The new year comes.

Our first full year on the farm is drawing to a close.

We have had successes, failures, and learned much.

The rabbits were a lesson in ongoing maintenance requirements. The sheep and birds are much lower maintenance, especially with fencing in place to keep the sheep controlled.

Predators are a problem, but vigilance, planning and judicious hunting can reduce predation a lot. Angry geese help a lot as well, and are tough and capable enough to send a coyote packing. Raccoons are tough targets, but after several hunts, they are causing less trouble.

On the whole power tools mean less than intelligent tool use. On our scale, at the pace we work and with the plans we lay, power tools are more hassle and expense than they are usually worth.

If we want something done properly, it is up to us to do it. We cannot rely on others for things which really matter. The best example of this was the fencing.

An ounce of planning is worth a pound of sweat. Obviously, this is true in many walks of life, but when the pound of sweat is literal, it is driven home so much more clearly.

Best purchases

Some time ago there was a posting on the topic of which tools were the most desirable. Now there has been a year or so to review this.

A knife is definitely required. Even if all one is doing is opening bags of feed and bales of hay, it's a good friend to have.

A hat. A broad brimmed, comfortable hat. It keeps off the sun and the rain, the hail and the snow.

A truck. There are way too many heavy and inconvenient things to carry around on a farm to ignore the utility of a truck.

Boots. Light shoes are all right for a lot of work, but when the snow is deep, the mud is slick and there are hours worth of work to be done, boots come into their own.

Gloves. Farms are full of hard, rough, sharp things as well as animals that don't want to be manhandled. Latex or similar gloves for butchering, thick leather for hard labour, but gloves are a big help.

Everything else is fairly contingent on the nature of the farm, but some kind of weapon for dealing with pests is probably a good idea as well, since there is no farm which cannot be ruined by pest animals.

Freedom

Slightly decided today that he wanted a change of diet, to include fresh bird. To this end he scaled an apple tree, but his appetites were frustrated by the vigilance of the birds. His agility appears to be largely unaffected by his congenitally defective hind leg, and he was stalking down the tree limb with no difficulty.

The recent rains have not affected us in terms of floods, because of judicious land choice. The creek is running strongly, but that is well below the farm and poses no risk. The farm itself slopes little enough that landslides are no risk.

Our escape artiste ewe managed to get out of the northwestern bit of paddock to the eastern extent, which distressed her greatly once she discovered that she didn't know how to get back at feeding time. We drove her back into the southwestern bit with Bolivar and the larger flock, aiming to at least get her with the rest. We shall have to tell the sire of her lamb or lambs by gestation period and dates.

Prisoner at the Bar

Yesterday and today we have had a ewe take advantage of the rainy weather to push up the tent pegs used to hold down loose fencing in spots where the workmen did a poor job. She never goes far, but nonetheless these escapades are bad for business and an embarrassment to the firm; besides, her poor example may yet lead others to follow in her sinful wake.

To this end when this morning's feeding proved not only that she was out again but that she was malingering nearby in the hopes of a few stolen mouthfuls from the wheelbarrow, it was decided that this could no longer be permitted. With the aid of our gallant barn kitty Tink, whose curiosity and friendliness towards we farmer-constables knows no bound, the ewe with her own curiosity and unnatural appetites was lured within reach of the shepherd's crook. Tink provided ably with diversion sufficient that the ewe failed to notice the ominous and gradual rise of the crook into position; until it was far too late, the ewe was nabbed, and despite her ignominious struggles, the farmer-constable had her up in arms and over the fence - back in jug, only this time a more secure jug, having been constructed to hold that rebel Mitey and his harem.

The only difficulty then was in identifying her so that she as a former bride of Bolivar could be - and her lambs - identified for who the father of her future children might be. All welfare relief for little lambs must be attributed to the proper parentage; so sayeth the farm bureaucracy, and so sayeth those who hold the annals and records of such deeds and lineages. Thus a mug shot was prepared and is thus provided, and a portion of her number glimpsed - but only glimpsed - and is believed to involve 304, which would mark her as being Isabelle.

She is very much annoyed by Mitey's would-be attentions, and has been sulking even when a farmer shows up to provide sheep with (literally) bread and water; the former as a treat, the latter a matter of refilling and refreshing troughs. She has, however, less outlet for escape in this pasture, and we may hopefully attend to the weak points this weekend with means of security more viable in this wet and windy season than the tent pegs. Thus sayeth the farmer; thus sayeth the prison guard.

As a note to further witness in chance of future escapes (or escapades), Isabelle is notable within her new flocklet for her dark horns and particoloured face. No other ewe in that paddock has that combination, only one other ewe having similarly dark horns but having an unmarked dark face to match. Isabelle has lighter streaks of 'rouge' on either cheek; she is, clearly, a very fast young lady.

The snow has gone and left rain and fog in its wake, for a somewhat gothic appearance to the landscape. The ducks and geese are absolutely fine with this, although the barn cats would like it to be a trifle dryer, please.

We presently have six ducks remaining, although a raccoon was shot at recently. The coyotes have not been back since we arranged some of the portable mesh fencing around the pond, since the ducks insist on sleeping there at night. It's rather annoying; during the day they will be on the porch or even on the roof of the porch, but at night they insist on being in what is very nearly the most exposed spot available to them.

Last night the truck began overheating, necessitating a tow truck. The mechanic has made mixed noises; there is some damage to be fixed, specifically a new waterpump, but overall it is likely to be only a few hundred dollars. While this is not as wonderful as 'just a busted hose and you're good to go', it is much better than 'you'll need your engine rebuilt', so we're taking it as a win.

After a day and a half of snow, our property now looks like a postcard, or possibly the lid of a chocolate box. And it continues to snow. Tomorrow it is supposed to have stopped snowing and we in theory shall not see more snow this week; rain has been predicted for Thursday.

The animals are bearing up dutifully under the weather conditions. The geese are loud, squawking and abrasive - in short, not much

new there. The cats are dubious about this, although Nibs finds it delightful to follow a farmer down to taking trash to the curb and picking up mail, leaving adorable kitty footprints in the wake of human footprints - and sometimes not in the wake of them, either. We are blessed with such loving companions as walk on four feet that seldom can be matched by humans, with their complexities and melodramas. In Nibs' life, as in the lives of our other cats, the truest mystery and potential dramas are those of the hunt and

whether tonight's bedtime will involve a tin of cat food pate or not. Kitty pawprints leave a mark wherever they go.

At the evening feeding, a snowstorm blew in, making two sets of hands more helpful than one. However, all animals were fed and watered, without too much in the way of difficulty. Morning may paint an interesting picture of the snow continues as it was then, unabated.

Today it began to snow. The sheep are coping, if a bit sulkily, in their usual fashion of sheltering where they can and demanding hay and carrots. It has snowed on and off all day today, until the trees have a layer of frosting on them and the grass is patchily visible, but it's predominantly white and snowy. A good sort of day for staying indoors where possible, on the whole; certainly a good day for staying off the main roads and ducking the need to deal with snow and ice on downhill slopes.

Some of the ducks have decided they'd rather be on the porch than in the snow, although by and large it doesn't seem to bother the ducks much, and we've seen the ducks bedded down in a patch, letting snow pile up around them and eating snowflakes off their own backs. The barn cats when out and about and not looking for small vertebrates to crunch down upon have taken the opinion that the porch-sitting ducks have the right idea, and while they haven't cuddled up to one another, they've almost as good as done so. It made an amusing picture.

This week is America's Thanksgiving week; it seems likely we'll be largely if not entirely snowed in, although if tomorrow's prediction of 80% chance of snow is mistaken we might take the 4x4 truck into town to pick up some more vegetables for Thursday's dinner. Of course, if the weather does continue in this vein, company for dinner might not be an option. Time and Mother Nature will tell.

