Continuing Mama's Critters

[MamaSheepdog]

This is our youngest son's 5 month aussie pup:

Barn cats in the Cat Coop:


One of our prettiest kitties from this year's crop:

The sweet Silkies:

The crazy chickens:

The blasted goats the only time they are silent:

Wethers soon to be headed to FC, and become rugs:

Little Does hopefully soon sold:

The Mother-Muckers helping to clean the pen:

Next up... the horses!

 

[MaggieJ]

Oh such beautiful barn kitties!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Tell me about it! That's why we have so many... keep, keep, keep, re-home... keep, keep...

 

[Cattle Cait]

Hey, you have a cat farm too!

 

[fuzzy9]

The calico is gorgeous!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see the horses!!!!!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hey, you have a cat farm too!

Anyone know any good cat recipes? :lol:

The calico is gorgeous!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see the horses!!!!!

I LOVE calicos! We have a younger short-haired one as well. But the "Broken Siamese" are a special favorite of mine.

 

[LilFish_JWQueen(:]

OMG an aussie!!!!! its so beautiful!...sory i love aussies lol me and my man are starting to breed them together so everytime i see one im like omg lol but yours is truely beautiful.

I also love the long hair calico cat. reminds me of my cat brooke.

And i love da goats of course!

Cant wait to see the horses! you have a beautiful farm.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

OMG an aussie!!!!! its so beautiful!...sory i love aussies lol me and my man are starting to breed them together so everytime i see one im like omg lol but yours is truely beautiful.

I also love the long hair calico cat. reminds me of my cat brooke.

And i love da goats of course!

Cant wait to see the horses! you have a beautiful farm.

I have to constantly remind myself not to pay too much attention to the aussie- he's my littlest guy's dog after all, and I can't steal him, much as I'd like to. If he's not sleeping with my son, he bunks under our bed. He is out of the "Crazy Hearts" line, and has a pedigree full of titled dogs from his sire, but the dam was 1/4 lab 3/4 aussie. He is absolutely gorgeous, smart, and willing. The pics don't do him justice. I'll have to get better ones showing the sheen and true hue of his coat.

The goats? Well, we have a love/hate relationship... I'm thinking I'll sell these and get meat goats, providing our adorable woolly boys taste good.

Thanks for the compliment on the farm- it means a lot, esp. since we've built it all ourselves... tons of sweat equity here!

 

[Bramble Hedge]

OMG I am sooo jealous you have a lovely lifestyle/home/farm Thanks for sharing them with us.

 

[ladysown]

I'm confused... if the cats are kept in a cat coop.... wouldn't they be cat coop cat and not barn cats???

nice looking critters by the way.

 

[LilFish_JWQueen(:]

OMG an aussie!!!!! its so beautiful!...sory i love aussies lol me and my man are starting to breed them together so everytime i see one im like omg lol but yours is truely beautiful.

I also love the long hair calico cat. reminds me of my cat brooke.

And i love da goats of course!

Cant wait to see the horses! you have a beautiful farm.

I have to constantly remind myself not to pay too much attention to the aussie- he's my littlest guy's dog after all, and I can't steal him, much as I'd like to. If he's not sleeping with my son, he bunks under our bed. He is out of the "Crazy Hearts" line, and has a pedigree full of titled dogs from his sire, but the dam was 1/4 lab 3/4 aussie. He is absolutely gorgeous, smart, and willing. The pics don't do him justice. I'll have to get better ones showing the sheen and true hue of his coat.

The goats? Well, we have a love/hate relationship... I'm thinking I'll sell these and get meat goats, providing our adorable woolly boys taste good.

Thanks for the compliment on the farm- it means a lot, esp. since we've built it all ourselves... tons of sweat equity here!

aww well aussies are very loyal dogs and i just fell in love when i got mine. Shes a red merle and has herding and show style dogs in her lines but she has more of a herding line look to her to where the male we have for her to breed to is more showy. He has more of a shinny coat like yours. But my girl started to try herding when she was like 3months old lol it was cute but what we wanted her to do. They are awesome dogs.

Lol goats you have to love them. They are stinkers! They are very smart when THEY want to be but stupid when YOU want them to be smart lol Mine love to find ways to get out then go to the barn where the sweet feed is lol damn goats lol my boyfriend has boars which have grown on me. They just have a cool look to them. If i had a way to start over with goats i woulda went with boars.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I'm confused... if the cats are kept in a cat coop.... wouldn't they be cat coop cat and not barn cats???

nice looking critters by the way.

Hahaha! Indeed they would, I suppose! We don't have an actual barn anywhere though. I used to joke that it was our "Cat-House" (brothel) and we should put a red light by their door!

The cats aren't actually "kept" in the coop- even with the door to the "run" closed, they can get out by going on the shelf mounted on the coop and going out a hole in the wire in the corner. That way, when we have young litters they can't get out until they are agile enough to climb, and then they are limited to the top of the chicken and cat coops until they are brave enough to hop to the ground.

