More… Anticipation

Sheeps & Peeps10 Comments

We are oh so very close… the expectant mamas are spending their time eating and resting.  Everyone gets up and down a little gingerly, a little more slowly.  Second cutting hay and a little corn and oats have been added to their feed schedule.  We’ve been adding apple cider vinegar to their water on these unusually warm April days. 

Bets are on…
who will have twins… almost all of them look like they are carrying twins
will Hera have triplets or maybe Athena will this year… Julie looks awfully big, maybe she will have triplets…
who will go first… will it be Daisy, whose udder is gigantic… or will it be Maibh or Sweet Pea

So go the days leading up to the first lamb hitting the ground… questions swirling around inside the shepherdess/s heads…. conversations held in the pasture and in the barn.  Anticipation… yes… great anticipation.

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Last of the Shearing

Sheeps & Peeps7 Comments

We sheared the rams this weekend, a whole six weeks earlier than last year.  We have been running a little behind on everything, so it was exciting to accomplish something on schedule!  Aragorn looked on as Poseidon was first at the clippers, then he and Liam had their turn.  All three of them have such beautiful fleeces.  Poseidon and Aragorn spent about fifteen hours in the ram cram before moving into a paddock with newly repaired fencing.  Our older fellow, Liam, went back in with the expectant mamas for now.  He is still a bit wobbly from his battle with deer worm, and is being spoiled with some extra tlc. 

More…

Sheeps & Peeps6 Comments

We just can’t help sharing more… more spring blooms… more flowers… more blossoms.
The blueberry bushes are heavily laden with blooms in shades of white, pink and deep red.  The fruit trees just keep treating us with more beautiful blossoms.  Hopefully this week’s freezing cold temperatures and snow flurries will do nothing to harm what should be a bountiful crop of fruit this summer.

Anticipation

Sheeps & Peeps8 Comments

The air here at the farm is charged with anticipation… and a little anxiety.  The bulging bellies and swelling udders a sure sign that lambing time is nigh.  Just a little more than a week  and our little lambs will be hitting the ground.  Lambing supplies have been inventoried, reorganized and reordered.  The barn has been cleaned and there’s a little bit or reorganization going on in there too.  It is so much easier to tell what is going on now that they’ve been sheared, and all the ewes look to be in good condition.  So for a few more days, the waiting game continues… we’re just about ready.

Spectacular

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We can’t remember a spring where the trees have been so bright… so vivid… so spectacular.  Perhaps the mild winter and spring have combined to produce this abundance of bloom in the trees.  The path of sunlight during the day presents one breathtaking view after another.  It’s as if our mountains are singing a song of spring!

Finally

Sheeps & Peeps5 Comments

We finally got the yearling ewes and two of the wethers, Moe and Larry, moved out of the barn pasture and into their new paddock… again.  We gave up on Jack and he will stay with the bred ewes, probably through lambing.

It was a very exciting day.  They played follow-the-leader with Davita.  This very quickly evolved into a chase-the-cats-out-of-the-pasture game.  We are assuming that the yearling ewes won as Davita and Muffy ended up on fence posts.

They discovered the goat tree, just as any animal we put in this pasture seems to do.  Sheep, goat or dog they all seem to love this little crab apple tree.

The rams discovered that they now have neighbors, and had to show off a little for next season’s ladies with a minor head-butting, neck-wrestling tussle.  Not to be outdone, the yearlings had to do a little showing off of their own.

What was a very exciting day for the yearlings, finally ended with some peaceful grazing… yes… finally.