Desert Weyr Blog
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Sheep AI Experiment, 2009, Part Two: Syncing the Ewes
Our next step in the AI project is syncing the ewes’ heat cycles. We put CIDRs in all of the ewes today. The first group will be the AI girls. The second batch is a control group, and they’ll be bred via a live cover ram. He’ll be testing the sync procedure. Here you can… Continue reading
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Ewe Sorting and Lamb Vaccinations
We got one batch of ewes sorted out today. This group will go to the live cover ram as a control for the AI procedure. They’re now all sorted into breeding pens, and they’ve had their fall dewormer to kill nose bots. The potential AI girls are now in the other pen, closest to the… Continue reading
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Sheep AI Experiment, 2009, Part One
Today was the start of another sheep AI experiment. We started our 2009 trials with the USDA-NAGP people. We collected semen from 14 adult Black Welsh Mountain rams. Each ram had its picture taken in front of a size-marked tarp for future reference. While I managed to get pictures of the picture-taking process, I didn’t… Continue reading
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Feeding Sheep
The sheep are in the winter pens now. Here you can see the ewes eating hay and, later, a nearly-empty feeder. We’re going through more hay than normal, but we also have more sheep than normal. A good selection of ewes, ewe lambs, and ram lambs is for sale if you’d like to start your… Continue reading
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Fall in the North Fork
Mt. Lamborn has a skiff of snow on it. This is our view down into the North Fork valley. The fall colors are beautiful this time of year. Continue reading
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Snow on Mount Gunnison
Today was a lovely fall day with snow on Mt. Gunnison. Winter is coming. Continue reading
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Eating the Melon!
We decided to see if the melon that I harvested was any good to eat. It was wonderful, so we ate the whole melon! It was so sweet and tasty. I saved the seeds to potentially replant next year since it’s an open-pollinated variety. Continue reading
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Harvesting the Last of the Garden
With a frost coming, it was time to harvest the last of the garden. My only other crops left were melons. One was a watermelon and one was a cantaloupe. The only one that reached a respectable size was the cantaloupe. It’s not ripe yet, but I harvested it anyway. Better gardeners than I have… Continue reading
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Last Hay of the Year
Judd just got the last hay of the year baled and delivered today. We buy hay from our neighbors. This second cutting looks especially good. There was more hay than we expected. We won’t need any additional for the year, and we’ll be well set for winter. Our next job will be to send a… Continue reading
