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October Alterations

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Now that October has finally departed, it is safe to comment on the changes that it brought to us. October is always our “transfer” month. The Gallery closes for the year in mid-month. The Bed and Breakfast closes up a week later. The pastures are nearly always depleted enough that the sheep have to return to winter quarters in or near the barn where they depend on the hay stored in the barn for winter. As always the sheep also are divided into small breeding groups early in the month. Those ewes that we decide should be placed with a ram remain on the few remnants of pasture until early November, when breeding is also called to a halt. It would be easy to say that that summarizes the last month, but it would do it an injustice.

For me, having newly returned from Denmark in late September, getting back into the daily routine is always a bit difficult. However, the calendar will not pause for me. As such we were all back up to our routines by the beginning of October. The timely rains of late October extended our grazing period a little. On the 5th of October the entire flock grazed the last western corner of the 3rd pasture. Shirley took time to visit with us on one of those last days in #3.

oct-shirley

It was a time and a place for all to enjoy. Fall weather had arrived and trees were turning color in their usual dramatic fashion. This is how the flock appeared on pasture that day.

oct-52

The unusually hot and dry late summer appeared to have an influence on when the trees turned color. On this early day in October the ashes were in full color, while the maples, birch and our few beeches were still mostly green. The following week however dramatically changed appearances. We experienced a few days with extremely high winds out of the northwest, the worst day of which featured gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. Especially in the northern half of the county the damage was dramatic. At the farm we have a number of ash which toppled in the wetland on our western edge. In addition, the top of an large old maple came down in our 4th pasture. Considering the strength of the winds, the loss of that maple was not totally unexpected; it has had more than its share of dead or dying wood for many years. Luckily, no sheep were in the pasture when it came down and it obligingly avoided crashing onto a fence line. We were without power for more than 22 hours. We were lucky; many friends were without electricity for up to three days. Had our outage lasted much longer we would have had greater problems, the most significant of which is a lack of water for the sheep. Lastly all of the lovely yellows and purples of the ash trees were blown away.

In the week following the storm there were numerous branches to clean up, which only complicated setting up the pastures for breeding groups. We did manage to get the rams and ewes together when we had planned. This year we are only trying to breed 34 ewes, which is a significant drop from the last few years’ numbers. One the 11th, Ulmer, Ukiah and Rhett each joined the selected ewes. Much to his displeasure, our other adult ram, Vermicelli got the role of backup. It appears that his talents will not be put to work this year. The three ram lambs, Axel, Andrew and Aries also stayed in the barn. Unlike Vermicelli, one gets the impression that they really do not fathom what they are missing.

As is often the case with October, the sheep have been greeted by a diversity of weather, some quite pleasant and some down right cold and wet. As now seems to be the trend, we have not experienced a truly hard freeze in October. The most dramatic effect of this changing climate is that we have yet to experience frozen water lines and the need to manually transport water out to the three pastures. We have only two more nights to go before breeding is called to a halt. It appears that we may avoid snow and frozen water lines for the first time.

Some of the more pleasant days have begun with heavy ground fog. That is always a visual treat when going out to the breeding groups with their grain at dawn.

oct-231

For the final couple of weeks of the month the maples and beeches took center stage with their color show. The final act has been from the birches and especially from the aspen. This view is of Rhett and his group of girls in #4 with the aspen in full display.

oct-234

Not to be outdone, Ukiah and his harem had a dramatic backdrop from the last of the maples in between #2 and #3.

oct-232

It is now a week later and nearly every leaf is on the ground. We are now transporting hay to the three breeding groups and in another two days they will all return to the barn. We have given the ewes one complete heat cycle plus a couple of extra days with the rams. Everyone of the 34 ewes have been marked by the rams. The only question that remains is whether each breeding was a success. To learn the results of this month’s activity will require a return to the Ewe Turn in about five months.

Posted in Farm, Sheep, What's New | 1 Comment »

Contrasts and Similarities

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

I am back at Whitefish Bay Farm. Very few probably knew that I was gone. There were some exceptions: a few neighbors who did not see me doing chores; the sheep who were totally dependent upon Gretchen for pasture and food in the barn; Pussa, who lacked a breakfast companion and a lap upon which to sit; and Gretchen who had to deliver me to the airport and subsequently fetch me there. For the rest who did not know of my absence, I was in Denmark. As has become my custom, I travel to Denmark every other year. The trip constitutes my major vacation and only significant time away from the farm. It is an opportunity to visit friends and adoptive family. It is also my only chance to listen to and speak Danish. In a sense, it is like going to language camp. During the first few days there, my ears are not well tuned to the language and my mind does not want to function, except in English, consciously translating individual words here and there. That is an especially frustrating time, knowing that much of the language is locked somewhere in my head but the keys have been misplaced. Before the end of the twelve days I know that I am again thinking “på dansk”, albeit in a much simpler mode than years gone by.

