Category: Hay and Forage
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Where Did August Go?
August has flown by! We’ve been moving the sheep to fresh grass frequently. I was trying to get them on fresh food every 24-48 hours. So, a lot of our time has been spent moving fences and figuring out where they’ll go next. The late July flood started our annual monsoon rains, and we’ve had… Continue reading
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Managed Sheep Grazing
We’ve been moving the sheep to new grass every day or two. We use electric netting to keep them contained in small grazing segments. This allows the grass to rest after grazing, and it’s really improving the quality of our pastures. After all, fresh grass = healthy sheep! Continue reading
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Summer Grazing
Summer grazing is in full swing. We’re moving the sheep to fresh grass every couple of days. It looks like they’re leaving a lot behind, but in actuality, it’s mostly dry, tough stems. They’re not very good for nursing ewes and growing lambs. Once the sheep move off a major section, we mow it down… Continue reading
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Early July, Hot and Dry
Grazing continues, and we are on our second round of grazing the main pastures. So far, our irrigation water has been good, but there’s no snow on Mt. Lamborn. As the old saying goes, if there’s still snow on Lamborn by the 4th of July, it’ll be a good year for water. It’s not going… Continue reading
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Lambing Is Over
It’s been very busy here lately, but we’re now done lambing. We ended the year with 89 live lambs and five stillborns. One lamb died at one week of age for unknown reasons. Another was crushed by a windblown fence, so we have 87 lambs left. We had a lot of first-time moms with twins,… Continue reading
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Ready for Lambing
Our remaining pregnant ewes are now out on pasture and ready for lambing. The grass is still very short, so we’ve been feeding them hay. I’ve also gotten their mineral feeder out and filled it to the top. We don’t feed any grain, so we use a custom-mixed sheep mineral to provide the supplementation that… Continue reading
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Bare Ground
It looks like the drought is continuing. We have bare ground outside now, and we’re below average for snow-water equivalent. Our tests last summer with extremely intensive sheep grazing helped us keep the sheep on pasture for longer than expected. Given the state of the reservoir this year, we’ll likely be doing the same again.… Continue reading
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Independence Day
It’s the Fourth of July! The grass is looking good, and the lambs are growing very well. The saying in Paonia is that if Mt. Lamborn has snow on the fourth, it’ll be a good water year. This is a very good year – our cold spring and heavy snow mean plenty of irrigation water… Continue reading
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Early Morning Rams
It’s early morning, and we’re checking out the feed in the ram pasture. Continue reading
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Lambs and Hay
We have more new lambs! The ewe in the photo below had twins. The new hay is starting to arrive, too. This first cutting made 708 small bales. Continue reading