So a few Saturdays ago we headed to Greenwich, Utah. Yes, there is a Greenwich in Utah. Look it up. Matt's sister Mindy and her husband Will have sheep, many of them. Spring brings around a wonderful time of sheep season and that is docking lambs. My dad and uncle had sheep when I was growing up, so I am quite familiar with docking lambs. My dad and uncle would castrate the males, put a rubber 'cheerio' on their tales so it would fall off, and ear notch them as me, my siblings, and cousins would bring the lambs to them by a kicking back leg. I think we just ear notched and
cheerioed the tales of the females, it has been a long time ago and is a blur. Sometimes those warm spring days with the smell of blood in the air and all over my arms and face got to me and I did block it out!!
Anyway, the time was now for the sheep in Greenwich. The kids and I went over to help and play.
Emmitt deserves to live on a farm - one day buddy, one day!!
So here is Mace and Mindy, some of Matt's siblings. Mindy did not grow up raising sheep but cattle instead, and it seems she is quite the sheep mistress. She is amazing at her sheep raising abilities, among many others.
All the kids took turns either loading the tagging guns and 'cheerio' guns, or catching the lambs and bringing them to the fence where they lost the end of one ear, got ear pierced twice in the other ear (females), metal ear tagged (females), got vaccinated,
cheerioed their tales, and
cheerioed their manly gonads. They also got sprayed with an anti-tick, lice, and other nasty junk liquid. What a process! The guys were good enough to cut the ear tip off as the last step because that is when the blood gets ya! Will, his dad, and Mace had a great process down. We took care of
ALOT of sheep that day!
The kids were wonderful helpers. Kelsey was somewhat concerned about her shoes as they got
iodined, manured, and a few other nasty fluids on them, but got over that pretty quick because she got to spend time with her wonderful cousins and help out.
I am not sure how many lambs we did, 600 maybe? Mindy will have to give me the real numbers. All I know is that the next day my behind was sore from bending over, grabbing four feet, holding those sweet things up to the fence to be doctored, and then letting them down on the other side of the fence. If I could do that everyday, dang I would look good!
Ashley took a picture of my hands before I washed the second time. We took a nice break for lunch, and of course I washed up for that. So this is the afternoon's dose. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day.
After we finished the sheep in Greenwich, we headed to
Salina to meet up with Matt. We met him to help feed the cows.
Emmitt calls them "
Emmitt's cows" thanks to his Grandpa Larry.
Kendal is daddy's girl when it come to the farm and the ranch. She loves feeding the cows, riding the horses and 4 wheelers, going to the "
wanch", and just being with dad. Matt loves that they love it too. Kelsey is all about the farm stuff as long as there are cousins and 4-wheelers involved! We had a great weekend once again!
So a few Saturdays ago we headed to Greenwich, Utah. Yes, there is a Greenwich in Utah. Look it up. Matt's sister Mindy and her husband Will have sheep, many of them. Spring brings around a wonderful time of sheep season and that is docking lambs. My dad and uncle had sheep when I was growing up, so I am quite familiar with docking lambs. My dad and uncle would castrate the males, put a rubber 'cheerio' on their tales so it would fall off, and ear notch them as me, my siblings, and cousins would bring the lambs to them by a kicking back leg. I think we just ear notched and cheerioed the tales of the females, it has been a long time ago and is a blur. Sometimes those warm spring days with the smell of blood in the air and all over my arms and face got to me and I did block it out!!
Anyway, the time was now for the sheep in Greenwich. The kids and I went over to help and play. Emmitt deserves to live on a farm - one day buddy, one day!!
So here is Mace and Mindy, some of Matt's siblings. Mindy did not grow up raising sheep but cattle instead, and it seems she is quite the sheep mistress. She is amazing at her sheep raising abilities, among many others.
All the kids took turns either loading the tagging guns and 'cheerio' guns, or catching the lambs and bringing them to the fence where they lost the end of one ear, got ear pierced twice in the other ear (females), metal ear tagged (females), got vaccinated, cheerioed their tales, and cheerioed their manly gonads. They also got sprayed with an anti-tick, lice, and other nasty junk liquid. What a process! The guys were good enough to cut the ear tip off as the last step because that is when the blood gets ya! Will, his dad, and Mace had a great process down. We took care of ALOT of sheep that day! 
The kids were wonderful helpers. Kelsey was somewhat concerned about her shoes as they got iodined, manured, and a few other nasty fluids on them, but got over that pretty quick because she got to spend time with her wonderful cousins and help out.
I am not sure how many lambs we did, 600 maybe? Mindy will have to give me the real numbers. All I know is that the next day my behind was sore from bending over, grabbing four feet, holding those sweet things up to the fence to be doctored, and then letting them down on the other side of the fence. If I could do that everyday, dang I would look good! 
Ashley took a picture of my hands before I washed the second time. We took a nice break for lunch, and of course I washed up for that. So this is the afternoon's dose. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day. 
After we finished the sheep in Greenwich, we headed to Salina to meet up with Matt. We met him to help feed the cows. Emmitt calls them "Emmitt's cows" thanks to his Grandpa Larry. 
Kendal is daddy's girl when it come to the farm and the ranch. She loves feeding the cows, riding the horses and 4 wheelers, going to the "wanch", and just being with dad. Matt loves that they love it too. Kelsey is all about the farm stuff as long as there are cousins and 4-wheelers involved! We had a great weekend once again!
2 comments:
Love that last picture!
I also love Emmitts wrangler butt-- B had to big of a bum to ever fit in those!
Looking at the pic of the table with all the docking goods-- I could smell it....how strange is that? I could honestly smell the rubber smell of the "cheerios" and the blood and the manure and everything. Dad cut the tails of the males and "cheerio'd" the females.
Oh the good ole days......
That was a GREAT day and we did a lot of sheep. I will get the numbers from Will and let you know. It was in 600 range. Thanks for everything!
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