Category: Farm Life
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Lambing Lull
We’re now officially in the lambing lull. It’s the break between when the AI lambs and the secondary lambs are due. It’s been a busy and somewhat difficult lambing so far. Our AI experiment was a rousing success this year! Of the 44 ewes we bred using the AI cervical procedure using frozen semen, 22… Continue reading
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Ewes Out on Pasture
We finally got the ewes out onto one of the pastures. There isn’t much grass, but we need them to start moving so they’re in good shape for lambing. They sure like to go out and find the tasty bits! They’re moving in and out a lot, and that will help aid their condition after… Continue reading
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Tree Protection
The rams spend a lot of time in the front pear orchard pasture. Unfortunately, they can get bored, and they tend to bash the trees. We finally got the trees protected by some welded wire fencing. Hopefully, that keeps the trees alive. Continue reading
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Front Yard Elk
It’s the end of March, and a large elk herd with upwards of 50 members moved through our front yard. I think this is the latest we’ve ever seen the elk here. Continue reading
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Removing Old Fences
We’ve started removing old fences around the apple cellar. We’re planning to remove the cellar this spring. We got it all down, just in time for more snow. Continue reading
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Removing Old Corrals
We’ve removed all the old corrals and handling stuff in preparation for rebuilding them later this summer. Continue reading
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Shearing the Sheep
Sheep shearing has begun. We’re betting that there are a lot of twins on the way. Continue reading
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Sheep Handling System
We’re planning on reconfiguring the sheep handling system once we put it on the other side of the hay barn. To be sure it’ll fit and see how the sheep work through it, we decided to move it up to the main hay barn area before shearing. Here it is, all set up and ready… Continue reading
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Wider Than They Are Tall!
The ewes aren’t due to lamb until the last week of April. However, they’re already getting quite round. I always tell people that our sheep are wider than they are tall when they’re heavily pregnant. Most folks don’t believe me, though. Here’s the proof! Continue reading
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Hay Barn Reconfiguration
Now that we’ve made the transition to large square hay bales, we no longer need the backstop that the old hay stack wagon used to push the small bales up against. We’ve decided to take it down and see if we can move the sheep handling system into its place. That way, we can use… Continue reading