Success!

After a very frustrating day of trying to accomplish something...anything...Saturday, we finally successfully leveled a spot for our scales this week and got reliable weights on all of our market lambs and on the ewe lambs we're keeping as replacements. Brian built an awesome platform that keeps the load cells from sinking into the mud and a scale box so the lambs have no room to turn around and no way to step off the platform. That cut the time for weighing at least in half, maybe even more. We separated the market lambs into three groups: ewe lambs, ram lambs over 70 pounds, and ram lambs under 70 pounds. With the big boys out of the way, the smaller ram lambs should be able to eat their fair share and grow a little faster, and everyone will waste less energy with the boys and girls in separate corners. This means it takes a little more time to feed, but about half of the lambs are almost to market weight. The goal for 2012 is to get them all to market by December. Saturday we did manage to separate the ewe lambs we wanted to keep and put them in a field with the new Dorper ewes. We also set up electronet at the farm in New Hope and everything is ready for them to move. Since Sunday we have been feeding this ewe lamb group a little bit of grain and trying to teach the Dorpers to come to a grain bucket (learning by our ewes' example). This morning they finally did it, and we will probably move everyone over to New Hope in the next few days. It's time to end the breeding season, so if we plan it right, maybe we can cut down on the number of trips and bring the rams home on the same day. We'll then have one group of mature ewes, one group of ewe lambs, and three small groups of market lambs.

We've been dreaming big this week, making plans for a barn and a covered working area where the scale will have a semi-permanent home. Nothing is determined yet, but we're thinking about a pole barn with curtain sides that can roll up or down from the center. I am really looking forward to having lambing jugs with a roof over them and real lights instead of headlamps. We also purchased some of the lumber and supplies for the basement kitchen project, which means my dining room table is one step closer to being cleared off.