On the Move

Here come the Wild Rose Farm ewes and lambs back from the far pasture that they've been grazing. They'll spend the day in this paddock and then move to a new section of pasture. Now here's an eye test ....... click on the image below & look closely at what they've brought along with them ......... When they rush into fresh sections of grazing, they stir up insects. The barn swallows come diving and swooping all around them feasting on the invisible cloud of bugs! This is a nightly happening here since we move them to fresh grazing every evening. There were at least a dozen of the swallows swirling overhead & dive bombing between the sheep.

Also nearby are a family of bluebirds. In fact, we have several bluebird pairs in boxes scattered around the farm. This pair found an unconventional spot for their nest ..... inside an electrical box in the picnic shelter. The cats roam all around here, but they can't get at this box. There seems to be 3 or 4 young ones in the nest, but they're hard to see & we don't want to disturb them since we just discovered them.

Wrapped Up .....

OK, the lambing is officially done at Wild Rose Farm. Our last Dorset ewe had a ewe lamb on Tuesday. Both are doing well. We put the rams in on Thanksgiving weekend and don't take them out until a few weeks before lambing. It keeps them from being a separate chore to feed & water and of course, they like to be in with a group of ewes. The other aspect of this plan is to cover exactly what happened here. This ewe didn't get bred in the normal 1st 17 day breeding cycle, but probably on her 3rd cycle. By keeping the ram in longer, we get something, & it's not a total waste. Here we have a good mother who kept stamping her foot at me when I got close to her lamb. And you know that we like protective ewes!

Speaking of protective, look who else was "beside themselves" while I was checking on the new lamb ..... these barn swallows were swooping back and forth. They resigned themselves to perching here because I was too close to their nest. The photo is grainy, but getting closer was impossible and the barn was pretty dark. We have quite a few barn swallows this year. They're supposed to bring good luck we hear! They swoop over the sheep in the evening grabbing the insects that the sheep kick up while grazing.