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By Pam, on October 15th, 2009 Fall is well and truly upon us. Rain is more common these days, colder nights have produced some frosty mornings and oh! the leaves are turning — it’s a great year for color! The rhythm of the farm has changed from the frantic pace of summer — moving fence & sheep often every other day, caring for temporary residents like the roasters and pigs and continually hauling water to all the various groups. Now the meat birds and pigs have been packed into the freezers of our foodie friends…and our own, too. Pasture paddocks are getting larger and the moves are happening less often. There’s still grass to graze but that will soon come to an end and water consumption is far less in this cool weather.
There are still a few items on our to-do list before the snow flies…hay is at the top. We have some pre-bought which we’ll pick up at the end of this month but we still need another 5.5 tons. Sadly, the hay we purchased in September tested as “poor” quality — you cannot judge hay by its color! — so it’ll be returned and will have to be replaced.
 Jim takes random core samples of about 15 bales so we have a good mix of the forage. We send the sample to a diagnostic lab in NY and keep our fingers crossed. Getting good quality hay will be a challenge this year but we’re still hopeful. It’s likely it’ll have to come from Canada. Making hay on the Maine coast isn’t easy even in the best of years. This year, it was impossible…too much rain and no way to get into soggy hay fields to cut on time. Consequently, the grasses were wa-a-ay past prime (most had long gone to seed) by the time the first cutting was made. By then it was too late in the season to get enough growth for a second cutting. On top of that, low yield has driven the prices up — everyone has to make a living — so we’ll be paying quite a bit more than we did last year for hay with less nutritional value. It may be difficult to keep to our “grassfed” goal but we’re sure going to try!
If we don’t get too much rain in the next few weeks, Jim will be able to get the manure spreader out on the pasture and fertilize — maybe get some lime down, too. We’ve scheduled a cleaning of the girl’s winter paddock and the boy’s “frat house” will be going into the burn pile…it’s just too nasty and has to go! Don’t worry…they’ll still have shelter in the nice greenhouse.
For now, though, Jim’s been in the woodshop producing tons of sawdust (and spindles, too <G>) in preparation for NYSS&W Festival and I’m packing up woolie stuff.
By Pam, on July 6th, 2009 Skye, our Border Collie, celebrated his birthday on July 1 — 13 years! Most people who meet him have no idea he has (major) hip problems…he hides it well. He looks pretty darn good for a “geriatric” (according to his vet) dog. We don’t use the “g” word around here — mostly because we’re all getting there and would prefer not to think about it!
 On his 13th birthday, Skye'd rather gather the sheep but Jim made him lie down to have his picture taken. Doesn't he look bored?! We had a quiet Independence Day. Jim had come down with a nasty cold and didn’t feel like doing much in the way of running around looking for a parking spot to see the parade. The weather was actually fairly nice for most of the day so we did get a few things done outside. Of course, the minute Jim set out to move the rams into a new pasture, a thunder cell quickly moved right in over Bristol and dumped a load of rain on him. I was at that moment visiting mty friend, Nina, whose goats had just had kids — newbie kids are So cute!! [Sorry..no photos — check out Nina’s blog http://ruitfarm.wordpress.com/] Thankfully, the rain was short lived. Later, we enjoyed a lovely evening with our neighbors — an impromptu supper and lots of laughing. But we skipped the trip into town for the fireworks. But as we said “good night” to the pigs and chickens, we enjoyed the sounds of local celebrations.
I woke this morning and something was missing. I couldn’t put my finger on it immediately. And then I realized…no thwip, thwip, thwip — the sound that clogged and dripping gutters make. Hmmm… it wasn’t raining…OMG! Opening my eyes, I’m delighted to find that it’s bright! Even brighter than yesterday! I’m already feeling like my batteries are charging! Might get my herb garden weeded… Woo Hoo!! I’m not sure what I should do first…Oh, right…the Cornishes come first today. By the end of this day we’ll have have many yummy chickens in the freezer. Just another day on the farm but at least it’s not grey and raining.
By Pam, on July 3rd, 2009 At this time of year, we do alot of moving…moving animals that is. The sheep groups are moved to fresh pasture about every few days and the laying hens have to move around, too, so they always have fresh greens and bugs to eat. Recently, between rain showers, we spent some quality time with our poultry friends. We used to let the hens peck around freely but we were losing too many to weasels, minks & foxes. So now we move their house to fresh food and put portable electric poultry netting around it to keep everybody safe. So far, it seems to be working. It’s a little more trouble, but so is raising hens to laying age only to lose them to a predator. BTW, weasels will kill a dozen or more chickens in a single encounter! They’re very destructive and difficult to catch.
