Category: Hay and Forage
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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
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Getting Ready for Shearing
We spent today cleaning the old hay scraps out from under the hay barn – specifically the area where we shear the sheep. Up next will be building the sheep sweep and getting everything ready. Shearing will take place a week from today (March 28th). Continue reading
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New Divider Fence
With the front west orchard pasture now reseeded and back to permanent pasture, we needed to install a more permanent divider fence. The fence is far enough away from the trees that we can get the tractor and marker down beside them, but not too far into the next pasture. With a good, solid welded… Continue reading
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Farm Blather
Today (why always on a weekend?), Becky came in with a huge gash on her side. We have no idea what she did, but after a trip to the emergency vet in Delta 30 miles away, she’s been stitched up. We were given some stuff to keep her from chewing the drain and stitches, but… Continue reading
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Fall Farm Work
While the solar system was being installed, we continued fall farm work. One task was to clean out one of our ditches. Ken used the backhoe to clean it out on September 11th. This area is where we will rebuild the pens for the rams for winter. We have an apple crop this year, and… Continue reading
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Some of the Horses
Here are a few of the mares out on pasture. We’ve run out of grass in the back, so they’re getting hay for now. Continue reading