Around the Ranch & Farm

Sonny at breakfast
(c) 2023 Lif Strand
I love the way the morning light catches my mare's long, winter hair.
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On bread, winter solstice, and damn am I happy that days (daylight) will be getting longer now.
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I love watching my goldfish. I bought them from Walmart for ten cents each (okay, maybe it was 25 cents) years and years ago. I don't feed them. They keep the horse trough clean and they provide me with entertainment. A great investment!
This photo was taken this morning. Seeing the fish moving around under the pattern of light on the ice was really cool.

The well with the windmill vanes was dug around 1930, when the water level was maybe 10' down - a rare thing in this dry country. Last time it was checked (a few years ago) the water level was 80'.
The windmill tower with no vanes is a dry hole.

Almost home / trying to beat the storm
(c) Lif Strand 2024
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This is one half of the pair of ravens that hang out at my barn. I don't feed them but the horses don't seem to mind if the ravens help themselves to the horses' food. I talk to the birds. One is more willing to listen than the other and that's the only way I can tell them apart.
(c) 2024 Lif Strand
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Full moon stars
Taken with a cell phone, as all my photos are these days

I've been taking lots of pictures to update our website, and with lambing season there's a whole new assortment of pictures to take! Lambs are one of my favorite things to photograph, and I think I've been getting better at composition. What do you think?

Elena Sparks wrote:...Lambs are one of my favorite things to photograph, and I think I've been getting better at composition. What do you think?

I think those are fantastic photos!

Raven headed for the roost
(c) 2024 Lif Strand
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I planted that elm tree about 30 years ago.

Elena Sparks wrote:One of my favorites for my most recent set of pictures! This is Sugar, our half draft mare. I've always loved the graceful curves on a horses neck, and I finally managed to catch it on film (after many failures)!

Ellen, that is a very beautiful pose and the lighting accents the curves of the neck. Very artistic!

Lif Strand wrote:

Elena Sparks wrote:

Lif Strand wrote:Is he going to change much as he gets older?

Some things will, but the general idea is there. He'll get more muscled, a bigger frame, and larger horns. His fleece will change a bit as well, since it's rare that the fleece stays the same fineness as the sheep ages, but it may not look very different. This is his uncle at Noah's age, vs now as a proven ram at age 3. Forgive the grainy images of him as a lamb, I didn't have my camera at that point.

I know nothing about goats, so let me ask this dumb question. Smoky has big horns in all the photos, even as a lamb. So  how long does it take for horns to grow from birth on, and does the growth rate stay the same throughout a goat's life?

Elena, Sparky is a beautiful ram! Especially those horns add to the regal look!

Lif, let me chime in here...a ram and a goat are two different species altho both are ruminant animals. Male Sheep and either male or female goats can have horns. However, they are two separate species with different characteristics and uses. Elena's animals are sheep, not goats...and since I was not well versed on horns for either species I looked it up. I think Elena's sheep are a Merino breed and have those beautiful curved horns (I was reading her post about rooing which is another fascinating topic). Come to find out that some male sheep breeds like Jacob's sheep can re-grow from 2 to 6 horns yearly!  Their look is most startling! I had never seen a picture of this much less in real life. Wow!  On the other hand, goats (which both the males & females may or may not have horns) and rams loose their horns yearly and regrow them every year. It is another fascinating topic to read up on. So much to learn from the study of animals! Rams' horns get bigger every year for the purpose of defending their herd of ewes and establishing dominance. Here's where I read about rams horns: https://www.berrypatchfarms.net/do-rams-shed-their-horns/.  Goats and their horns are a bit more complicated and I read a little about that here: https://rurallivingtoday.com/livestock/goat-horns/.  There are many descriptions in Scripture about sheep and goats and so learning about this one aspect helps me to understand the meaning & intent of holy writ also.  Great topic and pics on this forum!

Elena Sparks wrote:...a ram and a goat are two different species altho both are ruminant animals.

I was aware that goats and sheep were different species, but I thought ram was a term for the male of either species. Not the case?

I have been mixing up the two species I think since I saw my first one, and have to constantly remind myself of the differences, meaning I have to google it because I never remember. Now I'm really confused, because you said

goats (which both the males & females may or may not have horns) and rams loose their horns yearly and regrow them every year.  

and I thought that animals with horns (vs antlers) don't ever shed the horns.

I just love dandelions. Unfortunately they don't love living on my property. I have a few plants in sheltered areas, but it's way too dry for them to grow here without watering. This year I'm going to collect dandelion puffs and spread them in my veggie planters to see if I can grow them there.

Hi Lif, The male goat is called a "billy or buck" and the male sheep is a "ram".  Here's more info but not to confuse further: https://goatowner.com/what-is-a-male-goat-called/
You wouldn't think the horns of any species could regrow so fast every year but apparently they do!  I think a lot of the growth depends on how well nourished the animal is and if it's not well-fed the horns will be thinner or less robust.  Every year the horns can get bigger or more in number - hence the 4 and 6 point buck (male deer) antlers. I don't know how high the number can get!  
As for goats, what I read on my previous note (with link attached) said that both male and female goats can be born with the spuds that grow horns (it's a matter of genetics) so they can both sexes have horns or both have no horns.  Farmers prefer the "no horn" genetic breeds for safety reasons but the horns can pop up in later generations and "surprise" the breeder (which is why they now offer genetic testing for goat breeders) so they can help select the desired trait for breeding. I know someone doing this with her flock of goats which she can breed and offer with their "certification".  It is fascinating stuff what they can now test for!

