First Lambs

First lambs of the season.
Bron had a nice ram lamb 9 lbs. Out dry and nursed when we got out there this morning.

Belinda had a pair of twin ram lambs. 7 lbs 14 ounces and 7 lbs 13 ounces respectively. One had a leg back but was ok once I corrected it.

The beachball ewes have not yet lambed.

Snow, still no Lambs

We were greeted this morning with snow on the ground.
No lambs yet. Snow should melt by the end of the day as it's supposed to get up to the low 60's by this afternoon.

Wooly Beachballs & Garden Attempt

We still don't have any lambs but as you can see we do have some very round sheep.



This is Desert Weyr Tanwen. She had twins her first year but only a single last year. I suspect it's twins again this year from her size.

I have a very black thumb, but I wanted to try at least a small garden this year. Ken drilled holes in the ends of some left over trex railing that I am going to use to lay out some garden beds. My plan is to use it to mark out the beds and drive rebar stakes into the corners to hold them down. At the end of the season we can easily take the beds up and use the tractor to disk and cultivate the whole area.


I got two beds done and planted one with peas. The one in front. The back bed will have corn eventually but I didn't want it to shade the peas.





Looking back toward the house.

The garden area is behind the new elk fence and also protected from the orchard by the old elk fence so the sheep can't get in. We may add some side fencing so we can graze the sheep in the area but keep them out of the garden.

The other 3 types of plants we are going to try are corn, a melon and a watermelon.

On Pasture and Big Bales of Hay

Today we got the pregnant ewes out into pastures where they can lamb. The grass is still not very high so we put out some hay.

We got 3 round bales to try. These are smaller than some, only 4 feet wide and about 1000 pounds each. Ken can move them with the tractor without a bale spike but it's not a long term solution.

I wanted to see how it unrolled out and we managed to unroll it by hand without too much difficulty. Then we let the sheep in and they seem to be happy to be out of the winter corrals and enjoying the alfalfa in the hay as a treat.

We are now officially within the lambing period. I expect them to really get started in a couple more days with next week being the big lambalanch period.

Lawnmowers

Snow has melted and things dried out enough to get the pregnant ewes out and give them their spring dewormer. Afterwards as a treat they got to be lawnmowers around the guest house and shop.


I sat out under the shop porch and read the mail and watched. They spent a lot of time wandering around and often they get into trouble so someone needs to be there when they are out in that area.


They certainly enjoyed the fresh grass. My tulips are up but not flowering. They left the tulip leaves alone. Last year they ate the flowers so once I've got buds I don't think they can be out in this area.

They go out on the main pastures this week. Lambing technically due as early as 22 April but more likely 27 April.

Snow!

Morning chores, what a mess.

Sheep Nests & New Fence

Our sheep dig nests in the bedding pack and sleep there. No lamb eggs for Easter though.
Here is one of our ewes in her nest.


We got the last bit of the west divider fence done today. Still have to fix the top section that goes over the gated pipes but we're nearly ready to put ewes out on pasture.

Goodbye Old Truck

We sold our old 1951 Dodge truck today. At one time I had visions of restoring it but reality set in and I know I'll never have the time or skills to do so.

The new owner restores old cars as a hobby and he's promised to come back when it's all done and take us for a spin in the truck.

It was an interesting trick to get the truck up on the trailer, took all afternoon but we managed it.

It's sometimes hard to let go of potential projects. But I feel a lot better knowing the truck will be lovingly restored to working order by someone skilled in the art.

Combed Tops!

We've gotten back a huge order of lovely combed tops. This is some amazing wool! I'm so excited I had to start spinning some myself.

It's spinning up really nice.

Snow and Mud

First snow, then it melts and we have mud and now it's snowing again.

It's also been very cold, much colder than normal. No idea on how our apple blooms are doing. The buds are still tight so I hope they are ok.

Odd Weather

Early April weird weather. This looked for all the world like dust coming in a cloud.