Desert Weyr Farm Notes

Yoda's Lambs

2011-07-13T12:53:00.002-06:00

Desert Weyr Yoda is one of our pet wethers. He is usually fat enough that he looks like he will lamb.

In this case as Ken was checking the sheep he noticed that Yoda had managed to snag a set of twins to care for. Mom, Desert Weyr Briallen seems glad to have an additional babysitter.

Yoda and his Lambs.

Lambing is Over

2011-07-09T12:49:00.001-06:00

Our 2011 lambing season is over. 58 nice lambs but way too many open ewes. Desert Weyr Logan will be guest of honor at Revolution Brewing later this year in smoked kolbassi sausages. He didn't get a single one of his ewes pregnant. The other ewes will get evaluated. They were all part of the AI experiment and may not have had a chance with a live ram during a full heat cycle. I have some calendar homework to do to figure that all out. Some will be culled for teeth issues anyway.

Pot of Gold

2011-07-06T12:48:00.000-06:00

Rainbow on Garvin Mesa

Independence Day

2011-07-04T12:46:00.000-06:00

4th of July, grass is looking good and the lambs are growing very well.

The saying in Paonia is if Mt. Lamborn has snow on the 4th of July it's a good water year. This is a very good year, our cold spring and heavy snow means plenty of irrigation water for later this summer.

We Woke up the Chickens...

2011-07-02T12:44:00.000-06:00

With apologies to C.W. McCall,

Sleepy hens and tired chicks.

Early Morning Rams

2011-06-28T12:35:00.000-06:00

Early Morning out checking the feed in the ram pasture.

Wide Load No More & High Water Time

2011-06-27T17:30:00.000-06:00

Tanwen lambed a large 9 pound 10 ounce ram lamb with no problems.

She still looks fairly wide though.

Went down to Black Bridge Winery and took a look at the river. High and muddy but not flooding so far.

Alan, Joealan & Joe

2011-06-26T10:35:00.000-06:00

My Friend Alan was here for a visit on the first part of his tour of the US. We had to take him down to Revolution Brewing where we met Joealan and then Joe. Couldn't get all 3 to look at the camera at the same time though!

Abstract and Wide Load

2011-06-25T10:27:00.001-06:00

Abstract under the big power lines over on the east side of the property.

This is Desert Weyr Tanwen, probably the last ewe to lamb for 2011. A wide load indeed!

Lambs & Hay

2011-06-24T10:23:00.000-06:00

More new lambs. This ewe had twins.

First of the new hay is arriving. First cutting was 708 small bales.

Solar Panels, Ready for Hay & DNA Sweater

2011-06-23T10:13:00.002-06:00

Time to get the solar panels up onto the shop roof for the PV system. It's quite a long way and everyone is using safety harnesses and ropes.

Hay barn is cleaned out ready for the new hay. SHould be arriving today or tomorrow.

My DNA cable sweater is also coming along, It's the brewery knitting so it has been going rather slowly during lambing because we don't go to the brewery much.

Lost a Ram

2011-06-21T09:52:00.002-06:00

The ram Desert Weyr Kirk died today. We had a veterinarian do a pm. He had a perforated stomach from an ulcer and had peritonitis. Probably the result of the injuries sustained in his feeder accident back the beginning of May.

Winnie and Lambs

2011-06-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

Winnie is very protective of the younger lambs.

This young lamb wanted to play hop on mom. The two lambs in front are being baby sat by this ewe while their mother is off grazing. The babysitter is their aunt.

Chickens & Sheep & Nice Lambs

2011-06-18T13:30:00.001-06:00

The dinner chickens actually arrived 9 June but I didn't get any pictures until today. We lost more than usual in the first few days but they seem to be ok now.

We've got sheep on both sides of the center divider fence and a dog in each group. Winnie is closest to me and Kimball is across the fence line.

Some of the ewes, lambs and yearlings.

This is a particularly nice yearling ewe.

These 2 lambs were born 10 May and are twins sired by Wye Heights Latham and out of Desert Weyr Gwendolyn. I think they are growing exceptionally well.

