Sheep coming home

The first of the sheep are home. They spent the summer out at another property with lots of lush green grass. But with summer over, it is time to come home for lambing.



They seemed to remember this pasture. As soon as they exited the trailer, they happily ran to the trees and started grazing on the dried heads of the wild grasses.

We have 2 more loads to bring home as time permits. Then they will all be together again.

It's so good to see the sheep here again. We deeply miss them when they go off on vacation. Sheep are the life of the farm, the steady calm that keeps the storm of life at bay. Their personalities are each unique but similar, they are sheep. They are so like us as humans, their behaviors and natural tendencies so similar to humans, it's amazing. I can spend hours just watching these guys be.

Hopefully the rest of the herd can come home before the weekend.

posted from Bloggeroid

Sheep find greener pastures.

This time of year our land has no grass and little way to grow grass through the summer months, which is a big problem for sheep! We have not yet found an appropriate vegetable that works for grazers like sheep. So each year we must resort to buying hay (which gets incredibly expensive) or moving the sheep to greener pastures.

Fortunately... This year divine Providence has once again provided for the farms basic needs. We "ran into" a property that is beautiful, available for use, at a good price, and offers more grass than we could possibly need.

So... Here we are at the hottest day of the year so far... First time hitting triple digits, and it's time to load sheep!

I wish we had videos... This is one of most fun activities... Sheep rodeo! You would laugh right along with us at the trial and error as we try new ways to entice sheepish sheep into a small stock trailer.

Highlights from this year:

Dad caught a sheep in the air, mid leap. Not a good idea. Turns out dad finished the leap with her... Ouch!

Hunter did a few rounds with a ram... Thinking he was in charge when the ram was seriously taking the young boy for a ride.

Everett learned how to he a fence post, holding a stretch of not activated electric rope and standing incredibly still as sheep try to figure out what that curious sight is.

Kaelyn and Levi try desperately to close the trailer door when at one point a literal sea of sheep try to load at once with Dad caught in the middle, not realizing it is sheep holding the door open.

Rainey (the llama) decides to take a break down the driveway at one point to reflect on the experience he just witnessed.. them returns to the yard to take a shower. Yes.. llama standing in a yard sprinkler cooling down, refusing to move away. That was a sight!

Dad playing rodeo inside the trailer with a couple dozen sheep that decided the back corner of the trailer is safer than the open door to a pen filled with tall green grass.


At the end of the day, after three trips between our farm and the property... We had all the ewes and youngsters moved. 57 girls and one boy. The 13 Rams stayed at the farm for now. We will figure that out later. The rama can't be with the girls until around August, to prevent having to deal with babies born in the cold muddy period.

All in all a good day!

Now on to soothe the rodeo soreness!

posted from Bloggeroid

Quick Update on things for April

Sorry, no pictures on this post. Quite honestly... we have been a bit too busy to keep up with reporting on things.  So here is a quick update:

1. The fave beans are sprouted, reasonably well. Not as good as hoped, but not bad. The week of warmer rains might bring a few more to the surface... hopefully.

2. We did manage to get the entire main garden tilled this week, just in time for the rain. As always, the plan is to till as soon as dry enough, then let it sit through a warm rain (at least not cold) to sprout initial weed set, then a light till when it dries again and plant.  We have the first tilling done, now waiting for the rain, sprouting, retilling and planting. For the curious, the main garden this year is right at 1 1/2 acres in size.

3. We have 2 more areas hoping to get planted before summer, the old goat pen and the present pig pen. Those two are well fertilized and ready to go. But, the goat pen is much too muddy yet and the pig pen is.. well.. housing pigs yet! Plus the pigs totally tore down one side of fencing, held up by a pallet, so that must be replaced.

4. There are 2 more potential areas to plant this year... one has been housing horses for several years, and the other is the original winter garden spot. both should grow well.

5. The goats are almost all into milk now, ready for the season.  It has meant some serious restructuring of the barn to accommodate the bulk of the herd all at once, but it is slowly coming together.

6. We did manage to get the milking barn rebuilt, cleaned up from the winter, and useable again.

7. The new chicken flock is doing well, we ended up with right at 150 young birds that look healthy and happy. They will be coming out of the brooders this week and into their first job of fertilizing one garden area.

