In this vlog, the family farm team confronts a health crisis with their prized ewe, Dixie, who shows signs of mastitis after weaning. The primary vlogger (Speaker A) coordinates a rapid response, discussing the prognosis, possible treatments, and the emotional weight of the situation. They decide to apply a natural remedy—Synergy Animal Products, essentially a blend of apple cider vinegar, honey, essential oils, and herbs—while also monitoring for signs of infection. Simultaneously, the crew wrestles with a mechanical obstacle: the trailer’s hitch is too high to safely load the sheep, requiring improvisation with a vise, jack, and makeshift funnels to lower the hitch and create a functional pen. Family members (Mom, Rebecca, Lily, Jonah, and others) take on specific roles—herding, holding the ewe, adjusting equipment, and administering the remedy. The vlog captures the blend of hands‑on problem solving, collaborative family dynamics, and the tension between natural treatment and the risk of the ewe’s condition worsening. The narrative ends with the ewe being calmed, the trailer positioned, and a plan to treat her again later, reflecting a hopeful but cautious outlook.
Chapters
The battle continues for me. Doctor said it would be 12 weeks. We didn't want to believe them, but thank you, thank you, thank you guys for your well wishes and prayers. We're overwhelmed with love and care from you guys. Focusing on critical tasks this morning. What's the most important things— thing we can do? I say thing because I don't I feel like maybe I can only do one thing. Dixie, one of our ewe lambs that we just— we weaned. We weaned everybody. But are you sure that works that way?
Yep.
Oh wow, you couldn't do— you couldn't squeeze it hard enough with your hand, so you put in a vise. That's the can-do attitude. There's a tight— that's about as small as we don't know if that's too tight or too loose, so we should do a few others around that one hole you made. Okay, I will. So Dixie's kind of off from the flock. We can't catch her, so she's doing that. She's doing good enough. She's acting like she's eating, which I think is a defense against predators. I like how you figured that out.
I do vice with a lot of those guns.
Man, this guy's becoming a man right in front of our eyes. Dixie was the most prolific, biggest udder. We're thinking she's probably got about a mastitis. I sort of think she would kick this. There's only so much we can do. We're gonna try this. We've got some Synergy Animal Products, which— oh wait, that's apple cider vinegar, honey.
Oh wow, this one doesn't work.
Oh, we'll bring one that does. And that's already got the— it's got the Synergy Animal Products in it, which is a, um— thank you for putting on your belt— which is a, um, What am I trying to say? Oh, like essential oils, herbs. It's a natural treatment we use on our cows. Yes, I just rode Cubby from my garage over here to get the Suburban. The— I'm afraid though, the trailer, I'm afraid we like push it back or something. That might be our hang up. I don't think we can just back right up to it. I think we have to pull it forward. I think that's on its lowest setting.
I'll see the hole.
Okay. Does it need to lower?
Yeah, we should, but remember the Fourth of July?
Well, then lower it. Given the nature of this vlog, a vlog, real life, 5 days a week, I do appreciate you guys for hanging with me in the real life. The good, the bad, the ugly, the injuries. But this is the real life. I'm shifting gears with my left hand. We're having to figure out, hey, what's the critical tasks? Go at those first and then let the other things go. Just doing the best we can, hoping this is short, short term in the meaning of 12 weeks and not longer than that. I'm hoping this isn't Lyme disease. That's game changer right there, the backup screen. Looks like I bumped into it. Our trailer needs— our hitch needs to go lower. See how we have to get up this hill here and it brings— it makes the— oh yeah, there's no way. No, see how high that ball is above the hitch? We need to start leaving the trailer. Wait, why are you pushing it back? Oh, okay, that could help. That could bring me lower. Okay, slow down. I don't want you to hit the boards. All right, let's see. I was gonna say we need to park the trailer way forward, but maybe the answer is way back. Oh wow, it came a lot closer. Yeah, but still, we're still an inch off and it won't go any higher. Okay, so we're gonna have to roll this thing forward.
Well, I can unscrew this and push it back farther.
Yeah, if that frame wasn't there, you had a lot of—
you have a lot of space.
You could go back farther. What's the problem with pushing it forward?
I'm worried it's going to keep going.
Yes. Me being in this state, the more I can come back, that hitch will lower. If I was stronger, we could move that trailer forward and hook up to it, but we're gonna have to do with what we got. This look at our ewes over time has been wonderful. Dixie was the champ because she produced twins, she had no problems, she gained back condition, but now she's getting mastitis. And so ultimately, we don't want our children to have to come out and deal with mastitis if they're well or if they're, uh, ill or injured. So this is giving us a good idea of whose offspring do we keep and keep breeding and passing on to our children. If we do nothing and see if she kicks it, she could die. We treat her naturally, she could still die. She kept her condition, she gave twins. She did need some mastitis support. You know, right now Belle's looking like the champion. She's, she's calm. She gave us a big, gentle offspring, and she weaned like a champ. You about got it? Yeah. All right, go ahead, set it right there on those other boards nice and neat. We were gonna put up siding on this, but I mean, the more and more I think about it, the more and more I don't like it. I mean, I like the I like this open feel. I like that we can hang storage stuff beyond the wall. Now even this trailer, this trailer could technically come back a foot if that wall's not there. Hey, are you doing it? You need some help? It's gonna be on a hill. Okay, you're hitting the turkey feeder. We got it. Uh-oh. What?
I think the gear's off.
Oh no, we went up too high. Keep doing it, keep doing it.
See, see how the gear's moving?