When I left the farm, conditions were extremely dry. Pastures were turning brown and our gardens cried out for more watering. With the exception of Pasture #3 the sheep had grazed every other pasture that we could get them to and none of those pastures had regrown at all. In short, we were rapidly running out of fresh green food for the sheep. We had six large square bales of hay left over from the previous year. I set up the bales so that the sheep could feed upon them three at a time. Past experience taught us that three bales would last from three to four days. Once all six bales were consumed the flock would begin rotating through Pasture #3. The responsibility for assessing hay supplies, moving fences and feeding the sheep at night were totally Gretchen’s.

beech-knuthedlund

The contrast in Denmark was startling. The country had already experienced the second wettest summer ever recorded and the rain was continuing into the fall and my vacation. The words wet, green and lush best described what I found there. If you wished to grow mushrooms or snails, conditions were ideal. If you wish to combine grain crops or mow grass, conditions were a quagmire.

mushroom-dollerup

As I tend to do, I kept my eyes open for flocks of sheep. What I saw was that life was often not very pleasant for lots of extremely wet sheep.

sheep-thorning

At least toward the end of my travels the sun decided to come out for a few days. It permitted me to spend a day hiking the caulk cliffs of Møns Klint and another full day looking at and learning about the beautiful ships at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Much of the rest of my time in Denmark was spent dressed in rain gear outside or in drier conditions indoors, primarily in museums. Early in the trip I was extremely pleased to discover that a very dear friend from many years past had an exhibition of natural dying of wool and silk using wild mushrooms (Svampfarvning) at the Silkeborg Museum. The colors she achieves are breathtaking. If you happen to be in Silkeborg now and into early October, it is exciting to experience Kirsten Kielmann’s exhibit.

Kirsten's mushroom dyed yarn

Scarves from Kirsten's mushroom dyed yarn

Communication has changed so dramatically since I lived in Denmark in 1965-66. At that time, it took ten days for a letter to get from Denmark to the US. Phone calls could only be made by scheduling them a day or two ahead of time. Now with a cellphone I am able to talk with Gretchen every day that I am in Denmark. It was because of that communication that I was pleased to learn that after I had been gone a week that it began to rain here at home. In eight days we received over 4 inches of much needed moisture! Before the rain began, Gretchen and a friend, Sandy, spent a couple of intense days dying lots of wool yarn. They lacked Kirsten’s mushrooms, but instead got wonderful results using amaranth, madder, marigold blossoms, indigo and birch bark.

Gretchen's natural dyed yarn

I have been home now long enough that the effects of traveling for nearly 24 hours are finally wearing off. It is wonderful to see how green things have become here. The contrast with many of the trees that are already turning to their fall colors is dramatic. I already miss my family and friends in my adoptive home, but it is extremely good to be back to my real home with the flock, Pussa and especially Gretchen.

Posted in Farm, Fiber Projects, What's New | 1 Comment »

Frantically chasing windrows

Friday, August 26th, 2011

The “Ewe Turn” has been woefully neglected over the last few weeks. Most of the blame can be placed upon the weather, which for most of July and August had been excessively hot and humid. Only during the last week or so has the temperature moderated and the humidity receded. As a result it is possible to actually get a few jobs finished without getting totally fatigued in a couple of hours. The narrative that follows will, hopefully, fill in these gaping blanks of times.

It seems as if the summer was one continuous battle to cut and bale hay. In reality, it has been a long series of skirmishes frequently disrupted by excessive heat and/or largely false forecasts for rain. The usual scenario has been that attempts to cut hay were put off by threats of massive thunderstorms headed our way. If hay was successfully cut, the threats of rain only worsened the urgency to get the hay dried and baled. As the temperatures slowly but steadily increased, the threats of rain were replaced by oppressive combinations of heat and humidity. For a couple of weeks I finally gave up as it was health threatening to be trying to bale, load and unload 400 bales in a day or two. Over all we received less than .75″ of rain in August until we finally got a good soaker of .7″ early this week. The few small rains we did receive tended to wet the cut hay enough to require more drying efforts (and to reduce the hay’s feed value). To further our frustration some of the very hot days were also exceedingly windy. In those conditions, if the hay was raked into windrows, it would dry rapidly, but in doing so would blow all over the field. On two different occasions, I took the extreme solution of raking a single round with our small tractor and within minutes of finishing the single circumnavigation I would switch to the larger tractor already attached to the baler. Then it became a race to gobble up the windrow before it rolled across the field. From above it must have appeared as if the tractor was often out of control, haphazardly zigging left or right in pursuit of a living, and active windrow. It was ultimately a slower way of getting the hay baled, but at least I managed to get most of it corralled.

