We have been fortunate this year with an extremely mild winter so far and no snow. The lack of snow was problematic for me. The wagon has a flat tire and the lawn mower tractor needs a new battery, so my mode of transporting water was to carry two 5 gallon buckets at a time, or put 3 in the wheelbarrow. The three did not really fit in the wheel barrow and I had to be so careful not to spill the water by the time I delivered it, I mostly carried the buckets. That is 14 buckets per day! I did reduce the number of pens since the sheep were already together for over two cycles for the ewes. There are 3 rams in with the ewes all together now. The rams are very docile and gentle, two being very young (this year's lambs at 7 months) and one being a quiet breed. I was hoping that the Romney would do a better job this year, but Romney sheep are a bit slow to mature, similar to the Cotswolds, and he was not interested. The Jacob ram lamb did his job, I am pretty sure, but just in case, Quinn, the Blue Faced Leicester is doing back up. He may end up breeding some of his daughters, call it line breeding, but I really did not have another mature ram capable of the job this year.
Anyhow, when the snow came, it came in a blizzard! Sofi, Robbie and I were at the vet's in Bonnyville and when we came out, wow, it was a blizzard out there. I could not see very well and when a vehicle passed on the other side of the highway, a blanket of snow flew up blinding me more. Yet, the crazy Alberta drivers were passing me and traveling at high speeds, crazy guys. I traveled between 60 and 80 kilometers per hour all the way home and was grateful when we got to the gate unscathed. The dogs slept. Lucky to be a dog. They felt safe and warm and Sofi was likely relieved to be out of the reach of those who poked and prodded her and put her on a big table.
Today, I made sure everyone had enough feed and watered them. I hung a tarp between two large round bales and two feeders to give three Babydoll sheep some shelter, but they are very hardy. Yesterday they slept outside in the blizzard, even though they could have gone into their little house. They just got up this morning and shook off like living snow men, um, snow sheep. Then I plowed the driveway with the skid steer, brought in the wood and the temperature was rapidly dropping by then, so I was glad to come in and start the wood fire. It is supposed to be minus 20 tonight. I am not hearing any barking from the dogs outside, so they are hunkered down in their houses staying warm too.
The snow came just in time for Christmas. Now dreaming of a white Christmas is a reality here. All is well at the Fat Ewe Farm.
Anyhow, when the snow came, it came in a blizzard! Sofi, Robbie and I were at the vet's in Bonnyville and when we came out, wow, it was a blizzard out there. I could not see very well and when a vehicle passed on the other side of the highway, a blanket of snow flew up blinding me more. Yet, the crazy Alberta drivers were passing me and traveling at high speeds, crazy guys. I traveled between 60 and 80 kilometers per hour all the way home and was grateful when we got to the gate unscathed. The dogs slept. Lucky to be a dog. They felt safe and warm and Sofi was likely relieved to be out of the reach of those who poked and prodded her and put her on a big table.
Today, I made sure everyone had enough feed and watered them. I hung a tarp between two large round bales and two feeders to give three Babydoll sheep some shelter, but they are very hardy. Yesterday they slept outside in the blizzard, even though they could have gone into their little house. They just got up this morning and shook off like living snow men, um, snow sheep. Then I plowed the driveway with the skid steer, brought in the wood and the temperature was rapidly dropping by then, so I was glad to come in and start the wood fire. It is supposed to be minus 20 tonight. I am not hearing any barking from the dogs outside, so they are hunkered down in their houses staying warm too.
The snow came just in time for Christmas. Now dreaming of a white Christmas is a reality here. All is well at the Fat Ewe Farm.
RSS Feed