Tag: ewes

Moving Around

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After a cool and foggy beginning, yesterday afternoon was sunny with a nice breeze most of the time.  A nice change from the oppressing humidity of the days before.  We had hoped to move the ewes into the hayfield, but it is still not quite ready.  So we moved them onto fresh grass in an adjoining paddock. 
We cooked up a jewel weed dye pot for the first time over the weekend.  We’re hoping for a nice peachy orange like Elizabeth Murphy (@sittingtree) shared on twitter a few weeks ago.  We boil jewel weed quite often to relieve the itch and heal poison ivy, insect bites, etc. but this is the first time we are trying to dye with it.  Hopefully it turns out pretty, as there is plenty of it around.. a benefit of not having had time to weed.  We also had another big harvest of hibiscus flowers that are finishing up in a dye pot this a.m.  Hope to share some photos of the natural dyeing in a few days.

Weaning Day

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Saturday was weaning day.  We set up moving lanes on Friday, and moved everyone, including the yearling ewes and wethers, into the corral overnight.  Bright and early the next morning, we got to work.  All the sheep were scored with the FAMACHA card and treated.  The adults went out the side door and back the moving lane into fresh pasture behind the house.  Liam and Strider have such pleasant personalities that we left them in with the ewes for the next couple weeks.  The lambs went out through the corral and out a moving lane into the graveyard field where hay had been made a couple weeks ago. 
After a late lunch and a brief rest, we headed back to the barn to finish taking down the temporary fencing for the moving lanes.  A rapid change of plans had to be made as the lambs had torn down a corner of their fencing and had moved into the pen with Poseidon and Aragorn, our two biggest rams.  There they were bunched up in the corner closest to the barn bawling for their mamas.  We set to work repairing and moving fencing, and, of course, by the time we were done they had scattered and were happily munching poison ivy leaves off the locust tree trunks.  Finally after much coaxing and gentle herding (all the while trying very hard not to attract the attention of the rams) we got (what we thought) was everybody moved back.  On the walk back to the barn we heard a lamb echoing down over the hill.  Of course it turned out not to be an echo, but 6 or 7 lambs down below the rams.  Luckily they had meandered back up to the top closer to the other lambs and we were able to coax them over the next morning.
The ewes spent that evening and the next day wandering from one end of their paddock to the other looking for their lambs, calling them all the while.  That always pulls at our heartstrings.  Everybody has now settled in nicely and things are much calmer… and much quieter.

Rotating Pastures

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The summer, thus far, has been a very stormy one.  Within a few hours we seem to go from blazing hot sun to severe thunder storms and back to the hot sunshine.  We moved the ewes and lambs into the knoll pasture last week, and they spend a lot of time under the shade trees.  They venture back out to eat after a storm rolls through, but head back to the shade as the sun quickly heats things back up.  We are very grateful for the rain, but we really need are really excited to get back to the hayfield.
Check back tomorrow when we will start another giveaway!
 

In the Pasture

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The pasture is a very busy place this time of year.  The ewes are hard at work raising their growing lambs.  We’ve been lucky the past couple weeks that although the sun has been hot, their has been a lot of rain.  The pasture grass has been growing at a pace that it’s keeping ahead of the flock.  Another pasture rotation is in the works, and the ewes and their lambs are moving into the knoll paddock.
Although the rain has been a real blessing for the pasture and the cisterns, it has prevented us from getting any more hay in the barn.  We’ll just keep watching for a three day break in the storms.
Don’t forget to comment on yesterday’s post for an opportunity to win a 2014 Sheeps and Peeps Farm Calendar! 

Catching a Glimpse

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In between all the feeding, watering, fence moving, mucking out, and everyday farm chores, we are feeling so blessed to catch these glimpses of first breath, first steps, the first signs of independence.

The farm air is filled with sweet little lamb baas and mamas’ answering nickers.

Today’s a big day as we move the yearlings and attempt to bring the mamas and lambs back into the barn for shots and a health check.  All the while keeping an eye on the ewes that have yet to lamb.  Wish us luck… this first time getting everyone back to the barn can turn into a real comedy!