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| December Sunset |
This time last year, 2/3 of my flock was being overwintered at a friends farm to take advantage of her huge barn. Only 10 of the spring ram lambs stayed behind, and they became my pets very, very quickly.
I made the decision to move the flock based on a very strong intuitive instinct, and as it turned out, it was right that I followed that intuition even though I didn't quite understand it at the time.
About 10 weeks after the sheep had been moved and things were fairly settled both here and the host farm, DH sustained an injury at work that was unexpected and would require surgery and rehab over a period of six months. This made farm chores entirely my job, where usually we shared the tasks. And to top it off, I had taken on desk hours and personal training clients at a gym 22 miles from home. So,life was interesting during those months. :-)
I had all but decided not to breed the ewes but my fellow shepherd offered to put them in breeding groups and oversee the operation and so I went ahead. This put the lambs being born in late June and I learned that isn't a great time for lambing if you hope to sell your lambs to other breeders. Most people lamb in early spring, so by the time our lambs were here, the market for breeding stock had been satisfied.
Each year, we transition from winter snow to spring with what I've come to call, "rain season". In my opinion we don't experience the usual Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter but more like , "rain season", "mud season", "bug season" and "snow season".
I'm now getting used to "rain season " and am good at reminding myself that we don't get that gradual, warming up and mild temps Spring usually brings. We get melting snow, more rain than usual and the resulting mud which makes all those spring farm chores darned near impossible to accomplish. Along with all that, we also get flooding. But in all fairness the sun begins to shine more often and for longer periods which makes life cheerier despite the other issues. We know it will get warmer and dryer soon, so we have hope. And, as a lead in and final farewell to winter, we have the fun and pleasure of Maple Sugaring which we enjoy very much. This has become a tradition for us and is the true herald of the coming Spring.
Usually there is a brief window of time to shear the sheep between the colder overnight temps and the horrendous humidity that makes everything feel 10 times hotter and more uncomfortable than I care to be. Since shearing here is a one man show, I catch, rump, trim hooves, shear, release and skirt the fleeces myself over a period of four or so days. The actual shearing takes just about 12 minutes per sheep, the rest can take a half hour or more per sheep, so its' slow going. Luckily I enjoy it.
We move the flock onto green pasture with portable, electronet fencing which is a handy modern day invention. This allows us to rotate pastures during the summer months taking advantage of all of the grass available. The sheep stay anywhere from two to four days on a section and are moved to fresh grass, allowing the previously grazed area to regenerate. With this method we can revisit a previously grazed section three or more times depending on how many animals are on it. It is a bit labor and time intensive, but for the most part is a pleasant enough exercise. We start in late April and finish up when the grass is gone. This year we made it to late October. This means I spent six months moving portable fencing every few days. By the end of the season, I'm ready to feed hay!
Our lambing season was excellent this year. 11 ewes produced 30 live lambs. We had 2 stillborns.
The 30 lambs included a set of quintuplets, a set of quadruplets, two sets of twins, one singleton and six sets of triplets.
Fall saw us selling sheep at auction, a first for us. Overall it was a good experience giving us a way to market lambs besides the fiber / breeding stock market.
We had the usual issues with parasites. Here, we invariably get barber pole worm, aka - hoemoncus contortis, and I've learned to be aware and ready for it. This can be fatal if you don't catch it right away, but we've been fortunate that any sheep showing symptoms have recuperated nicely after worming.
In hindsight, I think I would have opted not to breed the ewes, if I could do it all over again. Though I can't say for sure. Lambs and lambing are such wonderful things, its difficult to imagine not having any lambs for a year.
I certainly would have done without DH's injury and surgery and I bet he'd agree with that!
Changes for the new year start with an earlier lambing season, and two new rams who will bring new blood to the flock. We've revisited the idea of selling lambs for meat, and I've reassessed the requirements for keeping certain members of the flock vs. selling them. My new goal is to offer the rams for sale more readily, and to try not to fall victim to their beguiling personalities and the rationale of " beautiful " fleece. For me personally, every fleece is a beautiful one, and so that cannot any longer be a criteria for keeping someone. With the breeding practices I've had in place over the last few years, they ALL have beautiful fleece, so that is last on the list these days!
Though it isn't in my power, I'd surely opt for dryer spring times, accomplish more farm work, and spend more time spinning and weaving.
Heres' to 2014!
Regards,
Kathryn
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