Holidays

Season's Greetings

In our house the New Year arrived quietly as we slept.  We enjoyed the visit of D & D from up the road.  We shared holiday stories and got caught up.  They left just after ten o'clock and we were in bed before midnight.

Snow had arrived a few days before New Year's.  It then got rather mild again.  On New Year's Eve however there was a biting wind.

We had a busy household over the holidays.  Son arrived on the Monday.  Mom and Bro arrived on the Tuesday.  On the big day, Sister and other Bro came for the day.  It was the first time since 2007 that all four siblings were together for Christmas dinner.

Food was aplenty.  Mom had filled Brother's car with food and gifts and there was already plenty here.  I cooked a turkey two days before Christmas.  On the big day I roasted a leg of lamb - hogget, actually - and this was accompanied by leftover turkey.  Then there was farm potatoes, farm squash, plus Mom's cauliflower dish.  I planned to do peas but forget them.  Then the seven of us enjoyed Christmas pudding with the old family rum sauce recipe, plus custard; or minced meat pie.  Oh, and there was candy cane ice cream for those not wanting any of the other.  We were stuffed, indeed.

In the morning, we went for a walk and did the "loop".  Son and I continued up to Table Rock to take in the view.  It was mild with a wind.  That walk was too far for Mom so I took her out to the cabin and back when I took Millie out.  Mom beat us back as Millie dug in her heels not wanting to return.  I had to haul on her in her harness, for which the harness is a great asset. 

Cold

Okay, it's really cold now.  That's enough of winter, already - doesn't your inside voice say that to you? Millie was cold tonight which I found rather shocking.  The onset of the cold has been rather sudden and none of us - including pooches - are used to this.  Okay, the sheep don't seem to put out by it, but still, it has been a sudden change.

The ice is a big problem.  The driveway has been like a skating rink.  Today we had someone come and sand it.  Walking Millie has been challenging as there is a solid crust of ice covering the fields.  Solid it is, until I go through it.  And it's slippery and I've fallen a few times, as has Millie.

Yesterday it was a bit milder.  I drove the tractor all around the Front Field and made a walking trail for us.  The footing is so much better now, even with the colder temps back and the tracks have frozen.

Frozen water is a big issue in the barn.  I only have a few electric buckets; that is, buckets that you plug in so they keep the water warm enough it won't freeze.  We have a few more sheep in the flock this year and the water is a popular item it seems.  One sheep, Chloe, comes running when I bring out a bucket of fresh water.  She did this last winter too.  I think she has a strong preference for really fresh water.

Millie Update

 Recovery from surgery for Millie as gone exceedingly well.  Even the last few days with the freezing temps, things have gone well.  I drove the tractor around the Front Field where we walk and created a more stable walking path for us.

Millie has become accustomed to the routines created.  She is living in the small box stall in the Small Barn.  After her breakfast I put on the harness and we walk.  At mid-day or late in the afternoon - depending on work schedules - we walk again.  And then at bedtime there is another walk.  Sometimes there is a fourth walk in a day.  All of this is leash walking.

In addition to learning how to walk on a leash, Millie is becoming very comfortable with travelling in the car.  The Vet offered twice weekly cold laser treatments on the incision, which aids in healing.  They weren't sure I'd want to do this as Millie has been so difficult to get into the car.  I noted she improved each time I took her in the car, so we have had all of the laser treatments offered.  And, Millie is becoming a sophisticated-farm-dog-car-traveller.  She hops in now without hesitation.  No longer does she salivate madly and lose her cookies along the journey.  She looks out the window, to the side, or peering through the bucket seats to look ahead.  Or, she curls up and rests.  I even leave her in the car for fifteen minutes to run into a shop.  And she just sleeps.

We are currently at week five of twelve weeks of recovery.  We have kept up with most of the physiotherapy.  The Vets are pleased with her progress, as are we.  Millie is feeling frisky and wants to play with Ruby and Beau - and us. This is the hard part; containing her energy to allow for solid healing of the newly build joint ligament.


Sales - lamb and wool

I have not yet tallied all of the sales for 2015.  We will almost make the required minimum for the farm property tax rate.  We are allowed three years to do so and should make it for next year.  Lambs sales have gone very well.

I am prepared to send some lambs to auction in the summer if I cannot sell all of our lamb product as heavy weight freezer lamb.  The challenge with this is knowing how many to send to auction and how many to keep for heavy weights.  So far, we have had great success with heavy weight freezer sales.  This year we butchered twelve with one more to go.  The high majority of customers purchase a half lamb, so that's a lot of sales to family, friends and acquaintances.

Wool sales have been pretty good this year too.  I have sold a number of fleeces to spinners.  There are however some fleeces remaining - far more than I can spin up - and these I will take to the wool market in the next month.  There is no use hanging on to these as there will be more wool in the spring.

Next Year

Well, next year is here now.  The next crop, so to speak, is the topic...

Wool sales to spinners are expected to improve as there are eleven new female lambs added to the flock and all have lovely fleece.  Six in particular are sired by Birch, the half Blue Faced Leicester and those six fleeces look quite lovely already.

In 2015 there were nineteen ewes in the flock.  From those there were twenty-four live lambs.  There were ewe losses, a lamb lost and some ewes had to be culled (removed from the breeding flock as no longer productive).  When the math is all done, this year's flock consists of twenty-eight ewes.  Four of these were born in June and were too small to breed, so twenty-four are expected to lamb starting in late March.  So, the breeding ewe flock has only increased by five this year.  We anticipate at least thirty-six lambs for a 1.5 average per ewe.  This is the minimum expected, although in 2015 we only reached 1.3.  So, stay tuned!