I was looking at the photos from February 2014. There was one of my son clutching his childhood teddy bear, which I have kept all these years. That boy is now a man of 31 years, but the Teddy still brought memories to him and immediately he held him close.
There were several photos of the new born lamb, Dominique. Dominique is now a prime Dorset breeding ram and is for sale. He was born in the dad of winter at the beginning of January and it was very cold outside. True to their nature, the Dorset ewe had the baby cleaned off and nursing before I was aware of him and he was doing very well, despite the cold. Once the lambs are dry, they are quite hardy, having been born with a good coat of wool already. I had forgotten the llamas were kept in the little barn. They are bothering me, because they poop in their shelters, no matter where I put them. Lucy started that because she is cold. She does not have the sort of fleece that my other llama does, Karin, and Karin is much stronger and hardier. Unfortunately the little cria is just like her monther, Lucy, and is cold too, without the thick hair coat. Lucy and her baby are for sale too, hopefully to go to a home where the barn is nice and warm in the winter.
Zeb, the Canadian horse, was still here. He was sold in the spring and was the last of my venture with Canadian horses. There are pictures of the dogs and the birds, as usual, but those pictures could have been taken today, because to me everything looks the same. Some of the birds of last year are not here anymore and new ones are in their places. Next winter there will be many fewer birds to keep due to the high price of feed. This year the grain for the birds cost 800 dollars. I could have sold or butchered all my birds and saved the 800 and bought premium breeding stock in the spring and still been ahead. Another lesson learned…do not winter over what is not needed.
That theory is going to go for the sheep too. I did sell many sheep this fall, but they will more than replace themselves in May when the lambs are born. Most of my ewes have twins and there are triplets which make up for the few singles, so there will be may lambs and moms to sell. The weather in February last year was also quite warm for the most part. Today was only -1, a very welcome change from the last week of frigid weather. It is supposed to get cold again though, but an early spring has been forecase. I am already thinking about starting some seeds.
Much can change in a year and much can stay the same. It does not look like much has changed on the Fat Ewe Farm though. h