The Routine

This time of year, when the sheep are fed indoors, chores become a structured routine and boy, do the sheep learn it!  While Andy starts mixing up the grain ration (everyone gets some now even though nobody's bred because the hay isn't the greatest) I go through each pen and pull the leftover hay stems out of the feeders and scatter them for bedding.  The pens with youngsters and old grannies and special cases, like Snubby, get better quality hay but also get grain too.  By the time I move on to the next group Andy is doling out grain and putting hay in the feeders.  We have the flock broken into five groups based on age and body condition and it just makes things less of a madhouse to have smaller groups contained so there isn't a huge stampede when the grain goes down.

The largest group is made up of the biggest, most robust adults and we shoo them outside entirely while servicing their area.

"C'mon, stop lollygagging!  We've been out here five minutes already!"

Fawn:  "I don't think she's really trying - she's just standing there."   

Salsa:  "Yeah.  I sense no urgency at all!"

Snowflake:  "I will stare at you with my yellow sheep eyes.  It's bound to make you move faster!"

And when the bail on the bucket falls and makes a clink sound .......you can practically hear the collective gasp of anticipation.

Clem was keeping one of the inside groups company.

"I'll just sniff this cat for a minute.  Ahhh, I can feel the tension falling away............"

"We've tried an intervention - it didn't work.  She's a cataholic.  So sad to see right in broad daylight.  Before breakfast, even."

And then the morning feed gets distributed.

"She'll be back.  She always comes back.  They can't resist me."

And that's about as exciting as it gets here in winter.

It Be Cold

In the 40s last week, below zero today.  :-/

We did have clear skies all day so that was cheerful.  In the morning there was a halo around the sun from ice in the air.  (OK, it wasn't early morning and I had to block the sun with something tall - one of the trees).

It was the coldest in the barn that it's been all winter.

There's a gap in the concrete next to this post and even through the bedding pack the ground underneath was breathing out warmer, damper air which created ice crystals on the post.

Large but delicate plates and fronds of frost.

And some of the sheep had frost collected on their nose whiskers just from breathing.

Snowflake

Even sitting in the sun, Clem looks peeved with the temperature.

We moved old Natasha up to the shop with Kittin day before yesterday when it was clear that the temps were going to drop this much.  Being short haired and old she just can't take the cold.  Hopefully we'll shift her back down in a week or so when things warm up.

Holly was more than happy to come in and warm up after PM chores.

May we all be as comfy-cozy at the end of the day!

A Gem of a Day

Tuesday's weather was a real gift at this time of year.  We reached the mid 70s with a stiff wind and bright sun.  Knowing we probably won't see another like it this year made it all the more worthy of appreciation. 

The bulk of the flock had a grand day outside.  The breeding groups ( rams were put with their groups Monday) are in the barn but as we're only breeding 37 ewes this fall it leaves the largest proportion free to continue pasturing.  We opened the farthest pasture to them one last time and they stayed down there a long time before trooping back up the hill to get a drink and have an afternoon siesta.

Some chose to sit in the shade of the barn and trees (not that there was much shade from the trees - it was more a philosophical statement on the part of the sheep) and others settled down in the full sun.  'Melted' might be a better word, at least for Velvet.

Bacardi, with Tahiti behind her.

 

Pickles, with Ida to the left.

 



 

Snowflake, almost alseep with her eyes open.

 



 

Clunk.  No sense pretending...

 



 

Snubby, dozing........

 



Daisy must have been elected for guard duty.  You hardly ever see everyone down and sleeping.  Usually at least one ewe is up and half way alert.

Angel sat like this for a couple of minutes.  I've seen some other 'overly large' sheep doing this occasionally, clearly thinking "I don't really want to hoist myself up but I'm so full it's not really comfortable lying here, either."  What a dilemma.

But some kids just don't want to go down for a nap.  These two are telling each other stories.

While the sheep were enjoying an leisurely afternoon Andy was putting a tire back on one of the tractors.  The valve stem had leaked over the winter and the calcium chloride the tractor tires are loaded with corroded a big chunk of the metal rim.  He found a metal shop that could weld in a metal patch - no small feat since the area had multiple convex and concave planes all bent into an arc - and he picked it up yesterday.  The newly painted area is the repair.

Once the rim was mounted back in place he had to drill a new hole for the valve stem to come through, but it was such a nice day to work outside the task wasn't unpleasant.

A stiff wind kept the flag snapping.

Even the barn spiders were hard at work.  We leave a nightlight on in the barn and there are always webs right around it.  A 24 hour diner!

This is an especially pretty one.

Of course, if you're a senior citizen you don't have to work as hard and are allowed a few extra kitty kibbles now and then so it pays to stay handy by, like Natasha.

"I didn't get old by being dumb."

 

"Did somebody say something about kibble?"

 

Clem isn't that old.  He's the guy that checks the breakroom for doughnuts four times before lunch.

 

"I heard that!"

 

It's in your employee files, too.  Just so you know.