8. The new guinea fowl arrive this week, which means we will be retiring the old flocks to start anew, providing some excellent meat and organs for sale.

9. We have tested last year's home made "feed" of dehydrated zuchinni and greens. It stored exceptionally well! opening the buckets after 6 months revealed perfectly dry, aromatic, well preserved vegetables! The chickens were the first recipients of this marvelous free feed and they love it as long as it is ground a bit into smaller chunks. And their eggs... WHOA! the best eggs we have ever produced! Thick orange yolks, well developed whites, perfect aroma and a beautiful soft flavor. These are , in my humble opinion, the best eggs I have ever seen! And that is without the bug barn in operation, just zuchinni and greens! It looks like the experiment is a smashing success!

10. This week with the rains we hope to spend time finishing the barn insides and getting the chickens moved into their spring positions. Then it's office work! We have lots of paperwork to do to support the new may announcements!

I think that's about it for now. Please forgive us for not keeping up with emails this week, the pleasant weather break meant some long days, and enough hours in the sun to build a nice sunburn! The rains means that things will settle a bit and we can get back on top of things.

Thanks for all your support!

Sheep and grass

The sheep had same quality time with green grass over the weekend! The ground is finally drying out enough for them to graze without mud puddles.



This patch will soon become the first spring garden as soon as it can be tilled, so why waste the grass?  We will let the sheep consume it until it's time to till and plant.

posted from Bloggeroid

Eagle Attack

Eagles have always been my favorite bird... such a strong majestic symbol of life. Growing up in south Texas, I always wanted to see eagles for real, in the wild...

Now I do. Almost daily! While i still admire the birds deeply, reality is that these birds are predators, very efficient predators.

We have a neighborhood eagle that has been visiting the farm most mornings throughout winter for several years.  This eagle will fly over, looking for a quick meal in our pasture full of delectable goodies. From the air it must look like a vegas all you can eat buffet with the doors wide open.

To date, the losses have  been relatively small... a baby pig, small lamb, duck, chicken. We have often seen this bird or one of it's friends swoop down, grab any unsuspecting young animal from above and behind, head off to the nearby quiet pasture and consume what it can. Occasionally the bird will carry the kill off to .. wherever it lives.

This year, is different. If this is the same bird, it is now HUGE.

This morning we found this eagle perched on our pasture fence, resting after killing and half consuming a nearly full grown RAM! The wingspan on this guy is amazing.  It actually caught, killed, and ate over half of the ram in one sitting.

Unfortunately eagles are very hard predators to stop. The best approach we have found is to provide shelter for the animals to run under at a moments notice and hope that they are aware and capable of escaping.  If one is just a little slow, of not paying attention to the sky above at daybreak, they loose. It is not practical to cover the entire pasture, and our farming model of following nature prohibits keeping the animals in tiny protected pens. So they are at risk not unlike they would be in the wild. Fences do not stop eagles.

This will put a huge dent in our lamb products for 2017 if we can not protect these guys quickly. The birds are smart, and know where the easy meals are. He or she will be back, often.

Almost lost a good RAM - bloat

Perhaps the most dangerous thing about raising sheep is.. bloat.  Any sudden change in diet can cause the overproduction of gas almost immediately and the poor animal's stomach swells up to the point where, left untreated, they suffocate from the lack of ability to breathe. It is a very common problem with ruminants, but sheep in particular.

We just had a near miss today. Yesterday the entire herd managed to escape the pasture and run free in our yard... which means full access to the barn where some nice fresh "hot" alfalfa was sitting. By the time we got everyone back under control, a few had gorged themselves on alfalfa. That is deadly to a sheep that has lived on grass hay for a while.

Sure enough, one of our best rams was found today on his side, unable to stand. Not only that, but the whole herd broke out AGAIN and AGAIN found the alfalfa. So now the entire herd is a risk and one sheep already down.

Given the severity of the situation, we decided to run to town and pick up a commercial sheep bloat remedy. Last time this happened we successfully used dill weed tea, but we are too low on dill right now to make enough tea, so this time we chose to go commercial. Its a mix of antacid and vegetable oil. The antacid stops the formation of gas and the oil breaks up the bubbles to let the gas already made be expelled.

