Unicorner Farm

Hello world!

texastunis — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:00:47 +0000

I am trying out Word Press to see what advantages it has over Blogger.

Any comments?

Beautiful Gypsy Horses

texastunis — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:19:00 +0000

Bob helped out at the Gypsy Horse Registry of America show this past weekend at the Fort Worth Stock Show. He was the “gate man” who organized the handlers and horses before going into the ring.

The GHRA was founded by very good friends of ours and we are happy to see they are getting great promotional results for the breed.

Learn more about the breed at: http://gypsyhorseregistryofamerica.org/CMS/

My 15 Minutes of Fame…

texastunis — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:03:00 +0000

I’m not sure how long the link will be active but I was interviewed by a local television station at the Brenham cat show. Yikes… do I really sound like that?

http://www.kbtx.com/local/headlines/38763667.html

Busy Weekend

texastunis — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:00:00 +0000

What a gorgeous day, and we were too busy to enjoy it at home. Bob is helping our friends with the Gypsy Horse Show at the Ft. Worth Stock Show this weekend. We just love the look of these feathered beauties! Here are a few photos.

I can’t wait to see more photos from the Saturday evening classes. The show is being run in conjunction with the Miniature Horse Show. I wish I could be there.

I had a judging assignment at a cat show in Brenham, which is a great little town in southern Texas. So we went in opposite directions from home.

I did get home in time to enjoy some sunshine. I let the ewes with lambs out to graze for a little bit. The babies nibbled on the grass and enjoyed hopping around for a little while. Since they don’t live together they got to actually “meet and play” for the first time. Those ol’ bossy moms were always breaking them up though.

Coyote Deterrent?

texastunis — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:43:00 +0000

A really special, extra sweet friend of mine who also has Tunis sheep just recommended a coyote deterrent that her husband uses on her farm in Ohio. Testing at Unicorner Farm will begin this weekend and I will let you know the results and might be persuaded to share the “secret” recipe if it works.

Tail banding day

texastunis — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:41:00 +0000

The girls are three days old … time to band their tails. I did a lot of research before we docked our first lambs born back in 2007. There is a lot of controversy over tail lengths if you do an internet search on tail docking of sheep. Articles on the ‘net had convinced us that medical problems might arise if they are docked too short so we used the guidelines there.

And the Tunis breed is a descendant of the fat-tailed sheep of northern Africa. The Tunis breed standard says “The Tunis has a slight “fat tail” and should not be docked too short.” It goes on to mention “The tail should be no less than one inch in length in accordance with Sheep Industry Development Program, Inc, recommendations for breeding stock. It has pronounced width.”

So after much care we banded them “on the long side.” This is a photo of the first one – Ruby. Yes, we even brought them in the house to do the banding. See the black ink from the Sharpie we used to mark the spot? She was more interested in Bobo our cat than she was the tight band on her tail.

Needless to say I was very surprised when I walked into the barn at our first sheep show, those sheep just didn’t have any tails left. None, nothing, nada…

Well, today, we weren’t ready to go that far and don’t have any shows nearby so we doubt these will ever be show sheep. So the three girls today will be left with a “happy medium” about an inch to an inch and one half. Short enough for cleanliness and long enough for a little “privacy”.

A tetanus shot, a quick band on the tail, a kiss on the head and we were done with those three.

Lamb Watch Update

texastunis — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:10:00 +0000

A quiet night last night, well except for the coyotes that were yipping and howling again. They’ve been extra active the past week. They sure make an eerie sound and I am really nervous about them being so close. Bob goes out and turns the lights on and it scares them away. They aren’t ever as close as they sound but it still scares me. I did notice that on Monday and Tuesday nights when the weather was bad we didn’t hear them. Could be something to the theory that mamas give birth during bad weather because the predators aren’t out.

Tessa still likes to have some additional milk from the bottle, Terra will usually take about an ounce if I insist. Covering her eyes with my gloved hand seems to persuade her to nurse on it for a bit. Guess she forgets for a moment that it isn’t her mom.

Tami is doing great too, she and mom, Mimi, are next door to the twins and watch us and wait for some attention to come their way. Tami will be a fast grower with all the milk that Mimi has for her.

Aren’t the Tunis lambs cute? I just love that Irish Setter red color! So far none have had white on the top of their heads, a common trait of the Tunis breed.

Another lamb!

texastunis — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:46:00 +0000

What a night! Miserable cold and wet, but we have another baby! This is Mimi and her little ewe lamb. She was born about 8:30 last night. Luckily I was out to bottle feed the other two and was able to move her into her own pen which sheep people call a “jug”. This little girl is quite a bit bigger than Terra and Tessa and she’s fuzzier. We will be looking for a “T” name for her.

I started naming the lambs by a letter of the alphabet so I can easily keep up with their age. 2007 was the first year we had lambs, Rufus and Ruby got named first so I decided to go with R for that year. We were without a ram in 2008 so we had no babies other than the two we bought, we named them Sierra and Sassy.

Terra and Tessa are doing good, I was a bit concerned this morning that Terra wasn’t interested at all in a supplemental bottle and seemed to be listless. Bob checked Binky and got a little milk from her. I brought them both in the house to warm up, it was 24 degrees outside with ice glistening in the sun.

I waited 2 hours to see if she would take a bottle. Bob had milked a little from Mimi and I was hoping to get it down her. No way… though Tessa thought it was great. I took her back to Mom hoping she would nurse. And yes, that is what she wanted. Apparently she had been getting enough from Binky and just wasn’t hungry enough to take the bottle. So they are back with their mom and hopefully she will have enough to feed them now. I will offer them some again this evening to see if they are hungry.

Here is a photo of Binky in the front, Mimi behind her and the ewes in waiting in the outside run. I guess my worries that we would have no lambs again were in vain, I noticed this morning that another ewe, Spring, is bagging up!

Baby Update

texastunis — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Terra and Tessa are doing good, but still not having much luck nursing on their mom. I offered them some milk replacer in a bottle and they loved that. I let them have a couple of ounces each and hope they will continue to try Mom for some more. We will offer them some more mid afternoon and hopefully Binky will start producing soon.

Binky is the mother of Rufus, our first bottle baby. But she had rejected him, it wasn’t a milk issue. Everybody at work is asking if I am going to bring them to work with me. Hopefully NOT! Though they are really cute little girls. These are the first lambs sired by our ram from New York.

First Babies of 2009!

texastunis — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:11:00 +0000

Yippee! We have LAMBS!

Binky presented us with two little girls early this morning. They seem to be doing well but I am concerned that Binky doesn’t have milk yet. I’ve given them some NurseMate ASAP to get them started but will have to go get some milk replacer in case Binky doesn’t start producing soon.

And I have to get new heat lamps, couldn’t find one that worked this morning and there is an ice storm on the way. I came to work early and will go home as soon as TSC opens so I can swing by there and do some “shopping.”