Lambing & Solar System

2011-06-16T13:21:00.001-06:00

Desert Weyr Alice is a first time ewe and seemed to be having a few problems so Ken was holding her head while I checked to see what we needed to do. She is quite calm which was fortunate.

She ended up having a 9 pound 5 ounce ram lamb with horns about half an inch long that got stuck on her pelvis. Fortunately she was actually pretty roomy or it would have been worse.

More work on the solar system.

Lamb Box & Second Solar System

2011-06-15T13:12:00.001-06:00

We've had a lot of cold and rain and we had some lambs born in the irrigation ditch that were cold. So we made a small lamb box to put the one colder lamb in for a few hours. It worked well and by the time the lamb got warm and climbed out everything was fine. The hay in the box ensured mom stayed with her nose right in there to talk to the lamb.

Brad Burritt is back to start the second large sola PV system. It's going on the shop roof and will be a grid intertied system that supplies power to the Little House, Shop and Red Barn.

Lambs and Dogs

2011-06-11T17:00:00.001-06:00

Here are the triplets. They are doing well and mom appears to be able to feed them all so far.

Winnie is doing well protecting her new sheep.

Lambing Again

2011-06-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

First lambs of the second batch. A set of triplet ram lambs. We put them all in a wire panel jug for a few hours just to be sure mom could count to three. She did seem to lose track of one of the lambs when we first moved her out to fresh grass but she is getting better. We have to keep an eye out on them though, I am not sure she can feed all 3 successfully.

Mowing the Lawn

2011-05-28T17:00:00.000-06:00

Ken got the mower we got last year working finally. At first it was blowing a lot of oil smoke but that soon cleared up. He had to rebuild the engine.

Since the sheep did not finish grazing around the guest house before they had to move to the orchard pasture for lambing there was actually a lawn to mow.

Surprise Lamb, Bull! Wooly Lawnmowers

2011-05-25T14:30:00.001-06:00

Today started out rather interesting. We had planned to make a trip to Grand Junction to do the in between batches fo lambs shopping but had to change our plans.

First we had a surprise late lamb. 9 pounds 9 ounces and doing fine. Mom had him up dry and nursed when we found them. I didn't take any pictures because the next bit of excitement was this bull.

He had smashed down the wire fence in the back corner. We got him back out the gate and with the cows and called the owner to tell him about the problem. This is the same owner whose cattle break into the hay field every single year. We explained that he'd be getting a bill for the fence repair and replacement wire as soon as we got it done. Colorado is an open range state but if you have a legal fence in place and an animal breaks it down you can get it repaired by the livestock owner.

Since the shopping trip was kaput we decided to do the Friday scheduled work today instead. Main task was getting the lawnmowers working around the main house lawn.

We have to use jug panels to keep them off the porch or we'd have sheep into the house if they could manage it.

Lamb on a Rock

2011-05-17T19:00:00.000-06:00

One of the lambs resting on a rock in the pasture.

Winnie & the Lambs

2011-05-14T19:00:00.000-06:00

Winnie has decided she is now the official lambing pasture guard dog along with Kimball.

Winnie seems to take up a station near the youngest lambs and stays there until there are newer ones.

She is being very alert and watchful and doing a great job.

Mother's Day Special!

2011-05-08T21:00:00.000-06:00

The ewes are finally lambing. For Mother's Day we had 3 ewes lamb 5 lambs. 4 ewe lambs and a ram lamb. All are doing well although I had to assist 2 of the ewes. One had twins and legs were back the other was a first timer and didn't dilate and then the lamb got elbow locked.

Only 57 more ewes to go.

One Less Coyote and Grazing Ewes

2011-05-03T15:06:00.001-06:00

We finally were able to get a clear safe shot on the coyote that's been hanging around. Generally we try to leave the coyotes alone. If they respect the fences and dogs and don't bother us or the sheep we don't bother them. The last time we had to kill one was in the fall of 2000. After that the pack moved on or changed composition and we had a number of years with no problems. We could hear coyotes nearly every night and there is a den on our property. But the coyotes never came in near the sheep, never tried to lure the dogs away from the flock and never caused us any problems. They left us alone and we in turn left them alone.

