Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Tag: ewes
Friday’s Fences
This has been a busy fence-line this week, as the yearlings and their new neighbors get to know each other. We’re joining Life According to Jan and Jer for Friday’s Fences.
A Glimpse of the Nursery Paddock
We thought you might enjoy this glimpse of the nursery paddock at feeding time. While some of the lambs enjoy some play time as the ewes are eating a little grain, others are very intent on quickly reuniting with their mama. It usually takes a little while for everyone to get sorted out.
More… Anticipation
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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Anticipation
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.
Finally
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.
Mayhem
Mayhem ~ a collective noun, at least around here. It seems to be a name given to the yearlings each spring. Here you see them – calm, relaxed, enjoying the post-shearing sunshine. But this is not the paddock they are supposed to be in. This picture is post-mayhem.
In the hours preceding this, the yearlings, their watering trough, and mineral feeders have been moved, Moe, Larry and Jack (the three very large wethers) have been re-caught and moved, fences have torn down and re-built – twice. This at the end of a long shearing day… we gave up. They are in the barn paddock with the expectant mamas, and there they will stay until we get our plan in place to out-smart them. The worst of it is — they brought the wethers back with them… sigh.
Right here, that girl looking us right in the eye is Grace… the ring-leader. Just look at that innocent face.
Shearing Day
Thank you so much for all the good luck wishes for shearing day. Everything went very well except for Larry, one very large six-year old wether (above), who behaved badly. He finally calmed down, and that heavy year-long coat came off. Many, many thanks to our shearers, Joe and Melvin, and to all the family and friends who pitched in to help! We have 42 bags of beautiful wool just waiting for a turn on the skirting table. You should have heard the oooohs and aaaahs as the wool came off each sheep.
We thought you might enjoy a couple before and after photos. Daisy is pictured above and Juliet below. It will take us about a week before we begin to recognize the sheep in the field again. They look very different without those heavy winter coats. It is now so much easier to gauge the condition of each sheep as we go into lambing… just a couple of weeks now.
solstice to solstice :: quiet
response for week 11 of the solstice to solstice project
with urban.prairie.forest.
flickr pool
While We Were Walking
Don’t think for a moment that the Moving into March walk went unnoticed by the farm dwellers. They definitely recognize when there is anything out of the ordinary, and are never at a loss for words.
“I think you are going the wrong way!”
“We ran all the way down here… we thought you were bringing the hay!”
“What are you doing down there?”
“We’ve been up and down this hill four times. Aren’t you finished taking pictures?”
“You better be coming up out of there with hay!”
“Don’t make me come down there and get you!”