September 30, 2020
September 26, 2020
There is a fair amount of walking in farming, which is just fine by me. I walk at least one fence line every morning, and if it's been stormy, I'll walk them all.
Fresh air can bring on fresh thoughts, and it's relaxing to think about something as distant from these crazy times as I can possibly get. My favorite time and place to wander to, is the Bird family living in Farmington in the 1600's. That is really the only thing I know about them for certain. There was a family that lived in Farmington in the 1600's and their last name was Bird. But from there my mind wanders, happily reconstructing their life.
The top of our sheep pasture, which we lease from Hill-Stead, is called "Bird Hill", and according to at least one cryptic map I have seen, the Bird family lived in the general vicinity. There is a surprisingly level section of our pasture, near the top of the hill, where I can see the remnants of a hand dug, stone lined, well. So in my mind, this is the site of the Bird homestead.
I have no idea if any of this is true, but it doesn't really matter. I do know for a fact that the land has been farmed for centuries and if it wasn't the Birds, it was someone else. Whoever they were, I'd love to ask them about their lives, their animals, their farm. I'd spare them the details of our politics, our depressing pandemic, and I certainly wouldn't try to explain the traffic on RT 4.
I doubt they would have ever seen a drought as bad as the one we are having right now. I wonder what they would do. It's not like they could, like us, just call up and order some overpriced hay from Pennsylvania - the hay they would need for their animals to survive the winter. I also imagine, their well having run dry, they would have had to relocate their animals to any brook they could find, where the water was still running. It would have been a huge amount of work to move them, but less work than hauling water, by oxen or by hand, every single day....
If the animals they tended were sheep (which in my mind - they certainly were!), they were about to be run over by the politics of their day. In 1699 the British Crown enacted the Wool Act, making it illegal for anyone in the "Colonies" to fabricate any woolen items for sale. You could clothe your family, but that was about it. This prompted outraged women to form "Spinning Bees" in protest. They gathered together, and furiously made homespun goods, instead of buying anything from abroad. In fact, the symbol for the "Daughters of the American Revolution", is still to this day, that of the spinning wheel....
I "buy local" in order to support small farms, and to do my best to boycott the factory farms. So how I eat, and what I purchase, feels like a small act of rebellion similar to their wearing of homespun clothes. I think we'd get along, the Birds and I....
September 18, 2020
We spent the past week making sure the fences are as tight and "hot" (electrified) as they can be.
Before they hibernate, bears need to eat 20,000 calories a day in order to put on the layer of fat that will sustain them through the winter, so this is the time of year they are most likely to kill our sheep. Also a danger are the young male coyotes which will be roaming in search of new territory. Unlike bears, they seem to kill just for the "sport" of it.
For six years we coexisted peacefully with a coyote that lived near our sheep pasture at Hill-Stead. We could hear her howling and see the tracks in the snow, but she never came into our pasture. She'd follow the tractor when the fields were mowed, catching the meadow mice that were left exposed in the grass. She clearly wasn't afraid of humans, but she never killed any of our sheep. It was a happy "detente", until she was hit by a car on Route 4. Ever since we have been plagued by more aggressive coyotes. I have learned not to hope for the absence of coyotes (or bears), because that just creates a vacuum - and something worse may come along.
Now I hope for predators that have learned to respect our fencing, and stay clear of our animals...
September 12, 2020
For the last 20 years we have ordered day old baby chicks through the mail, and they have always arrived happy, healthy and very much alive. Thursday we received a box of 45 dead chicks. I strongly suspect the chicks were victims of delays in the postal service- but neither the post office nor the hatchery acknowledge any problems with shipping. They will replace the order, but act surprised and as horrified as I was. The truth, these days, seems as hard to come by as a good soaking rain....
Most of our hens come from chicks we incubate here on the farm, and for the foreseeable future that's how we'll grow and maintain our flock. It's slow and inefficient, but until the USPS gets its act together, I won't trust them with any living thing.
September 5, 2020
The shorter days and cooler nights mark the beginning of a change of seasons.
For you it might be from Summer to Fall, or from "Vacation" to "Back to School" for your kids- but for Anne and me it's the beginning of sheep breeding season.
It's time to move the ram lambs out of Hill-Stead, and bring in the breeder ram. We give our yearling rams one last look and see which one, if any, will be the lucky one to go spend the fall with "the girls".
Whatever ram we choose will be 50% of the DNA of next Spring's lambs, so we are picky. Shetland Sheep's most valuable asset is their wool, so our Super Stud must have an exceptional coat. He also needs a sturdy, and larger than average frame, which he hopefully passes on to any of his offspring that will eventually be processed for meat. His horns need to be substantial and opened "just right". Horns that are "too tight" can curve around and grow back into a rams skull -horns that are "too open" tend to catch on fencing, other sheep, or my leg as I walk past. Both problems are hereditary, so our chosen ram needs to have close to perfect horns. Less important is his personality, other than the fact that we really need him to be interested in breeding (studies have shown that 8% of male sheep, prefer the company of other male sheep and have no interest in breeding...).
We have had some truly obnoxious rams, which sired some really outstanding lambs- so we put up with them. Aggressive behavior does not seem to be hereditary, so while it is really annoying, it's self limiting. My motto is "be nice, or be dinner".