Well, we thought spring was coming. The snow had melted and things were starting to green up. The grass was just getting going, and the guard dogs looked ready to start their lamb-protection work.
Then, we got this! More snow, which led to more mud when it melted the next day. Last year, we had sheep out grazing on the 28th of March. It’s already the 11th of April, and there is not enough grass to put anyone out yet. We’re due to start lambing next weekend, and we are not set up to have ewes lambing in winter. I sure hope the weather warms up and the grass starts to grow soon.
We still have a lot of hay left, so we can afford to keep the sheep in for a while longer, but the lambing ewes need to get out on pasture before they lamb.
We’re at least several weeks behind in terms of bud growth in the orchard, too. Now, that may be a good thing – last year, we started early, and once the fruit trees were in flower, we got a major frost and snowstorm. In the middle of May! It killed all the fruit for that year. At least with the trees running behind, we may have some apples this year.