Denise Cares wrote:Hi Lif, The male goat is called a "billy or buck" and the male sheep is a "ram".

A billy goat - of course!  How could I have forgotten that!  Thanks!

When it comes down to it, I don't really care if plants are "dangerous" (i.e. toxic to critters that eat it, or maybe having seed-heads that could get lodged between the pads of a dog's foot). I can work around the risky part so that I can enjoy the beauty.

Mexican feather grass is so beautiful to me. Even when it's not moving it looks like it's moving, like the ocean.

Denise Cares wrote:

Lif Strand wrote: I know nothing about goats, so let me ask this dumb question. Smoky has big horns in all the photos, even as a lamb. So  how long does it take for horns to grow from birth on, and does the growth rate stay the same throughout a goat's life?

Elena, Smoky is a beautiful ram! Especially those horns add to the regal look!

Lif, let me chime in here...a ram and a goat are two different species altho both are ruminant animals. Male Sheep and either male or female goats can have horns. However, they are two separate species with different characteristics and uses. Elena's animals are sheep, not goats...and since I was not well versed on horns for either species I looked it up. I think Elena's sheep are a Merino breed and have those beautiful curved horns (I was reading her post about rooing which is another fascinating topic). Come to find out that some male sheep breeds like Jacob's sheep can re-grow from 2 to 6 horns yearly!  Their look is most startling! I had never seen a picture of this much less in real life. Wow!  On the other hand, goats (which both the males & females may or may not have horns) and rams loose their horns yearly and regrow them every year. It is another fascinating topic to read up on. So much to learn from the study of animals! Rams' horns get bigger every year for the purpose of defending their herd of ewes and establishing dominance. Here's where I read about rams horns: https://www.berrypatchfarms.net/do-rams-shed-their-horns/.  Goats and their horns are a bit more complicated and I read a little about that here: https://rurallivingtoday.com/livestock/goat-horns/.  There are many descriptions in Scripture about sheep and goats and so learning about this one aspect helps me to understand the meaning & intent of holy writ also.  Great topic and pics on this forum!

Firstly, thank you! He is a pretty awesome looking ram. Ours don't shed, and I've never heard of any non deer/antelope shedding their horns, but I'm by no means an expert. Jacobs sheep are definitely bizarre looking. Our goats have grown horns fairly similarly to our sheep as far as timing goes, but as you saw with the sheep, different breeds grow their horns differently than others. Our Spanish grow much bigger and more impressive horns than our Nubians ever have, and the Nigerians seem to be somewhere in the middle. We actually have Icelandics, not merinos. Merinos are a fleece breed and they are mostly white. Icelandics are a much rarer breed, so not as many people know about them, but only a small percent are white, and they are a tri-purpose breed. Interestingly enough, they come in both horned and polled. We have horned and polled lines (you can check them out on our website if you want to see some examples) and the genetics can be pretty complicated sometimes.
Lif, I'm so sorry I didn't reply sooner! This spring has been hard and busy, so I'm behind on everything. Needless to say, here we go: Some horns are weird, but the average horned ram lamb is born with probably an inch of growth already. By the end of the first year, they look a lot like the picture of Smoky as a "lamb." The growth after that depends largely on the individual, but they tend to be almost into the return spiral by the end of their second year, and they're mostly grown (whatever that means for the individual ram) by the time they're four or five. They keep growing after that, just REALLY slowly. They grow the fastest during their first year, and then gradually slow down.

I lost a horse to Cushing's Disease but I got a goat.

Her name is Gabby, she's a 10 month old Boer. She is actually a loaner goat to be a companion for my stallion until June, when she's supposed to go back to where I got her. She'll be bred, have kids, and eventually go to where most Boer goats end up.

Or not.

I don't want to own a goat, but even so 'd say right now the odds are 50/50 that she won't be going back to her breeder. I think that even though Gabby's only been here a month, Koko would be heartbroken if she left. That puts me between a rock and a heart place.

Ravens at the barn
This pair hangs out under the roof of the horse loafing shed. They watch me do my chores and provide commentary.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Late afternoon shadows - January
(c) 2025 Lif Strand
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Where I walk - photo taken this morning just below the rimrock of the mesa behind my house. Always new to me, always magickal.
(c) 2025 Lif Strand
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STOLEN SISTERS launch date is less than a month away!

Jessie Torres is back! The Mangas County Special Deputy, who usually has her hands full investigating livestock depredations, now is dealing with murder, the underbelly of society, and young girls being preyed upon by two-legged wolves.

Bubz posing with rock
Dog and boulder are the same colors!
(c) 2025 Lif Strand