Archives for sheep

Ready, Set, Shear!

March 24, 2013 | 5 Comments

On Friday we rolled up our sleeves and got to work on one of my favorite days in annual cycle of yarn farming. Shearing day! This year we've divided the work of shearing our flock over three days, last Friday, next Friday and then Saturday April 6 – when our Sheep Shares yarn farm CSA members will join us and pitch in. Working at this pace gives me time to be hands on with both sheep and fleece and makes for a relaxed, more comfortable day for both humans and sheep. We started with a group of ewes, below. Followed
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Taking Care of Old Sheep in Winter

March 18, 2013 | 6 Comments

This is Cocoa. She turns 16 this month which is ancient in sheep years. Cocoa has a special place in our hearts as she happens to be one of our first-ever sheep which makes her our flock matriarch. After a decade of lambing (including sets of triplets and quadruplets) she is still going strong, except for her teeth. Years of grass-grazing and ha -munching have worn her incisors (the front teeth) crookedlly, some of them right down to the nub givng her the gap-toothed smile of a jack-o-lantern.Last fall Andy performed some dentistry on her, to even out her bite.
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Snowed In

February 27, 2013 | 17 Comments

Snow's so deep, the sheep won't leave the barn unless we make them. We break paths for them and lure them outdoors with hay on fair days. Today is not one of those days. It's been snowing sideways since I opened my eyes at 6 a.m. Fat, wet snow that shovels like concrete. Mike is scrambling to clear the driveway before this switches over to rain later – then we'll have a hot mess on our hands. A cold mess, I should say. It's been a wind-roaring, snow falling, frost heaving, ice damming, nose freezing winter – wearing us down
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Top of the Hay Stack

January 26, 2013 | 6 Comments

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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Milestones & Quiet Farm on New Years Day

January 1, 2013 | 10 Comments

Mike and I celebrated the holidays quietly at home this year, enjoying the company of our flock, dogs, llamas, goat, donkeys – and each other. We celebrated arrivals and marked several milestones this season. Milestone #1 – Hooray for Zoe and Welcome Home, Farley! The week before Christmas, we had some encouraging news for our Zoe, our 1 year old Golden Retriever. As some of you may know, she's been convalescing from radical surgery back in October to address severe degenerative joint disease in her right elbow. Her xrays on December 19th hold promise – good healing from the surgery.
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Solstice Sheep & Donkeys

December 21, 2012 | 1 Comment

It was a peacable pasture yesterday morning at breakfast. We turned out the sheep and donks together and fed them in the field. As you can see, the two groups kept some distance from each other at first. But by later in the day, they were comfortably ambling about with no worries. A lovely day in the field for all. It's a very good thing they are feeling more companionable toward each other. Wind, snow and rain rolled in last night. From the looks of things, the critters peacefully shared a cozy barn. Everyone was dry this morning and the
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The Barn After Dark

December 14, 2012 | 3 Comments

We've reached the time of year when there just aren't enough daylight minutes at day's end. I had a meeting in Greenfield this afternoon and got back to the farm just after dark. Here's a look at the night barn with sheep and donkeys. The farrier came to the farm this morning. Donkeys don't wear shoes but their hooves need maintenance on a regular basis. Cupcake and Prissy get gold stars for standing perfectly still while Randy, the farrier, pared their little hooves and cleaned out all the ick from the frog of the hoof (the frog is the soft
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Sunny Sunday Sheep & Donkeys

December 9, 2012 | 3 Comments

After two days of raw, dreary drizzle and fog, the sheep and donkeys were elated when I turned them out into the pasture this morning. The donkeys frolicked, bucked, tossed their heads and kicked up their heels in delight. I don't think they're use to having quite so much space for frisking and cavorting. The sixteen ewes who are their barn mates at the moment, were equally enthusiastic to have free run of the pasture. From the fence line they intently watched the donkey antics in the adjacent field. We are making strides with the donkey-sheep dynamic. Since the two
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Donkey Day Two

December 7, 2012 | 8 Comments

Yesterday the donks their first close encounter of the woolly kind. Since their arrival on Tuesday, they've had 16 Cormo ewes for neighbors in an adjacent paddock. The two groups have been studying each other through the woven wire fence separating them. This arrangement is fine except for one drawback – the donkeys have free run of a small paddock and access to the barn. The sheep have a large pasture with a stand of trees for shelter – but the only way to the barn is through the donkey paddock. The problem isn't the sheep camping out – well-insulated
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Sheep Stuck in a Bucket

November 7, 2012 | 14 Comments

This may be an odd way to start up again after a rather long blog hiatus, but I thought you would like seeing what greeted me yesterday morning when I stepped into the barn. I had left a grain bucket in the barn. Java stuck her big poufy head in the bucket.The bucket stuck on her head. They were all very relieved once I extracted Java from the bucket. Aside from occasional sheep nonsense, the flock is doing well. We've had a busy summer (as summer tends to be on a farm) and a fall full of the unexpected. I'll
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