Fall Has Fell

 Despite the hot temperatures there is no denying that Fall is truly here.  I thought the drought would impact the color change in our foliage and trees would yellow a bit and then drop their leaves.  Just the opposite is true and we've had the best color display in some years.

The fall flowers are blooming much more heavily that I would have thought possible given how water starved the plants have been.   The view across the neighbor's property down the valley is a river of goldenrod.

The sky is clear, unbroken blue day after day.  We did have one afternoon of wispy mare's tails which normally mean rain but we didn't get any.  I think this one looks like The Nexus (skip to about 1:10) and given the strangeness of 2020 I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been.

The weeds wildflowers in unkempt corners are making me glad I didn't spend a lot of energy cutting them down earlier this summer.

Even humble ivy that's crept up trees and along the ditches has turned brilliant red.

Normally the sheep would still have been out on pasture for a few more weeks but we had to bring them in and start feeding hay four weeks early.  We made enough of our own for a normal year but we didn't have enough for extra weeks of feeding.  We were lucky enough to secure 20 big square bales and after an initial trial of three bales - which the sheep were delighted with - we had the rest delivered.

Keeping the flock off pasture requires a different daily routine including scraping the barnyard area clean every morning.  Here, the girls seem to be giving our effort an inspection.

We left the auto waterer in the feed bunk to encourage exercise and because the chore of rerouting water into the barn isn't really necessary until freezing temperatures start.  Fortune is looking longingly at a kitty that she really. wants. to. sniff.

Another aspect of feeding hay is the need to coat the flock to keep the wool clean.  Thus began the annual Washing of the Coats.  I do about a dozen a day and triage them after they are dry for holes and weak leg straps.  Soon there will come a day of mending.

We don't normally need to keep the sheep cool AND in the barn but this year with a week of mid-80s predicted we knew we'd have to take some kind of measure to keep them comfortable.  When we used to have a building full of ram lambs in the summer we had a large box fan going for them but it hadn't been needed for a few years.  Time to press it into service.  First Andy had to create a 2X6 the right dimensions to support it.  The buzz rig was pressed into service as a big table saw.

This will move air!

Mounted where it is, at the end of the pens, a good flow of air will move the length of the barn and push stale, warm air out the south end where the rolling door is normally open. 

Holly sez:

"Bleah.  It's too hot and bright out here.  Let's go in for a drink."

Dogs are so sensible.

Signs of Fall

Our hot, dry summer is easing into a warm, dry Fall. 

The goldenrod is almost at peak bloom and bees of all types are taking advantage.  There seem to be two types of the plant around here.  This kind, with airy sprays of bloom like fireworks going off is more common.

But we also have a variety with more finely cut leaves and small globs of bloom where the flowers are arranged in clumps. 

The bees prefer this type at the moment.  I see a honey bee and two other small bees of some kind.

Although still terribly dry we are having some morning dew and the webs of little grass spiders show up well in the lawn.

"Come into my parlor...."

The cooler morning temperatures create a river of fog down in the valley.  Every year I'm reminded of how good it is to live up on a hilltop where you aren't stuck for hours in the fog every morning in the Fall.

Even when the fog lifts and trails away over the ridge the valley will still be stuck in a clammy mist all morning. 

We've been to the woods last week and Andy cut some hemlock trees.  He's building hinged panels for a fellow shepherd who needs some new ones.  From the woods to the sawmill to the shop.  That will keep him occupied for a few days.

Holly loves to walk up the length of each downed tree.  Such a silly girl.

"Nope, no squirrels in this one.  Let's cut another one down and look!"

The sheep are currently going to the farthest pasture to graze everyday.  They are having to work for their vittles this summer.  There was barely enough regrowth to let them go back there and they spend a lot of time grazing to get what they need.  No lush mouthfuls they can fill up fast on.  We did offer hay in the bunk when they come in at night but they were not enthused so they aren't that hungry but we'll have to move them off that pasture again very soon.

