Category: Farm Life
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Fire Mitigation
Larry is back, and this time he’s trimming the back cedars pasture. It’s mostly junipers, but we’ve always called them cedars. The goal is to remove all of the low-hanging branches (ladder fuels) so a fire won’t easily reach the crowns of the trees. It’s a lot of work, but it can really make a… Continue reading
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Ram Health Issues
A while ago, we had a ram yearling die from what we thought were injuries caused by fighting. His bladder had burst. However, yesterday, we had another ram yearling start the same behaviors. One time is just bad luck. Two means you need to look at management to see if you can find a cause… Continue reading
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Snow, Finally!
We finally have some lovely, lovely snow! So far, we have about five inches, but it’s still coming down. Continue reading
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Wildlife
We had to make a trip today, and we saw two different herds of Pronghorn Antelope on the road. I couldn’t get a picture, but we did come home and see some bucks in the side yard. Continue reading
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Dry and Delivering Hay
Our dry weather continues. While the East Coast is getting bombarded with snow, we remain in a drought. Without snow, we have no irrigation water, so the lack of decent winter storms is worrying. Meanwhile, we’re continuing to feed out hay. We move the sheep from pen to pen so we can get in with… Continue reading
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Hay Delivery and Warm Weather
Today was hay delivery day. We got five big square bales – over a ton of hay. The adult rams, ram yearlings, pregnant ewes, and horses all got fresh bales. Moving to big bales helps us make feeding simpler, but it now also means that the tractor is required. The pond is nearly thawed out… Continue reading
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Wild Turkeys
We saw wild turkeys at the Terror Creek Winery today. Our farm is on the edge of the mesa below. Continue reading
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Sheep Happens
Sadly, we had a ram yearling die today. He’d been injured in a fight. As required, we had to do a post-mortem on him to determine the cause of death. Unfortunately, it was a burst bladder, probably from getting a horn in the belly. We are allowed to bury our animals on our farm, so… Continue reading
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Rear View Sunset
I captured this beautiful sunset in the side mirror today as we were driving up the hill. Continue reading
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Tracks in the Snow
We noticed tracks in the snow when we were feeding the horses today. From the looks of them, it was a small canine predator like a fox. It doesn’t seem to be coming anywhere near the sheep pens. I am sure our guard dogs kept it away. Continue reading
