Moonset

As the Moon sets in the west, Hero and Whitie slumber in depressions just south of the house.  Whitie has been a premises guardian for some time.  Hero, after a few too many "mistakes" with the sheep is adapting to his new role.

Moving Sheep

This morning I moved the ewes with their lambs from the east bahia field, where they were finished with the chicory, to the middle field with prime bahiagrass. 

A video showing the sheep moving is on LongleafSheepTV at the following link:

Moving Sheep

This is the URL to the video:

https://youtu.be/HArMtL7yhfQ

Sunset

A sunset with a tremendous amount of color last night.  The trees look like they are on fire.

Fall Grazing

This fall, for forage, we have a combination of late season bahiagrass, cowpeas, and some ground covering weeds, primarily chamber bitter that grew in to cover the ground where the cowpeas did not take very well.  To ration and direct the grazing we partition areas for the sheep with temporary, but quickly erected, electric net fence.

The first day in the area they ate all the cowpeas,  now they are working on the chamber bitter, which is a horrible weed in Joy's garden,  but here a fairly reasonable forage for the sheep to eat.  

Aurora continues to guard the flock.

Lambing is almost done this season.   We had a late set of twins yesterday.  The larger one was quite mobile, the smaller one tended to be sleepy and kept getting left behind,  so Jackie took it as an orphan. 

We plan to bring all of to the barn tomorrow to deworm the lambs and any ewes that need it.  Also there are a few ewes limping that need to be treated.   After that, the flock will go on a field of chicory, which also has parasite treating properties. 

Trailer Decking

We are almost finished getting the decking on Jeffrey's refurbished hay/equipment trailer.   These are two-inch thick oak planks that we cut on the sawmill from a large oaktree that blew over.  For hauling the hay earlier,  we did not need all the planks in place.

Hero and Heidi are inspecting the job.  Our other trailer is on the right.  All in the arch barn. 

Spoiled Sheep

This morning the sheep had finished with the cowpeas in the middle beaver field and were ready to move on.  I took them into the neighboring west bahia field with prime bahiagrass.   The sheep were not pleased.   Here I am trying to get the gates closed on the far side of the field from where we came in.  They thought I should be taking them on to more cowpeas. 

They eventually turned around and started grazing. 

Then settled down for cud chewing. 

On the down side, looks like we lost a lamb to a coyote last night, even with Aurora in the middle of the flock.

Aurora and sheep

Aurora is guarding the ewes and their lambs in the middle beaver field.   They are eating down the cowpeas that have been growing all summer, building nitrogen in the soil.  The sheep will be finished in a couple days, then I mow the field to cut down what the sheep won't eat and plant a fall mixture of seeds: Cosaque black Oats, winter peas, vetch, and Nitro radish.

Moving Sheep

While Joy and I are off relaxing in Houston with our 1-yearold grandson, Jeffrey and Jackie are left maintaining the farm (thank you Jeffrey and Jackie).  Today they sent some photos of moving the sheep with guard dogs Hero and Heidi to the west bahia field. 

Getting Hay

The next day after barcoding the sheep, hay was ready to move.

While we have a hay baler and other haying equipment we used in the past, making enough hay for our needs now is problematic from a time and hayfield standpoint.  Eventually we will get back to it, but for now we are buying hay.  This is the third year we brought hay out of a hayfield just east of Picayune, 22 miles away from the house (a little less than 30 minutes drive).

For over the past month or two, it's been raining nearly every day.  Impossible hay production weather.  Finally there was a patch of hot, dry weather.   On Saturday, we got a call from Brian, he's cut hay and would start baling the next day.  We would need to get the bales out of the field before the rain started up again.  Quickly. 

Months ago Jeffrey bought a trailer frame to rebuild into a hay hauling trailer. 

After some welding, rebuilding the axles, mounting new lights, wiring, painting and cutting oak planks for the deck, it was ready to go.  Well ready enough to haul hay, with some more work to do later. 

With Jeffrey's truck and trailer and my new truck and old trailer we hauled 142 bales of hay back to the farm, last load in at 2:00 AM Monday morning. 

Monday afternoon, the last of the hay was in barns, under cover, with storms threatening rain all around us.

Barcode Sheep

Last weekend was busy for us, barcoding sheep on Saturday, hauling hay on Sunday. 

The ewes will begin lambing towards the end of August, to help identify them out in the pasture we identify them by spraying a barcode on them.

With four different colors, reading from front to back, there are 256 color combinations that can be painted on their backs (4 to the 4th power).  I use a Google spreadsheet to record sheep information, their tag number and their associated barcode.  RGPO for example is Red Green Purple Orange.  With the spreadsheet sorting function, the lists can be ordered alphanumerically by barcode color or tag number, so identifying a particular sheep in the field is much easier, especially for sheep that won't stay still enough to read their ear tag.  The spreadsheet can be accessed via the computer in the house, or via the smartphone when out in the field. Deworming, vaccination and weight information are also recorded in the spreadsheet. 

In addition to barcode application,  we gave the ewes their CD-T booster vaccination shot and dewormed those needing it.

Joy is recording information in the computer and telling Jackie the barcode to apply.  Jeffrey is checking the eye color of the sheep to determine if deworming is required. 

Hero and Heidi are doing well with the sheep, here they are early in the morning lounging with the sheep. 

Sunflowers

The sunflowers are blooming; find a yellow swallowtail butterfly feeding.   Also growing here are buckwheat and cowpeas.  This is our best, most fertile, field.   Others are not doing as well, some are just barely growing.   We need to build the organic matter in the soil, which will enhance its fertility.   I am trying to implement the practices of regenerative agriculture with marginal success at this point. 

This fall I will be planting a covercrop of cereal rye, which I will fertilize heavily to build organic matter in these deficit soils.  In general I am trying to reduce the fertilizer inputs and rely more on legumes for nitrogen-fixing and a diversity of plants interacting with microrhizal bacteria and fungi in the soil for the rest of the nutrient needs.   But for this to work the organic content of the soil needs to build.

Honey bee.

Flower closeup. 

A black swallowtail 

Odin, Almost a Big Dog

Odin is getting bigger, almost a big dog.  Here, Hero is on the left and Odin on the right. 

Today, as I try to do frequently, I took Odin with me on the Gator when I went out to the far western oaktree field to feed Hero and Heidi their breakfast.   I keep a leash on Odin so he doesn't jump out.  He seems to enjoy the ride.

Heidi  doesn't like Odin much, is a bit stand-offish and growls a bit if Odin gets too close.

Hero is much  more tolerant of the puppy.

Odin meets Hope.

Whitie walked out with us, on the way back I let Odin walk with Whitie ahead of the Gator. 

It's already hot, Whitie and Odin stop by a creek to cool off on the way back.