Archives for hay

Top of the Hay Stack

When it comes to barn chores on winter mornings, Mike is a trooper. Since the start of the new year, I've been under the weather off and on. He's been a super good sport about tackling morning barn chores solo for the better part of last four weeks. In mid winter, morning chores on a New England sheep farm are like an endurance test. You work quickly and efficiently. Inside the carriage barn where the rams spend the winter, square bales of hay are neatly stacked from the floor to the rafters. The stack is beside the row of feeders
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Sheep Shadows

In the lengthening shadows of shortening of daylight hours, Mike and I inspected the ram pasture on Wednesday. Thanks to three solid rainy days, the grass is in good shape. But we noted the length of time they've spent on this field and deemed it time to change pastures.  The wet weather means no second mowing just yet. But we're entering a sunny dry spell. Hay is imminent. It's the stretch before Labor Day. Heath Fair, Cummington Fair, Franklin County Fair.  Hay time.  Storms have wreaked a bit of havoc here. Thanks to a close encounter of the electrical kind,
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