Today we went to the farm store for a load of hay, stocking up despite having enough still for a couple of days. The rationale behind this decision is that there may well be snow on the way; while it's unlikely if snow arrives we'll have a major snowstorm by Minnesota standards, even a modest amount of snow has been known to close the road leading to town as we are on quite a steep hill.

In addition to stocking up on hay, we also made a point of picking up a couple of bags of poultry feed and a large bag of 'farm style' dry cat kibble. The barn cats were delighted by this, and Peter in particular began eating spilled bits before his bowl had even been filled. Once it was filled, he was face down in it most eagerly, ignoring what was left of their old brand of food.

We also ran by a local independent supermarket and picked up some essentials such as milk and bread and eggs, and also some ingredients for the coming holiday, most particularly a slightly over fourteen pound free-range organic turkey. With these in hand, we seem well set for what the weather may bring.

Cool and wet

Now that we are well into November, the weather has firmly taken a turn for the wet. The turf is constantly wet, so that thinner patches turn muddy. The appetites of the animals are all picking up as the weather (now barely touching 50 on any given day, frequently less) closes in. We have had frosts firm enough to make ice flowers bloom from molehills, but not every morning is frosty.

The sheep are settling in well, in their new accomodations, and their latest motivation is to beg for carrots, which we supply as supplementary snacks. Tlingit's ram lamb, still less than a year old, is growing rapidly. In due course he will be a fine flock sire, although his wool promises to be rather kempy.

We are stemming the tide of losses among our ducks, at the price of repeated raccoon hunts. This has the pleasant side effect of keeping the ravens fed.

We spoke to local people about the raccoons, and heard that while most people regard them as a pest, some people buy dog food in bulk quantities at the farm store to feed raccoons and possums. This is a trifle annoying, because while they have their cute aspects, they really are something of a menace on multiple grounds. The possums are actually an invasive pest which does the local ecology no small harm.

Our biggest project currently under way is to trim the trees on our northern border, and replace the fence there. It is a lot of hard work, but should be very rewarding once completed.

A farmer vacations

One farmer is far away, and the other holds down the fort.

Mother Nature puts her usual sense of mischief to work and the late autumnal weather has been delightfully mild, allowing the grass a little longer to recover. Given the rather deliberately heavy grazing done earlier in the season to get the brush and weeds under control, this is a good thing.

The weather has also been kind to the sheep, which is worthwhile since they've had a somewhat trying time of it. First we put up the new fence subdividing a paddock, then put Mitey and five ewes to the north of it and left Bolivar and the rest of the ewes and ram lambs to the south. One would think that the two rams would have enough to keep them busy, but they still find time to grumble at each other and try to dominate each other through the wire.



This does not work as well as one might think, and it has snags. Specifically, Mitey snagged himself on the wire by his horn, and stayed there for some time until a farmer came by to release him. Since his struggles had broken a strand of the thick steel, the farmer also spent some time splicing the broken spot on the fence.


The barn kitties are enjoying the weather as well, and find the chairs on the porch to be a comfortable roost when they are not plotting death and destruction. Slightly, despite his handicap, was eyeing a squirrel earlier today with murder in his eyes. Peter is more sedate, but Tink only joins him when her own hunts have exhausted her.

24 October 2010
Cool & moist

Working together, we've managed to divide the west paddock in two by fencing it off properly. The process made us further aware of what a poor job the workmen we'd hired had done; fenceposts 10 to 16 feet apart or more in places, a lack of plumbing on the wooden posts so that they are not approximately true, insufficient or lazy clipping of the fencing to the posts, insufficient or no tightening of the fence via comealong or other methods. However, it has held up to date, with only two regular escapees, so there is that.

The escapees are one ewe yearling lamb and one ram yearling lamb, the former escaping from the ewe pasture to wander around eating grass. She does not go very far from the fence as they don't like to be too far from the flock, and while she appears able to get back in on her own, usually when she's out we end up letting her back in by way of the gate at feeding times.

The yearling ram lamb had been escaping into the ewe pasture from the ram pasture by going under the fenceline where the workmen had been particularly and exceptionally loose with the fence and posts. He was the only ram to be doing this, but when we saw him giving the ewes the glad eye, we decided it was time to take some more serious action, especially as our attempts to tighten things up were not quite enough and he was still able to go back and forth.

Fortunately, some shepherd friends of ours cut us in on a deal they were making, trading some of their ewes to someone on craigslist in exchange for some fencing materials. They lacked a ram to trade to the fellow, and did we happen to have any going spare...? Why, yes, as a matter of fact...!

He proved a bit difficult to catch, being wary of netting and in the ewes' pasture, which is wide and open, shunning getting close to the fenceline, He did pop back under the fence to the ram side, being leery of all the harassment he was getting from us, and thereupon one of us stood by the gate with the shepherd's crook uplifting unmoving, alfalfa just inside the gate. After one false attempt, he was hooked, dragged up and over by the horns and popped into a cage and taken for a drive.

Thus Silver Cat Macfree is off running a new pasture with a handful of ewes all to himself. The USDA vet still needs to be notified (legally required) but we received in trade five rolls of six-foot deer fencing. This amounts to excellent value for the money, and we'll put that to very good use indeed; we could use forty rolls of the stuff and possibly not have enough.

There is still a great deal of canning to be done, as we have five pecks of apples to process. The current plan is apple butter and apple pie filling; the first attempt at apple butter provided us with quite a lot of apple sauce, but it wasn't quite buttery enough.

Passing of a Season, and an Era

13 October 2010
Sunny & cool

Shelley passed away of a heart attack Sunday night, almost in our laps. She was a wonderful cat who was with us for more than fifteen years.

We'd decided early on that a house without cats in it was something unfit to be lived in, and so we went to a local animal shelter and picked out, ultimately, four cats, which was just about double what we'd intended. One of us had spotted two sisters, kittens who'd been dumped, and so the other had to get two to 'be fair' and keep things even. The other two were both males, a little older, fully grown, and unrelated.

The boys ultimately were named Argent and Wimsey. The girls were Shelley and Omaha. We moved them in, and the girls had to wait a week or so for appointments to be spayed, whereas the boys already had been altered.

Shelley went into heat that weekend, demanding Wimsey perform the honours. Up until this point she'd hissed whenever he was nearby and wanted nothing to do with him, being a somewhat nervous kitten. While the girls weren't quite feral, they were very nervous and skittish of human contact, and of the other cats.

Wimsey was delighted. She finally wanted to play! He batted at the tip of her tail and tried to play with her until she, in furious desperation, lashed out at him with a growl. While she was fixed a few days later, she never got over her grudge against him and her nervousness, although she did gradually mellow, curling up with us in bed and collecting cuddles from her daddy in particular.

She eventually became fond of her 'mother' as well, and could be counted upon to purr ferociously and yowl if petted and stroked and scritched with 'rough love' in the right way by us both. She loved to cuddle in bed with us, and while she was never a terribly sociable or talkative puss, she knew she was loved, and once the household was down to just her and her sister, she became quite open about looking for love.

Fifteen years just doesn't seem like it was long enough. Her passing wasn't quite as quick as we'd have liked, but it wasn't lingering, either. We miss her greatly, and the house seems all the emptier for her passing.

Omaha is bearing up well - better than we are, in some ways. We are spoiling her immensely, and her latest thing has been coming up onto the bed as we're trying to drift off to sleep and demanding love and curling up on top of us and purring aggressively. She has been informed that she isn't allowed to pass on for at least another year and preferably another five.