This coyote was different. I suspect the older animals died and the new ones that moved in were much bolder and more aggressive. This male was ignoring the dogs and being way too bold, coming up and checking out things during the day and looking in at the sheep and ignoring the frenzied dogs just inside the fence. With lambing about to start we cannot afford to have a coyote like this in the area. We've been trying to get a good shot at it but until today they were all unsafe shots. The coyote finally got into a position where we could take the shot. 1 round : 1 less coyote. Hopefully this will be the last of the problem for another decade.

The pregnant ewes are finally out on pasture and ready to lamb.

Easter Dinner

2011-04-24T09:23:00.000-06:00

Lovely Easter Dinner: Mutton Racks, Rice, Fresh Salad from Small Potato Farm and a Pinot Noir from Terror Creek Winery.

Rebuilding the Sheep Sweep - Ewes on Pasture

2011-04-22T09:17:00.002-06:00

We've had some problems with the sheep sweep over the years. The sheep have worn a path down the middle and the panels have sunk into the ground. This year we decided to put some gravel down on top of weed block and then use old mine belt to make a more durable surface.

Adding gravel to the sweep area.

More Gravel

We also got the ewes out on some pasture. We still have to do their spring dewormer but this pasture can be grazed before that. The main lambing pastures in the orchard are still too short with not enough grass for the sheep to go there so we started them in the front.

Lots of Happy Sheep!

More Brush Burning

2011-04-07T09:09:00.000-06:00

Next day, still a burn day so we got the brush from the east orchard done.

Burning Brush

2011-04-06T17:00:00.000-06:00

Started to burn the west orchard brush piles today. That's where the ewes will go first for lambing so we need the brush gone.

Moving Fence Panels

2011-04-02T17:00:00.002-06:00

Larry's back to build another section of fence. First task was to remove the welded wire panels that made up the temporary fencing.

He used the brush rake to move the panels.

We built a large stack over by the guest house in front of the shop.

Shearing Done!

2011-03-26T22:00:00.001-06:00

Shearing done for 2011.

Lots of sticky fleeces and hard shearing sheep. Not entirely sure of the issue. Some is probably weather, ours was not the only hard shearing flock, some is also coats. I ran out of larger size coats and so they were on too tight and I think that caused problems. Sticky means there are more second cuts than normal but they are still really nice wool. I may have some pictures later which I will add. I didn't take any but some of the people who were helping did.

Now comes the task of shipping out the pre-sold Ravelry fleeces and then getting the rest on the web site before lambing begins.

Black Sheep Power & Light

2011-03-23T17:42:00.000-06:00

Black Sheep Power & Light, a photo by Oogie McGuire on Flickr.

One of the solar arrays providing sheep shade.

Spring Snow

2011-03-18T22:04:00.000-06:00

Good thing the ditch got cleaned yesterday!

The snow had already started settling and melting by the time I took these pictures.

Spring Ditch Cleaning

2011-03-17T11:57:00.003-06:00

Spring work has started.

We hired a trackhoe to clean the ditch that comes down into our property that carries our water. It hasn't been cleaned in years and required a bigger machine than our small backhoe.

Looking good!

March Wool Work

2011-03-15T11:53:00.000-06:00

I needed some white wool for blending with our black for new rovings so I went over to one of the big range flock operations during shearing to buy some wool.

Getting the next batch of sheep in for shearing.

The big flocks hire large crews. This crew had 13 shearing stations and the sheep go up the inside, get shorn and the wool drops out the back and the sheep climb out the front. This particular flock was going to take 2 full days to get shorn. They have about 2500 ewes.

Winter Blahs

2011-02-19T14:01:00.004-07:00

Not much going on right now. The sheep are getting fat, we fill hay feeders, fill water tanks and repeat. I haven't been taking many pictures so not much new.

Last week we had help and got all the ram lambs toes trimmed. Still have all the ewes, rams and ewe lambs to do but at least it's a start.

After toes the next big thing will be shearing. We are currently scheduled for shearing the last Saturday in March. Should be interesting and busy then as we'll see how the wool is for the year.

This week we are starting the spring thaw. I know we'll get freezes and more snow but for now we are back to mud season.

