9:48 PM, 5 March 2010Temperature: 41 F, calm & clear
Today was another bright and sunny day, albeit not punctuated by any more lambs than the four which have arrived so far. The two black lambs are at the point of being quite energetic, bouncing and dancing all over the place when the mood strikes them; however, they and their younger half-siblings quite enjoyed the sun while their elders partook of freshly delivered alfalfa.
We decided to doublecheck that the sheep mineral does indeed contain selenium (decidedly lacking, according to our vets, in local forage and hay grown within the state) and that the copper levels weren't too high; while goats require a great deal of copper, sheep are much more sensitive to it, and levels which are minimal for goats end up being toxic for sheep. This is one of the reasons why sheep and goat mineral are not interchangeable.
The farm store's chicks have begun to arrive! They are somewhat cute in a peeping interminable mass. We've decided to hold off for the moment, as our hands are already full with tasks other than building chicken coops, and they cost about $400-500 (or more) if you don't build it yourself.
Today we acquired a decent knife for general farm use, and a set of family use 2-way radios, although not the batteries for them. We also did some work around the farm, chivvying the ducks in with the still-pregnant sheep (and rams, and lambs) in order to try to get them to tackle the insect mound in that pasture. We had intended to give the pond back to the geese, but in the process of attempting it we discovered that one of the females has very carefully created a nest for herself by digging a hollow in the earth and lining it with straw and feathers. In this she has deposited somewhere close to a dozen eggs, which she has then covered with a sort of 'blanket' excavated skillfully of sod and grass. We're hoping our finding it won't cause her to abandon them; still, live and learn, and with any luck, we may soon have a quantity of goslings. The plan now is to shift the sheep pasture so that the geese are open to the pond, but the nest area is on the outside of the fenceline.
Tomorrow we pick up the first batch of our trees. Digging and planting shall commence.
Not understanding your area, I wonder: does your ground freeze when the temperature stays below freezing above ground? Hard to dig holes . . .
ReplyDeleteThe ground will freeze if the temperature stays below freezing. However, we have not had a sustained freeze of that sort since December; winters here do not tend to be prolongedly bitter although the temperatures will drop to below zero.
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