Memorial Day

Sheeps & Peeps4 Comments
HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
excerpted from
General Orders No.11, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 1868
The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land.

We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders.

Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from hishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation’s gratitude, the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.

First Shots

Sheeps & Peeps5 Comments

This beautiful, pastoral scene… ewes and lambs peacefully grazing… is really quite different from the activity on the farm just a few hours earlier.  Let’s rewind…
We rounded up all the ewes and lambs bright and very early yesterday morning (that was a zoo, there should have been a movie made) and brought them back to the barn for a health check-up.  We herded them through a moving lane we put up on the outside of the perimeter fencing the night before.  It took three of us (Thanks, Mom!), two on the inside and one on the outside.  Once, again, the shepherds’ crooks were invaluable.  We did FAMACHA checks on the ewes; most were twos, but we had a few we needed to worm.  The lambs received their first CD-T shots, FAMACHA checks and tail checks. 
We have had a problem with fly-strike this year at the tail docking area… the very thing we are trying to prevent by docking their tails.  We’ve never had this problem before.  (It’s probably a result of the unusually mild winter; the flies are bad already this year.  Has anyone ever tried Fly Parasites?)
Everyone behaved very well in the barn and were very relaxed and quiet.  That was wonderful because it made everything go pretty smoothly.  After the shepherdess/s did some re-hydrating, we all headed back out the barn door, but to a new pasture.  The ewes and lambs are now in the knoll pasture.  It was very noisy for several hours as it took quite awhile for the mamas and little ones to find each other again.  But everything has quieted down and they seem quite happy, once again.
(If you’re new to our blog, you may be wondering about the farming detail in some of our posts.  We began our blog as a farm journal, somewhere we can go to quickly find… when did we do that? what did we do?  We keep very detailed paper records also, but we can access this from basically anywhere… even in the field on our phones 🙂

Yearling HiJinks

Sheeps & Peeps5 Comments

The yearling ewes are spending their time getting fat and sassy, awaiting their new roles as breeding ewes come fall.  For now, they are carefree and full of teenage fun.   They observe all the excitement going on in the adjoining pasture, and sometimes they just can’t help but join in when the lambs start their running games. 

It’s very entertaining to watch them running… bucking… kicking their heels… soaring through the air.  Then, almost as quickly as it begins… there they are again standing at the fence, once again observing life in the adjoining pasture, just as if nothing had happened.  This group of young ladies are growing out very well, and are really quite beautiful.  They are the future of the flock.