Elk on the Road

2011-01-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

The elk are back!

Unintended Consequences

2011-01-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

One of the issues with the solar panels being up high to keep them out of ram reach is that they are also too high to easily brush the snow off. Now if they were on the roof we'd just have to wait until the snow melted. With them sort of close to the ground we decided to try to clear them so we get more electricity. Seems a shame to waste such nice sunny days.

Unfortunately the broom was not the best tool. It did eventually work.

Editor Fail!

2010-08-31T07:37:00.003-06:00

Whoops, just realized that I was setting my blog posts as drafts by default. Which means they were not getting posted at all!

Massive cockpit error.

So I will be going in and making sure they are set to be seen today once I get back from the all morning meeting I have to attend.

Moral of the story. Check your blog from something other than blogger to verify that posts are actually visible at least once in a while.

Off to Wales!

2010-08-04T12:58:00.007-06:00

While Ken stayed home to care for the farm I headed off to Wales again to continue training to become an approved judge for Black Welsh Mountain Sheep.

After a relatively unevventful plane flight from Grand Junction to Dallas, then overnight flight from Dallas to London Heathrow, tube to Paddington Station, Train to Newport, Train to Abergavenny and lastly taxi I finally arrived in Abergavenny Wales to the Beavan Family Butcher Shop.

The Beavans' were featured in the BBC program Lambing Live. I made e-mail contact and had arranged to come visit and stay at their B&B for the first couple of days.

Most tourists are not that interested in butcher shops, but I enjoyed talking to Huw & Jan about the issues of running a small butcher shop that caters to the local trade and provides good fresh locally raised meats and eggs.

Huw Beavan

Jan Beavan

Then it was off to Great Tre-Rhew Farm and home of Kate, Jim, Trevor & Anne Beavan. The B&B portion is to the left of this picture.

As soon as I got my stuff in it was off to watch and try not to get in the way as Jim sorted out the lambs to be weaned and checked his ewes for teeth and tits. He was sorting out which ewes would be culled and which would stay for another lambing. Culls got a spot on their rump so they are easy to sort out later. Hopefully I didn't get in the way too much.

Ewes in catch pen.

Checking teeth.

I really liked his chute set-up. I don't think it would work for us because of the horns on our rams but it was sure convenient to work a bunch of sheep around. If we had all polled sheep it would be fine.

Then we moved the ewes to new grazing.

Lambs got moved to a different field

I really liked the old stone water trough. I wonder how long that's been there?

Beautiful cottage garden.

Yoda the Sheep and Pasture

2010-08-02T11:41:00.000-06:00

Yoda looking particularly majestic. He's doing well for an old sheep.

We have some sheep on the front pear orchard pasture.

Ready for Racks

2010-07-31T11:38:00.000-06:00

End of July and both poles are installed and the first of the brackets and racks to hold the solar panels are in place.

Poles & Brackets Started

2010-07-30T11:33:00.001-06:00

Second big pole being moved into position.

Getting it installed.

Mixing the mortar that holds it into place.

Bracket structure started.

First piece of the brackets that will hold the solar panels.

Erecting the First Pole

2010-07-29T18:00:00.000-06:00

Things dried out enough to continue work. After some initial filling in of the holes the wires and conduit were run from the poles to the hay barn.

Looking down where the metal pole will fit into the plastic pipe sleeve.

Getting the first pole in place.

Once the pole was in position that was enough for the day. Tomorrow will be getting the first pole plumb and putting the mortar around it to hold it up. If there is time the second pole will be installed too.

The Day After

2010-07-28T11:11:00.000-06:00

The next morning we surveyed the damage. There was water in the holes around the forms but things looked ok.

However, the barn was a mess.

Concrete and Rain

2010-07-27T21:00:00.000-06:00

The concrete came for the piers for the solar system. Got it all poured with no problems.

That evening it started to rain and the trenches filled up. Ken took the backhoe and dug an emergency ditch through the hay barn to keep the water away from the precious hay.

We also got out a pump to pump the trenches a bit.

Rocks & Holes

2010-07-26T18:54:00.000-06:00

Spoke too soon about the rocks. The second hole and the trench ended up uncovering a nest of rocks. Some were too big for our tractor to pick up but Ken was able to push them around a bit.

