New Arrivals
These last couple of weeks have left me feeling very depressed and uptight. The teasing random days of warm weather interspersed with winter storms makes me agitated. I am ready to get outside to work on the farm! Winter has always been a tough time for me, with months of living inside, only venturing out in the freezing weather to quickly feed and water the hold over livestock and horses, get the dogs’ energy out and scramble back inside before losing feeling in my fingers to the cold. I spend my time watching the kids, making food to heat the house with the oven warmth, doing paperwork, and watching YouTube videos while planning the summer growing season. Well, I am excited to day spring is here on the Bog! Lambing season is halfway over, with only two more ewes left to go, and I’ve been bringing in the replacement livestock for the farm.
Over the fall I decided to sell 7 of my grower replacement breeding ewes (which were born and raised on the farm and bred at the time of the sale) with the idea that I could simply keep a few more ewe lambs from my sheep this spring. Much to my dismay, at least for that plan, there were five ram lambs born instead of ewe lambs! These boys will be freezer lambs, so I am not completely bummed out, but it left an opening for breeding stock. I’ve managed to secure four katahdin x commercial ewe lambs to breed this fall, as well as two adult Jacob ewes to play with simply because they’re a fun breed! Every now and again I give myself the freedom to try something new and experiment with sheep breeds. The Katahdin registry is currently an open flock book, which allows for cross breeding for katahdin purebred and registered sheep following an inspection, providing at least one ancestor is registered and the others have been recorded into the KHSI. They do have to be full-shedders once they are inspected to fully register them, but it definitely allows some freedom to attempt to add blood and create my own version of what I think a Katahdin should offer.
The Katahdin is known for being a hardy meat breed, seasonal shedder and extremely parasite resistant. My hope is to also have an effect toward fast growing, excellent mothering ability and resistance to hoof rot. My flock is new and small but these are attributes that I am hoping to select for when bringing in commercial breeding stock.
Yesterday, Hubby and I took an hour and a half trip to the border of NY to pick up a couple lambs and visit a dairy farmer out there. It was fascinating seeing the way they worked their animals; goats and young stock were all tethered in a section of the dairy barn with the main milking area stalls filled with various breeds of dairy cattle. They lived in the hills by the NY/PA border and the barnyard was on a slope on the edge of a big hill. The farmer showed us around and I was able to get a good look at the size differences between the Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey and select meat type breeds. The inside of the barn was quite a bit warmer than the outside; warmed only with the livestock body heat! She showed me a little 2 wk old, doe eyed registered Jersey bottle heifer calf after our tour of the barn and I fell in love.
We left the farm with the two ewe lambs that I’d reserved and the little heifer calf. How could I possibly say no?
The road trip did me good. I’ve always loved that part of the state and being able to leave the kids with a babysitter for a couple of hours and go do something that I find extremely rewarding and fun put me in a pretty good mood. Today the weather is a balmy 40 degrees F and the calf is occupying my brain and allowing me something to fuss over. Between that and the bit of vitamin D that I’ve been soaking in my brain in a good place for the first time in, well, months! I know we are in what we lovingly (?) refer to as “false spring” here in Ferbuary, but I know true spring is on the way and I am again revived and hopeful.
I was able to plant my potatoes (Look for the next blog for more info on that!) and lettuce for transplanting, I’m eager to get to other spring things but for now I will be content .
