The final days of this year’s lambing are upon us, with the drop pen holding six ewes with due dates that span the next week. The last girl scheduled to lamb is Phoebe (carrying a single) with a due date of March 27th, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that lambing will be finished on the […]
Shearing is a great opportunity to get a good, close look at each sheep. At no other time during the year do I spend so much time focusing on individual sheep. For the rest of the year, I typically have a whole flock milling around as I go about my business. Focusing on a single […]
As I have discussed in previous blogs (April 4th and 8th and August 17th, 2016), white Romney Hannah’s single ram lamb, Peter, has been a bit of an anomaly for our flock this year. He didn’t look or act like a typical Romney lamb at birth, and although he has grown to be a very […]
Probably the easiest error to make in the early years of shepherding is to provide the wrong level of nutrition to the gestating ewes. This is typically a “rookie mistake” that occurs once or twice as the shepherd learns the intricacies of gestational requirements. Unfortunately this learning curve can occur at the expense of the […]
Our ewes are on their last round through our pastures, and as they leave each field, I “put the pasture to bed” for the winter. I mow each field off, leaving little cover to harbor parasites and allowing the cold north winds to kill off as many of them as possible when the temps finally […]
This is not normally the time of year for dramatic growth in our lambs. Most of them have reached about 80 pounds, and beyond that point, their growth begins to slow a bit. In addition, the hot and humid weather of an Iowa midsummer tends to keep them from grazing except at sunup and dusk, […]
Making hay is a pretty exact science. If the hay is cut too early, the yield from that field is less than what it could have been, reducing the output for the work invested. If the hay is cut too late, the palatability and nutritional content fade quickly, reducing its quality for animal feed. Timing […]
Our Romney ewe Grace, at the ripe old age of nine, is one of the oldest sheep in our flock. As the oldest daughter of our previous flock matriarch, Zoe, she is a treasure. She loves showing the younger members of the flock the best grazing spots and where to find shade that stays dry […]
Our newborn lambs begin their exposure to grain and alfalfa at a very young age. Their digestion of these foods doesn’t really happen in a very efficient manner until they are about six weeks old, but that process is dependent upon early exposure, so within days of birth, they have access to unlimited quantities of […]
Lambs grow best when they have a variety of foods at their disposal. The problem is that when they are young (as they are now), they’re in among the ewes, who are not only hungry, but ravenous! They are lactating, and this production of food from their own bodies makes them eating machines, devouring any […]