It's amazing how far down 9 feet is. The forms are in place to pour the concrete for the solar panel trees.

Summer Pasture, Rambo and Rambutt

2010-07-24T18:37:00.001-06:00

Late Summer Grazing. The bare patch in the pasture is where we burned the prunings this year. I need to find a different way to deal with the pruning debris because it hurts the pasture to burn it.

Rambo and his buddy Rambutt. Rambutt is the one looking at us, he has appointed himself guardian and watch sheep and is very aware of what is going on around him.

Weighing the Hay

2010-07-20T18:30:00.000-06:00

All the first cutting hay is in. John came down to weigh some bales so we can pay for it. We buy the hay by weight not by the bale. First cutting ended up being 664 bales and 19.3 tons. Normally we get about 45 tons for the first cutting.

After the haying we needed to drown our sorrows. So down to Revolution Brewing for a lovely mix of their Cherry soda and Cherry Sticky Thicket.

Ready to be Fulled

2010-07-18T18:26:00.000-06:00

The hat is finished and ready to be fulled to fit.

Yarn and Winter Knits

2010-07-17T18:21:00.001-06:00

We got the yarn back from the local wool mill in Palisade. I had pure Black Welsh in bulky and sport weight, blended Black Welsh and Polypay in bulky and then some pure Polypay in Bulky and sportweight. They all came out looking really nice.

I want to make a hat for Joe Sperry from the blended wool since the Polypay came from his flock. I plan to full it so Ken gets to be the model for testing the sizing.

2 Cats in the Yard, Buck & summer Flowers

2010-07-14T18:02:00.000-06:00

Bart brought his big backhoe up to dig the holes for the new solar panels. Orange decided to supervise so we have 2 cats in teh yard now.

This buck showed up today too. Don't know if we got deer tags or not yet but he might be a tasty buck if we do.

I really liked these flowers growing over the old hay rake.

Summer Chickens

2010-07-09T18:18:00.000-06:00

The laying chickens are having a lot of fun running around outside and getting all the bugs they can catch.

Meat delivery

2010-07-08T18:16:00.000-06:00

We picked up the next batch of kolbassi today. There will be plenty of brats for revolution Brewing this summer.

No Rocks! So Far....

2010-07-07T18:13:00.000-06:00

First hole is nearly done and no major rocks to speak of. This is a first for Garvin Mesa! Unfortunately it probably means there are a bunch more lurking in the next hole.

Independence Day

2010-07-03T18:08:00.000-06:00

3rd of July. Town has the flags out on the bridge in to town. I love looking at them.

We're getting ready for farm tours so I have the signs out to talk to people about our livestock protection dogs.

Rambo

2010-06-27T17:59:00.001-06:00

Rambo the bottle baby is doing great. He comes up for his bottle but then races back to his buddy and sheep mom. Ken is the dinner provider though.

Doing well for being flat when he came out.

Baby Dinner Chickens

2010-06-26T17:53:00.000-06:00

The new batch of dinner chickens is growing really well. They are very robust and healthy. Should be tasty when they grow up.

Moving Sheep and New Hay

2010-06-25T16:37:00.000-06:00

We moved the sheep to the other side of the orchard today and discovered that very new lambs are able to climb back through the divider fence. We managed to get them all back but it was a bit of a challenge.

Hay is finally being delivered. The cold spring made first cutting very very small. It's going to be difficult to get enough hay for winter at this rate.

The Lambs

2010-06-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

I believe that we are now done lambing. There are still a bunch of ewes left to lamb but none have significant udders. The AI experiment seems to have really messed up their cycles. But then if we knew how to make it all work it wouldn't be an experiment, right?

Ken & Kimball

New Lambs

Current Lamb Scoreboard

2010-06-19T12:00:00.001-06:00

We're getting near the end of the possible lambing time. Sure hope a few more of these girls produce lambs!

Lambs, Rambo & a new fence

2010-06-18T19:05:00.001-06:00

Ewes and lambs are doing well. All of the lambs are of very good quality but we still have a bunch of ewes that we hope will lamb.