 Jim pulls the mobile hen house to a new spot so the hens will have fresh greens and bugs to munch on. The Cornish birds have outgrown their heated space in the barn, too, so they’re moving into the greenhouse where they’ll be able to peck around outside in the grass but will still be able to get out of the weather. They really do enjoy being outdoors.
 The hens have been busy in the nest boxes while they were waiting to be moved...fresh eggs!  We load up the Cornish birds and transport them to their new home.
 Out of the box and into a nice big space...
 The birds explore their new home...it doesn't take them long to discover the great outdoors.
By Pam, on May 25th, 2009  Ewes happily munch Spring grass after a long winter of boring old hay. The sheep are now officially “on pasture” after a week of carefully reacquainting them to the green stuff. It takes a little while to get their rumens adjusted to rich, wet feed after 6 months of eating dry hay. Too much too soon can cause the sheep to “bloat” and that’s a ba-a-ad thing…can be fatal. So…we’re very careful and give them limited access to start. And at night, they’re brought back to the winter paddock where there’s always a fresh pan of baking soda for them to snack on. The baking soda will calm an overactive ruman. When they’re in the paddock, we’re better able to observe them and would be more likely to catch a problem early on when it’s easier to fix.
 A big pan of baking soda for dessert! In the morning, we feed them hay before heading out to the pasture so they’re not inclined to overeat. By about the fourth day of these exercises, they flatly refuse to eat any hay we put out for them…even the choicest, soft, 2nd cutting will sit in the feeder untouched. Forget what you may have heard…sheep are not stupid!
By Pam, on May 23rd, 2009 There’s been a population explosion here…so much so that I’ve been up to my ears in new little bodies for the last couple of weeks. We go through this every year but this year we’re getting everyone onboard a little earlier than usual…because we’re not busy cycling various groups of sheep/lambs around on the grass daily. The newbies are 4 Tamworth piglets, 50 Cornish chicks and 14 layer chicks (various breeds).
 Tamworth piglets are this wonderful red/brown color. The early arrival of the four piglets presented a little challenge that we hadn’t anticipated. It rained quite a bit in the days before their arrival so it was wa-a-ay too wet to put them in the “back woods” where they usually hang out — surely the truck would’ve been mired up to its axles if we’d tried to drive in there and when we walked in to check out the site, it wasn’t much better…boots could’ve been lost with one wrong step! We abandoned the idea of the
 Piglets are very smart and quickly learn to use the pig nipple to drink water. Giving them water this way assures that they'll always have clean water to drink. If given in a pan, it immediately becomes a piggie pool! woods as the pig’s home — at least for the time being. We decided to put them in the sheep shed. The sheep were headed out to the pasture and wouldn’t need the shed anymore. The pigs could have a grand ole time rooting up a winter’s worth of well pack down sheep bedding…in some places this can be a foot deep. Tamworths are rooting machines!! And with their help, our job of cleaning out the shed will be much easier. So the piglets are happy in their temporary home, growing by leaps and bounds and we’re moving them around the shed so they always have something fun to do! Another week or so in the shed and off they go to the great outdoors — if it’s dried up a bit out there!
The Cornish chicks came via USPS from their hatchery as “day-olds” and I drove to Bath to pick them up. When I got there, I could hear them peeping loudly in the back of the post office — always a good sign that they’ve survived the trip!
 Cornish chicks at home in their cozy brooder As soon as we got home, they went right into the brooder in the barn…all warm and cozy under their lights. It’s been a little colder than in previous years because it’s earlier in the season but we’ve been staying on top of that by checking on them and adjusting their lights. So far, they’re doing really well and need less heat now that they’ve got some real feathers. In another week, they should be ready to move into the greenhouse where they’ll have access to pasture.
I wasn’t going to start any layer chicks this year because I started a bunch last Spring but while I was in Maryland, our resident fox helped himself to three — yes! THREE — of our beautiful young hens! Eeesh! The fox could be a “she” but Jim got a good look at “it” and reported that it’s size would indicate a male.
 These little girls will be laying eggs in the Fall. Anyway, the expert fence charger guy (aka Jim) heard my cries and boosted the electric on the poultry netting. It looks like the point may have been made. No more losses to date. Keeping fingers crossed…
Just have to throw in a photo of the piglets taking a nap…
 There are 4 piglets under this pile of straw!
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