It was a great winter for the animals this year, and the ewes are showing it. Usually they would be getting grain at this time of year because the lambs are growing a lot so their nutritional requirements are high; but this year they are in such good shape it really isn’t necessary. They are getting good quality hay, and they continue to graze stockpiled grass.
Next week we will bring the ewes back close to the yard, as lambing should start by about the 10th of April.
This is a post from 2013 that for some reason was never published, but the scene is pretty similar today.
The cows working on the last couple bales of the day.
The past few weeks have been filled with work, weather and scenes that makes it obvious that spring is fast approaching. The sheep were shorn and vaccinated, some of the yearling calves were sold, and the soon to be mothers are starting to look like they might not make their due date.
The ewes are happy to be fed out of the wind since they have lost their wooly coats.
Geese, ducks, and hawks are back, and I even saw a Meadowlark the other day. The weather had been warmer than usual until the last week, when we had lots of wind, some cold, and some snow. March is usually an unsettled month as spring pushes winter out, and this year is no exception.
This picture was taken Sunday, but an overnight storm means that the landscape is white today.
Out for a walk with the dogs. You can see Sadie way up ahead while the other 3 are keeping close.
We shouldn’t have any calves until next week, and are hoping that spring is back by then!
Winter is usually the time when we bring feed to the animals. These cows are out on the bale grazing field so they have to fetch their own feed so to speak. But it didn’t stop them from coming to check out what I was doing with the tractor. They have ample feed so decided to spend a sunny afternoon watching me move the portable windbreaks. 
It’s that time of year again when we wean the calves from the cows. They are about 7 months old now and not getting much milk from their moms anymore so it is time to bring them in and give them some better feed. We brought the herd home about 10 days ago, sorted calves from cows and put the two-stage weaning nose paddles in the calves.
Calves coming up to the chute
We also vaccinate the calves at this time. Then the calves were put back with the cows and they all went back out to pasture.
This way the calves get used to life without milk while their moms console them.
The calves stick close to their moms for the first day or so, and we see lots of moms grooming their babies
A week later we brought them back into the corrals, sorted again, ran the calves back through, took the nose paddles out and put them into a corral on their own with good grass hay. The vet also came to check the cows to find out which ones are pregnant and which ones are not.
There is usually a couple of calves that pull out their nose paddle and usually a few more which sneakily figure out how to suck the cow with the paddle in their nose, but for the rest weaning is a much easier and less stressful process.
The cows still have a hard time giving up their babies but usually after a couple days they are ready to move out.
After the cows are gone from the yard, we let the calves out of the corral into a nearby pasture where they have access to hay and some grass but have some shelter from the elements.
These calves will stay on a hay diet until next spring when they are sold.
Loch Lomond Livestock Ltd. 