Gawkers

I was on the computer the other morning minding my own, when I heard someone lock up their brakes on our road. As a concerned citizen, I looked out the window to see a man jumping from his pick up to look at my neighbors cows. He then proceeded to take pictures of them. So I took a picture of him.

 

I'm curious what will become of those pictures. Does he get them printed up and hang them on his wall and dream of that great day when he saw cows in a  field? Now that the warm weather has returned, this is a common occurrence. We often have the motorcyclists who feel it necessary to yell "BAAAAA" at the top of their lungs as they drive past our sheep. Or the woman who pulled into our driveway and got into the pen with the lambs because they looked so cute-lucky for her the electric wasn't on, despite the sign saying it was. Part of me wished the ram had been in the pen and he would have shown her how cute he could be. I imagine this year will probably have more gawkers than usual.

 

  Hay is not cheap, and previously the rams have spent the summer lounging in the barn dining on it in excess quantities. I resolved last fall that we would be going with a low mow approach this year. The rams don't need large  areas, but do well on smaller plots that the ewes would have gone in hours. So, we have one ram who is working a rotation in the front lawn in three sections. and the other will be cleaning up in the area behind the barn and in front of the sugar shack. Keeping them out of visual distance of each other is also key because a battle could erupt were one able to get near the other. Initial experiments have been good on the front lawn although I have to put aside my dream manicured golf green in favor of a less uniform look as he grazes randomly from place to place, however the end result is not too bad and two hours not spent mowing each week sucking in exhaust fumes is okay with me.

We're Lambin', and I hope you like lambin' too

Well, It is 12:11 AM on a Friday nite and my wild time consists of making sure that some newborn lambs find their mothers teat for their first lifesaving meal. Karen finds it amusing that I stress out about lambing so much. In my defense, I am most concerned about the first time ewes, who like irresponsible teenage moms, step over their children to go see what is new with their friends. I worry about every stumbled step the newborn takes and why the mom isn't getting up right away and oh god please do not let her have twins because that means a whole Pandora's box of problems for me. Tonite is Holly, who (hopefully only) just had a lamb and looks like another is on the way. She is part of the new problem as the oldest ewe who now we have to worry about her having triplets again and will she make it through the whole process. She is a strong girl though and I think there is one more breeding season in her future. As always, she is laid back and ready for what comes her way.

Holly

It is a huge time of year though. It determines how much hay we need, what kind of pasture rotation we should plan, how many boys or girls, and most importantly, what color are the lambs! Icelandics are always a surprise as to what color may come out. We have bred black rams with black ewes and had white lambs and vice versa. Sometimes you get black and white, like our ewe Bessy who looks more like a Holstein cow than an Icelandic sheep-always a surprise.

We lamb late. