The Farm Blog!
Building the farm back to working conditions has been a lengthly, but rewarding process. For the curious, I've started this blog to talk about farm matters.
September 18, 2007: Kevin and I put a new floor in the barn. We're calling the stone screenings "poor man's concrete". It is a vast improvement over the old dirt and concrete (mostly broken) floor, especially since it is more or less level. The side doors all have to be rebuilt, then we will be ready to put together the new lambing and drop area. The girls will be lambing in luxury this winter!
We've got 2 sides of the new pasture fenced. I'll be using electric fencing on the last two sides, and will put the lambs in there come spring. There's a nice large stand of trees and brush for shade, plus it has a ton of one of their favorite delicacies--poison ivy. I'm trying to figure out how to rent out the sheep for poison ivy control--I am convinced there is a fortune to be made around here!! :-)
October, 2007: We finally have all our hay in for the year. With the drought that most of the Northeast has gone through, hay prices are through the ceiling, and good hay difficult to find. We ended up buying from a couple of different farmers, and will be feeding round bales for the first time this year as well.
November, 2007: The excavator finally arrived, and we trenched a line from the pole barn to the bank barn. We now have water in the bank barn! No more hauling 50 gallons of water by hand through the snow this year, yeehaw!!
January 2008: Lambing season has begun! Defying all odds, we've been lambing in mild weather, 30s and 40s. The babies are so cute!!!
February 2008: So far, 3 sets of twins, and a single. Only 2 lambs have been born in cold weather, necessitating heat lamps and fleece jackets (for the lambs).
March 2008: All done lambing! 18 beautiful lambs on the ground, growing fast and healthy.
Summer 2008: Kevin got another pasture fenced, so now we have more options for sorting. It's turned out to be a super place for training the young dogs, and we used it with both sheepdog clinics this summer. Come fall, it will be home to our new ram and a few of his buddies.
With hay and corn prices going through the roof, we've reduced to the size of our flock. Sales were quite good this spring, and we've kept some nice lambs to add to our breeding program. We sold our Polypays, but replaced them with six Scottish Blackface ewe lambs. They're not only beautiful, they're smart, and really fun for the dogs to work. We used them for the first time at the Kathy Knox clinic in July, and they were quite adept at reading the dogs. If the dogs were right, they were fantastic to work--especially for being lambs!
Right now we are ram shopping. Our goal is to produce a weaning weight of 60 pounds, and will be selecting a ram based on his ability to improve our lambs rate of gain, in addition to other desirable characteristic.
The grass has been terrific through the spring, and all the girls are quite plump and sleek, and the lambs big and sassy. July has been hot and dry, and worry about drought is high. We have leased a pasture to put our flock on when our grass runs out, but we're still hoping not to have the same horrid conditions as last summer, which drove hay prices up to $6/bale.
Fall 2008: Ug, 6 weeks of drought and the grass is crispy. We've started feeding hay, ouch. We have the ewe flock on our leased pasture, but the grass is not great there either. Hay prices remain high due to oil/gas prices going through the roof. Of course the hardest hit are the farmers. On the bright side, we found and bought a new ram, "Thor". He is a registered Khatadin from Donna Stoneback and Kathy Beilek, has an outstanding pedigree, and produces nice fat lambs with terrific rate of gain. I'm excited to see what we will get from him. He's a good sized boy, but quite gentle and nice to handle.
Finally, the rain arrived. Something good that has come out of the hurricanes hitting the east coast. Now to get fertilizer on the fields, and we'll be reseeding the lease pasture. The ground was so dry and hard that we were unable to set posts for the fence--it was like drilling concrete. So that will have to wait for spring, and in the meantime, all of our electronet is being put to use.
Spring 2009: Well, sort of spring. February. Guess I'm an optomist. Lambing season has begun, and I'm really liking what I am seeing in the lambs from our new ram. Looking forward to seeing them grow out. About half the flock still left to lamb.
