The grass isn’t growing as quickly anymore, less mowing required. Tree leaves are starting to turn and fall. I still haven’t figured out what the baby apple and peach trees are lacking, they’re not looking very healthy. And to make matters worse, the deer came through and nibbled (a lot) on some of them, particularly one of the poor peach trees, in between Deer Off applications. They are strugging, but surviving. I think I may have lost one of the peaches though.
The animals are doing well. The kids are still nursing which is a little disturbing, their moms should be weaning them by now. Since I have been slacking off on farm work this summer, I don’t have good divider fences in my huge pastures, and don’t have an easy way to separate the kids from their moms to force their weaning. I’m going to have to do some fence work very soon, either putting in an interior divider fence in the upper pasture, or fixing the fence in the lower pasture so that I can let the goats down there. Right now the perimeter fence in the lower pasture has some very overgrown and sagging spots. It is good enough to contain the sheep, but not the goats - they’re too smart and love to climb, so they get out of there pretty quickly!
Still trying to figure out what to do with my fleeces also. I have washed and skirted them all, and picked/combed a lot of it, but I don’t know how to spin and don’t know of any places that will take quantities as small as mine. I think there are places I can send it for felting, to make it into horse blankets and such, but I haven’t gotten a good contact lead on such a place yet. The best use I’ve come up with in its current state is for pillow and quilt stuffing/batting.
I’ve been thinking a lot about breeding lately. I definately want to breed the sheep this fall, and the goats again too if I keep them. But I need to figure out if I can/should get a ram to keep myself or if I should try to lease one’s services. More research required. I only want/need one ram for my flock. I remember talking to people about this last year, and was told by some that keeping a single ram is not good, since they are herd animals. They can’t stay with the ewes all year long, only for about a month while breeding. And for the rest of the year, its bad for them to be left all alone, they naturally flock with a group. Add in the fact that the closest California Red rams I know of are a four hour drive from here… leasing may not be easy to do either. But I shall work it out one way or another, that’s why I’m pondering this now, while I intend to breed the animals in November/December.
