~The Joys Of Spring~ Fern

Thoughts of Spring (part 1)

Well,it's snowing once again! we are looking at another foot of snow which means we could get a dusting - a foot and a half!!! With all this snow on the ground It is hard to get ready for all the tasks spring brings to a farm. We must get ready. With the change of the winter season comes all the run off of melting snow and all the removal of "fertilizer" I'm thinking the gardens and berry bushes will like it, but moving it is not that fun. We are a big enough farm that there is a lot to move but not big enough as of yet to get a tractor to move it all, so Gabe will be getting his spring workout and tune up for the rest of the years projects. Enough with the poop talk!
I am in charge of managing the lambing season, which should begin in April. We should have all 6 ewes bred this year and that should bring anywhere from 9-15 lambs! Last year we had 6 with 4 being rams and 2 being ewes. SO maybe this year will be the year of the ewe! lets hope. But before the ewes can lamb we need some nice dry warm weather so that we can shear them! We lost a lot of wool last year due to wet weather and tons of mud! I am hoping we get their fleeces off before the "March Mud Madness" arrives! So we can have some nice clean fleeces to bring to the mill. This is just the beginning of the list! I'm praying it's a good year for all the farmers.  

~The New Guy~

It's hard to believe that with all this wind and cold blowing snow, the rams would have the energy to "take on" the new guy! After we put our new ram Gage in the rams yard with Abraham and Issac, they were quick to greet him with a nice hard headbutt!! With Issac's bloody bud on top of his head steaming in the cold air, we wondered how this would work out. But thankfully, he was soon found in the rams house, resting comfortably in the straw, chewing his cud along with his buddy Abraham and his new welcomed friend Gage. This looks to be a forever friendship, that is...until breeding time comes!!!

~On This Windy Day~

Wow! The wind is surely blowing this morning. Two days of 40* now the cold winter wind is here yet again.

I have been trying to think of what to write about, not knowing if life here on this farm is all that exciting to write about let alone read...? So, after about a week of writing nothing, I figured I'd sit and type like I was chatting with a friend...or family member we don't often see...more to come but first I must brew some tea, and get the crying baby!

"Gage"

~We received a call last night from a woman that we had be talking with for a couple months now about a ram lamb she needed a home for, so of course we said yes after we went to visit him. He's about 1 1/2 yrs.old his birth name is "Gage" and he is a Babydoll Southdown breed, which happens to be one of my favorites! He seems to be very social and has a teddy bear like face. He will be bred to our Finnsheep Ewes some time this year, should make for some nice soft handspinners fleece.
So for all you wondering the sheep totals are...1 Jacob sheep( Jacob), 3 Icelandic Rams(Issac, Mayday & Mudslide) & 3 Ewes(May, Faleece & Fern), 1 Finnsheep Ram( Abraham) & 3 Ewes(Annabelle, Sara & Addy), 1 Southdown Ram(Gage) This should make for another interesting year as we prepare for spring!!!