last-bales-2011

Finally, the last of the hay has been baled (luckily a day before the first heavy rain). Above is the last wagon of hay for 2011! The last wagons brought our total for the year to over 3000 bales (not counting hay also baled for friends). The 3000 bales have filled the barn and should see us in good stead through next winter. Our only current concern is that we will not get a timely follow up to the last rain.

2nd-crop-graze

The pastures have not grown back as I would like. The sheep will not have enough to graze through fall unless we receive more rain. Once we have grazed through all the pastures we will possibly be faced with having to dip into out winter baled hay to tide us through fall. As it stands the flock is currently grazing parts of our hay fields which were cut early enough to partially regenerate before it became dry. We usually do not put the sheep onto this part of our hay until mid-September. At least they seem content.

The heat also put a crimp on Gretchen’s summer dying projects. It was certainly not weather suitable for standing with your head over a steaming pot of hot water and yarn! Sales of our naturally dyed yarns have been robust this summer with the result that our inventory has been depleted. The cooler weather of the last week at least allowed Gretchen to get back to dying. Over the last couple of days she has replenished some of our indigo dyed stock. Besides the blues achieved with indigo she also over died some of the yellow yarn. The resulting greens have been especially vibrant. We were especially surprised by the intense green achieved by dying an otherwise dull yellow yarn which was the result of using birch tree leaves. It is the second green from the right.

birch-green

Hopefully life is returning to normal. We can turn our attention to more exciting and less frustrating endeavors.

Posted in Farm, Fiber Projects, Sheep | 2 Comments »

It is time to make hay

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

We have entered that time of late spring/early summer when life tends to rush forward at break-neck speed. Three weeks ago the sugar maples were just breaking open their buds. Now we have a full, green canopy of lush green leaves. The pastures are growing like mad, which means that the sheep are unable to keep up with the growth. I have tried to speed up their rotation through the pastures, but it has not been of much help. Today is the first day of the year that the flock is on the “high ground” in the pasture that we call “the orchard”. It is a good place to be when it is warm (as it is) and the breezes blow strongly enough to keep the bugs at bay (which is happening). It also is one of the tastier places to graze if you are a sheep.

Right next door to “the orchard” is the main field we use for baling our winter hay supply. It is ready for cutting. Had things gone differently I would be out driving “Big Oscar”, the Massey Ferguson tractor, pulling the haybine and cutting hay. However…it rained enough this morning to make it too wet to cut and there is rain in the forecast for tonight. Instead I am at the computer trying to bring the Ewe Turn up to date. I know that it is time to start cutting hay, not only by looking at the hay itself, but because my “friends” the Whitetailed Deer tell me that it is time. The does tend to deliver their fawns about a week before the hay is ready. Inevitably, when the fawns are at their youngest is when their moms tell them to sit tight and still in the deep grass and thus avoid any detection and danger. Mother Nature did not take into account modern hay making machinery when she set up her spring schedule. As a result it is an extremely difficult and fatiguing task for me, the haybine operator, to be constantly looking for telltale signs of fawns as I circle the hay field.

I know that the fawns are out there as I have already had quite a few encounters with them as I have been setting up the sheep pastures each morning during the last week. The most amazing discovery occurred three days ago. I had finished setting up the pasture for the day, returned to the barn and turned the ewes and their lambs loose. The first one hundred or so yards of their trip out to pasture is always especially noisy, rapid and a little chaotic. That morning the turn-out was quite normal. As usual, I am left behind to bring up the rear of the parade. Hope makes sure that I am in my place and then she leads me out. By the time I get to the first turn (which is perhaps 50 feet from the barn door) everyone, even the matronly Hope, is far ahead of me. I was surprised as I made that first turn to spot a fawn lying virtually under the electric fence. Not more that 30 seconds previously an almost thundering flock of 200 sheep and lambs had run within one foot of the fawn. Even as I stopped to look at the babe it was nearly impossible to detect it breathing. After getting the sheep set up in their pasture, I returned to let the rams out into the small pasture adjacent to the barn, checked on the fawn and then went to the house to retrieve my camera. So here is a close-up of the little critter.

