Desert Weyr Blog
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Beauty Sleep
Here’s a picture of Orange, our outside cat, taking a nap on an old apple stump. Summer is coming, and it’s really nice out now. Not too hot, but still nice and warm. It’s perfect weather for naps! Continue reading
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The Babysitter
This ewe was recruited to watch over the lambs while their moms went out to graze. Just after I took this picture, they all took off doing lamb races. She was racing after them, trying to keep them all together. I can just see her trying to explain to the rest of the ewes why… Continue reading
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Beach Ball’s lambs
Here you can see Tanwen’s two lambs. I tag twins in the left ear and singles in the right ear. That way, if I see a lost lamb, I can easily tell whether I should be looking for another one or just for the ewe. Ewes that lose their lambs often get marked down, and… Continue reading
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Irrigation and Garden Stuff
Ken got the gated pipe across the main orchard today, and we’ve started irrigating. We have roughly 50 honey locust trees in our temporary nursery orchard. We will eventually move them out to where they belong, but we don’t have irrigation where they need to go just yet. Continue reading
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Becky and the Rams
We put Becky in the pen next to the rams so she wouldn’t get crushed. She climbed through the hay and feeder to be with her rams, so we let her. She is very protective of her sheep. Continue reading
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The Rams Are Together, and Beach Ball Has Lambed
Today, we got all of the lambs into one big group. It’s a lot easier to manage a bunch of rams instead of several small groups. The first step is to cram everybody into a tiny space with almost no room to run. This also gets them all smelling like each other and reduces fights… Continue reading
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First Lambs!
Here are the first lambs of the season! Bron had a nice ram lamb weighing nine pounds. It was out, dry, and nursed when we got there this morning. Belinda had a pair of twin ram lambs weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces and 7 pounds 13 ounces, respectively. One had a leg back but was… Continue reading
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Snow, Still No Lambs
We were greeted this morning by snow on the ground. No lambs yet! The snow should melt by the end of the day, as it’s supposed to get up into the low 60s by this afternoon. Continue reading
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Woolly Beach Balls and a Garden Attempt
We still don’t have any lambs, but as you can see, we do have some very round sheep. This is Desert Weyr Tanwen. She had twins her first year, but only a single last year. I suspect she’s carrying twins again this year due to her size. I have a very black thumb, but I… Continue reading
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On Pasture With Big Bales of Hay
Today, we got the pregnant ewes out into pastures where they can lamb. The grass is still not very high, so we put out some hay. We got three round bales to try. They’re smaller than some – only four feet wide and 1,000 pounds each. Ken can move them with the tractor without a… Continue reading