A Brief Graze .....

The ewes were out of their wintering area for an hour or so today while another round bale of hay was being placed in their feeder.  The green area is the spot (mentioned a few days ago) where the spring water comes near to the ground surface.  Most of the snow has melted now, with the exception of the north facing slopes and the big piles left behind after plowing.   The ground is saturated, including the squishy spot where I stood to take this picture .....  

    

The next thing you know, the rattle of a grain bucket brings the sheep scampering back to the feeders.  Notice that they are looking a bit rounder these days?   We've still got a while before lambing starts at Wild Rose Farm. 

Minutes Ago ...........

This was taken minutes ago on a beautiful sunny day & I took a few minutes to sit in the sun.   There were bees flying in to take advantage of what few, rare flowers were open this early in the season.  Enjoy!

First Daffodils Are Coming!

The first daffodils to emerge at Wild Rose Farm are right up against the south facing basement wall.  These are old fashioned daffodils from long before we got here!   We now have 50 degree temps and rain in the forecast so the bulbs should put on some growth!

Snowy Sunset ......

The car coming down the driveway tonight sent 3 whitetail deer running back into the field.   By tomorrow, the driveway should be just muddy!   As it got darker, the deer came back up to graze and paw around in the paddock next to the fence.  I really don't like them coming up so close to the house ...... just a matter of time before they put the munch on landscape plants!  

The sheep are still on a nice cover of snow.   Notice how the maple trees are beginning to turn red at the tips.   Warm sunny days and cold nights make for a good sap run for making maple syrup, but we don't do that here .... taking care of the sheep is enough.

 

Signs of Spring?

The temperature was right around 50 degrees today and the snow continued to slowly melt.  The Wild Rose Farm picture above shows a grassy open area in the pasture.  This is where the spring that feeds our front stock water tank comes up out of the ground.  Even though the spring development gathers & pipes the water down to the stock tank by gravity, some water still reaches near to the surface & warms the ground.  This spring provides a constant year round flow of fresh water to the tank.  When we moved to the farm, there was a rotting, collapsed spring house over source.  The overflow is piped down under the fence and joins a small stream of water coming from our neighbor's farm on the other side of Route 30.
As we were driving around today, we saw small herds of deer in several places grazing on the open south facing slopes along the highway.   At this time of year the deer look pretty rough.  We also spotted several turkey vultures flapping around and trying to catch updrafts near the roads.  I guess they come back to Western PA before they return to Hinkley, Ohio !!!

Another sure sign of spring coming are these crocuses coming up in front of the house ......

Ram Checks In

Our Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet ram is still out enjoying his time with the ewes. We won't start lambing until late April, so he has another month or so to be "free". Here he is munching on hay .... notice how he's pulling out the fresh green stuff!

More Snow, More Hay

What is Claire watching today at Wild Rose Farm? Of course there's more snow, but that's nothing new. We got another 5 inches of heavy, wet snow in the last couple of days. Claire is intently watching the delivery of a 2nd round bale of hay to the sheep. The ewes are happily milling around ...... it's a bit of a pain to drive in among them at times. You have to be careful that a sheep doesn't end up behind or under the bale as it is being placed in the feeder!

Notice that the back end of the bale looks quite uneven ...... Claire has been leaning over the fence behind the barn and munching away at the bales she can reach. Don't worry about her starving to death! Now why does one Dorset ewe stand alone out there after the tractor leaves? Baaaaaa!