Well Insulated For Snow .....

If you ever doubt the insulating power of wool, just look at the sheep after a snowstorm.  Our little Wild Rose Farm ewe lamb gazes up over the backs of 2 older ewes.  It hadn't snowed since morning & here we are at 4PM feeding time.  The snow is still just sitting on the tips of their wooly coats ...... not melting.  They are warm & comfortable under there!  Just a few minutes before the ewes were frisking around and running back from the water tank.  Typical sheep behavior ...... they get distracted eating or doing something & then they look up to realize that they are alone!  Accckkkk!  They take off at a run to be back with the rest of the flock.

Upper Spring Development Water Tank

As for the water tank, it was flowing freely with just a touch of ice along the edge.  The flow of the water from the spring development means that it is at deep ground temperature.  The spring development flows from the top water tank to the lower tank before exiting through the overflow pipe.  No moving parts, just gravity flow!

Barn Stones & Lower Spring Water Tank

Back To Snow!

Glenda Braying!

A new weekend and more snow overnight at Wild Rose Farm.  We were already planning to bring Glenda in since the temps were going to drop all day & the wind was picking up.  She had some commentary above when we went out to feed this morning! 

Let's Put On The Halter ......

Glenda Following At Her Own Pace .....

The trick to leading a donkey sometimes, is to let the donkey think that it is going where it wants to go!   Anyway, here she goes back up to the barn for a few days during the coldest weather.  Given a choice, she would prefer to be outside with the sheep.  She really thinks that she's following her feed trough.

One Week Later & Sunny!

Sheep & Rooster Enjoying The Sun!

It's amusing to include the rusty rooster in the Wild Rose Farm pictures ..... he serves as a reference point now, compared to the whiteout we had last weekend.   It's close to feeding time, so the sheep are all watching the house waiting for someone to come out of the basement & make their way to the barn.
The next shot backs that up ...... the cats are also all out in front of the barn waiting for their afternoon "moist food".  It's just one can of moist food split between 4 cats, but it's our way of making sure that they're all around & ok.  They have free choice dry food, but they never miss an evening meal!
What a beautiful February (!) day.  Double click on the picture & see if you can spot Stripe sitting on wagon wheel.  He's has perfect camo against the barn.  I just happen to know he's there. 

Wild Rose Farm In February

A Coating To An Inch?

Wild Rose Farm Rooster Getting Blasted!

After a sunny afternoon, here is a look at the blast of snow that is forecast to be "a coating to an inch" tonight at Wild Rose Farm.  A few minutes after this was taken, we couldn't see the sheep from the house .....  

Snow - No Snow!

Last Saturday!

Last Saturday we got about 8 inches of snow at Wild Rose Farm.  We looked out when we heard the dogs barking & saw our neighbor backing down the lower driveway on his John Deere tractor with the snow plow!  How's that for a good neighbor?!?  A tractor makes short work of a lot of snow & we saw him later plowing out another farm neighbor.  We were occupied just clearing off the steps and the trucks.   The sheep of course don't really notice the snow & they're well insulated anyway.

Sheep Watching Me Watching Them!

Then the temperature went all of the way back up to the high 50's on  Monday & the melt was underway ..... some rain came too.  So what does it look like today, one week later?

The Last Snow Plow Drift!

The skies were sunny and full of fast moving clouds today .......

Clouds & Cardinals

Why We Don't!

It's Freezing Out Here, But We're Wearing Wool!

Visiting other farm blogs after last weekend reminds me of why we don't lamb in the winter here at Wild Rose Farm.  Every farmer has a different market & a different goal.  If you're raising show sheep or 4-H lambs, there is a need to lamb in the winter.  The busy lambing season occurs while there's no field work to be done.  At WRF, we don't sell to those markets, so we lamb in warmer weather on pasture.  We also shear the ewes before lambing, so the fleeces are much cleaner ....
I didn't get a picture of them for the blog, but we were switching out frozen water buckets every day. 
Imagine if we had lambs being born - frozen water buckets and using heat lamps is not our idea of a good time.
To each his own!  :)

Temps Drop!

Mike Feeding The Sheep

And boy did the temperature drop at Wild Rose Farm last week.  We went from low 50's to the teens overnight.  Luckily, the rain tapered off as the high winds & cold front came through Western PA.  We had some snow, but it mostly got blown around.  Then on Friday is was really blowing & cold all day.  Our neighbor Mike is helping with the sheep right now.  This is his first experience working closely with sheep & we warned him that sheep were as bad as pigs rushing in for the feed trough!  He thought it was kind of neat (!), but you've got to hold the bucket up and make sure that they don't hit your knees & knock you off of your feet ...... at least he doesn't have to worry about the ram rushing him now that he's back in the ram pen.

Fluffing The Round Bale Hay ......

Step two was sliding in the sides of the round bale feeders.  As the sheep eat, the sides slide in and collapse the feeding area.  The little tunnel on the right of the picture shows how the sheep stick their heads in and eat the best parts of the hay.  The stems are forked out for bedding and the bale is "fluffed" to pull the fresh hay out within reach.  That's why all of the ewes are surrounding the feeders now !  They really put the munch on the hay when the temperature drops.