by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 11, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
We are well into the movement of sheep to manage the grazing. Currently we are running 4 separate groups of sheep, ewes with lambs, pregnant ewes, yearling ewes and all the rams. The yearlings are being used as lawnmowers all around the house. Pregnant ewes are being...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 9, 2015 | Uncategorized
Every year we raise one batch of meat chickens for our use and for a few select customers who order birds in advance. This year is no exception. We get just hatched Label Rouge birds from a local hatchery. They are installed in our chicken barn and doing...
by OogieFarmBlog | May 2, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
We are still lambing. So far only 8 ewes have lambed and we have 10 live lambs. We did lose a ewe and her twins to a really bad dystocia but those are the only losses we’ve had so far. Our AI girls are looking like they will pop if they move too fast. We are...
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 28, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
We actually started lambing yesterday but today was when I got some pictures. This was a large ram lamb, over 8 pounds, that was upside down and had to be turned before he could come out. Mom and lamb are both fine now.
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 22, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
Finally got all the sheep shorn and the pregnant ewes are now out on pasture. Just in time. Lambing due to start 25 April.
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 7, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
Shearing started, but then the shearer got badly injured and so we are now waiting for a replacement. 102 left to shear.
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 30, 2015 | Uncategorized
I’m a bit late in writing this post but felt it needed to be written. Last week we butchered a ram that had a broken leg a long time ago. The leg was healing but it was crooked and he was never going to be a breeding ram. Because he was the only sheep to go to...
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 14, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
Warm and dry again. Pregnant ewes are rotund. Still have about 6 weeks to go before lambing is due to start. Looks like a lot will go to the AI so up to 30 all due at once.
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 6, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
Having smart sheep isn’t always a good thing. This is the gate at the bottom of the corral where the ewe yearlings are living. These brats have figures out how to unclip the chain and untie the baling twine. So now we try to put enough separate ties on so that...
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 3, 2015 | Farming Life, General Farm
Morning Chores. We move the ewes out of the pen and close the gate. Ken can then drive a bale in and place it under the hay shed row roof. Put the hay feeder panels back around the bale and then take the twines off and let the sheep in. It’s working well. These...
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 2, 2015 | General Farm, Uncategorized
Larry is back trimming the back cedars pasture. It’s mostly junipers but we’ve always called it the cedars. The goal is to remove all the low hanging branches so a fire won’t get up into the crowns of the trees. It’s a lot of work but can...
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 1, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
So a while ago we had a ram yearling die from what we thought was injuries caused by fighting. His bladder had burst. However yesterday we had another ram yearling starting with the same behaviors. One is just bad luck, 2 means you need to look at management to see if...
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 23, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, Weather
Lovely, lovely snow. About 5 inches now and still coming down.
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 19, 2015 | Wildlife
Had to make a trip today and saw 2 different herds of pronghorn antelope along the road. I couldn’t get a picture, unfortunately. Came home and saw these side yard bucks.
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 15, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, Livestock Guardian Dogs
Our dry weather continues. While the east coast is getting bombarded with snow we are in a drought. Without snow we have no irrigation water so the lack of decent winter storms is very worrying. Meanwhile we are continuing to feed out hay. We move the sheep from pen...
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
I entered the FEDEX Small Business Grant Contest and am seeking votes to make it into the top 100 and into the next round. You may vote once per day from each of the major social media platforms. Please consider giving us your vote.
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 12, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, Equines, Weather
Today was deliver hay day. Five big square bales, over a ton of hay placed. The adult rams, the ram yearlings, pregnant ewes and horses all got fresh bales. Moving to big bales sure makes feeding simpler but it also now means that the tractor is required. The pond is...
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 8, 2015 | Wildlife
Wild turkeys at Terror Creek Winery. Our farm is on the edge of the mesa below.
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 4, 2015 | Mt. Lamborn, Wildlife
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 28, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, Farming Life
Sadly we had a ram yearling die today. He’d been injured in a fight. As required we had to do a post mortem on him to determine the cause of death. Unfortunately it was a burst bladder, probably from getting a horn in the belly. We are allowed to bury animals on...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 25, 2015 | Farming Life, Weather
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 21, 2015 | Revolution Brewing
Stopped by Revolution brewing to see the new small canning line in place. 2 at a time but working well.
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 17, 2015 | Technology
Cleaning up the garage a bit and discovered this old tape drive. It was a wonder of its day, small, compact and high capacity. How times have changed.
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 16, 2015 | Wildlife
We noticed these tracks in the snow when we were feeding the horses today. From the looks of it it’s a small canine predator, probably a fox. It doesn’t seem to come anywhere near the sheep pens. I am sure our guard dogs kept it away.
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 12, 2015 | Mt. Lamborn, Weather
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 4, 2015 | Farming Life
We have a hose connected to a buried pipe that runs ditch water. It usually freezes part way through winter. We leave the hose running and that helps but lately we’ve discovered that we can keep the water running longer if we cover the hose with snow after we...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 3, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, Solar Energy
Ram lambs, now yearlings eating fresh hay under the solar trees.
