The BIG Anouncement

From Farm Buddy:

Okay, okay, I guess I will have to spill the news……Bessie is most likely going to have puppies around March tenth!!!!!!!!!

I found a very handsome mate for her named Enzo who is three-quarters Maremma and one-quarter Great Pyrenees. He is a sweet boy, and he and Bessie really got along well. I am happy that he has a little Great Pyrenees in him, as I like the idea of hybrid vigor and all that. Enzo’s mom was a purebred Maremma, and his dad was half Maremma and half Great Pyrenees. So what is the math here; will Bess’ pups be seven-eighths Maremma?

I tried to breed Bess to this same male last July, but things didn’t work out. They were both bothered by the hot weather, and neither had any experience with breeding, which probably didn’t help. Both were still inexperienced this time around, but both were a little more mature (Bess will be three on February 25th) and I think the cold weather was much more to their liking.

Usually Bess sleeps outside at night, although she always has access to my mudroom which has a huge Orvis dog bed in it. In cold weather, she usually sleeps on the Orvis bed in the mudroom, and in milder weather, she sleeps part of the night with the cattle out on pasture and part of the night on the front porch Orvis bed. Since she was bred (they actually bred four times), I have kept her in the house at night, mostly because I don’t want to worry about her getting bred by a coyote, as it is also their breeding season now. Also, and I know many livestock guardian dog owners will cringe at this, but I don’t really like having her sleep outside when it is way below zero, which is pretty much what it has been since Christmas.

 At first, I had thought I would fix my entire mudroom to be a puppy room, but now I am thinking that I would rather the pups be born inside and stay in the house for the first two weeks. After all, we could still be getting sub-zero temperatures in mid-March. I figure when the pups are starting to eat food at about three weeks or so, I can move the family to the mudroom, where they will have plenty of room and have a chance to learn about life on the farm. I plan to expose them to the cattle, sheep, and chickens as soon as possible, and I have plenty of raw wool that I can put in their nest from the time they are born, so they will be used to sheep and livestock smells. I can let them sleep on my dirty barn clothes too!

Of course you are all probably thinking that I plan to keep a pup, but actually I don’t. My plan is that Bess will have this litter, and then in three or four years, she will have one more litter, hopefully with the same mate, and THEN I will keep a pup. Bess will be six or seven then and probably could use a hand with farm predator patrol. Riding Buddy is also thinking that she would like a pup from the second litter too. Right now, I have Bess and two Border collies; Kelsey, who is almost nine, and Scout, who is fifteen plus. When I am down to one Border collie, I will be getting another, as I really need the help of a good stock dog, especially with my cattle.

Bess is enjoying the pregnant life. She spends a lot of time sleeping on my bed or the couch, and I find it interesting that she is the only one of my dogs that enjoys sleeping in front of the woodstove. My dogs always get gourmet meals, but now I am really going overboard! The dogs and I are basically sharing our meals, and I am making lots of roast chicken, chuck roasts, bone broths, short ribs; all of which I simmer on the woodstove in a Dutch oven filled with organic vegetables, like carrots, potatoes, squash, and the like. I make Bess poached and scrambled eggs, and I give her fresh raw milk from my cow, Jane. She gets some yogurt too. I have not increased the amount I feed her yet, but when she is four weeks from her due date, I have been told to switch her to puppy kibble instead of adult kibble. I have lots of organic organ meat from my grassfed cattle, which I plan to feed her when she is nursing the pups.

My guess is that there are going to be five pups; three girls and two males. Want to make a guess? Remember, Bess came from a litter of eleven (isn’t that a scary thought!).

Well I personally can’t think of anything more exciting than this, so let’s hope all the nut cases in power can refrain from blowing up the world, so the pups can be born in a peaceful and happy world!