In other news, autumn is very definitely here, and there is the hint of winter in the air. Hoarfrost has been appearing on the grass in the mornings, and the sheep are hungry for as much hay as we'll give them. The little ram lamb's been finding his way back into the ewes' pasture, and is disconcertingly wary of being caught; this weekend we'll be trying to set that straight.

We'll be hitting up a livestock auction soon, to purchase a couple of sheep, goats or other livestock for butchering purposes, and filling the freezer in the garage for the winter. The winter is likely to be a harsh one, and having plenty of food on hand seems like a good idea.

At present, things are going reasonably well. We are spacing out major purchases and making notes on farm items we wish to procure. The barn cats are sleek and happy (and happy to collect any excess kitty hugs in the wake of Shelley's passing), and they are catching vermin left and right. The geese and ducks are doing well and we haven't had further losses lately - we are going to be taking steps to obtain motion lights to help frighten off night-time predators.

We will be getting a cylinder stove as well, in case of power losses this winter. And at present we have about a peck's worth of apples slowly cooking down into apple butter for the winter also. There are approximately two pecks of apples more to be stored or made into pie filling or other stowables for over the winter and into spring.

When spring comes and the ground has thawed, we will go to the nursery and select a suitable tree for Shelley to be planted under. Due to her lifelong antipathy to Wimsey, her tree and his will likely be planted far enough apart for harmony's sake. There is, after all, no harm in honouring her wishes, even now in death.

Hunters and Hunted

It's been a busy weekend so far. Friday we had the vet out to examine Hercules, our dominant ram, prior to driving him down to Oregon for stud purposes. For the next weeks or months, his sole mission in life will be to reign supreme over, and impregnate, a flock of strange Soay ewes.

He was not terribly difficult to catch, and we roped him by his horns to a gatepost in expectation of the vet's arrival. The vet pronounced him healthy after an inspection which involved various ignominies being visited upon him, and then he was bundled into a crate with plenty of straw for padding and some water for the trip.


We also had the vet examine Shelley, one of our two remaining housecats; she turns out to have a bad heart murmur and will be put on medication once it arrives. There is presently some room for doubt as to whether she'll make it until then as she has taken a turn for the worse. We are doing our best to make her comfortable and she seems appreciative, purring at us when we stroke her. She's been with us as long as Wimsey was - over fifteen years, now.

By contrast, the barn cats have been in fine fettle and exceptional hunting spirits, daily bringing in strange things with which to shock and perplex the farmers. Friday morning it was a six inch crawdad which was apparently hunted up from the nearby stream - the vet confirmed what it was, and warned us that this should be discouraged as raw crawdad consumption can transmit a lung parasite to cats and humans both. Should we see the barn cats coughing, we should call the vet at once, without delay, so they can be treated.

Last night it was a squirrel of some sort, which they'd caught, killed, and dumped into their water bowl so that it floated there eerily. They are remarkable hunters, but determined to display their trophies in ways which would have gone over as modern art installations in the sixties.

A light trim around the back

It has been a busy weekend. We obtained fencing tools, including a nice set of fencing pliers which were put to heavy use immediately, yanking out some of the last remaining bits of barbed wire stapled firmly to wooden posts. We're much happier with this hazard gone.

More trees are being gradually limbed now, letting light through to our neighbours to the north, as well as making it easier to build fences there too.

We had wanted to build fences already, but as all too often is the case, doing one thing led to first doing a dozen other things. Mercifully, the local burn ban has been lifted, so that we can get rid of a lot of combustible rubbish that way rather than having it sit around as a fire hazard.

The primary fly and mosquito season has passed, and this is quite welcome. We are getting around to giving our animals their autumn deworming. This should put them in much better condition for the next six months.

Between deworming, fence construction and so on, we should be kept very busy until the end of the year.

The joy of discovery

We have discovered how some lambs have wriggled out of the fenced enclosure.

The men who did the fencing used the field fence upside down along one stretch such that the small gaps are on top and the large gaps beneath. The lambs, not being quite as stupid as one might think based on the reputation of sheep, discovered this and squeezed through.

We can't really blame the sheep, but we are a trifle disappointed in the men who did the work. Our disappointment continued while we were pinning chicken wire to the fence to block ovine excursions, and using plastic tent pegs to pin it to the ground so that they couldn't wriggle underneath.

We didn't have quite enough chicken wire for the whole length, so we blocked off the rest with piled douglas fir branches, but we will finish the job as soon as time permits.

A hard day's night

Today started late, since the farmers both slept in to make up for lost sleep over the week. However, once we got under way it was with a vengeance. Today's task was to separate and tag as many ewes as we could, then get them in the ewe enclosure.

This task, simple as it sounds, took us until night fell. Tedious, but difficult. We did manage to tag what we believe was the last untagged lamb - Bo Peep's lamb. She's beautiful, big and elegant with wool as soft as a cloud. At our best count we have eight rams and forty-nine ewes including this year's lambs. This is still subject to modification.

With this task mercifully out of the way we can focus on other things, like clearing up and building more fences. Ultimately we should have the whole farm well subdivided.

Recovery

The week goes out, and with it some of the heaviest rain of the season. The turf is rich green, thick and soft. The sheep have been confined all this time, so the rest of the farm's grazing is recovering well. The side with the rams, and hitherto the bulk of the ewes, has been fairly well cleared but we have put the feeders in with them and started giving them hay.

Today there was such a scrum around the feeders that a farmer could quietly prowl around and pick out ewes to toss (gently) into the other side. Thus we work on separating them further.

Tlingit was a particularly fortuitous catch. She's a large, strong ewe (for a Soay), and we've been meaning to grab her anyway because the tags in her ears don't meet the standard of the USDA for the scrapie program. Carrying a fifty pound bag of feed is one thing, but a fifty pound fighting ewe is quite another. Still in the end she was tagged, her hooves trimmed, and she was driven in among the other ewes.

Tlingit's ram lamb is only about half a year old now, but he is already large. His sire and dam are the largest of their sex in our flock, so we expect him to be a gorgeous flock sire.

We intend to be cautious in pairing rams and ewes, so that the smaller ewes are only tupped by smaller rams. This results in fewer birthing complications, and was recommended as sound practice by the vet.

Among the tasks we intend to tackle in the near future are building more enclosures. This will let us put aside the ewes in groups for breeding, or not, depending on their condition. Some of the ewes which bred this last season have not completely recovered their condition, so it seems prudent to give them a rest.

In sickness and in convenience

It has been a rainy week. September is closing in, here in the Pacific Northwest, and bringing the first really sustained rains of the season. The duckpond is up to capacity, the rainbarrels likewise, or nearly. The farmers unfortunately fell prey to a seasonal affliction and consequently not a lot has happened over the past week.

The good news is that one half of the fenced pasture, with the bulk of the sheep (around forty) has in that week been largely cleared. Allowing for some losses, we can call it a third of an acre. This means that with roughly a hundred sheep we could clear an acre off undergrowth in roughly a week or ten days, should that be our goal.

At any rate, the scotch broom has been aggressively chewed, the blackberries heavily trimmed, and even the lower tree branches nibbled. The visibility within three feet of ground level has improved immensely - where it has been dense shrubbery it is now airy and open.

The lumpy ground enabled a few sheep to escape under the wire until we blocked that gap. There was another gap between two corner posts - ours and a neighbour's - and a lamb escaped there, but a few carefully placed bindings of baling twine block that gap now, and we have had no escapes since then.

The Hobhouse File

Here we see the gate of the new enclosure, or half of it at any rate. The support posts are sunk a few feet into the ground and set in concrete. They are really going nowhere. The gate itself came with this nice galvanised mesh which should resist the elements well. One can see in this picture the young trees and some of the brush (including much scotch broom) which the sheep will be able to attack when hunger strikes.

