Oddly enough, the ducks are happily paddling away on the stream which they will do all winter regardless of wind, cold, snow. They do very well on the water all year long.
Tomorrow will be an interesting day here on the farm as I am receiving three yearling ewes into the flock. These ewes were bred and born here, leaving to join another flock last winter. The flock has been disbanded and I was given the option of taking the yearlings back, so I agreed and tomorrow they arrive.
As far as I know now, that will be the end of any new animals joining our flock this year.
We are still offering three high quality ram lambs for sale, as well as two mature rams with proven breeding records.
In terms of ewes, I will be selecting replacements for some of the girls who are moving into older age. This will be hard to do because the breeding records for them have been superlative.
The three yearling ewes are all colored ranging from solid black ( which I love ) to HST ( head, socks, tail all white ) to piebald.
My intention is to expose the ewe flock to the rams at Thanksgiving which still gives me time to finalize the goals I'm creating. I mull over the breeding pairs scrutinizing the pros and cons with an eye to eliminating as many cons as I can while instilling as many pros as I can. Then we will watch as nature takes its course, and wait.
In the beginning I am full of enthusiasm at the prospects but eventually this subsides as the day-to-day tasks overtake me, and for a few blessed weeks I forget the girls are bred but then......about six weeks from lambing time I start with renewed excitement. I think its a combination of knowing that winter is almost done, spring is almost on us, and imagining the lambs when they are born.
I watch the ewes like a hawk, checking on them every few hours and sometimes just sitting with them in the pasture for several hours at a time. This is therapeutic for me and seems to be okay with them too.
Despite my best efforts to be present for all lambing, I have a few girls who prefer to wait and lamb in secret, presenting me with freshly born, still wet lambs to help dry and monitor.
Some ewes are seasoned dams and know what to do without any assistance from me, while the new mothers are sometimes a bit shell shocked and need some direction as they sort out their lambs, the feeding routine and all of the sensations they are bombarded with at lambing time.
This year the plan is to lamb in mid to late April, a full 8 weeks ahead of last years schedule, and I have a back up strategy for meat as well.
All things considered here it is a wonderful life albeit one where tough decisions have to be made to preserve the well being of the flock in general.
This has been a real learning year for this shepherd, bittersweet in many ways, but 2014 lies ahead and hope springs eternal!
Regards,
Kathryn
Ram lambs from 2012
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