Archives for sheep farm

Weaning the Lambs

July 19, 2010 | 15 Comments

The lambs huddle around me in the barn. With the shift of independence from the ewes, they've become more interested in our comings and goings. When I arrive they press in like this. They butt me in the legs and nibble on my camera strap. It's a nice way to start the morning. This group has made the transition of weaning quite smoothly. Just one very noisy night and then quiet. Except for when we arrive. They shadow Crackerjack, their new leader and we count on his help in getting them where we need them to go. The mother's are
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Keeping Watch

July 7, 2010 | 9 Comments

Hay is happening. Last week's string of sunny, breezy days kicked off a chain reaction. Every farm in Franklin county is making hay. You need at least 4 days to get it crackling dry. Norm mowed every field on the farm in two days and he and his family then spent the rest of the week tedding, raking and baling. Haymaking means juggling the pastures a bit, keeping the flock out of the way. Perfect timing, really, as Holly and I would like to wean the lambs next week. We plan to use one of the mown fields for lamb
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Wake Up Call

June 24, 2010 | 71 Comments

Let me explain the pause in blogging – and please read this post carefully because it contains an important message for all my female readers. My agenda last week included prepping to teach handspinning at WEBS, dyeing summer yarn share samples, helping Holly give lambs their CDT boosters, getting ready for the Open Farm on the 27th, collecting sheep and goat fecal samples for inspection, sowing another round of salad greens and staking the tomatoes, attending my nephew's high school graduation in New Hampshire, working on my book . . . My "to do" list didn't include having a heart attack.
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Bottle Lamb Nostalgia

June 14, 2010 | 14 Comments

Georgia & Mistral Garamond My three little friends are now bottle lambs in name only – since we're entering week two of the weaning phase. That doesn't stop them from mobbing me the moment I set foot in the barn, nudging and nosing around my legs, insistently bah-ing, pleading eyes, jumping up in protest when all I have to offer is a handful of hay. Garamond is taking it very well. He's caught on to the "no more milk" thing, and after quickly checking just to be sure there are no bottles up my sleeve, he ducks outside. Georgia is
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Foggy Farm part two

June 12, 2010 | 5 Comments

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Foggy Farm

June 12, 2010 | 2 Comments

Nothing yanks me out of bed as fast as the sound of lamb in distress. That's what I thought I heard at 5:30 a.m. today. Patten Hill is socked in by mist this morning, making it hard to do a head count. But when I arrived in the pasture (above) all was well. But the farm looks like a different place in the fog. Late yesterday afternoon Holly and I had moved the entire lamb flock with mothers and Crackerjack to the open barn pasture on the west side of the road – the lambs' first experience crossing the street.
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Sheep Afield

June 8, 2010 | 6 Comments

After a stormy weekend, it's always good to get back to our usually scheduled program. As I mentioned last week, we're already well into our rounds of grazing rotation. The flock is divided into several groups based on age and gender. Caitlyn's charges (top photo), a mixed group of Cormo yearlings and adults are bivouacked in the upper pasture for the moment. The mothers and lambs are centered at the "home farm" pastures – safest and closest to the barns – under Crackerjack's watchful eye. The rams hold the high ground up by the house, their usual summer digs
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Sheep Shares Members Lamb Visit Open House – Rain Date

June 5, 2010 | 2 Comments

What a tough call. I waited right up until 9 this morning to decide to postpone our Sheep Shares Members Lamb Visit Open House, although the outlook was bleak from the start. After waking at 6 a.m., sipping coffee to the sound of a torrential downpour and comparing the local news to the weather channel, I gathered we were in for a rocky day, weather-wise. By 8 there were rumbles of thunder. The hour by hour forecast on the Weather Channel showed scattered storms throughout the day. After the severity of the storm just over a week ago, I
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Lovely Llama

June 4, 2010 | 10 Comments

Just remembered – you haven't seen Caitlyn's new haircut! I found her in a quiet, meditative moment in the upper pasture the other morning, enjoying the warmth of the sun. I love her regal posture, like a monarch surveying her domain. Did you know she was a show llama before she came to us? She came from Heritage Llama Farm in East Longmeadow, MA. Her former owner, Jan, gave me a photo of her sporting a blue ribbon at a show many years ago. Caitlyn's glory days. If you compare her midriff to her brisket, neck and hind quarters,
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Bottle Lamb Update

May 18, 2010 | 15 Comments

Mistral Mistral, Georgia and Garamond moved back to the big barn this week and are now free to romp and roam with the others. Lots of crazy leaping about when we moved them back into the main pen, then they raced the length of the barn with the rest of the rowdy bunch. Mistral has become quite agile romping on three legs, though still favoring her left front. She's finishing a course of antibiotics and then we'll see how she does. It's hard to take a good picture of her – her features get lost in all that black
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