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It is virtually impossible to see the fawn in this view looking back to the barn. It is next to the first white post on the left. The path taken by the flock is obvious.

fawn-2-6-11

Sometime after noon, mom must have quietly returned to fetch her fawn. When I checked at 1 PM, it was gone. I am guessing that I saw the doe and fawn the next morning as I went out to set up the sheep fence. (This time I planned ahead and had my camera.) In the first pasture a couple of hundred yards along the path there was a fawn nursing on a doe. As can be seen, I got quite close before they took off. I am not sure if this fawn was the one from the previous day because by the time I got to the pasture for the day (pasture #3) there was a second doe with nursing fawn. It is a sure sign that I must be on alert when I finally get the haybine running! (At least I have yet to see any sets of twins!)

fawn-3-6-11

I am hoping that this late spring will let me keep more on schedule than I was able to last year. Last year we received so much rain, spread out over such a long time that I was not able to begin cutting hay until very late June. Even then we were delayed many days by additional rain. Last year’s rain also prevented us from getting the vegetable garden started on a timely basis. As it was we never got everything planted that we planned on. Half the garden was left fallow. About all I could do with that half was periodically cut down the weeds (when it was not raining). This year the garden has already been turned over twice and a load of composted sheep manure worked in. As of this week I actually got the last of the early plantings in. Now I need to wait for the soil to warm up before the last few crops can go in. Last year I did have company while I struggled to plant get what I could. A pair of Bluebirds nested in the box just east of the garden. This spring a pair of Tree Swallows are in that box. The Bluebirds are in one of the boxes to the west. Papa Tree Swallow has kept a close eye on me as I worked. In return he has allowed me to take his portrait.

treeswallow-1

Posted in Farm, Sheep | 2 Comments »

Good and Bad

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

To paraphrase from the famous line, yesterday was the best of times and the worst of times. We have gradually and finally emerged from the snow and cold. It has been warm enough to get the pastures growing, albeit slowly. The sheep seemingly can sense that it is time for them to be out on pasture and grazing. It has taken a while for me to get the pastures ready in terms of the fencing and watering systems. A couple of days ago I thought that the water lines were all set. I pressurized the entire line which runs, in total, at least a half a mile. Then I checked each connection for leaks and loose fittings from front to back pastures. Along the way I bled the air out of the lines and flushed any accumulated gunk. Pleased with the seeming lack of problems, I returned to the prime connection in the barn, only to find, to my chagrin, that the main line had sprung a leak and was trying to flood the barn. The leak was due to freezing of a section which did not get properly drained last winter. It took another day to replace the guilty section of pipe. The next day I got the electric fence tested, at least without the problems akin to the waterline. Yesterday was thus set for grazing.

may16pasture

After making sure that the flock all had a good breakfast of solid dry hay, we were set. (One has to be careful switching from a dry hay diet to a lush green wet one. The major danger can be bloating and changing the balance of good bacteria in the rumen.) For the first day, only the ewes with lambs and their lambs got to go out. It is always difficult to get the lambs to venture out the barn door for the first time. The moms are willing and eager. Unfortunately they cannot take their children and calmly lead them by the hand where they have never been before. For the most part that duty falls upon the two of us. The vast majority of the lambs on the first day have to be caught and carried over the threshold. Once outside everything is “just fine” except for an extra bit of baahing needed to reconnect with mom. After a few hours on pasture, which included lessons on the forces behind electric fences, the lambs were seasoned pros. By late afternoon they were grazing green grass just like the adult ewes. We will repeat the routing the next day, with (hopefully) less shepherding and more voluntary lamb exits from the barn. The following day the “retired” ewes will get to rejoin them; the next day the same will apply to the yearling ewes. Then all of the ewes will be back together for the first time since January. It will be a happy time for all…almost.

Wendolyn with her lambs, Ashley & Ainsley

In the midst of the preparations for grazing we were faced with a sick ram lamb, Abdul. He is Serena’s single lamb who had become quiet friendly very early on. He was growing extremely well. A week ago he acted depressed and began to swell up in an unusual fashion. Our vets were called in and were as puzzled by his condition as we were. We tried a couple of treatments and after a few days he seemed to improve. The swelling went down but he then stopped eating. He died quietly overnight, before everyone was to go onto pasture. Serena was lying with him the next morning. The bond between a ewe and her lamb can be very strong. Such was the case with Serena and Abdul. Serena was upset that morning, but she exited the barn with the rest of the ewes and lambs. Once on pasture she continued to look and call for Abdul.

