Jul 2007

Jan. 10, 2007.... Record rainfall and floods

We have had near record rainfall this month and habitat disruption....In the lower areas there were many burrows filled with water. The creatures are forced from their habitats during weather extremes. Lack of food and shelter are life threatening.

Willbarger Creek at Gregg Lane......

Jan. 15, 2007.... Floods followed by ice storm....

The flood leaves behind new habitat in large debri piles in the Willbarger Creek watershed....the ice storm makes survival much more difficult for the disrupted creatures.

The grandaddy Bois 'darc also called the hedgeapple and Osage Orange is unperturbed by the flood or the ice....this beautiful hardwood has been utilized by early settlers for extreme durable fence posts and many household wood objects. It was also used as a living border for animal fencing. The orange wood is naturally curving and holds it's shape and spring after long periods of time and was used by native americans as bow wood...the grapefruit sized fruit are on the winter menu of many species of wildlife.

Jan. 15, 2007.... Ice storm....

These are barbado sheep, a meat sheep rather than a sheep kept for it's wool. "Black sheep, black sheep have you any wool"....very little. The two sheep with horns are the males, that is one too many males. The rams are not nearly so foul as goat "bucks" who make themselves attractive by urinating often on their colorful undersides. Does apparently are enamored by the musky odor of dried urine. It's less attractive to humans.

You would think with the big horns the rams would be first to confront danger and wouldn't hesitate to broadside a scrawny looking Wily Coyote but you would be wrong. The females stand out front when the coyotes wine "to dine" while the male and his sperm stand to the back....

Jan. 18, 2007.... Tamelife born on the farm...

We're taking care of the new tamelife on the farm....two little male barbados were born this date.....We don't handle the little males after determining the sex when they are just born...Our first young male who was handled from birth grew to be a large, healthy ram who believed that he was lord over any human that came in his pen and he would expectedly or unexpectedly "ram" you. They have that name for a reason. Rams enjoy knocking over any building that can be dismembered board by board...They will rub with their horns and eat the bark from smaller trees which you are cultivating. Of course they will eat the leaves from anything that they can reach except thorny vegetation such as cactuses and mesquite and other thorny varieties of trees.