Spring Grazing Pics!

Snow White & Ewes On Pasture

We think that the grass is about a week or so behind this year. We've heard other local folks saying that the trees are leafing out later too.  I don't know about that, but we're marching along in our intensive grazing program.

Wild Rose Farm - Setting Up For Grazing Tomorrow

In the picture above, you can see where the sheep had grazed behind the fresh section of pasture that the sheep are munching now.  The fence will extend up between the pine trees to give the ewes some shade if needed. It was overcast today, but the temperature is going up by mid-week.

Wild Rose Farm - Got Grass?

Oh yes ... we had one ewe lamb born today too ...

Is Spring Officially Here?

We're Looking For Spring!

The ewes were getting a little snack on some grass while their round bales of hay were being refreshed ...  You can get a little glimpse of the pasture just beginning to green up.  As sunset approached, we took a few pictures before the ewes were led back to the Loafing Shed and their boring hay.

Dorset Ewe #1445 & Rambouillet Friend - That's #145 Just Behind (see the 45 on her hip?)

Right now, the ewes look a bit ragged after winter and we'll have to get the shearing done soon. As of today, it looks like the temperatures are going to be up in the 50's & 60's for the rest of the week here at Wild Rose Farm.  Spring is here!

Got Snacks?

Other Work To Be Done ...

Mowing The Lambing Pasture

Of course, there's other work to be done in between the lambs and the raindrops. Here we are mowing the part of the pasture where we have been lambing. In grazing terms, we "set stock" the ewes on an area that gets larger as we move the electric net fencing forward to provide fresh forage. The open area behind provides enough room for ewes to separate off of the flock when they are ready to lamb. Yesterday we back-fenced this area and moved the ewes on to a new section of pasture to start the process again. The dew finally evaporated and the field was dry enough to mow this afternoon. This mowing cuts off the seed heads forming on the pasture grasses. It also cuts back seed heads developing on weeds. The regrowth will be mostly leafy instead of old and full of stems & seed heads.
You can see how fast the grass is growing - the point of grass in the middle right is grazed regrowth that was back-fenced 2 weeks ago. :)  The grass back behind the white electric net fence hasn't been grazed yet.

Wild Rose Farm - Ewe #98 & Newborn Twins

We had another set of twins today from one of our crossbred ewes, #98. As you can see, she had to get up close and personal when we dipped the lamb's navels in iodine. Mama doesn't want you to take her babies and stays REAL close!

More Grass ......

Ever heard of the book called "More Sheep, More Grass, More Money"? The title alone should tell you that it's a classic, right?!? Well, here's a look at more sheep & how we're making more grass ...... The ewes & lambs are grazing the green grass and moving each day to a fresh section. They are kept inbounds by the electric net fencing. In the foreground is a section of the pasture that has been allowed to go to seed. This area is a little thin & we'd like to thicken the stand of grass on this gentle slope.

Here are 2 common types of "cool season" hayfield & pasture grasses ..... the fluffy brownish heads are orchardgrass (aka cocksfoot grass). The greener cat tail like seedhead is timothy. Both are going to seed. When this area is mowed down, the seeds will be knocked to the ground and will be available to germinate in the fall or next spring. We won't run the sheep through this area before mowing. The tall stems with seed heads would be too close to the sheep's eyes and we want to avoid scratching their eyes and risking pinkeye or other problems.

Look at all of the seed that comes out of a few stems!

On another note, this is why you're not supposed to throw hay over the sheep's back when you feed them. Imagine all of those seeds falling out into the wool. That makes for a dirty fleece.

Vacation with the lambs

Our "staycation" ends today and we've gotten some work done with the lambs. We've been getting some reservations on freezer lambs for the fall, so we needed to sort the lambs. We have 3 Dorset ram lambs and 2 Rambouillet ram lambs for sale in the barn. Our two Dorset and Rambouillet breeding rams are outside separated in pens away from each other and the ewes. The lambs are about 4 months old and they've been weaned and wormed. Their ear tag numbers have been repainted so that they're easier to sort & identify. The spray paint that we use is "scourable", so it fades in the weather and washes out of the wool when processed. We also have the reserved freezer lambs in the barn now, since the pastures are so poor due to the dry weather. It's important to keep them gaining weight and in good condition.

The morning pictures show the remaining lambs and yearling ewes moving back out to pasture. It was really too bright to take good pictures ..... maybe I'll try to take some pictures late in the afternoon. #193 is a twin x-bred ewe lamb and #832 is a single x-bred ewe lamb --- examples of ewe lambs that we have for sale. Note that I keep the tails a decent length on the lambs, not docked too short. #810 & #813 are future market/freezer lambs.

Mining manure

Yep - it's another exciting day at Wild Rose Farm! We're on vacation this week and it's one of those "stay-cations"! We're getting caught up on yard work, weeding, pruning, etc. One of the "etc." jobs is digging out & spreading manure from the area where we fed the round bales of hay to the sheep over the winter. Whew --- it smells like a farm around here right now. The manure is being spread on areas where we're going to disk and do some pasture renovation seeding. We bought some hay/pasture seed yesterday and I'd like to get it spread before it rains. It actually looks like there is rain in the forecast!

Still no rain here

It continues to be dry here ..... when will one of those tropical storms swing our way and drop some showers? It's time to get the grass growing for the fall.

We need rain!

It's not the most exciting picture, but you get the idea. I took the photo of the cracked ground after I had finished spinning on some grass seed on our pasture field. We use the sheep as "pasture management tools" to nub down the areas that we want to reseed. They also trample the seed into the soil as they walk around. It gets harder to get the push in electro-net fence posts into the ground when it's so dry. We'll move the sheep to another area to graze once they've finished the round bale that they're on here.

Spinning on the seeds

It's August and there is some rain (supposedly) in the forecast, so we took some time tonight to mow & clip weeds in a pasture field. I also walked over the area where we have our ewes confined right now and spread some seed with a hand spin seeder. The sheep will help to trample the seed into the ground as they walk around. You get a good look at the condition of the field when you walk over it! The ewes are eating a round bale now since we don't want them on fresh grass once we've weaned off the lambs ...... this encourages their milk supply (already low) to stop so that the ewes "dry off". I've noticed that the ground is cracked since any substantial rain in the tri-state area seemed to miss our farm. It's been perfect hay drying weather around here for the last 2 weeks. Lots of folks took advantage of that to make 2nd cutting hay.