Our Ewe dropped her lamb last night. It's a ram lamb. Our first lamb for Matua Ranch. I was hoping for twins or triplets, but a single is better than none. Ewe and lamb are doing fine. Both were out of the under the porch shed and into the pen most part of the day. Haven't named the newborn Ram Lamb yet. I'll wait for a couple of days or weeks before I decide. He'll definitely be a great addition to our breeding stock. I'm still acquiring another intact ram and ewes from the Santiago Ranch.
I tied out both the goat doe and capone ram. Didn't want to have both of them cause safety issues with the newborn ram lamb. In a couple of days, I'll bring both back into the pen. That should be long enough for mother and lamb to bond. I'm pretty sure, the bond is strong between the two.
I picked up a Muscovy duck from a former student of mine in Santa Rita. It is all white with a patch of black on it's crown. It's my first rescued duck.
A week earlier, I acquired three new Muscovy ducklings to replace the first three ducklings that a rat killed. They are now in the pen with the Barred Rock, Silver Laced, Rhode Island Red, and Easter Egger chicks and pullets. All of them are doing really good. Unfortunately, we lost 18 chicks: Barred Rock and Silver Laced due to the weather, high humidity and heat after the passing typhoon. Before and during the typhoon, they were all doing fine. Two days after, whole bunch of them died. We have three and three left of the Barred Rock and Silver Laced chicks. Hopefully, I get a breeding pair out of both set of birds. That I'll just breed my flock locally instead of flying them in from Hawaii or the mainland.
The karabao herd started their second grazing rotation at the back ranch. Amazing how fast the grass grows after it's been grazed over by the herd. Finding nasty blood sucking bugs on the herd. Pretty sure the feral dogs, wild pig, and deer have something to do bringing those ticks and fleas into the Back Ranch. Definitely going to need Guinea Fowl to control the tick and flea population at the back ranch.
We have some new livestock coming in, the next couple of weeks and months. Twenty-four Buff Orpingtons and Americanas, Two goat does of Nubian/Boer Cross, an intact ram lamb, and two more karabaos...another toro and baka (bull and cow) to add to the herd.
Slowly growing, one day at a time.
Keep Smiling
