I started out noticing that my dearest Walske was limping. A couple of nights ago he got baler twine somehow caught up in his back foot and around his horns. We cut that off and thought we were in the clear. We were not. Today when I noticed his limp I also realized that the twine had wedged itself in between his hoof and wrapped around it. Which obviously poses a significant risk for our boy. So I went into the pasture, which is in itself a significant risk to me with our grumpy yaks. I got him to follow me around with treats but he soon realized I intended to put him in the pen. He did not leave a nice review the last time he stayed there, so he was having no more of my treats. Which meant I would have to wrestle him in. Wrestle him in I did. The thing about that is that Walske is about 350lbs, and has four horns to skewer me with. So wrestling him is quite the procedure. First I have to grab his two vertical horns in order to prevent him stabbing me, then I have to straddle his back I have to simultaneaously pull him forward and nudge his back end with my foot. It's hard to do, but I imagine it's hilarious to watch. I was finally able to get him into the pen and then attempt to get the twine cut off. Even though I was trying to help him he didn't care. He was still quite displeased. Eventually with some help to hold him I got it off. Now he'll have a few days in the pen to help him heal. Not his favourite place. He gave it a 0 star review.
The yak bull is here. At last a boyfriend for my girls! He's so beautiful and majestic. I'm sure the girls will think he's very handsome! He's much bigger than the girls but the same age, they're all 2 years old. He's also a bit more tame, not in that I can pet him, just in that he probably won't charge me if I look in his direction, only if I go near him.
Hopefully sometime next year, or the following year we'll have yak babies. I hope to at least tame one of the babies so that I don't take my life into my hands every time I go near them. Yaks are seasonal breeders, unlike cows so they only breed once a year when the time is right. Once they calve they don't breed again for two years typically. It'll be a slow process to grow a big herd! I think we're going to call him Cameron! In another fun councidence I was worried about having to change their tags, because you know, they'd kill me. But, the farms we bought them from both used similar tag systems. So we can just keep the tags as they are and use the same system for any future yaks we get!
The bottle baby is doing really well, she's five days old today and almost the size Calpernias twins were when they were born. Apparently if she makes it to ten days we're in the clear. Five more to go!
The first picture is our bottle lamb yesterday (4 days old) and the second is one of Calps babies on the day they were born. She's not quite as big, but nearly!
Calps lambs are doing well! They're plumped up and so full of vigor. They run and jump around like maniacs. They, like their parents, DO NOT LIKE PETS OR SNUGGLES. I have a difficult time trying to get them used to it because Calps is a very protective mama, so whenever her babies make the sound of an unhappy lamb she's right there to beat the source (me) until I stop. Which is immediately.
My chickens are doing fairly well, I've kept the mean hens and the young hens separated for quite a while now, but I've put a barrier in between them so they can get used to seeing and hearing each other. I'm hoping to integrate them back together within the next few days. It has to be fairly quick because my little chicks are growing quickly and will need to be integrated into the flock fairly soon as well.
Everyday is an adventure!
He is a trooper.
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