We started feeding grain to the ewes last week to increase their nutrition level. Lambing should begin in about 5 weeks, and those little lambs are really growing now. The ewes need a bit more energy and protein than the stockpiled fescue will provide. Speaking of stockpiled fescue, so far we have fed 2 round bales of stored hay to the mature ewes. They have barely eaten any of it, and we are starting to wonder how we are going to clean up the bales come spring. We applied nitrogen to the pasture this fall and got some tremendous growth on the fescue. It looks pretty brown, but the ewes seem to be eating it just fine. Certainly they are also eating some new growth with as warm as the weather has been, but we're hoping that doesn't set the spring growth back too much. We'll move the ewes off of that field in the next couple of weeks. They have plenty of changes in store for them; vaccinations and pedicures next week followed by new haircuts the following week. Construction on our new barn was to begin today, but rain changed our plans. Brian has been working all week to clean up two trees that were in the way for construction. One fell down in December and the other had to be cut down to make room for the barn. The town's water line runs right through the middle of our chosen site, but thankfully they will work with us to move our meter. That saves us from having to run a line from further up the hill down to the barn and saves them from having to re-route our supply line. We will take care of the re-routing to avoid the potentially unpleasant job of digging up a line inside the barn sometime in the future. Why not move the barn? Well, we found the largest flat (sort of) spot anywhere on our land, so moving it would require massive excavation and would be very expensive.
One of my favorite ewes, 89. Her mama was one of my favorites, but she died this fall. Last year as a yearling 89 had a huge single lamb that was breech and a really difficult delivery. I couldn't get it out in time to save the lamb, but I did manage to deliver the lamb, which felt like a victory. No damage done to mama, so I am rooting for her to have a nice set of twins in the next month or so.
Blue sky above, brown grass below. Here I am, stuck in the middle with ewe. Click on this photo to see that 44 is sticking her tongue out. No, it wasn't because I sang her the terribly "punny" tune I just typed, it was because she had just dipped her nose in the mineral feeder and this is what they do. See below for more tongue action.
The ewe lambs over in New Hope are eating a bit more hay, they have almost finished 2 round bales, but they do not have stockpiled grass. They are grazing down an older stand of alfalfa (translation, it is mostly grass now) that we are going to be planting into corn this spring. They seem to be growing well and about the time we start lambing here at home, we'll be turning the rams in with the Dorper ewe lambs for our first attempt at lambing in September. That reminds me, we really do need to find a Dorper ram, and soon.
I mentioned the weather. It has been so nice that it feels more like May than February. On February 9 I used my lunch break to do a little work in the flower beds on the bank. I connected the last piece of grass so that now the bank bed is one continuous swath along the entire side yard. I laid some wood posts for an edging and put down a thick layer of newspaper to smother the grass. While doing this, I also moved three clumps of blue fescue grass and planned out the rest of the bed in my mind. I am going to attempt to buy fewer flowers this year since I went a little crazy last year. Instead of buying I will make divisions from what I have; it is good to be in one place long enough now to have plants to divide. Roots are good for the soul.
Here is the newest addition to the bank bed. Yesterday we added some wood chips in a nice thick layer. This should be a much easier way of creating a new bed than my normal method of digging up all the sod, one shovel full at a time.
No matter what the weather, we can count on some gorgeous views of the moon and sun in winter here. The pictures above and below were taken the same morning about a half hour apart.
I saved the most interesting thing that has happened over the last few weeks for last. On February 10 we were walking down the driveway to feed the ewes, and I looked out across the hill and spotted two bald eagles perched in the trees below the corral. (The same trees that the vultures love.) It was amazing to see them, and a pair of them no less. We had a bald eagle fly over us a few years ago while we were feeding sheep, and we saw one sitting by a creek on our way home from New Hope about two months ago. But a pair of eagles in a tree; that was really cool. Except my next thought was, "Gee, I hope they don't like lamb..." Our biggest predator problems have been ravens and hawks, but that has been with the chickens. Having eagles in the neighborhood could up the ante.