As I usually do, once we have all the lambs out for the first time, I sit down in the grass in the middle of the pasture just to watch the ewes and lambs. Usually the friendlier ewes will stop by for a brief visit, as will the curious lambs befuddled by a crazy shepherd sitting on his butt in the middle of the pasture. Finally, Serena came over to me and stopped calling for Abdul. We spent a long time together, sharing quiet hugs. I have felt it before, but I still am amazed by the compassion and love these creatures can feel for each other. I am even more moved how in times such as these they can share their grief with us. My heart is with you Serena on this sunny, green day which should have been so happy for you.

***

This coming weekend (May 21st and 22nd) is the Door County Shepherds’ Market. We hope that lots of folks take advantage of the experience, especially if they are interested in things that are fiber related. There will be lots to purchase from a number of Door County fiber producers: everything from raw fibers to yarn to finished products. Gretchen spent the better part of two weeks with a couple of friends dying lots of our yarn with natural dyes, all in preparation for the Market. As time allows I will spend time with another blog detailing the project. But just to tempt you, here are a series of images of some of the yarn just after it came out of the dye bath.

reds

These are reds, using Cochineal on both white and gray yarns. Next up are, among other colors, oranges and blues, using indigo and Cochineal as an overdye.

orgblues

Pussa, had to inspect each separate batch of yarn as it was hung out to dry. Here she is passing approval on a batch of greens, the result of overdying indigo on onion skins, tesu and chamomile

pussagreen

The sheep could care less about dying. Toodles is just pleased to be outside and grazing. We will leave her editorial comment up to reader speculation.

toodlesmay16

Posted in Farm, Fiber Projects, Fleeces & Wool, Sheep | 4 Comments »

Searching for Green

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

A number of folks have asked about the large drifts of snow from our big storm of the last week of March and whether they have since melted away. The good news is that over about a two week period the snow had slowly disappeared. In fact, for a couple of days Mother Nature acted as if she would finally bless us with spring weather. Silly of us to think that! It was not to last for long. We have now had two additional heavy, wet snows. Now have not equaled the last March storm, but the ground has turned white again and again. As soon as one had melted it was replaced by the next. This was the scene that greeted us yesterday morning.

Where is the pasture?

Temperatures have not aided in rapid thawing and melting so somewhere below all that white stuff there may be green grass, but it is certainly difficult to find. We are thankful that we do not need to do any spring planting. There has been virtually no field work done by any of the farmers in the county. Once the snow is gone the fields still need to dry out. We can fuss a lot, but we are blessed to not be faced with the destruction of earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, wildfires and war.

The sheep are eager to get out. We can sense it. We still have a good supply of hay stored in the barn, so it would seem that the entire flock is faced with the same menu for a few more weeks. The vegetable garden is also still white. Underneath the snow is a pile of composted sheep manure waiting to be worked into the soil. For the moment we will just have to look at the seedlings on our plant table and imagine them in summer glory. This bunch of tomatoes, peppers, egg plants and artichokes still have a long way to go. Right now they will have to satisfy our search for green!

seeds-4-20-11

Posted in Farm, General, Sheep, What's New | 1 Comment »

All the Lambs are here

Monday, April 11th, 2011

With the arrival of Winkie’s ewe lamb, Aimee, on April 4th, lambing was officially completed at the farm. From start to finish lambing covered 28 days. That is the tightest lambing schedule we have had in almost our entire history. It now seems like a short time, but for a while it seemed much longer. As shepherds, the two of us are perhaps showing our age just a bit!

In total 89 lambs were born this year. Unfortunately two were born dead and two died shortly after birth. The remaining 85 are doing just fine! The vast majority are now sampling solid food and the older lambs are enthusiastically eating hay with the adults. It is perhaps a misnomer to say that they are “eating hay with the adults”. Like just about every year, we soon develop “lamb feeders” and “adult feeders”. The Moms tend to avoid the feeders if they are populated by too many lambs. This photo is typical. Moms are at one feeder, the lambs at and in the the next feeder.

lmbfdr

The lambs that are eating hay now have functioning rumens. Of course that means that, like their adult counterparts, the lambs are periodically regurgitating their food for further mastication. However, unlike the adults, the lambs are often totally surprised by their burps, which are high pitched and a little “squeaky”. Below is Ainsley, who is one of Wendolyns twin ewe lambs (the other is Ashley). She is in the thick of things when it comes to eating and also looking cute. (I am not sure if I have heard her burp; when she does I am sure it is more sophisticated than some of the boys.)

