Wow, hard to believe it is already the beginning of May! I had planned to post on the website more often but time has slipped away and now it’s been a few months since the last post. This winter was cold and lasted well into spring. Even now we are still experiencing cooler than normal weather. The very wet and cool April made extra work during lambing and calving trying to keep the newborns dry and making sure they got a good start. We purchased some biodegradable Shearwell rain jackets for the lambs, and they helped to keep them dry. The rain jackets either fall off or I removed them once the weather cleared up.
Here is a lamb with one of the jackets, looking quite comfortable.

The wet weather also meant more sickness in the lambs, mainly pneumonia. I have had fairly good luck treating it if I catch it early on but lambs tend to hide sickness very well. The sheep are now out on pasture, but still have access to hay until the grass gets taller. It is also important not to leave them too long in a pasture or they will harm the grass.

Calving is finishing up as well, with about 15 cows left. It went well, with few problems despite the weather. They are out on pasture as well, grazing some of our early pasture. I will get some pictures posted of the calves soon.

This was our top steer this year. He is out of an 8 year old angus x cow ( to his left) and our speckle park bull. He has been a stand out all year.

We are into the winter feeding season now, both the sheep and cows are fed round hay bales but are also encouraged to graze some stockpiled forages. We feed the mature animals out on pasture and hay land to minimize the need to move manure and to improve nutrient recycling to the soil. 

The ewes do a good job of pawing through the snow for a tasty treat. These ewes are eating Russian Wild Ryegrass.

The younger animals (this years calves and lambs) are fed in the yard in corrals so that they have more shelter from the elements and can put more energy towards growth.

Summer has flown by! It’s hard to believe it is already September. June was busy with moving animals to new pastures and getting ready for the haying season. John and Sandra also spent the last 10 days of June and the first week of July in Scotland and stopped briefly at the resort town of Loch Lomond as well as many other interesting places. Brooke started cutting hay and had a couple hundred bales made by the time they got back. The rest of July was spent cutting and baling the rest of the hay, as well as spending a few nights around the campfire at the nearby provincial park.

On August long weekend, a reunion for our family was held in our town. Over 100 family members were there, including Lorna, John’s 98-year-old mother and relatives from as far away as Texas and Whitehorse. As usual, some of the kids (and adults) wanted to come and have a look at the sheep and the farm. They especially loved Sam (the friendliest guard dog) and the bottlefed lambs.

Brooke and some visitors to the farm.          (Photo courtesy of Denise Deere)

Now we have reached fall and harvest in the area is in full swing. The crops are looking really good and farmers are hoping the warm, dry days continue for a few more weeks!

All of a sudden nearly half of another year has flown by! All the new offspring are on the ground and all the animals are out at pasture. After such a long, cold winter we were certainly glad to get warm weather and see the grass grow. Lambing and calving took place mainly during April and although the weather was hard on the animals (and people) we got though most of it without too much trouble.

The cattle have been out utilising our early season pastures since early May, and the calves are really growing this time of year. This year is the first year of Speckle Park calves, and they sure look great!The sheep are also out on the grass and looking good. Next week about half the ewes and some lambs will go to the Sheep Project at the Elbow PFRA pasture to eat leafy spurge, a noxious weed that can be controlled by grazing with sheep and goats. These sheep will stay at the pasture until early September, and the rest of the sheep will stay at home for the summer.