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 3, 2015 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
Little Sterling is the lamb whose mother died when he was only 3 weeks old. He’s small and stunted and can’t live with the rest of the ram lambs. However he seems willing to try to breed the ewes so he’s now in jail in a separate pen in the hay barn....
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 3, 2015 | Mt. Lamborn
by OogieFarmBlog | May 14, 2014 | LambTracker
Most of this past year has been spent working on our Lambtracker open source flock management program. As a result this blog has been totally neglected. My twitter feed has been the one thing that I am keeping up with. It’s a lot easier to just send a quick...
by OogieFarmBlog | Dec 9, 2013 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
We are again a participating flock for the USDA NAGP research project in non-surgical AI in sheep. This picture was taken the day before the inseminations. We synchronized the ewes and then teased them through the fence with the live rams. All 24 experimental ewes...
by OogieFarmBlog | Sep 17, 2013 | LambTracker
August just flew by. We moved sheep to fresh grass a lot, I was trying to keep them in fresh food every 24-48 hours. So a lot of the time was spent moving fences and figuring out where they were going to next. The late July flood started our annual monsoon rains and...
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 11, 2013 | Farming Life
We move the sheep to fresh grass every day or two. We use electric netting to keep them contained in the grazing segment. This allows the grass to rest after grazing and is really improving the quality of the pasture.
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 30, 2013 | Wool Products
Just got a lot of new yarns back from the wool mill. We’ll be adding them over the next few weeks to the store.
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 29, 2013 | Farming Life
Yesterday we had a rather “interesting” event. Major rain causing flash floods. Here are some of the pictures:
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 24, 2013 | LambTracker
We just got back from our yearly CO Woolgrowers Convention. This is the once a year 2 day meeting of the sheep industry in Colorado. In addition to the regular reports on the world meat and wool markets, what the US Government is doing about grazing and water rights...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 16, 2013 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
Summer grazing is in full swing. We are moving the sheep every couple of days to fresh grass. It looks like they are leaving a lot behind but it’s mostly dry tough stems, not very good for nursing ewes and growing lambs. Once the sheep are off a major section we...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 2, 2013 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
Grazing continues and we are on our second round of grazing the main pastures. So far irrigation water is good, but there is no snow on Mt. Lamborn. The old saying is if there is still snow on Lamborn by the 4th of July it’s an ok year for water. So it’s...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 9, 2013 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
It’s been very busy but we are now done lambing. We ended up the year with 89 live lambs born and 5 stillborns. 1 lamb died at 1 week of age for unknown reasons. Another was crushed by a wind blown heavy fence so we have 87 lambs left alive. We had a lot of...
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 22, 2013 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
The remaining pregnant ewes are now out on pasture ready for lambing. The grass is still very short so we are feeding them hay. I’ve also gotten their mineral feeder out and filled. We don’t feed any grain so we use a custom mixed sheep mineral to provide...
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 10, 2013 | Weather
Lovely April snow. Yeah I know most folks are tired of winter but this nice wet snow will certainly help our water situation this summer. The new lambs are in the warmest and driest spot on the farm and enjoying it too.
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 9, 2013 | Farming Life
Ken and I took a ride with a friend with a plane over Terror Creek. Here is our reservoir This is the view of the watershed above the reservoir. Garvin Mesa looking south Our place from the air Another view
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 5, 2013 | Farming Life
The small dry stone retaining wall around the Shop is a new addition as well and looks great!
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 3, 2013 | Farming Life
We’ve been enjoying the visit from our friends David and Ryan from Wales. Here they are on their last day at Revolution Brewing, enjoying the Grand Avenue Gal.
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 3, 2013 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
First of the USDA experiment lambs have arrived. A nice ram lamb. 3 ewes to go. All should lamb within the next 2-3 days.
by OogieFarmBlog | Apr 1, 2013 | Farming Life
We started April with nice weather and after repairing the tractor hydrraulics Ken was able to work on clearing brush from the rock wall and repairing damage done by trees and the county road maintenance folk. Meanwhile David and Ryan, AKA Dai &...
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 27, 2013 | Farming Life
We started shearing the flock the end of March. Nice sunny weather but cold and windy. We also are getting the rock put on the Little House Foundation. At least on those days it’s warm enough for the mortar to be mixed.
by OogieFarmBlog | Mar 15, 2013 | Livestock Guardian Dogs
We got another LGD puppy in January. She’s an Akbash and is named Teasel. She has been growing fast and is now a teenage dog. March is continuing dry. We are scheduled to shear the sheep later this month so it will probably start snowing or raining then.
by OogieFarmBlog | Feb 20, 2013 | Weather
Looks like the drought continues. We have bare ground outside now and we are below average for snow water equivalent. Our tests last summer doing extremely intensive sheep grazing helped us keep the sheep out on pasture longer than we expected. Given the state of the...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jan 19, 2013 | Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
It’s winter in western Colorado. We have some snow but not nearly enough although it was covering the solar panels. The adult rams are doing well and becky the guard dog is on duty.