ainsley-1

Since lambing is over we have been able to turn some of our attention to the final preparations for selling this year’s fleeces. Our previous customers from the last couple years should have already received notice, along with those who have requested to be on our mailing list. The list of 2011 fleeces will be posted to our website on our fleece page on Wednesday, April 13th at 10:00 AM CDT. For those who are new to our sale, you will find that when the new pages are posted on Wednesday that many of the fleeces are already shown as “sold”. This is because we offer last year’s customers the opportunity to reserve the same fleece(s) that they purchased the previous year. Like last year, many of you have taken advantage of that perk. Regardless of the advanced sales we will still have a large selection of nice fleeces available.

Since this is the lambing season it seems that we never can get enough time to enjoy all the lambs. So to close out this edition of Ewe Turn, here are some more lambs. Toodles has quite a pair of boys, Anders and Axel.

Mange hilsener fra Anders og Axel

Posted in Farm, Fleeces & Wool, Sheep | 3 Comments »

Happy Birthdays, good days and not so good

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

It seems as though I started to write this entry just a few days ago. My intention was to wish Hope a Happy Birthday and have the greeting prepared ahead of time, so that on March 8th we could publicly celebrate Hope’s 15th birthday. We managed an “in-barn” party, but that was it. Now it is three weeks later! The public celebration is a bit delayed. For those of you not into sheep longevity, I should point out that 15 years is a substantial age. Hope is still going strong. She may be a bit smaller than she was at an earlier age and a bit slower. Nonetheless, she still is the “official hay tester”, sampling every slab of hay before it is delivered to a feeder somewhere in the barn. For her services she receives an extra helping of grain each day (just don’t tell the rest of the flock, it is just our secret).

Hope at 15+ years

The reason for trying to celebrate Hope’s birthday on time was that it preceded, by a day, the scheduled arrival of this year’s first lambs. Scheduling is not something at which sheep excel however. This year the first lamb arrived on March 7th. Unfortunately the first birth was not one of those expected, but rather a ewe lamb premature by at least seven days. Her mom, Whosits, did a good job with the lamb, especially considering that she was a first time mother. The two of them plugged along well enough, but it also became obvious that the lamb (who we dubbed “Atagirl”) was not functioning normally. At 19 days of age she died quietly. It took Whosits at least two days to stop searching for her.

Once Whosits had lambed, we had a day for Hope’s celebration. The next day the proverbial flood gates opened. Since the 9th of March the flock has experienced births everyday, except two, and it is now the 29th of March. As I write we have seen 83 lambs born and we await the last five pregnant ewes, who are due sometime before the 3rd of April. We have had seen some some beautiful lambs born and the vast majority of the moms have done wonderful jobs, especially considering that nearly half of them are first timers. We have had three ewes who were initially befuddled by their lambs’ births and, as a result, did not wish to accept one or all of their offspring. Usually a day or two spent restrained in a stantion is enough to let them calm down and recognize that they are indeed mothers with responsibilities. Two of the three ewes recognized their erring ways and now are truly devoted to their lambs. One mom has proven to be a dead beat. The result is a bottle lamb, Azalea, for the shepherds to care for. She joined a duo of bottle lambs, both of whom were already being bottled because of 1) a milk problem with one mom and 2) a mom who could not count to two and did not make sure her second lamb got enough to drink.

Group nap time for lambs

We have also experienced some minor health problems with a couple of ewes, problems which seem to be resolved. Trudi however has had major difficulties since she gave birth to twins. She delivered while standing (which is not that unusual). However, as time passed we realized that she was not lying down (at all!). Initially we suspected a case of mastitis, but that proved not to be the case. Eventually we had one of our vets look at her. He too was befuddled. We could only surmise an internal injury or infection that made it painful for her to lie down. It was not until 9 days after her delivery date that she finally laid down. Whether this was the result of the medication she received or whether it was due to sheer fatigue we do not know. Now we are working from the other extreme, i.e. a ewe who gets up only briefly. Luckily, Trudi has retained a good appetite and thirst. Everyday now she seems to be doing a bit better. It is a slow recovery, but we are hopeful.

It seems to be a year with most of the births occurring in early morning (i.e. around 2 AM). Fatigue is becoming a factor for the two of us. It does not help that we, like Hope, are a bit older than when we first helped with lambing 21 years ago. And by the way I believe that I failed to mention our “little weather event”.