Giving the remedy to the ram with a drench tool. This is like a syringe that holds a accurate amount of liquid  for slow delivery right at the back of the throat, enabling swallowing even when the animal cant drink. I held his head up while Brenda administered the remedy.

The boys added plenty of baking soda to the herd's drinking water. this is a precautionary measure for the rest of the herd. The baking soda water provides enough ant acid to prevent bloat in minor cases of overeating. 

After a good dose, Hunter and I stand the ram up. At first we have to hold hi up as his legs are too weak and he is too dizzy to stand on his own.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, he has burped enough to expel quite a bit of gas. I massaged and thumped his belly to help break up more bubbles and release gas.

After 2 doses, some therapy as above, finally he is able to stand on his own! He doesn't want to move yet, but can stand. Huge improvement. 

Maybe an hour later and he is able to walk slowly around, even ate a little dry grass. Looks like he is going to be ok!

So today will be hourly checks to see how everyone is doing, and taking whatever measures are necessary. So far it looks like tragedy has been averted!

The white ram

This little guy arrived today, a totally white jacob sheep ram. He is quite a sight, and quite rare. This is the first ram totally white since we started breeding Jacobs years ago.

We will be able to check tomorrow in the light to see just how pure white he is.

posted from Bloggeroid

Portable Patio Squares - Latest invention

We have struggled for years with... MUD.  Lots of it.  Here in southern oregon, when it rains, it wont stop. We quickly go from ground as hard as concrete to ground as soft as jello. So what to do with the animals that dislike mud (which is actually most of them)?

We have tried the traditional methods:

Straw - need LOTS of it.  Requires a thick layer to prevent sinking in the mud below, and has to be replaced about weekly during rains.  We are talking dozens of tons to cover the ground we need to cover. While thats good for the ground, it is too expensive and labor intensive to be practical.

Rock - Expensive and immovable.  To cover the areas we need, would take a lot of rock and expensive earth moving and sculpting. Plus once that is done... the area is unchangeable. It can never be planted with a cover crop, and fences are somewhat permanent.  Thats besides the fact that rock must be replaced frequently as it slowly disappears into the earth below.

Cement - See rock, just more permenant.

Wood Pallets - nicely moveable, but dont last long and a royal mess to keep clean! The wood rots and pallets fall apart if left too long, making them impossible to easily remove.

And on and on...   BUT THIS YEAR WE FOUND A SOLUTION!

Introducing --- Portable Patio Squares!

These things are IDEAL!

Easy to build
Cheap
Easily moveable
Easy to Clean
Able to shape into almost any area
Rough enough to help trim hoofs
Stay Dry

Take a look:

It is nothing but a pallet, covered with 1/2" hardware cloth with a 2x4 frame on top filled with 1/2 to 3/4 clean granite.

They can be washed down with a water hose, because the "clean" granite means  no fines to stick together. The rocks stay loose, so as animals walk on them they shift around. With a little water (rain) this becomes almost self cleaning. The action of shifting rocks under hoofs helps the rough granite sides to grind against the hoofs, providing a measure of self-trimming, Since it is just a pallet, they are easily movable with a tractor to place in position, change, stack, etc.  The materials cost somewhere around $10 each to build, less if you use scraps.  And each square covers about 3x4 feet. They are sturdy enough to take reasonable abuse, and can be moved out for repairs when necessary.

We are building a few dozen of these and deploying them in all animal walkways around the farm to provide dry clean sidewalks and patios. We are even building a "play spot" for the goats  that will have some  things to climb on and have fun without getting in the mud. 

Here are some pics of the first deployment in the milking barn:

I will try to post a quick "how to build these" series when possible, right now we are in process of building and placing these ASAP. 

The Sheperd Boy

Stories of "the little shepherd boy" have always been my favorite... but honestly, they seem so long ago, so far away, in a time long gone.  yet they are stories of inspiration, comfort, and wisdom.

But perhaps those days are not so far away as we think...  on this small family farm in Oregon, the shepherd boy lives on, even today. Just like days of old, the sheep know his voice, know his safety and comfort, and run to be under his shepherding.