The sheep have realised the true cynical nature of their captors, and Jojo and Double Nickel are conspiring to confront and defeat the forces of oppression. It is also possible that they hoped that the photographer would feed them carrots or sweet feed.

Nobody knows the trouble they've seen. Nobody except the wicked, uncaring farmers, and the geese, who are bullies anyway. If the fence looks a little skew, that is because it is, if only slightly, to deal with some unevenness at ground level. It is not as tight as a drum, but has a little give. It is still clipped firmly to each post, so it will not pull loose at any given point.

This image has nothing whatever to do with the desperate plight of the sheep, but much to do with the nimbleness of the rodential extermination team. There are very few places where vermin could hope to escape their razor-sharp claws of feline death, and they survey their domain from on high, waiting for the weak and foolish to stray into their clutches.

Stalag Schaf is complete.

We have the east pasture now enclosed, split into two paddocks. The sheep are currently all in one, but they will soon be split into two flocks; ewes and rams separated so that we can control breeding.

This is a big step in convenience for us. We had hoped to use devon hedges, but it soon became quite clear that the sheep were far too nimble for that to be a viable solution. Four foot tall steel field fence (a square mesh with squares each about four inches across) will keep them firmly where they belong, or so we hope and believe. It was not too hard getting them in there, but separation might be trickier. It may have to be a staged event with multiple efforts. While it is possible that the sheep might jump that fence in panic flight, it is definitely more than they casually jump. The temporary fencing was only jumped by Bolivar when it sagged.

The temporary paddock area will be thoroughly sowed with pasture seed mix so that it can recover well. We will have to undo everything there. We have not yet moved the shelters to the new paddock, but there are lots of trees which afford the sheep excellent shelter, so it is not a major concern for now. We have however put a trough with water for the sheep in the new paddock, and siphoned water from a rain barrel to meet their needs.

Labour day indeed

It has been a productive time.

We finally found a couple of men who will do some of the fencing we need, fencing off the easternmost pasture. This is good, given the amount of time we have had to pay attention to the movements of the sheep. Within another week, all should be done with a pair of gates hung to afford access.

The weather has finally taken a firm turn for the moist, and the plants are clearly responding. Many of the deciduous plants have already lost their leaves, but the bulk of the leaves are still to fall. The apples on our property don't seem likely to be good cider apples, but we shall see what we shall see. Some are attractively scented table apples. The sheep like them as well, the windfalls which they can reach.

The process of getting fencing under way means that we have started to trim tree branches as well from the lines of douglas fir on the property. With any luck, once we have finished this and a few years have passed, we will get a good price for the timber.

The raccoon depredations have continued, and we are back to sixteen ducks (of which eight are juveniles), but we hope to address this in a fairly final way soon.

We are investigating, given the rapacity with which the sheep attack scotch broom, bracken, wild carrot and even nibble at thistles, the practicality of renting them out as weed control. How this will play out remains to be seen.

1 September 2010
cool & damp

There has been another minor explosion of ducklings in the vicinity. Drawn by various peepings, we observed another 8 ducklings pecking on the lawn in front of the porch amid the towering giants of geese. They seemed quite unafraid, thanks to their superior numbers.

The barn cats were confined, not for the duration, but due to the weather, which was quite rainy. The sheep were grateful for the shelter during the rains but have learned to eat around the clock lately, which means they eat even after dark. The upside of this is they are getting quite fat. The downside is that they are quite ready for more food first thing in the morning.

Today has been productive so far. The latest batch of cider was racked off its lees to a new fermentation pail. It tastes sour, but not aggressively so. The overall effect is mild and light; with some mellowing it will be a pleasant drink for the hot days.

Dozens of branches were taken off to the slash pile. There is more to be done, of course, but by now well over half of this is done. In due course the trunks will be cut up as well, but in the mean time the blackberries and grass which have grown up unmolested beneath the fallen branches are available to the sheep.

More hatchlings have made their way into the light, and when it all gets too bright, they shelter in Mother's shade for a nap.

The cooler weather comes in

We may have seen the last of the 80 Fahrenheit days this year. Clouds are rolling in, giving us drizzle and pushing temperatures well down.

We were concerned that the chargers for the electric fences might be dying. We turned one on and touched the copper wires at its contacts together. A spark promptly jumped, so the problem appears to lie in the electric mesh fences themselves.

The leaves are turning in earnest now, clearly giving the lie to thoughts that Autumn will only start at the equinox, which is still nearly a month away. By then, many of our trees will be practically bare.

Apples in waiting

While our planted trees are still too young to produce any crop, the existing trees (of which there are only half a dozen or so) are bearing well. We had hoped to harvest some fruit this weekend, but even though a few are on the ground, they are not quite ready yet.

The sheep have discovered apples, and like them. Jojo in particular is keen on apples, and takes some persuasion to move away.

It is still the warmish weather of August, but a chill is rapidly moving in. Last night the temperature went well below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the leaves on our trees are turning their colours. This is the end of the growing season, in these weeks.

To lose a lamb

It is perhaps a cosmic sense of irony which determined that in the space of time in which a farmer showered, a lamb strangled herself successfully on the mesh.

A different lamb, this time, also untagged. She's fairly big, so there will be plenty of meat from her. It's near culling season anyway, so in the big picture this is more a change of schedule than a tragedy.

To save a lamb

First thing this morning a farmer spotted a sheep tangled in the mesh, belly up. This is usually the end, in our experience.

However, on approaching the lamb, she kicked. Clearly there was life in her yet. A minute or two's quick work, and she was disentangled. The farmer then determined that she was one of those which hadn't been tagged yet, so she was lifted clear and taken to the porch where we have our tagging kit.

On returning her to the flock, newly tagged as number 16, she became more active, and bleated, and one ewe responded. While they nuzzled each other, the farmer worked out that the lamb's mother is Rose. It was a happy way to start the day.

Creatures of the night

Tonight while a farmer was putting the sheep to bed, there were good opportunities for admiring the local wildlife. An owl was seen flying overhead - quite possibly the one we had seen before. Similarly bats were spotted fluttering against the sunset, by the sickle moon. It was quite picturesque.

Shepherding skills increase greatly with experience. Tonight's challenge was to singlehandedly get five sheep into the paddock, which didn't really want to go in, while not letting fifty-three out, which weren't keen on staying in. Mission accomplished in perhaps five minutes.

The sheep are, as the hot weather dries some of the grass, going for the greener leaves preferentially. Given that the weather has had another hot burst, reaching 95 degrees fahrenheit today, this may be a blessing in disguise for the grass, by reducing the actively transpiring leaf area.

The march of the ducklings

New ducklings are hatching, but gradually rather than in one clutch. The rather interrupted and extended laying season is to blame.

Wimsey's memorial tree dropped its one pear of this season. Not terribly juicy, since the tree is still short on active roots, but the flavour was unquestionably excellent.

We have perhaps half a dozen volunteer apples around the farm which are accumulating a significant load of apples. We might well have over ten gallons of juice from them once all is said and done, although it's hard to tell before they drop. Despite no pruning and no thinning, they are quite fair sized apples. Most of the trees are significantly shaded by the lines of douglas firs, so they bear nowhere near their theoretical capacity.

Summer is back, however briefly, for this week or so, but the days are rapidly growing shorter. Every morning, nearly, starts with a fog so that things don't get quite as dry as one might otherwise imagine.

Horned owls

We have owls flying around again. We were herding the sheep, and one perched on the tip of a douglas fir, looking down on us.

