Winter takes a bite

No sooner had we posted concerning how moderate the temperatures had been this season, and Winter reminded us that it has weeks yet to live.


The temperature plummeted on consecutive nights to 20F or lower - not very cold by the standards of many places, but colder than our animals like and cold enough to freeze our pipes. Hoarfrost formed on trees, and the normally green and brown evergreens turned frosty silver.

The poultry were largely unperturbed, but the sheep have been snuggling up to each other for warmth, and more of them have shown signs of trouble. Farmers, now well prepared for these problems, paused between bashing open the ice on drinking troughs to carry sheep to the porch and dry their wool and wrap them in blankets with hot water bottles.

The heads of sheep who succumbed earlier have been collected, and put in boxes for shipping to the USDA. Sometimes, to get everything to fit, a farmer first has to cut off the horns. For those who are faced with this need, a regular wood saw works fine, and if the horn is slender enough (as in the case of ewes) a ratchet pruning lopper works well too.

The USDA would appreciate it if the heads were not frozen, but this is wishful thinking on their part. Everything not living is frozen, and is likely to remain so for days, and possibly weeks. In our corner of Washington this is merely a short part of the year. In Montana, North Dakota, Idaho and Wyoming this is months at a stretch, with no prospect of a break.

There are bits of fence construction and similar work to be done, but the frozen ground is like concrete, making any such work an exercise in frustration rather than productivity. The days are short enough that not much will happen in any case, leaving us to huddle indoors and reassure the cats that the sun will return in due course.

Entering 2013

The season so far has not been particularly cold, but there has been plenty of precipitation.  Temperatures on the farm dipped as low as about 20F, but snow has not yet accumulated to more than about four inches, nor stayed more than a week.  There is still time for that to change this Winter.

Nonetheless, the combination of wet and windy conditions has meant that our weaker sheep (young and old alike), more vulnerable to privation, have had losses.  Rams and ewes in the prime of life have had no trouble surviving, and many ewes are starting to show the signs of early pregnancy.  Our losses are around 20%, alas, but we should have somewhere around 30 pregnant ewes now, so with any luck we shall more than make up for our losses when Spring arrives.

The best predictor of sheep survival is their condition by the time Autumn starts to close in, by our observations.  That will guide our feeding this coming year.

When we find sheep which are suffering, we have a treatment protocol.  To try to rescue them, we use the porch, which is fully enclosed now, as a clinic. We can keep them warm there with hot water bottles and blankets, feeding them alfalfa pellets and nutritional boosters to get them back on their feet.

The trees are all fast asleep, so assessing which are alive is a bit tricky.  We had saved quite a bit of money by purchasing seconds - relatively weak trees from the nursery, with smaller root systems - and therefore we expect that not all of them will have made it.  We have more trees on order, and will replace the failed with living trees, as well as expanding our plantings.

The ducks are showing signs of mating, and early nest formation.  This is definitely a good thing.  If they multiply the way we know they can, we will be eating duck before the year is out, and perhaps having some to sell as well.

We are a few paperwork hurdles away from our first wine sales.  The lab work is in, we know what the numbers are, and as soon as the TTB approves our labels and formulae, we shall be selling actively in the area.  The long, long wait is nearing its end.