A Wild Rose Farm Fall Harvest!

Wild Rose Farm Snow White Leads The Way!

The sheep have been confined to a smaller area around the Loafing Shed this week and are now eating round bales of hay.  We have been grazing since spring (what a long green season this summer!), but now we are allowing the pastures to accumulate for late fall. 
We will "flush" the ewes before breeding season.  To do that, you want to spike up their nutrition level.  Switching from hay to grass and adding a ration of shelled corn will do that ... the idea is to increase their lambing percentage.
Yesterday, we found dropped apples from an old apple orchard tree and I called the sheep over for a treat.  They responded and came streaming over with Snow White in the lead.
The tree is on the other side of the electric net fence, so I had lobbed a bunch of apples over to them.

OK, We're Here, Now What?

Mobbed by the sheep ... but they didn't know why they were called over.  I tossed a couple of apples in the air and the sound of them dropping triggered the older ewes to look on the ground & start munching. 

Smart Older Ewes Are Happily Munching!

This is where experience counts!  Most of the sheep wandered away, but about a dozen ewes stayed & cleaned up the apples.  I waited until they were done, on the slight chance that an apple would get stuck & cause choking ... something to keep in mind if livestock have access to dropped fruit.  And yes, they can also get tipsy if they eat enough fermented fruit & peels.  :~0


And There They Go ...

Another day on the farm ...