The lambs are learning about the electric fences. But some just look especially cute as they rest.

This is Rambo

He is now on mom number 4, Ken, who is the only one able to get him to drink. We don't have very many bottle lambs here, he is our 10th in 12 years, so we are not skilled at raising them. Rambo was upside down and backwards and by the time I got him out he wasn't breathing. Ken got him going and when he stopped breathing several times Ken got him going again. So now Ken has a small wooly child. Rambo is doing well now.

We are getting another internal divider fence built and this is where it will go. We had to move the gated pipe to give Larry room to build the fence. It should be done by the end of July.

June Pasture

2010-06-08T19:02:00.000-06:00

The pasture is spotty. The combination of the cold spring and the problems with irrigation are making it hard to grow good grass this year. But what is growing is good quality.

Looks like we might have some apples. The June drop has not happened yet but so far we do still have some fruit.

King of the Hill

2010-06-07T18:58:00.001-06:00

The adult rams are all out on pasture. We have a carefully hoarded pile of dirt that has become the focus of much pushing and shoving by the boys who are trying to be the top ram.

Pastoral Scene

2010-06-04T09:12:00.001-06:00

Pregnant or hopefully pregnant ewes on pasture.

Building Fences

2010-06-01T09:11:00.002-06:00

We decided to build a welded wire fence around the front pear orchard field portion that we hayed last year. That will give us 2 grazing paddocks in that area. We would normally use electric netting but these need to be safe for the rams and they tend to get caught by the horns in the netting.

Here Ken is using the tractor to move a pile of the panels down to the edge where we will start building the fence.

Some of our Wildlife

2010-05-31T09:08:00.001-06:00

Magpie - We have hundreds of these birds. While pretty they also can steal a lot of dog and chicken food.

This is a marmot in the rock wall.

Culinary School Visitors

2010-05-25T09:05:00.002-06:00

We had Culinary School of the Rockies students here again this year. I didn't get pictures of both groups. We had 2 sets of students, each group for 2 days. We evaluated sheep, trimmed toes, built fence and sorted sheep.

Good way for them all to lean about the cost of food and where good local food comes from.

Here are some of the students after we finished building fences.

Lambscape

2010-05-23T13:55:00.000-06:00

Early morning Lambscape. The lambs are learning how to play on the rock walls. It's great fun. I always worry they will fall or get hurt but so far they all do just fine.

Looking out over the pasture towards Mt. Lamborn early morning light.

Ponds

2010-05-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

We have several man made ponds on our property. They provide emergency fire suppression and irrigation water as well as drinking water for the livestock.

This is the guest house, shop & Red Barn.

This is the main house and hay barn.

This is our lower pond. It has a liner so the electric tape is to keep the horses from going in and puncturing it.

Waiting For Lambs

2010-05-17T18:00:00.000-06:00

Some of the ewes are just huge.

Meanwhile the lambs are really growing.

What a face.

Twin sisters out of Beatrix.

Lamb gangs are forming up now too.

This ewe was checking out my lamb bag but I caught her.

Lamb checking out the mineral feeder.

Lambs & Me

2010-05-16T12:49:00.002-06:00

Today we had a nice set of twins.

Here is a self portrait, with the sheep grazing in the background of our front lawn.

Garvin Mesa - Pot of Gold

2010-05-15T18:24:00.000-06:00

Rain and then this.

Major Snow , AGAIN!

2010-05-13T17:40:00.000-06:00

Woke up this morning to more snow.

BUt at least this one is more normal for our spring, by afternoon it had all melted. No new lambs in the snow which was nice.

Apple Blossoms & Mt. Lamborn

2010-05-08T17:51:00.001-06:00

Mt. Lamborn is looking nice. Looks like a good water year.

Our apple trees are all blooming now. Hope we get some fruit this year.

New Fence Done & Wide Loads

2010-05-06T12:48:00.001-06:00

The new middle divider fence is now finished. It looks wonderful and will be a much better fence than our temporary welded wire one.

The sheep, on the other hand, are really looking like wide loads. I hope they lamb soon, they are really getting big.

Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-05T12:44:00.000-06:00

Sunrise

Looks like it will be a nice day today.

Even More Snow!

2010-05-02T12:36:00.000-06:00

May and we are still getting snow. This is unusual. Most sprung snows will melt the same day. As it is we are feeding out a lot more hay on pasture to keep the sheep warm.

Even the dandelions are confused by this weather.

Becky in the front where her sheep are.

By late afternoon it was melting and Orange took the opportunity for a fresh drink.

Some of the 2010 lambs.

Coal Peak

Mt. Lamborn

More Snow and Lambs

2010-04-30T12:31:00.001-06:00

Got more snow today.

We started putting more dog houses out. Most of the ewes put their lambs inside and stay outside the dog house.

This ewe, Morwenna figured out how to get herself in side as well.

We are feeding more hay out on pasture to the ewes.

Major Snowstorm

2010-04-29T17:00:00.003-06:00

Today we got a major snowstorm. Putting the ewe and her twins in a jug with a dog house to protect the new lambs. Had another lamb today too.

We had one ewe lamb born during the storm. We put a dog house and jug panels to keep her and mom in one place.

The twins from yesterday are also jugged with a dog house.

I hope no more ewes decide to lamb for a while yet. We are supposed to have snow and cold until Monday at least.

First Lamb!

2010-04-28T15:18:00.000-06:00

It's a good thing we burned the brush earlier. Today it's blowing hard with up to 52 mile per hour gusts and a steady wind. There is a lot of dust in the air.

Of course one of the ewes decided to go into labor.

First lamb of the season. A nice healthy ram lamb.

Ken watching the lamb. The mask is because of the wind and dust.

Several hours later the twin arrived. He was behind the placenta! However he is out and ok now.

Baaa! Make the wind stop!!!

Dust blowing in from Utah.

Break in the clouds in the late afternoon.

More Brush Burned

2010-04-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

Got another big pile of brush and old trees burned today. This pile has been sitting here for a couple of years. We still have one pile to burn but it's too close to the hay barn, we have to wait until there is no hay inside and be sure the wind is from the right direction.

Sheep on pasture

2010-04-24T15:12:00.000-06:00

Pregnant ewes out on pasture.

They enjoy sitting in their hay.

More Brush Burned

2010-04-23T18:00:00.001-06:00

Got more brush burned today. These are the last 2 piles in the main orchard pasture.

Spring or not!

2010-04-22T17:52:00.003-06:00

Woke up this morning to more snow.

But it melted off pretty fast and we got the pregnant ewes out onto pasture. Just in time, live cover ewes are at 144 days gestation and the AI ewes are at 142 days. I am expecting lambs by this weekend.

A few flowers even started to poke their heads out.

The ants were having fun on the early dandelions.

Brush Rake & Burning Brush

2010-04-20T16:54:00.004-06:00

Larry brought up his brush rake to push the brush from our orchard into burn piles. You can't see it from here but the entire orchard is full of brush from pruning.

Larry on the tractor, Ken & Daniel with the brush rake.

Detail of the brush rake. This one is sturdy and flexible enough to float over most of the rocks.

In use, pushing brush into a pile for burning.

Starting the burn as soon as the pile is large enough but not too large.

Once it's going Larry uses the rake and tractor to pile more brush on top.

We got the east side of the orchard cleared in about an hour and a half. Then spent the rest of the day picking up the firewood . I got all teh electric fences out and ready to string up so we are very close to turnout of the pregnant ewes.

Harri Meets the Ewes

2010-04-19T19:35:00.001-06:00

Harri is an Akbash protection dog. This is his first meeting of our pregnant ewes. They were doing well but he is a bit more active than Kimball so they are not yet used to him.

Wooly Lawnmowers

2010-04-18T19:32:00.000-06:00

While the main orchard isn't growing well we do have a bit of grass around our guest house. So we decided to use the pregnant ewes to mow it.

Burning Brush

2010-04-16T21:29:00.000-06:00

We're late getting the brush out of the orchard. We burn the prunings and we got one pile burned today.

This is the view down the orchard. Still not much grass!