Judging by the size of it, its tufted head, and the hoots which ring over the farm tonight, there's at least one Great Horned Owl visiting us. We hope that it will eat more vermin than ducklings. Since the ducklings are sheltering mostly beneath the porch, we expect they will be safe.

Apples and migrations

The volunteer apple trees already present on the farm promise to bear a substantial crop this year, despite no real pruning. We expect many gallons of juice from this, likely a couple of dozen or more, but not hundreds.

The apples aren't ripe yet, but are ripening. Perhaps by the end of the month there will be more batches in fermentation.

The geese are getting the migratory urge. At first there was concern that we might have to clip their wings, but it emerges that feeding them well works even better. They form up into a line, trying to form a vee, and run across the field honking and flapping, but fail to go aloft, so the whole endeavour is rather pointless. The rest of the time they cheerfully wander around grazing, and bullying their way to the bird feed, so do not feel too sorry for them.

Relief at last

As if heralding the end of Summer, the rain has started. It is a gentle, soaking sort of rain which is turning even bare patches of clay darker, although not heavy enough to soften them much yet.

The animals are largely ignoring the rain, but the cooler air is welcomed by them all. The geese aren't sitting in the shade with open beaks, and the sheep aren't panting. The pasture, which was starting to dry, should be greatly relieved.

The question has been asked if we don't find the climate here dreary and dull. Perhaps in other areas that might apply, but here the rain is welcome.

For those who doubt that Autumn is here, the first leaves are changing and starting to fall. The days are rapidly growing shorter now, and it will not be long until only the evergreens hide their branches.

A political development

When the farm was purchased, the county had put a moratorium on development in the area until various matters could be resolved with the state - in short, the state wanted land set aside for agricultural and other strictly rural purposes, as being prime agricultural land.

It seems that this moratorium has been lifted, and that agricultural land has been identified. The farm isn't in that protected designation, but since the farm isn't particularly near a town (a few miles away, in fact) there's no particular reason to believe that the zoning will change any time soon.

Still, one has to watch these things. Most of the agricultural resource land has apparently been chosen in the floodplains of rivers. Presumably it is specifically arable land they wanted to save.

Partial Fencing

Our neighbours to the West have put up more field fence along a section of their property which blocks much of the way our sheep have trespassed onto their land. There is a gap remaining, and we have blocked that with some of our temporary mesh fencing. The sheep charge to the corner of our property, hoping for a way to molest the neighbours, and then are brought up short by the way being blocked. They have tried this a couple of times - eventually they will learn that the limitations are there to stay.

We are sadly down to eleven ducklings. This is what predation does, alas. There are more clutches waiting to be hatched, so it is by no means the end of the season. With thirteen adult ducks left, and eleven ducklings, we still have a good selection.

The gander who decided that a farmer was his best friend has paired well with the gosling (now a fully fledged goose in her own right) which we bought for him, but he still acknowledges and approaches the farmer in a friendly way. This is a good thing because it keeps the whole flock more peaceful.

A lamb saved is a lamb earned

Today started with farmers feeding the animals. We had recently taken the step of purchasing our own crusher and press (rather than using rented equipment) so that we could do small and experimental batches as often as we like. We now had the opportunity to go to a friend's place and crush their apples. They have an apple tree, and since apples largely ripen together, as with most crops, they have a sudden surplus. This is where cider comes in.

Having done the crushing and pressing, which went well, we gathered the (roughly) three gallons and brought them home. The animals were hungry, but the sheep were glad not only to get more hay in their feeders, but also pomace from the crushing. So far there are no signs of bloating or other trouble.

After the sun had gone down, there was a plaintive, repeated bleating. On inspection we found a lamb who had stuck her head through the mesh fencing. We rescued her in good time, but it's clear that as soon as we can get proper permanent fences up, we must do so.

Continuances and Annoyances

Warm and cloudless, it has been fairly typical weather for the season, with foggy or cloudy mornings which soon burn off. We have had no more than a spot of drizzle here and there to relieve the land.

Our turf is fairly deep and has not been disturbed much, so that the pasture has not dried up yet although the sheep are getting increasingly greedy for the greener bits. The thistles are putting a brave face on repeated beheading by scythe, and keep growing new heads which are cut off in turn. When we arrived here, nearly a year ago, the land was dominated by wild carrot which stood waist high or higher. The sheep have done us proud, and there is barely a stalk to be seen. A few years of this, and we shall have few weeds worth mention at all.

We have more ducklings hatching, which means that we are confining the barn cats to the workshop. This annoys them, but we try to make up for it in small ways. A brush rabbit corpse was used as a peace offering, and since a fair amount of it was consumed with much joy and feral glaring, we hope that the barn cats will add rabbit to their menu. Failing this, farmers can employ missile weapons to the same effect.

The lamb with the number 007 sadly lost his tag, ripping his ear in the process. We will have to retag him, with a new number. Obviously this is a hazard with ear tags, and we hope to find some other way which will meet the needs of the USDA, but we might be stuck with the problem. Fortunately he is not showing signs of much discomfort.

We may have a purchaser for some of our ewes. How this will play out remains to be seen.

10 July 2010
Warm & breezy

Ahem.

We have baby ducks!

That is all for now.

8 July 2010
Temperature: HOT!

We have been having a spell of ridiculously hot weather (by one farmer's standards, at least) with today topping out at 97 degrees Fahrenheit in ambient temperature. Our 'in the sun' thermometer said the temperature was 114.

One of Double Nickel's lambs - the ram lamb - got tagged today. He is a very handsome fellow, as you can see!

He was not very happy about getting tagged. We intend to keep him for breeding, however, and his tag is perfect for it. This ram lamb is 007.

The sheep still escape on a daily basis. We are having to do full-time shepherding until we hear back from the fencing contractor. At least one farmer has been considering just getting a bigger freezer, but cooler heads thus far have prevailed.

Fireworks

The fourth of July came and went, and with it untold dollars burnt up in fireworks.

Sadly, some of our neighbours spent a lot of money on fireworks, and while we don't begrudge them some holiday pleasure, a lot of time was spent soothing geese and sheep. The geese huddled together in a body, running hither and yon in search of shelter. The sheep, which were already confined in their paddock, wanted to run around as well. Fortunately, a farmer standing calmly by them and speaking in a calm tone of voice went a long way to reassuring them.

The war on thistles continues. We make no pretence of annihilation (a hopeless goal) but use the scythe (or whatever is handy) to take off the flowering heads. It has been observed that there are a lot of aphids on the thistle stalks, and anything which keeps that pest under control is a good thing. We may well end up spending quite a bit on ladybirds.

3 July 2010

Cool & overcast

We officially have 58 sheep who refuse to be confined. We are considering giving some of them to Nelson Mandela as a gift.

We have begun tagging lambs; the difficulty is in keeping their heads still, resulting in a farmer being sprayed with a bit of lamb blood once due to moving head at the wrong time. No other harm done, mercifully.

All of the trees now have tree guards. Life is good, and soon we will begin culling and filling our freezer with fresh lamb and mutton.

The USDA cometh

Today a veterinary technician arrived to inspect our flock of sheep for the scrapie eradication program. Mercifully our flock got a clean bill of health, at least as far as scrapie is concerned, and we got some inside advice on the way the system works, its limitations, and how to stay in compliance. We took the opportunity to do some more rooing of the sheep while she did her inspection, and we have what must be a good two wheelbarrow loads of wool.

She exploded one myth for us: that scrapie has never been diagnosed in a Soay sheep. To her knowledge a rare form of spontaneous scrapie manifestation was found in one Soay sheep. To know that this is possible is good. To know that it is rare is better.