By the first day of spring (the 20th) we had seen the arrival of Robins and Redwings. Sandhill Cranes were flying up the peninsula and flocks of Tundra Swans ferried in from the southeast. It was also warmer, all good signs of spring. Two days later we experienced the “classic” late winter/early spring snow storm, which proved to be extreme. Sixteen inches of heavy, wet snow pushed along by winds gusting out of the east from Lake Michigan at up to 40 miles per hour. We were effectively isolated for three days. The short walk of just one hundred feet or so between the house and the barn was an adventure, especially at 3 AM. When it was over the storm left us with monster snow drifts all over the farm, one of the largest of which ran the entire length of the barn and was at its highest at least 4 to 5 feet.

Impassable snow drift on west side of barn

Between dealing with the sheep and lambing and the depth of the snow it took us three days to clear our way to the road. Normally when we experience these late storms the warmer weather quickly returns. This weather pattern is different. We seem to be in a time warp: temperatures are as cold or colder than they were in February. It will be a long while before the remains of this storm have melted.

Detour around and through the drift to the barn

The storm and subsequent cold have sapped our energies more than normal. The sheep are getting the care they need, but other tasks have been slowed. For example, Gretchen is still skirting and sorting fleeces. (Fear not faithful fleece customers, we still hope to have them ready for sale by mid-April.) Any hope of making spring repairs to fences and getting pastures ready remain buried in snow. But we have had many birthdays to cheer us, especially Hope’s. Happy Birthday Hope!!

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Super Pooper Scooper

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Apologies are due for the rather infrequent number of entries in the Ewe Turn of late. We seem to have entered a form of semi-hibernation recently. It has been rather pleasant! Soon the pace will be quickening in and around the farm. So it is time that the blog is brought back up to date. What follows, while not an epic tale, should have been told in a number of installments. But, to get caught up, the tale may run at bit longer than normal.

Due to a number of unrelated reasons (primarily weather and shepherd health related), manure storage and distribution had fallen woefully behind at Whitefish Bay Farm. Our normal routine is to clean out the barn 3 to 4 times a year. The clean out could not be achieved without the help of a skid-loader, one of the niftiest of mechanized tools. Once removed from the barn, the manure is stored in a concrete enclosure, where, over time it will heat up and decompose. The decomposition is accelerated by periodically turning over the pile (again with the help of the skid-loader). By fall the pile has “miraculously” shrunk. The resulting compost is then ready to be spread upon our hay fields and pastures where it serves as our primary source of fertilizer.

In the fall of 2009 I had nearly completed the November clean-up of the barn when Ulmer, the ram, placed my ankle, and thus me, out of commission. The immediate result was a year’s worth of decomposed manure that went un-spread. By the time my ankle was healed, and lambs were delivered and cared for in spring, it was too late to spread the pile. (Wet, soggy pastures and hayfields do not take kindly to heavy lug-tired tractors pulling equally heavy manure spreaders.) All of us (sheep and shepherds) managed to work around the backlog, knowing that fall would again return and with it the opportunity to finally catch up on the now monstrous pile. Indeed, by October, Eunice (the skid-loader) and I had managed to make room enough in the pit so that we could get the barn scrapped out before the sheep returned from their breeding groups. About a quarter of the way into the barn Eunice decided to have numerous hissy fits. It was only then that I remembered that she was over 20 years old. We needed to face the reality that she needed to move to a retirement home.

Eunice was rather unique in that she was short and narrow enough that she could fit through barn doors built when horses provided the power on the farm. Twenty years after purchasing her new, we discovered that skid-loaders, like so many other pieces of farm equipment, now came only in larger sizes. Eventually we located a different brand of skid-loader, which while a bit wider and longer than Eunice would appear to fit through the barn doors. The major concern was length. The narrow passageway beside the barn required a sharp left turn (with no room to swing out) to get into the barn. Without other options we traded Eunice in (before she died) and replaced her with a new skid-loader, now named “Gayle”. We had to await her arrival before we could know if the left turn was possible. If it could not be done, our only solution was to widen the concrete ramp as it approached the barn door. I am sure most of you can see what is coming!

Gayle had to be built before she arrived. While we waited, so did the partially cleaned barn and the nearly overflowing manure storage. November arrived and progressed. The sheep returned to the barn from breeding. Finally Gayle arrived, a beautiful and quiet machine. And yes, she was a bit too long and lanky! I quickly called all of the concrete contractors I could find, only one of whom returned my call. Luckily he did farm work, was finishing a job near by and could come over the same day to look at the job. Even more fortuitously, he could do the job the next day. We scurried around to get things set up for him. On November 11th Mike and one helper arrived right after morning chores. By mid-afternoon the pour was done!