We've gone up above the gears, so it's not catching. The reason we're getting the trailer is we can't catch her in the field. We can herd everybody into the trailer and then catch her and treat her, but she might just have to kick this if we can't get the trailer. Jenna, I, I wish this were it. Don't get on the gears or anything. I don't think it got twisted when we pushed it. Pushed it towards me.
It's not gonna do it.
The more weight we can put up towards this, the better. We could come in here with the tractor and lift that up. We have a jack, and then somebody could shove that wheel up. While the other one spins it. Yeah, but do we have a jack that would go that high? Yeah, you actually have a handle on that jack.
Yeah, I can get it.
Okay, we have liftoff. Just a little bit, just a little bit. Don't anybody get to the left or the right of that. Now that that's holding the trailer up, we should be able to push up on this. Do you know how to lower that down?
Yeah, okay.
How did you learn that?
I messed around with it.
Kids just learned. He knows how to engage and just engage that pump. Now watch it.
The board's there.
Oh, oh, it's stopped. Oh, oh, you're gonna have to jack it back up. Your little safety is working. That's good. All right, now just try to get the safety out.
Be careful.
More. There we go. Now lower it. All right guys, take the tools back. There's no better time to do it. We'll just take a little time out here. I need to get my feet up. They're starting to throb a little bit. Let's get some rest. I think one of the hardest things about this is I have to watch people do things that I could do a little quicker or stronger or whatever. Trying on the patience. Can you guys get it over that far? Close. You might spin the wheel. Okay, can you— can you pivot the wheel? No, no, I missed it. But they girded up their lines and they grabbed it and just jerked it over. Yeah, y'all push it. I'll tell you when. There it is, there it is. Okay, if it'll stay there, all you gotta do is lower it up. There you go. This is driving me nuts. The boys are doing so good. The boys are doing so well, but they just need a little bit of— and I don't got it right now. It wasn't too long ago I did. All right, they got it on there. Uh, now raise it up and let's hook up the chain. I'm having to learn how to use my mirrors, and normally it's like this and I'm looking out the window. Is that good enough? We've got a bit of a gap here I wish we didn't have. Can you see if that'll open all the way? Keep going, keep going. Yeah. All right.
Yeah, if you come up like this and then we bring this over.
Yeah.
And, and they have to cross this.
Yeah, yeah. The problem is that that door is, is, is going to hit the bank. We're going to try to get the trailer a little further up the road so the door will open, and we'll get the Suburban out of the road and then we can leave it here because we're going to want to treat them twice a day. Okay, the door opens. If they feel like they can get in and out, it's going to be less intense. That worked out nice. The trailer just went right up against that net. Mom's gonna go ahead and— this is just a temp fence right here, Beck. So let's lift— pick it up and make a little bit of a tighter funnel here. I like how steep this funnel is, Rebecca. Keep going at that angle. Lily's gonna stand right there, back, not facing the sheep, not being any threat. Jonah's gonna get a feed pan. And Mom, do you think you and I can herd the sheep in? Yeah, you're gonna have to be my feet, and you might have to go collect any stragglers. He's getting those. Here comes she. She's moving all right. She, she had the biggest udder. Oh boy, I'm no help. Mom's not gonna be able to shut the door because of the gate. Yeah, there you go, Mom. Just stay right there. There you go, there you go, there you go. Help her, help her, Lily. I'm trying, I'm coming, I'm running. Oh, he might be able to shut it. You might be able to shut it even with the— yeah, it's gonna be close. Oh good, you guys did it! I was zero help. Rebecca just felt her udder. Said it does not feel hot, so that's good. That made me know it's not mastitis. Is it— does it feel full? Jonah, what you gotta do is take your legs out from underneath there and I'll calm her down. So either put her on her haunches or on her sides. In this situation, it'd probably be better to put her on her haunches. Do you know what I mean, Jonah?
I can get in there to help.
Impossible to communicate. All right, I couldn't explain putting her on the haunches. Let's try laying her down, Jonah. I know you've laid down a sheep before.
Look!
Oh wow, Bandy has officially shed. There you go, Jonah. There you go. Once you get her down— it's going to be a struggle to get her down, but there you go. It's okay, it's okay. Now what you want to do is keep holding her feet.
I got it.
There you go. She'll stay calm now that you got her quieted out. Well, they've just opted for the Just let her stand there and put it in there. Yeah, less stressful. But I thought you were going to take her temperature or something. No, we're not.
Well, if I was going to take her temperature, we could just pin her against that and lift her.
All right, but we— I don't need—
I—
if I had a board right here, I could bring her back next.
I have no reason to believe her udder is not hot. Yeah, hard. Yeah, I don't think she has much.
Okay, did you want to give her some apple cider vinegar?
Yeah.
Next up, 50/50 apple cider vinegar.
No, I did less than 50/50 because more water than apple cider vinegar.
She likes it. Wow, you are gonna go for her temp, huh? She gonna hold still for you? Trying to spin her against the wall. It's funny how she knew that was Kadean honking the horn.
No temp.
Oh, that's good. Well, then I wouldn't worry too much about it now. Good. We saw her poop when we came up here and it was totally normal, so she's just a little bit— I think it was just hard. I think it's probably something she would have just been just fine with, just with some time. But we'll see. We do have the trailer out here. That was a lot of trouble, so I think we'll just keep it out here and maybe treat her again tonight and see. They don't care to get out.
This trailer is associated with good things.
That's good. Come on, guys. I don't want to leave. Come on.
