me a lot with Dub, my best hope for starting with USBCHA trialing this year. She also gave advice on Nan, our young Buzz pup, and helped with Lasca and Bird.

Gloria was a great help throughout the weekend, putting fresh stock out and keeping things running smoothly. De'Lila came on Sunday and put lunch together so I could spend more time outside watching other dogs and handlers. Ann helped organize the event and Dianne stayed with Mary in Dayton. Everyone here just pitched in whenever something was needed. I'm grateful for all the help. I had a lot of fun talking with everyone and meeting new people.

There were new lambs Saturday and Sunday morning and then finally, this morning, the last lambs for this bunch of ewes were born, twin ram lambs. These were sired by the purebred Katahdin ram we got from Morgen and are a nice bunch of lambs, 21 in this batch.

We'll be getting the Scotties shorn mid-March and hope we can tell if they're pregnant or not then. They have so much wool they are almost round. We're hoping to buy some registered St. Croix females now that we have a registered ram, and start a small flock of registered St. Croix, to eventually replace the Dorper/Barb/Kathdin/St. Croix crosses we have now.

Sunday was a warmer day and great just to be outside. Spring will be coming along, with a few spells of snow and cold yet, but these mild days make us hopeful, especially with the meadowlarks back on the fencing, singing when the days are nice.

January 2011

2011-01-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

Above, frost on the fields this morning, the owl I had to search for in the neighbor's trees, today's sunrise looking west, and last night at sunset looking east.

So much for resolutions for the New Year to maintain this blog! Six degrees this morning but sunny and frost everywhere. My hands got cold breaking ice on water tanks, which takes a bit of effort with thick ice on 20 tanks and tubs. Looks like it will be a beautiful day though cool.

Sold the Katahdin ram Christmas Eve and I am supposed to pick up some free ewes this afternoon. I have avoided wool sheep for years because of the difficulty getting them shorn, but now that we have the Scotties, we have to find a shearer anyway and might as well accumulate some wool sheep. At this point I have some kind, quiet, older ewes, some light almost panicky lambs, some slightly reluctant older wethers, the Scotties who run or face off, and a few sheep that haven't been worked much. My goal is to keep a variety of sheep to work a variety of dogs on.

Our club is discussing where we'll have the Karen Child clinic planned in March, and I'm hoping we'll get to host it here at the farm. Don't quite have the arena and round pen up yet, but we could probably get it finished by March.

I've just barely started Nan and Biddy. Nan is very driven, very fast, and circles sheep going 9-0. She will stop and change directions, though, so I think she's going to be quite biddable. Biddy is an anxious pup and has been working the other dogs for a while, so she has been hesitant to attempt to work the sheep. Her third brief introduction to sheep last week, she began to balance on the sheep from the other side of the pasture as we moved the sheep back and forth ourselves. She gradually came closer and I could see that her eye had turned on for sheep, but she was a bit shy about really trying to stop or turn the sheep. Just seeing her balance and watch the sheep seemed enough for the moment, so we let the sheep out of the pasture to run back to their pen on their own, not having one of the trained sheep dogs handy. Biddy ran after the sheep out of the gate and overtook and stopped them! Her instinct kicked in and told her it was wrong for sheep to be out of control and she needed to control them if there weren't any other dogs around. (We tried moving the sheep with a trained dog and she just went off and refused to engage.)

2010-10-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

We are buying out another friend's sheep setup. Two trips to Reno to bring back sheep, panels, and water tank, with two more trips to go. We should have enough panels to at least build a small arena back behind the house. There are two crossbred ewes with four St. Croix cross ewe lambs, and we bought the papered St. Croix ram as well. This gives us two purebred hair sheep sires (the other is Katahdin), so we can maintain two flocks without having to buy a new ram every year for a while. Everything goes so slowly in getting a farm set up almost from scratch.

2010-10-20T06:28:00.000-07:00

Another lamb yesterday. Fall lambing is definitely underway. This was a single ram lamb out of the #8 pure Barb, who usually twins. Nice lamb, though.

