Farming in the shade

Sheep are mentioned in the Bible more than 500 times. The Bible often refers to us as sheep. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." --Isaiah 53:6 It also talks about Christ being the Lamb of God. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." --Isaiah 53:7 "The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" --John 1:29 Today we remember the death of Christ--it's called Good Friday. Wishing you all a blessed Easter.

Lambing is still underway, with about half the Polypay ewes already finished. Some things are going exceptionally well, like the triplet that was successfully adopted by the mother of a single. It's pretty hard to get a ewe to adopt someone else's lamb. They know. You have to fool them, and it's not easy. But we had one successful adoption so far this year! And other things are not going well. We lost a very small lamb, the tiniest lamb we've ever seen. We have lost a few lambs from triplet sets. It takes a very good mother to raise three. The ewe in this photo had twins. She accepted one her lambs, and rejected the other. Who knows what goes on in the minds of these ewes? There is a head gate on each lambing jug that allows the ewe to be comfortably secured. The head gate adjusts to allow for plenty of room for her neck, but her head will not fit through the opening. It holds the ewe still in the lambing jug, and allows the lambs to nurse at will. The Farme...

Monday morning the weather was very warm--in the 50s or 60s. Within a couple of hours, the temperature had dropped to the high 30s. By evening, it was below freezing, and some funny white stuff started falling. This morning, we woke up to this: If you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait 15 minutes... or so the saying goes. Now, Tuesday mid afternoon, most of the snow has melted and the sun is shining. But the wind is bitterly cold. Spring, where are you?

The weather is warming up gradually after the long winter. Things are greening up, and there is no sign of snow anymore. After a particularly warm day recently, we decided to take a quick trip with our kayaks. We live fairly near a river, which runs into a small lake, which empties into the big lake. We opted for putting in at the small lake, since daylight was short. The closer we got to the big lake (beyond the break in the trees in the photo below), the more ice we saw in the water. Public Service Announcement: kayaking in ice water is decidedly cold on the bottom. One of us forgot to take along the foam cushion she usually sits on. There was much joking about the Titanic. Not that this topic is joke-worthy; we just didn't want to end up with the same fate. As I am getting older, I find I very seldom try new things. Partly because doing the same things over and over is easier, and partly because I fear by trying new things I might get hurt or fail in some way. O...

This has been the first winter we've had the Belted Galloway cattle. It was an epic winter, full of snow (over 144" last I heard) and bitterly cold temps. We are very pleased with how they fared. We had a little trouble with them walking over the fences , but fortunately they are all present and accounted for. Until the pastures regrow, we need to keep feeding hay. In the post linked above, I mentioned that the cattle had gained access to our hay stash and made a royal mess. You can see evidence of their misdeeds on the barn floor in the photo below, as well as in the bottom left bale (partially hidden by a conveyor belt, left). Our new skid steer has served us well, and continues to be useful in so many ways on the farm. Our old one was lost in a small  fire , and The Farmer has fashioned a bale spear for this new one. He can carefully remove a bale from the tall pile, even in very tight quarters. I am grateful for the cab on the skid steer, as it would protect him in cas...

During the worst of this endless winter we had some problems with drifts and drifters. The snow drifts covered the electric fence in places, and caused it to become not-electric. And some of those drifts were so stiff and sturdy that the cattle could walk on top of them. Can you see where this is going? Yes, the cattle drifted over the fence, and into a more sheltered area between buildings. That was fine, sort of, as we'd actually discussed moving them there to give them a little more break from the endless winds. We opted not to move them there, however, as we use that area for storage of equipment and hay, and because we are regularly driving through that area to make compost. Cattle can be hard on buildings and equipment (they don't realize how big and strong they are). And any hay that they have access to they gorge on. So I guess they knew better than we where they needed to be. And moved themselves there. I can't say that they damaged any equipment, and for ...