The past few days have been a flurry of activity. We acquired some new cattle recently so have been busy weaning the calves with the QuietWean nose paddles and pregnancy testing the cows. On top of that, a semi load of lambs went out, some purebred sheep arrived from Nova Scotia, and we had the local fall supper, which our family always helps out with.

Our wet, grey stretch of weather has continued, making all these tasks a little trickier and less enjoyable.

I’ll add more posts about these happenings in the next few days, but for now that will have to do.

This picture is one of my favorite as of late. One of those pictures that just turns out without any planning or particular effort. 

This week has been somewhat out of sorts. During the blast of early winter, plans changed and things got put off. With the weather continuing to be unsettled, it was hard to decide what to do with our time. There are always jobs to do but few seem like the right project to undertake.

 I was hoping to sell the majority of the lambs, but all the mud and wet put that job off and the sheep were shuffled to give them easier feed and shelter but weren’t where I’d planned on them being. 

Times like these, when it feels like things are in flux and not going as planned, are hard. Unsure of what to do, we do the jobs required and fumble along until organisation and routine returns.

It’s fascinating to me how differently the sheep respond to different dogs. There are differences between the guard dogs – Sam and Alice cause less disruption as they move through the sheep than Thor and Ruza. The sheep are very aware and responsive to Jack and Sadie, and are somewhat tolerant of Lola, as she routinely trots through the flock. 

It was very interesting to see the reaction to a new dog over the past weeks as Zeke, Hillary and Shawn’s dog, has been here. He is about the same size as the collies, but is black and brown. He moves similarly to a coyote, so it wasn’t a big surprise that the first reaction of the ewes was to flee. Next, they decided to further investigate.

Zeke is on the far side of the ewes, and is actually on the other side of the cross fence here

Then they all had to get a look.

Since this, they have become less afraid, but still wary of this dog-that-looks-like-a-coyote. 

This ewe was keeping a watchful eye.

With the recent slog of winter weather, it takes some getting used to for both us and the animals. At first, we all want to huddle up in the corner, trying to stay warm and wishing for sunshine.  As the days pass, we adjust, the snow seems more manageable and less of a hindrance to daily activities. 

Seeking through the snow

These lambs are working through the snow for some tasty alfalfa plants.  We hadn’t had a hard frost before the snow hit so there is still good feed underneath. They are eating some hay as well but the more dedicated are still rooting through the snow. 

Hard to beat a good back scratch