Built two portable panel fences yesterday to wean Shadow. The fences are about five feet apart so mare and colt can see and smell each other but not touch. Shadow was upset, Lexie not so much. My plans for moving mare or colt for the moving fell through. One friend had colts with respiratory problems, another place had pigeon fever. As it turns out, pigeon fever is rampant locally this year and I was unaware of this until last week. Now I just have to hope it bypasses our little farm.

The Scotties have settled in and are not so nervous. They baa at me for their breakfast showing they know where food comes from anyway. The five ewes came from Utah and the ram from Michigan. We have big hopes for growing a nice registered flock and having some challenging sheep for the dogs to work.

2010-10-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

The farm is starting to come together. After closing in April, the next few months were spent moving. Not just the household stuff and the dogs, but the horses, sheep, geese, chickens, and all the equipment, tools, panels and other livestock stuff from our old place.

The summer was spent training the dogs, getting the livestock pens set up, and working on the landscaping. The only trees on the place were the old cottonwoods on the road, and there wasn't a single bush, shrub, flowering plant or vine on the place. We have planted about 50 trees: cottonwoods, locusts, elms, poplars and fruit trees plus hollyhocks, morning glories, wisteria, honeysuckle, virginia creeper, lavender and Russian sage. We made a trip to Utah and brought back six Scottish Blackface sheep, five ewes and a ram. There are three sheep pens now, with the sheep sorted into ewes, wethers, and the Scotties in their own pen. Our first fall lambs arrived today, two ram lambs by the purebred Katahdin ram. They're strong and vigorous, despite last night's rain.

The pups, Nan and Bid, are now seven months old and full of incredible energy.

Lexie's colt, Smokys Blue Shadow, is nearing six months old and about to be weaned. He turned out a beautiful grullo with many dun markings, a nice head, good conformation, and an amenable temperament.

2010-06-20T09:42:00.001-07:00

The neighbors' sprinklers on their hayfield yesterday at dawn.

2010-06-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

In the last month much has been accomplished but there is so much left to do. There are still unopened boxes in the garage and fencing materials piled everywhere. The sheep are here and the sorting pens back home from being loaned out for trials. I have a dozen trees in pots in front of the house waiting to be planted. Hay has been mowed and raked and is waiting to be baled.

Yesterday, B.A.A. (Bowden and Atwater Sheep Herding Demonstrations) had its first gig. We were paid by the Reno Rodeo to come and demonstrate for Kids' Day. We set up in the big arena at the Reno Livestock Events Center, a gigantic indoor space. Gloria and I took turns announcing on the big PA and turns working our dogs. Things went fairly smoothly except for some confusing getting the trucks to the tunnel entrance to the arena through the maze of barns and rodeo gooseneck rigs. The only event that marred the whole experience was getting the Reno rodeo queen unloaded from her horse. The horse just wasn't expecting to see a few pens of sheep in the arena when she did her entrance for a citizenship ceremony. She was kind about it and just embarrassed.

Hoping to get the round pen hauled here soon and then start laying out an arena. We want to get the whole place fenced but can't afford a fencing contractor and have limited time, so we'll probably just fence as we go along. We hope to put in another pasture for stock and then leave the widest part of the property open without cross fencing to enable larger outruns.

2010-05-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

I swore I would keep this blog up as soon as I knew for sure we were getting a farm. But of course, we closed on the place April 15 and had three days to move before L.D. went to Alaska. We put up a dog yard and kennels and moved a few other things in that time, but since then I've been on my own to manage the move.

With help from friends and relatives, we are mostly moved. The area around the house has been fenced so there are two layers of fence between the dogs and the road. The geese and chickens have been moved, though sadly, not before coyotes got in and killed several geese and half the chickens at the old place. As soon as the dogs were gone, they came in.

The mares and colt are here and one ram and ewe. Still waiting for the rest of the sheep to be hauled in. Much to do here, from getting sheds and barns built to building larger pens for the poultry and permanent pens for the sheep. Then we'll have arenas, round pen, and other working areas to construct.