Here is Hunter... leading our sheep back home from almost a year of off-site grazing.  It took a few minutes, but they remember him... and the feed bucket he carried. They ran to meet and follow him, to wherever he would lead them.  It was awe inspiring to watch these animals follow their shepherd so willingly, so enthusiastically.

If we, as humans, could only follow our shepherd as well, with excitement and total trust.

The lucky mom and baby

Last friday we moved the sheep flock back to foothill to take advantage of the dense spring grass there... and as noted in that blog post, there was one mom who just refused to go.  Well, her resistance has now paid off... as she finds herself and her baby in the Ritz Carlton!

We moved her today from the pasture into the circle around the front yard pod where the richest densest grass anywhere around is waiting for her. The grass is over 3 feet tall in some places! It is well fertilized by the ducks last season.

So here she is.. the lone protective mom.. now in the best accommodations possible!

Why do animals fear humans?

Interesting observation to share, about the universal fear of man found within animals in nature.

We moved the sheep back to the foothill property friday to allow them access to the fresh green grass of spring there.  But something interesting happened in the process that brings this topic up.

There was one late born lamb, only a week or two old. S single lamb born to a new mom.  As expected, she is very aloof. Moms usually keep their young away from everyone, even the herd, for a few weeks. This protects the lamb from abuse from others in the herd fighting for food, etc.  This new mom was very good at protecting her young, and even herself.  We loaded 2 trailers of sheep and older lambs quite easily , lured by alfalfa and grain.  But not this mom. Nope! she stayed far back and even took a dozen or so of the sheep with her, all refusing to load.

We ended up separating her from teh rest, and successfully lured the others into the last trailer load. But then we tried to catch her and the lamb. No way! even with 5 of us out there she refused to be cornered or driven or lured. She kept her baby right at her side and together they eluded capture repeatedly. At one point, the baby took a wrong turn and ended up separated. We thought "Great!" now just catch the lamb and the mom will follow.

You see, new lambs, just born, have zero fear of man. in fact the problem is often the baby responding to interaction with humans by identifying with them instead of sheep, causing the mom to reject the lamb!  A new born lamb will walk right up to anyone and snuggle. They are NOT born with fear of humans.   But within a few days, that changes.by a week or so they run away.

This little fellow was no exception, he ran feverishly like a world class sprinter and.. in the end.. we gave up. They can stay at the farm for a while. We couldnt risk over stressing the little lamb in trying to catch him further.

So here's the thing... we also have this little lamb named Nephi. He was a bottle lamb, rejected by his mom. Grandma took him in and hand fed him, then the kids took over, so he was raised by humans.  This little guy LOVES people. he will always leave the flock to be with any person within sight. He much prefers humans!

So here is the odd thing. Lambs are born with zero fear.  If you keep them from their moms, they never develop fear and actually prefer humans  But send a week with mom, separate from the herd, and they are deathly afraid of humans.  It must be that mom is teaching the lambs to fear humans. I see no other explanation! How she does that, I have no idea. whether this applies to other species is hard to say, but it is true in sheep.

We know that part of the result of the global flood in noah's day was that animals would "now fear man" at the same point that noah was told he could eat meat for the first time ever. How did God put that fear into animals? Thats what I ponder now. It does not appear to be something genetic, nor inherited. It is something taught by parents. Amazingly it is taught even in the absence of humans during the teaching time.  I find this amazing to ponder.

Some things we just dont know.. many things actually, in the miracle of nature. The complexity and awesomeness is unmatched by anything man could conceive.

The pardon

We have a rule here...  Any animal that attacks or acts aggressively to a person is....  Well...  Retired.  Zero tolerance. 

But...  Every so often...  There is a pardon.

We were picking out our breeding rams today,  keeping 8 out of 18. The other 18 are bound for the processing plant.  During the process there was a moment.

The process was to herd all the teams into a corner on the pen,  and hand pick the best breeders,  removing the rest one by one,  by hand. 

The moment arrived when I had just opened the gate for Bradley to pull one or,  and when I turned around...  There wag the stare.  The buddy of the just removed ram was starting me down through the fence.  Right away I said "and that guy is going to ram me".  I could see it in his eyes.  The stare.

