It's been a very strange winter here, with more days above freezing than below. I'm used to seeing snow on the ground, without much promise of a melt before March. But the past few days the animals have been ranging over the fields finding things to eat as the fields are bare. Right now, we have five tiny lambs who follow their mothers around the fields. I say it every year, but it's easy to forget just how cute lambs are, Of course, I'll say the same thing when we have piglets again, or when hatching season starts. But it's fun to be in the middle of lambing. Cookie had a lamb on New Year's eve, and both Twinkle and Chocolate have since had twins.
While I've been through lambing seasons around this time of year since I came to the farm, it's only been a couple of years since we transitioned our flock to Katahdin hair sheep, a heritage breed. They are a good fit for us because we no longer have the chore of shearing, and we didn't do anything with the wool from our Dorsetts, as their free-range life meant the fleeces would be full of burrs and other undesirables. So far, our ewes have made great mothers, which is too often not the case in some other breeds. While these babies are fathered by our old Dorsett ram, we purchased a nice young Katahdin ram late last fall, so in future lambing seasons we can look forward to purebred lambs we can raise for the farm stand, or sell to other folks looking to add some Katahdins to their farm.
Part of farming is always looking ahead, looking at keeping the best stock and culling the rest through sales or processing. It's actually a lot of work to maintain a quality breeding flock or herd of any kind of livestock, you need to understand the bloodlines and who is related to who, and have an idea of the traits, whether physical or health wise or performance, that you want to encourage. So bringing home a new breeding ram to completely transition to Katahdin stock was very exciting. We may even look into adding some additional ewes this year. But while it's important to look forward, it's sometimes just as important to be present in the moment, and appreciate the wonder of little creatures who weren't here just a short time ago. Like all babies, they grow up quickly so I like to make sure I take the time and stop and watch them jump and play, whether it's over a bit of water or racing around the (temporarily) snow-free pastures.
Part of farming is always looking ahead, looking at keeping the best stock and culling the rest through sales or processing. It's actually a lot of work to maintain a quality breeding flock or herd of any kind of livestock, you need to understand the bloodlines and who is related to who, and have an idea of the traits, whether physical or health wise or performance, that you want to encourage. So bringing home a new breeding ram to completely transition to Katahdin stock was very exciting. We may even look into adding some additional ewes this year. But while it's important to look forward, it's sometimes just as important to be present in the moment, and appreciate the wonder of little creatures who weren't here just a short time ago. Like all babies, they grow up quickly so I like to make sure I take the time and stop and watch them jump and play, whether it's over a bit of water or racing around the (temporarily) snow-free pastures.