Feeding Time
Delivering a big bale of hay to the ewes. Almost plowed out enough to feed the ram lambs.
The Elk are Down
The deep snow up high has brought the elk back down to the valley. This big bull is eating the old hay we spread as mulch last fall. Meanwhile, Ken is trying to clear out enough snow from the aisle way so we can get in to feed the ram lambs.
Sofia is Growing Up
Sofia is growing fast. She is going out with the ewes under supervision and doing well. We are really pleased, she has the best instincts at a younger age than any guardian dog we have ever had.
Sheep AI Work
We are again doing research with the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program. This year we are collecting blood samples as well as other data on the ewes to evaluate their ovulation status. The experiment calls for blood collections every hour so we have a lot to do....
Sofia Meets the Other Dogs
Sofia has arrived and is settling in. She is small enough to get out of every pen and can crawl through the welded wire panels. She is so excited that we are concerned she will run the regnant sheep a bit too much so we are keeping her separate from but adjacent to...
Bluetooth
Cleaning up before Garvin Mesa Day. Who says backhoes can't have high technology? Here's our version of Bluetooth. š
Sofia our new Guard Dog Puppy
It's time for us to get another guard dog puppy. We need to have dogs coming up all the time to be sure we have enough dogs to guard our sheep. This time we've selected a Karakachan puppy. We are eagerly waiting for Hopping Acres Sofia to arrive!
Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Characteristics
I use a variety of characteristics to evaluate our flock of Black Welsh Mountain sheep each year inĀ theĀ fall. I also look at their NSIP EBVs for important traits. We've sorted the rams and the ewes and yearlings and only haveĀ the lambs left to do. Every year...
Chicken Butcher Day
This past Saturday was chicken butcher day. We rent a trailer and hire additional help to process all of our birds. It went very well. After scalding the chickens are plucked. Then into the inside for gutting and chilling and finally packaging. We were a host farm for...
New Chicken Feeders
We've been looking for a way to put food and oyster shell in for the chickens in the chicken tractor. Our existing standard round feeders don't work well and dishes waste a lot of feed as the chickens scratch it out. I looked at a number of on-line DIY PVC pipe...