2010-03-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

Two and a half weeks old now, the pups can walk, if a bit unsteadily, bark, whine, yelp, growl, and are starting to make a mess of their box. It's getting to be hard to keep their space clean, since they relieve themselves every time they wake up, which happens more and more often. They're starting to play now, biting (well, gumming) each other and wrestling a bit.

2010-03-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

Two weeks until closing and the flow of paperwork is becoming heavy. House inspection, septic inspection, water tests, well test, pest inspection, plus 23 sheets of paper to be signed, emailed to LD, signed by him, returned to mortgage company. And that's just the last three days. If we get the farm, it will all be worth it.

In the meantime, it will soon be time to wean lambs and turn the ram in with the yearling ewes. Bird's puppies are a week old and getting bigger and stronger by the day.

2010-03-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

Getting closer to having the farm. Less than three weeks to closing, and we might make it if they stop coming up with new fees and taxes we have to pay! Trying to just relax and let it happen and not get too anxious.

Plans for the next year include putting up dog yards and kennels, sheep pens and shelters, horse pens and shelters, fencing the perimeter, and seeding part of the property into grass (it is in alfalfa now).

We have a colt coming around April 21 (our red dun mare, Lexie, bred to grulla stallion Smoky Casey). I am planning on having two lamb crops in the next year: one this fall and one in the spring of 2011. I'm using a Katahdin ram I got from Morgen Magnuson.

Other plans include keeping a female pup from Bird's litter for future breeding to our Killiebrae Dub and possibly breeding Lasca to also have another female that can be bred to Dub. I will have my hands full training and competing with all of them, but that's the spice of life (not to mention the hard work of life).

I continue to dream of having a Gypsy mare that is broke to drive or a team of ponies. Time will tell if that dream comes true.

2010-02-05T08:29:00.001-08:00

We're still waiting for news from the bank that owns the mortgage on the farm we're trying to buy. It has only been two weeks and we've been told that short sales can take a long time to process, so we're trying to be patient. In the meantime, we have a ticking time bomb in the form of a pregnant mare due in April and a pregnant dog due the beginning of March.

The new place will need fenced dog yards and horse and sheep pens before we move in and we're thinking positively about working that all in and around L.D.'s work schedule. It should be lots of work, but it's a great opportunity to set a place up from scratch.

Besides the animal pens, we are planning at least one large fenced pasture, with some land left in alfalfa production for now. Also on our list of planned facilities are at least one full size arena to train and hold arena trials in, a 60-foot round pen, smaller goose arena and there is a small pasture already existing to start dogs in.

The new house includes an area separate from the living facilities that can be used as guest quarters for visiting clinicians or judges, a classroom, or meeting area. That really helps expand the possibilities.

2010-02-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

After searching almost a year, we have finally located a property that we think will be a good location for Diamond J Farm. I started this blog with optimism, hoping that we would find a home where we could raise sheep and Border Collies and host herding events. It took a little longer than I thought. Now, we wait for escrow to close. When this happens, we will be posting photos of the new place and news of our plans and scheduled events.

2009-02-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

I am setting up some of the new panels that I got on Sunday. There are four eight-foot sheep panels and 22 ten-footers. Most are in pretty good sheep, a couple of bends, some rust, but they are obviously at least ten to twenty years old and very good.

Dub is as big as Jezzie and gaining on Lasca. He may weigh almost as much as Lasca now.

2009-02-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

2009-02-09T15:54:00.001-08:00

2009-02-05T08:40:00.001-08:00

A short clip showing Gwynnie on an outrun. Sorry about the shakiness. I'm just learning to do this thing with the camera.

2009-02-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

2009-02-05T08:06:00.001-08:00

Here's a short video clip I recorded with the camera, just to see if it really would make video and if I could get it posted. Gloria and Eleanor and all our dogs at the farm yesterday.

2009-02-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

2009-02-03T15:54:00.001-08:00

Here are today's photos: Hen's rather destructive hobby, pictures of the ewe voted most likely to lamb first, and some of the dogs.

2009-02-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

2009-02-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

2009-02-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

One tree down, ten or twelve to go.

