Category: Voices from the Farm

Toward the end of the month, it was finally time to get the wool off those sheep! The shearers came, and we had one wildly busy and stressful day getting all the various groups of sheep to the shearing pen, then moved out of the way for the next group. First the hugely pregnant older ewes, then the bred ewe lambs, then the rams were shorne, and eventually returned to their original place in the barn. It was a great relief to me, and no doubt also to the sheep!

We finally got a break in the weather, for a few days at least, and it was really welcome! I opened up the big north barn door to get some fresh air in the barn. This meant Sheba could come outside whenever she wanted to, but she usually stayed in the barn with the sheep. As long as the door was open, and she could see what I was doing, she was content to stay in the barn. But that didn’t last!

It was time to pursue getting the new livestock guardian dog! Our friends, the Klauke’s, who had purchased our ewe lambs a few years earlier, had acquired a breeding pair of Anatolian Shepherd Dogs, and were raising guard dog puppies.The Anatolians were native to Turkey, and were used to guard huge flocks of sheep and goats from wolves on the Anatolian Plain.

I had never seen the cherries so beautiful! The birds and I were in a cherry picking frenzy! There was plenty for all to enjoy, although I did protect one tree with the “famous inflatable fake snake.” The birds would not go near it, but they still were free to stuff themselves on the other two trees. We had been enjoying cherry pies, tarts, coffee cake, and cherry topping for ice cream. It was good that I was getting plenty of exercise!

Together Big Jumbo and her twin, Big Mumbo, produced 65 lambs in their lifetimes. With the multiple births several lambs were lost, but those saved earned Big Mumbo a Lifetime Lambing Average of 325%, and Big Jumbo a 250% Lifetime Lambing Average. Thankfully, their genes were still well represented in our flock by their offspring retained over the years.

It had been a very productive year. We had now completed our 5th year of farming organically and were an officially certified organic farm! One more goal accomplished!

Knee deep in lambing! It was going well, and toward the end of the month Big Mumbo, now in her 10th year, finally lambed, and had a single ram lamb! I was relieved! She had done more than enough, and deserved to have things a bit easier for once. Big Jumbo though, had her usual set of triplets! It was hard to see these two special sheep growing old.