Category: Farm Life
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Shop Construction
Construction on the shop continues. Bill McKee and his crew were out putting all the rebar in the concrete floors and installing drains. Once all the rebar was installed, we had to wait until Tom McCormick could come and pour the floors. They came back on Thursday to do the work. Continue reading
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Off to Slaughter
This year, I vowed not to go into winter with as many sheep as I had last year. Our fall slaughtering has started. We’ve already done 16 adult ewes, and today we sent off 10 young rams. We have to schedule slaughter dates over a year in advance. I have 66 slots reserved for this… Continue reading
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Shop Building
Our new shop building really got going this past week. After the footers were poured, the actual foundation walls were formed and poured in. The back of the covered carport area will have a wall, but it’ll be open at the top for light and airflow. The back wall ended up being a bit taller… Continue reading
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Back on Pasture and Why Labels Are Misleading
The early snow has pretty much all melted, and we got one batch of ram lambs back out on our triticale pasture regrowth. We made sure they were all pretty full of hay before putting them out, and we made an aisle of electric fencing to prevent too much plugging of the permanent pastures. We’ll… Continue reading
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Winter Snow
It’s the first snow of 2007 here on Gavin Mesa. It’s a bit early this year. The sheep love the snow! I think it’s because they have such warm, woolly coats. They enjoy playing in it. The rams are eagerly awaiting their breakfast. The ewes especially like to go around the corrals, licking and eating… Continue reading
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Back From Taos
I had a lovely time in Taos, and I didn’t come back with more wool than I took – that was good! I did find a pair of patterns for knitted dragons, so I bought two types of roving to make a knitted dragon like our logo. My test sample looks pretty good, so I’ll… Continue reading
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Off to the Wool Festival (And Bears)
I’m heading out today to attend part of the Taos Wool Festival. I’m taking my second revision of a Monmouth cap, plus the start of a scarf from a chart that I’m having issues with, in hopes that I can get some help from friends there. Some of my knitting friends will fortunately be attending.… Continue reading
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More on Sorting Sheep
Yesterday, we gave all the ewe lambs their second shots. All of them were evaluated. I managed to get coats on most of them, but I still need to make 11 more coats, as I ran out of some sizes. The uncoated sheep went back to the orchard on pasture, while the rest are here… Continue reading
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Farm Tour Tomorrow!
Anyone in western Colorado is welcome to come visit us at the Paonia Harvest Festival’s Self-Guided Farm Tour tomorrow between 11 AM and 4 PM. We’ll be here all day talking about our sheep, geese, and chickens. I’ll have meat, wool, and yarn for sale. They’ll also be for sale all day Sunday at the… Continue reading
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US Organic Is Cruel and Inhumane for Livestock
US Organic is cruel and inhumane to livestock. This statement will shock many and be denied by others. US standards for organic production of livestock are cruel and inhumane. They are a travesty of what “organic” should be. In an ideal world, buying organic would mean the products you purchase were produced in a fair… Continue reading