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After a number of days the concrete had cured enough to once again try maneuvering Gayle into the barn. It worked! The weather was cooperating, so the entire flock got another two days all together in the entire first pasture, where they thoroughly enjoyed the large spaces and room to romp. I, on the other hand, had to learn a new set of skid-loader operating controls (since they are by no means standardized). But we were back in business!

By early December Gayle and I had made a big dent in the manure storage pile. The picture below is after 42 loads had been spread on our large hay field. As can be seen there was still lots of work ahead.

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The following photo is of Gayle and a not so grumpy shepherd admiring our work for the day.

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Those of you from the upper Midwest may remember that we had a blizzard in early December (crushed a number of barns in northern Wisconsin and the Metrodome in Minneapolis). The snow put our manure moving operation into a long hold. Amazingly we had a major thaw by the new year. The snow nearly disappeared but we had to wait for the upper few inches of ground to refreeze. But, we persevered. By January 11th the last load awaited its turn in the spreader. This would be the 72nd load. The only compost that did not get spread were the chunks frozen to the outside walls of the storage.

Just a few scoops left to go!

This brings us up to the present. The storage area is again filling, but this time it is all snow. We are on what appears to the the outer edges of a major snow storm headed across the Midwest. For me it is a beautiful sight.

Manure storage unit filling with snow - Feb 2nd

Manure storage unit filling with snow - Feb 1st

For those of you who have waited patiently for this arduous story to end, here is your reward: a view across the 1st pasture, to the south. The fences are about to be engulfed in a snow drift. This is why the sheep are happy to be inside in a dry, clean barn!

feb-snow

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Winter Reflections

Friday, December 24th, 2010

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It has been two years since we have been able to enjoy the early winter season without unexpected encumbrances. At this time last year about all I could do was to sit quietly and look out at the landscape while my right foot remained encased in a large boot, whose sole purpose was to aid in the recovery of a very severe sprain. Blessed by lots of help toward a good recovery I am no longer so constrained! Winter has us in its grasp, but we have no need to complain. To date we have experienced two major snow storms, the first of which was a significant blizzard. We missed the worst of that storm; all of our buildings are intact (unlike a number of barns in western Wisconsin that succumbed to the combined weight of snow and wind and which result in the loss of life to both farmers and livestock). The sheep remained dry and warm in the barn. With plenty of good hay to eat they did just fine. In the midst of the storm our crazy chickens (the ram’s co-residents of the barn for the winter) decided it was time to begin laying, six weeks after they began their annual molt.

We sat out the two days of the blizzard and successfully managed to slog our way to and from the barn. Once the winds subsided we could dig our way out to the road. The following morning dawned still, quiet and cold. We were blessed with a lovely hoarfrost: Mother Nature’s award for being able to survive her sometimes evil temperaments. Below is the scene that greeted us that morning looking out to the dunes to the east.

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We have had more snow since the blizzard. At least it has managed to soften the rough edges that the intermediate week left on the landscape. Yesterday we strapped on our snow shoes and trudged out to the back of the pastures in search of a Christmas tree. This year we selected a good sized Balsam fir growing between the pasture #3 and the large hay field. The area from which it came is a narrow patch of rough, rocky ground of poor fertility. It tends to be an area of deciduous hardwoods, but of late the firs and cedars are moving in. They are creating a more significant windbreak between the two fields. The result, in late spring, is an area of #3 sheltered from all but east winds. It is thus a spot that the Black Flies love and hence make life miserable for the sheep if they must graze there. When I have the chance I try to open up the woods for some air flow. Our Christmas tree was double as tall as we could use, but the space created by its absence should help let some breeze through. The top of the tree is now in the house awaiting decoration; the bottom half is temporary winter shelter for the birds near one of our feeders.

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The sheep await their Christmas apples this evening. It is a treat they eagerly anticipate, that we have on good authority. Pussa accompanies us to the barn for morning chores, checks to make sure all is in order and then returns to the house with us when we are done. She will sleep through the day awaiting the arrival of Christmas Eve. So, to family and friends, wherever the season may find you, we wish to send our Christmas greetings. As always we dream of a more peaceful world for the future.

And to family and friends i kære Danmark, vi ønkser glædelig jul og godt nyt år!

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