Spring Work Continues

2010-04-16T12:09:00.003-06:00

The last couple of days we've been vaccinating the sheep and also doing toe trims. I can't do too many toes before my hands give out so we do them in batches. Pregnant ewes are now completely done except for the spring dewormer. I do that 24-48 hours before we turn them out on pasture so help keep the pastures cleaner. We're holding them in the winter corrals as long as possible because the grass is still not growing well.

Adult rams and ram yearlings all vaccinated. Ram yearlings toes all done.

Left on the list, ewe yearlings shots and toes and adult ram toes. We're slowly getting them all finished.

I've also been doing some farm tours. Yesterday was a group of chefs from Aspen learning about where the meat they buy from us really comes from. Some farms are charging for tours this year but I still think it's part of my job to educate the consumers about real local food.

Getting Ready to Open the Shop and Fun for Chickens

2010-04-11T18:18:00.003-06:00

We are starting to get more customers. We are not officially open with regular hours until the end of May but I do open up if people call first. Here is the wool and meat shop. Lots of lovely rovings in stock and a lot of new yarns as well. Plus we still have our lovely Black Welsh socks and meat.

Wall of Wool

Socks, yarn and some combed tops

Chickens are now going out most every day. I tried to get some good pictures but ended up chasing chickens for almost an hour!

This is a Gold Campine hen. The bad thing about predator savvy chickens is they are very wary and so very hard to take pictures of.

The Russian Orloff did finally allow me to get fairly close.

Spring Tune-Ups Started

2010-04-10T18:15:00.000-06:00

First part of the annual spring tune-up for the sheep. Yearling rams all got tags inserted and toes trimmed.

30 sheep times 4 legs per sheep times 2 toes per leg means my hands are tired!

Time for Tags

2010-04-09T18:13:00.000-06:00

Time to put in the official scrapie tags in the sheep. It was a bit cold but sunny.

Tags in, the sheep are now racing back for breakfast. This was the yearling ewes.

Solar Sheep & More Fences

2010-04-07T18:08:00.000-06:00

One of our pregnant ewes catching a few rays.

The evil sheep eye.

Caren and I. She wanted a scratch but was a bit concerned when I held out my arm with the camera and it made such a funny clicking noise.

Larry is back to build a replacement for the "temporary" divider fence that has been in place for almost 9 years now. We've got 2 sections of fence we want to put in this year. Both are internal and will be small low wire.

No Fooling - It's Time for Local Food

2010-04-01T18:04:00.001-06:00

It may actually be spring now.

Lots of people are putting in gardens and on our farm spring work is starting in ernest. That makes it a really good time to ask where your food is coming from.

Who is YOUR farmer? Do you know where your food is grown? How it is grown?

As you go on about your busy spring take a moment to stop and think abut the farmers who feed you and support your local farmer.

Food safety begins when you can look the producer in the eye and know that what you are buying is something they are willing to eat themselves.

Happy Chickens

2010-03-31T18:17:00.000-06:00

With the snow mostly gone we can let the chickens out to scratch and get bugs and grass. They sure enjoy being out of jail.

Spring Maybe?

2010-03-30T18:16:00.000-06:00

Nearly the end of March and we may be seeing spring, I hope.

Protective Dogs

2010-03-29T18:13:00.000-06:00

Winnie is in with the rams and doing a very good job. She is our most protective and aggressive dog but we really appreciate her attention to her sheep.

Shearing Done

2010-03-27T18:11:00.000-06:00

A bit late with my blogging. But we finished the shearing for the year. Several fleeces sold off the shearing floor. Skirting will start in the next few weeks and be up on our web site for sale later.

Getting Ready for Shearing

2010-03-23T07:38:00.002-06:00

We got the shearing set-up built yesterday. We rebuild the catch pen and shearing floor each year under the hay barn. As always it looks like we will have snow and rain for shearing. So I am yet again scrambling to see if I can keep all the sheep dry. We will shear 137 this year on Saturday.

March Snows

2010-03-10T09:06:00.003-07:00

More snow.

This is the lane under the hay barn. The fence on the right is 4 feet tall.

So far the rams haven't decided to try to escape. The hay seems to be keeping them occupied. It's going to be a very muddy spring when all this melts.