Category: Hay and Forage
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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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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
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Rams on Pasture
Now that the hay is in, we can put the rams out on the front pear orchard pasture. They’ll clean up the parts we cannot cut. This is the first time all the sheep will be out on pasture at the same time. We have one ewe who is sick and one ewe and a… Continue reading
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Our First Cutting Hay Is in the Barn!
Judd came back and finished stacking the hay in the barn. Here he is getting the last bales out of our front pear orchard field. These pictures show the last load of hay getting stacked in the barn. Now it’s all in. Continue reading
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First Hay in the Barn
Our first load of hay was delivered late in the day today. Unfortunately, the face was uneven, and the stack fell down. Ken re-stacked it so the next ones would be okay. Continue reading
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Independence Day Thoughts
As we celebrate our Independence Day (two days late from history, but this is traditional :-)), our town is having its annual Cherry Days event. This year, there are actually cherries! Some years, we have frozen; some years, they come later; and some years, like this one, they’re perfect. Sweet Black Bings (never shipped, and… Continue reading
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Stone Brew Visitors and Haying!
Greg Koch from Stone Brewing, plus Susan Duniphin and Keiffer Koch, arrived for a short visit today. We started with some picture-taking opportunities at the edge of the mesa. We had a lovely lunch at Flying Fork in Paonia, then got a great tour of both Revolution Brewing’s new facility and their tasting room. Of… Continue reading
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Mowing the Orchard
We moved the pregnant ewes and mowed their old pen to reset the grass growth. We needed to chop the seed heads and get it back to growing more leaves. It should be ready to graze again in two to three weeks. 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
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Lawn Mowers
The snow has all melted, and things have dried out enough to get the pregnant ewes out. They needed their spring dewormer. Afterward, as a treat, they got to be lawn mowers around the guesthouse and shop. I sat under the shop porch and watched while reading the mail. They spend a lot of time… Continue reading