Farm Report # 10: A Busy Winter!

We have had lots of activity on the farm the first 5 months of the year.  Here are a few significant things!

  1.  We bottle fed two lambs!  We named them Lewis and Clark.  Unfortunately after about 4 weeks, Clark died very suddenly.  He was always a little weak, but he seemed to be doing well.  We struggled this winter with some odd sickness in our sheep.  We consulted with our vet and had one treated, but lost 8 or 9 lambs or ewes this winter.  We lost two of our best mommas and several young lambs.  But after spring came and they got out on fresh pasture things seem to have improved.  Lewis is thriving, though he is closer to us and than the sheep, and refuses to join the herd.  He is a funny lamb!

2.  We got a new horse!  Let me introduce you to Daisy. Daisy is a beautiful paint horse we received free from some friends.  She is so sweet and loves people.  She is gentle and a good riding horse.  She just needs to be ridden more than we do.

3.  We have had three calves born and are expecting one more.  We got one extra!  Our young heifer we purchased last August from a family in TN, gave us a surprise calf.  Apparently their bull had made contact with her, without them knowing.  She was only about 14-15 months old when she gave birth.  But thankfully it has worked out and she gave us a nice little bull calf.  An extra bonus for this year.  We also had to bottle feed Judy’s calf because she had an utter problem.

This is Judy with her calf!

4.  Brooke got some rabbits.  Brooke has wanted rabbits for a long time.  So we built a hutch for them one day in a few hours using some material left around the farm.  I am sure we will have more rabbits than we need soon enough.

5.  The big news this winter was dad bringing his backhoe and a friend’s bulldozer over to clear and level much of the farm.  We gained probably about 4 more acres of pasture.  We cleared a bunch of overgrown brush filled with sapling trees and kudzu.  We pushed in a large ditch in the front so we have more pasture and we can cross to our front field without having to get on the road.  I have been working hard trying to prevent erosion.  We really appreciated all the hard work that dad, Joe Bob, and Jonas did.  We even got Amanda on the tractor doing some work.  We built up our front yard several feet by our house and lowered a hill that kept you from seeing the house.  The increase in pasture has helped make our rotational grazing easier this spring and will accommodate more animals.  Thanks so much Dad! 

6.  Finally, we have continued to enjoy the beauty of the farm.  It seems we are getting more settled and are able to enjoy the process and not feel so overwhelmed with the work load.  

 

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  1. Always enjoy reading your farm reports!

  1. […] Farm Report # 10: A Busy Winter! […]

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