She also gave us some very appreciated advice concerning the market for sheep in the area: apparently there are some butchers who specialise in sheep and goats for the moslem and general middle eastern culture markets, but also for the hispanic. Apparently a lot of buyers come here and buy up anything they can and ship it to Mexico, which means that there's a supply dearth. This might well mean that we can get fairly decent prices for our surplus sheep. She promised to send us some contact information so that we can test the waters.

Double Nickel, our oldest sheep (but also quite possibly our favourite ewe, since she is an excellent mother and has a pleasant personality, and bears gorgeous lambs to boot) has a sore left forefoot, so our regular vet came out for a look. Nothing terrible was found - no footrot or anything like that - so we're just observing for the time being. There's a bit of a crack in the hoof, so the vet said that it looked as if she might have twisted her foot somehow.

We've been having trouble getting quotes from fencing contractors, so we are casting our net a little wider, but we still definitely intend to set up proper fencing for pastures, all the better to keep our sheep safe and controlled. A decent hayshed and a proper manger will save on hay expenses as well.

The scythe was certainly a good investment. It's quieter than a weedeater, but just as effective, and requires less maintenance and fuel. It's ideal for taking the tops off thistles, which the sheep are reluctant to eat. Wilted thistle parts, a day or so later, the sheep gladly eat, so we don't end up with much spiky debris lying around. This also means that bits of grass and forbs which grow under the shelter of thistle spikes are available for the sheep to eat, so it keeps the grazing more even.

The predators have been leaving our ducks alone, which is gratifying. Whether this is because periodic guarding by a farmer is making them nervous, because we have taken to leaving the porch lights on at night, or because we placed some fencing in a loose, incomplete circle around the duck pond is unclear, but we hope to keep a lid on losses.

20 June 2010

With the rain we've been having, the sheep have decided that any port in a storm is good. Even under the truck.

They've been escaping and going to neighboring properties too much lately despite the prevalence of pasture here, so we're consulting with fencing contractors starting first thing tomorrow.

More tree guards, and one tree was damaged; we've taped it and hope it'll make it.

14 June 2010
cool & overcast

The sheep have discovered the side pasture, overgrown as it is. This creates an ovine 'Where's Waldo?' effect.

We've stopped giving them hay in the morning, instead turning them out to graze. We're looking into fencing options as well, as the sheep do keep ending up where we don't want them; including, more than once although only just, out in the road.


The geese have been holding their own. Nothing is more triumphant-looking than a goose with a piece of wool in its beak...

10 June 2010
Chilly & wet

The sheep have been being troublesome lately. Yesterday they decided not only to escape, but to flee to the neighbors' property when the UPS truck spooked them. They could not be found except for one poor lamb caught in the net. It was rescued in time, and upon walking the property and finding no sheep, the car was utilized. No sooner had the car backed out of the garage than the sheep returned, running for the lawn.

They later had to be coaxed into their own enclosure with alfalfa during a rainstorm bad enough that they were trying to take shelter in the band of rain forest. That got them in for the night.

Today they escaped again - the frequent rains make it all too easy for them. They spent most of their time splitting up into small groups and refusing to cooperate. The best methods of luring them into one space for a bit proved to be by feeding bread to the birds until they noticed, then leading them towards the enclosure and leaving them be. While they did still scatter and move around, they became much less interested in the areas which we prefer to have off limits to them.

We put them in for the night a little early - around 6:30 instead of 7:30. Since it was overcast, this apparently worked reasonably well. The birds ate well, although the ducks have developed a taste for cat food...

Memorial Day, pt 2

Memorial Day Pictures

Mini planting season

9:39 PM, 5 June 2010
Warm and sunny with very slight cloud

Today started early with a run to the nursery. They had arranged a sale on many plants, and we took advantage of it to the tune of 27 perry pears and a large number of silvan blackberries (sic).

Another purchase was an ubileen pear tree. This we planted over Wimsey's grave, as a memorial tree.

We assembled a few tree guards and placed them around our new purchases, but we need more rebar with which to brace the guards. As it is, the shifting of fences, placement of guards and addition of a temporary sheep shelter took much of the rest of the day.

The hunt for predators after our ducks continues, although the ride home from the nursery was a good one for wildlife. A coyote crossed the road in front of the truck, as did a doe with a couple of fawns. One fawn in particular appeared to be interested in the truck, and rather than wandering off, stopped to look, wandered up and down a little, still looking, and finally left only as the truck rolled on.

12:01 AM, 1 June 2010
Cool & dry, slightly overcast

We've lost several more ducks but no more geese. Investigation today turned up that in addition to a raccoon, there's coyote dung with duck feathers in it; this suggests that either the coyote are coming up to eat the ducks, or possibly they're finishing off whatever the raccoons are leaving behind. Discussions and research has been made and the conclusion come to involves a shotgun.

Wimsey's ailments finally caught up with him and we had the vet out on Friday. We miss him dreadfully already and will be planting him under a tree in the garden.

We have come to tentative conclusions regarding fencing in the sheep. Another lamb died today by strangling itself on the fence, and we butchered it and cooked it as part of our Memorial Day fare. The party was a huge success, the lamb tender and delicious, with a surfeit of other foods.

Tuesday, 4:03 PM, 25 May 2010
Temperature: 60 F, cloudy with showers

Our ducks range widely, which has made it difficult to keep tabs on their numbers, but at last we are sure that they are suffering predation.

We managed to spot a pawprint in a muddy patch which clearly showed us what we are up against: a raccoon. This is both good news and bad. Good news, because our losses to raptors (which are a tougher proposition, with a view to prevention) have been minimal, if any, and bad news because raccoons are notoriously sneaky. We don't want to leave poisoned materials around, and raccoons are very good at avoiding, escaping and defeating traps, so our remaining option (since the ducks are very hard to keep confined) is hunting.

At this point we have been weighing our option. A farmer armed with a bow didn't manage to spot the raccoon at night, but by the same token, there were no losses that night. We shall keep trying.

Hercules gets his.

Partly cloudy, occasional gentle rain, and cold breeze.

It has been a busy few days. Today we finally managed to pin down Hercules for his drenching. It was a combination of tactics. We got him to stand still with some alfalfa, and while he was face down in it a crook was quickly slipped around his horn. This served to haul him in until he could be grabbed by hand. A few moments later he was drinking the stuff which apparently tastes rather vile. He was most displeased, but it's for his own good.

Our remaining gosling is still fine, and well accepted into the flock of geese. The ducks seem to have difficulty deciding on a nest to occupy, but that is something we cannot really decide for them.

Today a mattock and some sweat brought down a few scotch broom plants. More will fall later, not to mention those which the sheep will later have the opportunity to chew down.

Our program of letting the sheep wander and graze, in a limited way, is bearing fruit. It puts a cap on the amount of drama, generally speaking, around their getting out. They also get to spread their grazing a bit better, which is letting certain other plants stand out more. A particular case of interest is some thistles which the sheep do nibble, but not keenly. If the sheep don't eat them down of their own free will, a scythe will stop them before they go to seed.

17 May 2010
warm & sunny

Over the course of the weekend and today, all of our sheep were individually (and in some cases, more than once) pinned down, rooed, had their hooves trimmed, and all except for Hercules have received a deworming drench. (Hercules and Bolivar escaped during the deworming phase; Bolivar later got hung up on barbed wire, with no actual damage done to anything but his pride. We dewormed him then.)

We let the goslings out to join the other geese, with mixed results. While they were readily accepted, it seems one of the goslings has already been picked off, likely by a hawk. The other seems to still be around and in good health, however.

Wimsey had a blood sample taken today; the results suggest that the medication for his kidneys is doing the job but that he may have picked up an infection. They'll be sending us antibiotics and we'll hope that does the job. There's a slight chance he may have a tumor on his left kidney, but no definite proof of that showed in the blood results. We'll give him the antibiotics and hope for the best.