Since rodents are most active at night it seemed foolish to lock the cats in at night, although it would certainly be safer for them since that's when all the local predators come out to play... but we don't call 'em "Dispoz-a-cats" for nothing- they have a job to do, so we accept the losses even if we don't particularly like it. Seems the favorites disappear, and the obnoxious ones don't!

And we do have an exceptionally fine looking group of critters, don't we? <smug, self-satisfied grin!>

Lilfish,

I've always loved Aussies too, (you included, BrambleHedge!), but this is our first one. He wont be the last, I'll tell you that! Incredible dogs- his only misdeeds so far have been chewing up the kid's bicycle seats- he can't seem to resist them. The kids have put kickstands on all the bikes now!

 

[Cattle Cait]

MamaSheepdog - Tell me...how hyper is the Aussie? I lost my Border Collie not too long ago and will be getting a new pup come spring and I think Aussies are GORGEOUS but my male-half hates them, says they're hyper and yippy. True or no? He'd rather we have Heelers for the rest of our lives, which I like them too but those Aussies are pretty!

I'm tempted to just get one anyways when the time comes and he can get over it...

 

[MamaSheepdog]

He's not hyper at all, Cait! Idk if we've just been lucky or what with the last 2 dogs (oops- just realized I didn't post pics of DD's dog), but we didn't have any issues with destructive chewing (aside from bike seats!)... maybe because we have lots of stuffed animals for the JRT and the pups smelled "dog" on allowable toys. Also, we are home all the time and can keep an eye on the dogs and tell them "Not Yours!" if they mouth something off limits. None of the Aussies I know are yippy, but they are all ranch dogs, not just stuck in a backyard somewhere while the humans are at work.

We got this pup from a friend of ours, and their Aussies are a lot more troublesome- counter-surfers, trash eaters... destructive when left unattended. So I purposefully left him somewhere I was not for short periods to minimize separation anxiety related issues. The border collies around here resemble your boyfriend's description of Aussies.

We got our JRT to help with rodent control, and I was dreading getting a terrier because they can be so crazy and hyper. But my little man is cool and calm (except if you splash in the pool or blow bubbles for him to chase. Or throw dirt clods...)

So I think it really boils down to how much time you are willing to spend on initial training. Also, with any pup we get, I discourage getting the pup all worked up chasing the kids or playing roughly. I think it is crucial to reward calm behavior first, and once you have some control you can start getting a little crazy. We also use "sit" as a "default behavior"... meaning that if the dog wants something (treat, ball, affection, meals) they have to sit to ask for it. Also, we are in control of the doors- permission must be granted before entering or exiting.

 

[Random Rabbit]

Our current dog is an Aussie. I cannot say enough Good things about her. Super smart ! Super good with our small stock. When we had baby goats born in the cold weather... she would curl herself around them and lick them back to life... this as a not-quite one year old. Learns things so quickly ! The first night at Agility class, the trainer asked where she had been taught previously ? answer... that was her first night ever ! She is about the Most 'biddable' dog i have ever had. Not yappy ! But she certainly will let us know when something is around.

The dog before her was a Border-Collie. He was a kennel dog until 4 months of age. Dumb as a box of rocks ! C-o-m-e was not in his vocabulary...ever. Could never be trusted off a long line or out of a closed fence. Good natured...just not quite firing on all cylindars.

 

[LilFish_JWQueen(:]

Aussies are awesome. So smart. We have two. Our first one she pretty much potty trained herself..well she wuld pee on green stuff for a while but that was a start LOL
Aussies are NOT "yippy" dogs. Aussies run with the big dogs..while yippy dogs stay on the porch. They are very tough dogs.
We almost lost her due to getting ran over while she slept under a car...it was the most aweful experence. But made us grow a strong bond for her and it showed me and parker how tough she was. Shes such a good girl. Loves to lick people and jus comes right up to anyone who will give her attention. Ours are still pups so they are a bit hyper but they arnt that bad at all..
Our male is a lil more hyper but hes younger then our female so and he like veggies and fruit for some odd reason will steal potatoes and apples! lol
And if you get a pup dont leave shoes on the floor..i lost two pairs of flip flops and gloves to that LOL simple puppy rules really.
If you dont have the time to give it attention I dont think its the dog for you but i love aussies.
This is just the start for me and my man with breeding them and we hope to build a good breeding program.

 

[RunninMI]

I have to say the Aussie can come stay with me anyday lol I love mine and my brothers they are smart dogs and always willing to please. I'll have one till the day I die


Cait as for you I personally think the heeler fits u and josiah much better than the Aussie would little more drive to take on the wilder stock than Aussies altho they still will

Ps sorry to hear bout bandit