2009-02-03T08:24:00.001-08:00

Not exactly a brilliant start, but as usual there are many things to do around here. I have been trimming and pruning trees, hauling limbs, needles, weeds and debris down to the burn pile, and starting to organize things to put the house on the market by March 1. We hope to sell the house and buy acreage with water rights and pasture, probably in Fallon.

I need to rent a storage space and begin clearing the house of extraneous items to make it seem less cluttered and more spacious (hard to do with 940 square feet). So things need to be sorted, packed and hauled. Everything, like windows and baseboards and cabinets, needs to be cleaned, the paint touched up, and minor repairs made. I also have to repair one of the horse sheds since Hen decided to punch a hole in the wall and chew two days ago. It's an ongoing project for her, so I'm trying to work out how to do repairs and discourage her from further destruction.

2009-01-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

Diamond J Farm only exists in our imaginations for now, but we are looking for a place with some acreage that we can afford where we can keep more livestock. Right now we have four horses, 10 sheep, a dozen or so chickens and seven Border Collies. We need more space! Especially for the dogs.

We had a brand for the horses 10 years ago that incorporated a Diamond J (actually a quarter circle shedding over a diamond j connected on the left hip) and we decided to use that for our kennel name this year and maybe try to get the brand reregistered for the horses. So Diamond J seems like an apt name for the farm of our hopes.

The horses are:

Cindy (Cindys Ruby Skip), a 22-year-old AQHA red dun mare. We bought her as a three-year-old and she was my husband's ranch horse. She had two foals and now has a bit of arthritis and is retired. She is a great-granddaughter of Skipper W and looks it.

Lexie (Leprechaun Express), Cindy's eight-year-old red dun granddaughter, also AQHA. We bought her from a family in Arizona after we lost track of her mother, whom we bred (Docs Sandy Skip).

Cee (Impress Cee Bars), a dark Brown AQHA 1990 mare in foal to an AQHA palomino stallion. She is due in May.

Hen (Speedy Miss Nevada), a four-year-old sorrel AQHA mare, daughter of my old ranch mare that we lost almost four years ago. Hr mother, Darcy, was a good ranch horse, very cowy and all business when working cattle. Her bloodlines included several Driftwood bred horses and some King Ranch breeding.

For dogs we have:

Freckles, who we call Bun, a 12-year-old ABC Border Collie, retired ranch dog. Bun was from our old dog Cleo's first litter. She was born right before the Flood of '97 on a ranch in Alpine County.

Vider (Vidalia), now eight and my main competition dog and best farm dog. She is also a daughter of Cleo, who was mostly Arthur Allen breeding. Her sire lived on a ranch in Benson, Arizona. Jack was a grandson of Raymond MacPherson's two time ISC winner, Zac. Vider is the first dog I've trained to compete in trials and we have learned a lot together.

Gwynn is just about to turn four and coming along in her training and competition in arena trials. We bought her from our friend Anne-Lise Stannard and she is the most outgoing and sociable of our dogs, with a sunny personality.

Bird, two years old, we bought from Vider's sire's breeder in Benson. She is a daughter of one of Vider's littermate. She is very much like her grandmother Cleo. She is a challenging dog with a strong sense of self. She is strong on stock and very confident when working sheep.

Lasca, one and a half, is Vider's daughter by Imp. Killiebrae Rudy. Rudy was some friends' ranch dog which they purchased at the Red Bluff bull sale. They said he was the best dog they've ever had and they've had a lot of ranch Border Collies. Rudy was bred by Derek Scrimgeour and trained by Mike Hubbard. Lasca has been started and is coming along with her training. She is very honest. She has strong instincts to keep sheep together.

Jezzie (Jezebel) is Gwynn's daughter by Rudy. I have just barely started her due to some front leg soreness problems she had while growing. She has beautiful natural square flanks.

Dub (Killiebrae Dub) is the baby at five months. He flew over from England in November after we bought him at 12 weeks from Derek Scrimgeour. He is a great little guy, full of energy and bursting with joy in life. He wears out both Jezzie and Lasca every day and exercises virtually every dog toy there is.