11:21 PM, 15 May 2010

Today we rooed 20 out of 38 adult sheep, including Hercules. Hooves were also trimmed; Hercules' hoof got nicked, but not badly, and he should be fine. To be on the safe side we did consult online sources (the vet being already closed) and applied a little antibiotic gel.

We got quite a lot of wool - close to a wheelbarrow-load - and our hands are now the softest in town from all the lanolin. There were numerous kicks and the occasional attempted goring, but no real major injuries were sustained by either humans or sheep.

The barn cats have been enjoying the weather, and have been catching voles and other creatures again. There was a dead vole in the workshop when they were put away for the night. Nibs had been roaming a bit further than he should have; when he heard his name being called, he came running at full speed across the fields until he reached us. Good kitty!

Wimsey is doing very poorly. We're hoping the vet can do something for him but we suspect he may be in pain at this point. Monday will be a make or break day for him, and for our hearts.

Tomorrow we go to procure more hay for the sheep, and then we will finish hoof trimming and some mild rooing as well.

13 May 2010
warm & sunny

It's been a busy few days, punctuated by some comparatively minor sheep outbreaks. We've had a new ram lamb born to one of the light-coloured ewes; he's healthy even if tiny, and surprisingly strong and wiggly for such a little guy.

The ducks had to be shooed out of the sheep enclosure today as at least three of them had been in for days and were endlessly circling looking for the way out.

Yesterday and today the barn cats have been given their parole. They showed their eagerness for it yesterday by bringing back two snakes and a vole's head. The rest of the body had already been consumed. The snakes were rescued, still alive and apparently no worse for it, although very grateful not to have to continue to play dead lest they be relabeled from 'snake' to 'cat toy'.

This weekend we will be penning up the sheep for rooing and hoof-trimming. The vet has the deworming tools in, so we'll be scheduling with them as well. Progress marches slowly forwards.

11:28 AM, 8 May 2010
balmy & clear

The sheep have been getting out a great deal; however, we seem to tentatively (knock on wood) have the situation under control. We've had to stake down the edges of their holding area, and stop allowing them out to graze; the rams are entirely too determined to get out entirely, and use the downwards slope as a runway by which they jump over the fence marking off their grazing area.

We've been giving them large amounts of hay, however, which has been aiding with their health. No new lambs, but no new losses either, and we're waiting on the vet to set up the drench of Ivermectin (worming medications).

No goslings or ducklings so far. We'll see how that goes. Both ducks and geese are still on their nests, however.

11:17 PM, 5 May 2010
chilly & damp

We've been having some unexpected last minute winter storms here. It seems Mother Nature's going through menopause or something; in any case, multiple days and nights of sudden rain showers, driving cold winds, and equally sudden hail showers punctuated by occasional bouts of sunlight have been the new norm.

Fanta is still alive although still recovering. Her surviving lamb however is no longer surviving; it looks as if she smothered it during the night, but we're just not sure. We buried it in the lamb graveyard with some regret.

We have come to the conclusion that the flock needs to be culled and have been making notes on sheep genealogies and personalities to this end. Fanta is likely going to go to the friend of some friends, to become a brush mower; she displays poor mothering traits, and we'd prefer not to hold onto her when our available sheep roster size is shrinking. We may have found a buyer for Bolivar as well, a lady who breeds and trains Australian shepherds as actual farm dogs. This is frabjous news indeed.

The sheep have continued to excel at getting out, with them doing so multiple times each day this week. They were dragged back in, kicking and screaming, until a sudden hail storm made them change their minds in a hurry and they became much more cooperative. Mitey and the scout from the ewe flock, however, appear to have become fast friends, while Hercules and Bolivar were bashing at one another while out with great and agile displays of masculine virility and activity. When Hercules wasn't watching, Bolivar was sniffing ewes' tails hopefully; he's lucky Hercules didn't spot him at it.

The geese should be hatching their eggs any time now, and the barn cats have been banned from the outdoors for resocialization, which appears to be going well thus far. We'll give it at least a full week, however.

Unfortunately, the sheep in their outings have discovered the seedlings. It doesn't look like there will be much of a garden this year; oh well, time to support our local farmers' market and CSA and try again next year.

10:12 am, 2 May 2010
overcast & mild

It's been such a busy couple of days that posting about it slid by the wayside. Fanta, our ewe with bloat, was staggering on over the course of a couple of days when she seemed suddenly to take a turn for the worse. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that she was not going into prolapse as we'd feared, but instead, had gone into labor. It turned out to be a very difficult labor, and one farmer had to play obstetrician with a pair of nitrile gloves (many pairs in fact were used over the course of the night) while the other held both the ewe and a light source in an appropriate position.

Because life is cruel and entertaining (to other people), it was the coldest, rainiest night in quite a while. We got the resulting ewe lamb upstairs under a heat lamp and fed it some colostrum replacement, not realizing that the reason for Fanta's not giving milk was that she was still in labor. In the morning, we found she'd given birth to another lamb.

We attempted to save this lamb, and did get it out of hypothermia, but it never managed to successfully suckle its mother in its single day of life. Fanta was not rejecting of it, but never gave it the same attention as the first lamb; it died in the night of hypothermic shock.

Fanta meanwhile is still a trifle weak but mostly recovered from her bloat. We'll keep her and her lamb for another day or so and then see about putting her back in with the flock.

Meanwhile, the ewe flock did another escape - while the ram flock was out grazing for the day. We decided at this point it's easier to contain both flocks together. Hercules, our dominant ram, thinks he is now king of the world, with a harem of over 30 ewes. Thankfully he isn't in rut. He'd die of exhaustion.

Mitey, by contrast, got tangled in fencing yesterday and was rescued by a farmer in time. He was mad as hell about it, though, and did not like being carried bodily around. Tough for him.

The dogs came for a visit, but it did not work out for various reasons. We'll just have to hope for the best and keep on trucking.

The sheep are all in the smaller enclosure at present. This seems to actually be working quite well; only one ewe was out this morning, one of the smaller ewes.After days of half or more of the ewe flock being out on a regular basis, this is nothing short of a relief. She was shooed back in when the rest were fed, and while Jojo got out at that point, she is on the correct side of the fence at least, so we opted to leave her out rather than lose more sheep in a futile effort to get her back in. We can always get her later.

Today we will be going to the farm store, burying the dead lamb, and letting the sheep out to graze once those items are done. We are likely to try and take it a little bit easy, as our Friday night and Saturday were so strenuous. Sheep births, like human births, rarely take place at times convenient for business or sleep.

12:15 AM, 30 April 2010
cool & damp

The sheep have been getting out at least twice a day and usually more than that every day for the past three days running, resulting in a single farmer alone having to go to ridiculous lengths to get them rounded up. Efforts to patch the way by which they are getting out have not been successful; tomorrow we may be addressing it more determinedly, as there should be two farmers at least part of the day during daylight hours. The lambs attempted to make up for it in the morning by being cute. You be the judge.

The barn cats have discovered the porch! And the indoor cats are not entirely sure how they feel about it. One of the ganders has been attempted to - entirely unnecessarily - keep the cats and anyone else away from the cage in which the goslings are kept during the day so that they get some sun. This bodes well for their future acceptance into the flock of geese, although we'll still have to see. They're now the size of small chickens.


