Enjoying the Holidays

With the shortness of daylight and cold weather combined with holiday visiting not much time for anything other than watering, haying and feeding. When the weather gets this cold all the animals eat more hay to warm their bodies. Aerielle and Aifric were even under the barn to stay out of the cold rain and wind. They have such a heavy coat of hair in a normal rain they just back up to the wind, yesterday they ate twice the daily amount of hay. Closed the windows on the lamb and kid barn last night, some of the kids were wet from eating out in the rain and were cuddled up together, the sheep just slept out on the hill, still have their own shelter on their backs. Hope to shear the sheep soon if we have a warm spell in January. When I started keeping goats I soon realized they needed good shelter year round, with sheep they only need shelter when freshly shorn in winter. This week will be spent taking care of stock and making plans for fiber projects for the new year, I am thinking of spinning a two ply Cormo yarn in natural dyed colors.

Regifting

Regifting is acceptable. Merry, short for Meredith, was given to me last week when whe did not work out for the first recipient. A young neighbor soon found out that Pyrenees do not make the best house dogs. When she called me I was hesitant to take her since she had been in the house, but she was so young, 8 weeks old, I thought she would be worth a try. I penned her with some young billies and she went right to work, trying to bond with them. After a few days the billies have decided she is not going to eat them. She is not crying for people, so hopefully she has found her calling and will spend her life as a working dog. A working dog is happy when it has a job.

Calico kitty

Even the cats enjoy this bucket of skirted wool that has been sitting around forever. When my workshop door is open they will run in and find the softest fleece to bed down in. When the sheep will allow it, the cats will bed down with them, sometimes on them or next to them. But, sheep nor goats will allow the cats in the barn when they have small lambs or kids at their side. They will chase them out. When the heat lamps are on and the lambs are snuggled under them for warmth, the kitties try to get next to them, but the mamas will not have it. For some reason sheep see everything as a wolf. Guard dogs, cats, small children that move to fast, even chickens can cause them to stomp their feet as a warning. If that fails, then they will simply run away.

Rain

Dry creek has been dry for over a year and so has the farm pond. We are extremely dry and only got a little rain today. Most people don't like the rain, it can be an incovenience to them, but we can't live without it. Unless our weather changes, water could become critical in our area. Crops need rain, pastures need rain, trees need rain, sheep need water to drink and so do we. There are so many things to worry about when you are a farmer but lack of rain is at the top of the list. I was asked by a visitor recently how the drought in the midwest affected the price of food. Seemed odd to me that everyone did not know that almost everything is grown in the midwest. When there is no corn, wheat, or soybeans, there will be no beef, pork or chicken. Most of our meat is grown in feed lots and confinement houses, and eat corn, wheat or soybeans. It's crazy to grow houses on your farmland and your food in a dirt lot.

Fresh chicks

Sometimes visitors to the farm ask isn't it too late in the year to be hatching chicks? I didn't hatch them, my chickens are free, comepletely free to live as chickens want to live, so if they hatch chicks in the winter that is their instinct. If you want fresh eggs year round you need a new crop of pullets. The only rule is they have to stay out of my garden during the growing months and I remove all the extra roosters to prevent my hens from getting pecked to death. They have many acres to scratch in and roam, are pretty warry of the hawks and varmints, and the pyrenees and maremmas are on guard duty. The cuckoo marran's aren't usually good setters, most of the time a game hen will set her eggs, but this cuckoo did a good job hatching, hope she's as aggressive as the games at protection of her chicks.

Happy Happy Happy

Santa arrived early on Wednesday morning with these two girls. She, not he, was driving a black Ford dually, pulling a horse trailer, I've been waiting on this kind of santa all my life. It was a short trip for them compared to their first trip. Airielle and Aifric traveled by plane from Ireland, where gypsy horses originate, to my friend Toni's horse farm.  Both mares will foal this spring. They are very calm and friendly, waiting at the gate to be petted or brushed. Even though they do not produce fiber, they produce lot's of smiles.  Happy, happy, happy.