We let them out of the yard in the morning and they follow Andy across the smallest pasture behind the barn.....

.....through the gate and down the hill.....

....and spread out down by the woods for the morning.  They are hard to see - click to biggify.

We have a separate group of old and infirm animals and they go out into the closer, flat pasture that heads north.  Pickings are a little better for them out there as there are fewer of them for that area but we keep hay in their mangers in case someone doesn't feel up to trekking out and being on their feet for hours.  

All that wide expanse and they stick to the narrow sheep trail and march off to work in single file.

Even old sheep have a good work ethic.

Hot And Dry

Late June and early July offered a stretch of great hay weather - hot, dry days with low humidity and only a few soaking rains which we could see coming and dodged around.  Unfortunately, it has stayed that way.  I love hot weather and look forward to summer more than most people but unrelenting heat with no rain is tough on the sheep and harder on the pastures.  We can manage the flock to keep them in the shade and under fans during the day but no rain just slows grass growth until it gives up and goes dormant.  We rotate the flock through different pastures but for the plan to work we have to have regrowth in the pastures they leave so there's something to come back to later.

Right now they are in the first pasture for the second time.  Normally it would be lush and growing as fast as they could eat it.  This year it's barely half the volume it should be and what's there is almost crispy in some places.  They graze it down and there it stays. 

Most of them are in good shape right now and the pasture includes a lot of clover which is very nutritious but they do spend more time than usual walking around looking for the best areas.

The section in the foreground has just been clipped back.  The farther pasture with the sheep should be much greener with fresh growth.  Not so much.  :-/

The field at the bottom of the slope is the next one they will go to.  It's showing some growth but not much.  Also depressing are all the dead ash trees standing in the woods, killed by the Emerald Ash Borer.  Will ash exist in 50 years or will it go the way of the American Chestnut?  Guess I won't be here to find out.

Andy just finished clipping the pasture they most recently vacated and fertilized it too.  Now it just needs rain.

It's easy to get anxious when something as critical as weather is so totally out of your control.  A good remedy is a walk and Holly is always ready to assist.

Pie helps too, but I didn't have any handy.  ;-)

A Year's Worth

The calendar never really starts or ends for a shepherd.  One aspect of husbandry overlaps another and seasons go by but there's never a time when nothing is happening.  The closest we get is mid winter when everyone is hunkered in and eats their way through the cold, dark months.  But then....

Shearing!

A year's worth of nutrition, proper housing and care is harvested in the form of beautiful wool.  Taking the coats off the sheep is like opening Christmas presents.  We shear in batches of ten to fifteen sheep and can get through about 45 a day without turning it into an unpleasant marathon.

 "Is it any safer on that side of the pen?"

"I don't think so.  We can't really run OR hide."

We postponed the starting date twice due to weather and circumstances.  It was a very un-springlike day but the sheep had been penned the night before and so were dry.  Shearing wet sheep is miserable for the shearer and awful for the wool as it will mildew no matter what kind of bag or container you put it in.

It snowed all day.  :-0  

But indoors is was a steady accumulation of pretty fleeces.........

Curly Cotswold...in color!

....and in white.

Longwool crossbreds

Glamour shots........

Salsa is a moorit who has faded greatly over the years but apparently this freckle's worth of wool follicles didn't get the genetic message.

And this is why we coat.  This is Peanut with her coat removed.  The grimy wool to the left is on her neck, which wasn't covered by the coat.  It will wash clean for the most part, but it sure looks unappealing now.

And these are her big, shiny, CLEAN curls.  :-D

This is one of the colored Cotswolds - Pixie, maybe? - who has a very high luster fleece in gray shades.

She looks like she's made of tin foil.

Daisy was pretty sure I had alfalfa pellets in my pocket (aka 'snack hole') and kept trying to work her nose into it.

 "Ummmm....."

"You aren't getting any ideas about shearing DOGS, are you?"

No need, dear doggie.  We save all your brushed fur for spinning and you make plenty - no need to cut it off!