A side effect of the sheep's frequent escapes, aside from sore feet on the farmer's part, is that one of the ewes, Fanta, got into the poultry feed and developed a bad case of bloat. She was found on her side unable to get up; a quick call to the vet for an emergency appointment turned up the definite diagnosis, and to be on the safe side, fecal material was taken away to be tested for worms or other parasites. She's since been getting probiotic gel along with propylene glycol drenching, as she's pregnant, and some nutritional gel for good measure, all of which was recommended by the vet. She's able now to stand on her own and get around and has taken part in subsequent escapes, but is still fairly weak. This has not stopped her from trying to get at more poultry feed; she's now corralled next to the house where she has protection from the elements, food and water, and no access to the poultry feed.

At one point Fanta did make her way into the workshop, where Nibs got very cross and was approaching her, keeping some distance, tail bristling like a bottlebrush. She was shooed out by the farmer and she has been very grumpy, including about taking her medicine.

We rigged a larger shelter for that flock; while doing so the other night, we were privileged to see a modestly sized but very attractive and active bat flitting around, going after insects. Hurray for bats! And here's hoping for no rabies outbreaks.

Dead Lamb, Sheepsplosion

11:20 PM, 27 April 2010
Cool & damp

Today there was a major sheep outage. Although the early part of the day went peacefully enough, with only a lamb escaping from the ram flock and being returned without too much fuss, the afternoon saw the entirety of the ewe flock out. The wet and shifting soil led to two rods, normally tightly cinched together, being bent apart so that many of them were able to squeeze through.

It took over four hours for a single-handed farmer to get them back in. They have discovered by now where we keep the alfalfa, and more than a couple of them kept attempting to return there, going under the tarp to go after the bales. The most successful method of driving them back, if not into their proper pasturage, then into a more confined zone, was to bang two metal dog dishes together while advancing in their general direction.

As a result of the outage, all of the sheep received two to four times their usual amount of feed. They get no love for a while.

In the course of checking out how they escaped, another tiny, underweight, and very dead lamb was found. The scavengers had already gotten to it, and much of its belly was gone.

Nothing else terribly remarkable happened today, although it is worth noting that it looks as if some of the ducks may be nesting in the dead tree stumps.

12:53 AM, 26 April 2010
Cool & clear

The lamb born yesterday evening died this morning without ever managing to stand and suckle. It's sad, but its birthweight was so low that we were not entirely surprised. A raven or other scavenger got to the corpse before we could bury it; we buried the rest of the remains, though.

Trips to farm store and hardware store were accomplished, and some pasture shifting was done. We also saw our neighbours to the west, and discovered that yes, black bear have been seen in the woods around here. Good to know, and definitely getting dogs at a good time. They've expressed interest in 'borrowing' some of our sheep to eat down grass and weeds in a confined area which otherwise would not be suitable for mowing.

Two deer were seen on the property today; they were standing, staring for no visible reason for a long time. It turned out that all five barn cats were sitting together, watching the deer like a small pride of miniature lions.

The Kingston Blacks, apricots and Johnny Appleseeds are all showing signs of life, along with various perry pears. Good signs.

One ewe keeps getting out but comes running back when a farmer shows up. At least she knows where home is.

12:11 AM, 25 April 2010
Overcast & cool

The rabbits being gone has made life on the farm a bit easier. Today we went and bought doghouses from a large pet supply chain as nothing local was both affordable and suitable. These should do nicely, and if not, will do until something more suitable can be obtained or built. We also picked up treats to help with making friends and training; and a couple of rawhide bones.

When we returned home we found most of the ewe flock including lambs had somehow managed to escape their enclosure. One of the rods was out, and the flock had taken full advantage of this. We shifted their pasture and managed to entice them back in with a bit of patience and with luxurious amounts of alfalfa and a scoop of poultry feed. Jojo, Jenny and Fanta all were persuaded to eat poultry feed right out of a farmer's hand, and Jojo and Fanta in particular were willing to accept pats as long as they also got feed.

While we were tending to this, another new lamb was born. Its birth weight was extremely low; it had not gotten to its feet successfully by the time we opted to leave the enclosure. We may find a dead lamb there in the morning, but it had almost succeeded more than once by the time we left, so it may yet surprise us. The Soay are surprisingly hardy.

We also found wildflowers growing in among clumps of grass; purple flowers which we have tentatively identified as Rocky Mountain iris (Iris missouriensis). Potentially poisonous, but not definitely so, and sparse enough that we are as yet not too worried.

Tomorrow will involve trips to the farm store (for hay) and to the hardware store (for rebar).

22 April 2010, late night
cool & calm

The rabbits are gone! Back to their original owner, who was mildly nonplussed to find us so gleefully giving her not only the angoras, but all the rest. We learned several things in the process:

That Buck is indeed ready for action, as when put in with the shorthaired females in the optimistic belief that 'he won't have room to do anything', he began frantically humping whichever female he was on top of, albeit without real success (he was quickly pulled out again);

That two of the three angora 'babies', now almost to full maturity, were NOT female as inspection had suggested, but are in fact quite male, and would have provided us with more surprises on the white angora bun and on Minnow;

And that feeding and watering of livestock goes remarkably more quickly without them on the farm.

The muscovies seem to be doing almost a communal egg-laying by the hay piles. It is an impressive number of eggs, and an impressive number have been pushed out of the nest. We're beginning to wonder if they're competing for the nesting space in a game of musical nests.

The gander so fixated on a farmer has been learning that pecking the farmer's wife results in scenes of unimaginable violence which could still lead to the cookpot. He's begun slinking off crankily instead.

Today two lambs managed to escape from the enclosure with the ram flock. They promptly got tangled in the fence trying to get back in when a farmer showed up with feed. As the fence was on, the one primarily tangled was easily grabbed, disentangled, and tossed back in. The other one was much less tractable, kicking the farmer in the jaw and shoulder when it freed itself from the no longer electrified fence. A bit of spare fencing ended up used as a shrimping net and the lamb summarily scooped up.

This weekend will see the construction of dog kennels and of a grazing ark for the goslings, who are getting too big for indoors...

Spring has sprung

11:16 PM 19 April 2010
Temperature: moderate & damp

We have decided to get rid of the rabbits; as such, our audience must accept a few final photos before they're all gone. We're making arrangements with someone to give them a good, productive home, but good hutches are very expensive (upwards of $180 per) and the ones we've made have not been easy enough to

clean to make this a successful part of our farm for now. We may revisit it in the future.

We have found a form of trillium growing in the wetland part of our property, the part which is part of the run-up to the creek. We will be leaving it undisturbed; it is, in fact, endangered in this state, and has protected status on all public land. It is also remarkably pretty stuff.

Slightly managed to catch what appears to be a young rat the day we butchered the dead lamb. He was very grouchy about the prospect of our


taking it away from him, even though we had no such intentions; but we did manage to get a few good pictures of him, and even of his catch. Good job, barn kitty! Not bad for a half-grown cat with a clubfoot.

The geese have continued to sit on the nests under the porch; no goslings yet, aside from the two being fostered under the heat lamp. One of the ganders, however, was spotted attempting to
mate with one of the ducks; that didn't work out, although they
both seemed willing enough. There were problems of anatomy in play, there.

Peter often comes around the rabbit cages; they don't seem to mind him too much, and will even exchange sniffs with him through the bars without much alarm. It's very cute, but hopefully they will not miss each other too much once the rabbits are gone.


We got several meals out of the lamb; roast at first, then in a sort of stew with lentils and cauliflower and mushrooms. Currently what's left of the bones and ribcage is being made into stock. Let nothing go to waste, and that way we can console ourselves that its death was, at least, not in vain.

As well, there is now another new lamb, bringing us up to 12 for that flock.

Animal totals for now: 21 lambs, 38 sheep, 8 geese, 2 goslings, 9 rabbits, 8 cats, 21 ducks, incalculable eggs in nests. When they hatch, counting may become impossible!