Our Flerd!

We've decided to try multi-species grazing and have introduced our flock of sheep to our herd of beef cows to make a flerd. So far they seem to be getting along quite well, though that mainly means ignoring each other. There was, however, one lamb that kept follow the cows around bleating while they ignored her. I don't think they know what to make of each other and are more focused on the tasty clover in their pasture.

Green green and green again

The clover we seeded has germinated!

We put the cows and sheep out to 'top graze' which means they go quickly through all our fields and chow down on the new grass. They're happy and the clover is happy since it gets more light. We're happy that the animals are so clearly over the moon (get it? cow? over the moon?).

And our veggies are all grown up and moving to the fields! We've been transplanting and seeding and discing and bed shaping. Spring is so exciting here! It was strange to get here in the fall and finish up another group's crops. It's been really nice to see the start of the process.

So Much Has Happened!

So much has happened!

We cleaned up an abandoned lot in Lawrence, MA for a nonprofit there who farms with high school students:

The lambs learned how to be extra cute climbing in the manger (before we castrated them and docked their tails):

Our piglets arrived:

We visited the garlic we planted in the fall and it's delicious! Green garlic any day now:

More tomatoes sprouted:

I repotted the older tomatoes:

We gave the onions a haircut:

We planted spring wheat:

And Theo had a birthday:

Number 60

My favorite sheep gave birth! To triplets!

Sigh

Lambs are just like tomatoes. They grow up so fast.

Lambs! Again!

We had another arrival this morning! A single lamb with a very quick, healthy birth.

Lambs!

I woke up yesterday morning after a busy night of checking the ewes every couple hours. Of course, labor started as soon as chores began and we were all awake anyway. By the time I got to the barn, the first lamb was already out and it's twin was about to be born.

I call this lamb in a bag:

Birth in action:

The older twin looking to nurse and the younger one still lying in its puddle of goo:

Luckily, everyone was healthy and are now happily spending a few days with mom before heading out with the rest of the flock.

Lambs are Cute

Lambs sure are cute. And rather delicious, if we're going to be completely honest.

Some of the middle schoolers at the farm are angling to name our new lambs (more to be born soon, I hope!) which makes me a bit uncomfortable. We're slaughtering them in a matter of months and I'm not sure about becoming so attached to an animal. I think it's a lot easier to keep that in mind throughout their lives, rather than give in to the temptation to cuddle with them and treat them like you would a kitten or puppy.

Lambing

We have lambs coming! Two were born today and pictures will be coming soon. You can also check them out on Lee's blog.

The two nights that Theo and I were assigned to check on them nothing happened besides severe exhaustion the next day. We have four nights this week on 'lambing duty' so I'll keep every one posted if the stork visits our farm again.

Vaccines!

In preparation for lambing, we spent some time vaccinating the ewes. I felt like I was on an episode of ER when I deftly pulled out my two milligrams of CDT (for tetanus among other common sheep ailments) and plunged them subcutaneously into my sheep. Of course, it was a lot easier with Theo holding her still and plenty of moral support.

Here's Brian taking his turn while Josh holds a ewe still.

Very easy and exciting.

Shearing Sheep

Our sheep look so naked now without their wool! I got to do number 60 which is excellent since she bit my pants back in October. I haven't forgotten.

Here's us sizing each other up:

Me learning how to use the clippers:

And the wool getting packed up! I took this while sitting in the corner since I was so, so tired. Shearing is really really hard!

Sheep Farm Visit!

We had a number of food classes while in Italy and one of them was a visit to a farm where they make cheese from sheep's milk. It was really neat to eat fresh sheep's cheese since it's so heavily regulated in the US that you can't buy unpasteurized cheese aged less that 60 days. And, they had the cutest lambs!

We had quite the spread of cheeses and it was absolutely delicious.

They also had a white board with this drawn on it:

Translation? Apparently, this sheep is thinking that as long as there is grass, there's hope. He's, of course, lucky to be an Italian sheep. Our sheep have two feet of snow between them and grass.

Wool Part 1

Over the month of January, we've had a number of fiber arts workshops. It's a lot of fun to get to work with the wool from our own sheep. Sadly, we're using wool from 2009 and since the shearer isn't scheduled until April, I doubt that the current sheep's wool will be very good (lots and lots of hay crumbles).

We started by skirting the wool, which involves picking out manure, brambles and hay. Then it gets washed which is honestly pretty gross.

We got to pick what colors to dye ours and I chose a variety of greens and yellows. It came out quite nice if you ask me, but I'm probably biased. After carding it, I'm going to spin it and knit it into a hat. More to come on my adventures with the spinning wheel!

The Phantom of the Sheep

Here are my guesses. Either the sheep were putting on a production of Phantom of the Opera for the horses, cows and chickens or this sheep just lost the brown vs. white sheep snowball fight of 2011.

Snowy!

A photo essay of how chores in the snow disintegrated into play time in the snow.

Snowy horses:

Snowy cars:

Snowy Barn:

Snowy Theo head:

Snowy Emily climbing into the sheep manger headfirst:

Snowy Theo helping snowy Emily climb into the sheep manger headfirst:

Snowy sheep eating hay from their manger:

Snowy Theo laying on snowy sheep eating hay from their manger:

The End!

The Great Sheep Mistake

As the fall draws to a close, we're sending the last few animals to slaughter before we have to feed them hay, which is expensive. We spent a morning loading the first six lambs. We backed the trailer up next to their fence, then created a second pen encompassing the trailer. We lured the flock with grain so that they would walk into the back of the trailer and we could send the ewes out the side door while keeping the lambs we wanted inside.

Everything was great and fine and Olivier pulled the trailer out of the field into the barnyard, readying for the drive to the slaughter house. We were set to start cleaning the hay barn (a dusty task, let me tell you) while he took them away.

Luckily, Andrew looked in the trailer and noticed that instead of six lambs, we had five lambs and a ewe. Whoops! We all trooped back into the field to release the ewe from an untimely death and Justin and Olivier captured a new, white lamb. We're really, really glad that Andrew stopped by right then!

Lambs ready to go:

Hauling the new lamb to the trailer:

The ewe escaping her fate:

Rabbit the Ram

We had some excitement the other day when our ram showed up. His name is Rabbit and we found out that it's probably because he doesn't walk: he hops. Actually, getting him to hop is an improvement over dragging him by his halter a quarter mile to the ewes. We realized that that just wasn't happening and got a great lesson from Josh, the bearer of the ram, in how to flip a sheep over. Sheep become very docile when on their back, a fact that came in handy this weekend when two sheep escaped and we had to tackle them under the guise of giving them grain.

Post ram flip:

Dragging Rabbit:

Giving up on dragging Rabbit and loading him into the truck:

Rabbit securely in the truck, ready for his trip to the ewes:

Sheep!

Here are the sheep videos that I couldn't upload yesterday. The first one is here and the second one is here.

Sheep Could Qualify for Boston

Today, I found out just how fast sheep run. Very, very fast. We had to move them (after they escaped) so I got to run with a bucket of grain, trying to stay ahead of them. Didn't work so well. We did get them into their new pasture but next time I'm going to get some jet-powered shoes to keep up.

Here's a clip of me beginning the sprint and Justin walking after Rudy, our 'special' lamb. I'm trying to add more sheep videos but it's not working so well.