Well...  We chose the next ram to remove and I stepped inside the gate.  That particular ram that had given me the stare was back in with the rest.  I looked away for just an instant and...  Here it comes!  All I heard was a couple footsteps and saw a flash out of the corner of my eye.  By the time I looked that way  it was to late to jump.  Boom...  Two strong horns rammed into my thighs ,  one on each side.  He got me!  Fortunately his horns slipped to the sides,  Just wider than my hips,  so there was no internal damage.  But it hurt!

So I thought about it. Enforce the rule?  In this case I chose no.  He acted in self defense,  with reasonable force.  After all,  he had watch us catch half a dozen of his buddies and carry them off by hand.  He was protecting himself and the flock.  That's not a bad thing.  He also looked like good genetics for breeding.  He only hit me once,  and seemed satisfied.  Ok.  I give.  He can stay.

So he was pardoned for his sin of attacking the farmer.  Given the situation a pardon seemed reasonable.  Maybe some day he will protect the little lambs from danger,  who knows.

But..  Sigh...  As I lay here in bed... Truth is..  It hurts!

Quiet moments of a Shepherd

Life on a farm is a complex mix of responsibilities,  work,  sweat,  joy,  and tears.   In the midst of it all are those quiet moments  that allow one to reconnect to our existence.  These are the moments of a Shepherd.

Here is a small window into that world.

Notice in the first few seconds, off to the right of the scene is hunter, and at his feet is our adopted sheep "Nehpi" who was rescued and bottle fed. Now Nephi follows us around like a little puppy, preferring to be with people than sheep.

White Jacob sheep born

A very unusual event today.  Another birth brought what appears to be a totally white Jacob sheep.  Somewhat of a rarity for Jacobs!   He is actually a twin,  the other one being almost fully black!

There is some thought this these may be geeps (a rare sheep -  goat cross).  It is "possible"  since they did live together for a short time...  But I am not convinced.  They both have long legs and the white one has slightly odd wool that looks a bit like hair...  But I am not convinced yet.  Lets let him grow up a bit and see.

Either way,  a fun and rare event!

Pitter patter of little..... Hoofs

Life on a farm.....  Waking up to the pitter of little hoofs.  Here is levi taking his adopted lamb for a little early morning walk through the house at sunrise.

Farm life!

First bottle lamb

Kaelyn is very happy to adopt this year's first bottle lamb!  This cute little ram was one of two born yesterday and unfortunately the mom choose the other. This happens occasionally in sheep for various reasons and in the wild,  the rejected lamb would die within a day or two. Historically we have given away rejected lambs to save them.  This year we decided to raise the rejected lambs instead of giving them away.

Kaelyn is loving her new job as you can see!

And a new years lamb arrives

Seems we are blossoming with holiday births this year!  First Christmas lambs,  now a new years lamb.  Fortunately they all look healthy and are handling the sub zero weather just fine.  Love Jacob sheep!  We hardy!

Christmas lamb #3

Here she is...  The third Christmas lamb.  Born right before the start of new years week.  Very cute hanging out in the corner cover of the sheep pen.  

They look healthy,  but still have the winter snows to get through.

Another Christmas lamb!

Another lamb born this morning!  Wow what an early year this is! 

The first one is doing great,  and this one looks strong, we just have to get them through January now.

Christmas surprise

What a shock!  We found  a newborn lamb this morning!  Christmas eve morning!

Cute as it is...  What a surprise.  These guys usually show up in February or even March,  not December! 

It's actually a bit dangerous,  since we are not set up to winter lambs.  By Feb -  March the weather is improving already,  but for this little ram to be,  he is facing the coldest weather as a newborn.

To help him,  we moved the stock trailer to their pasture pen,  and filled it with fresh dry straw.  Then we hang a tarp shelter to keep him out of the rain.  Will the mom use it?  Time will tell but this afternoon he looked strong and healthy.  We will check on him in the morning and evaluate what to do with him next.

Surprisingly,  I noticed at least one more mom in milk today,  so there are more babies coming soon!

Never a dull moment around here.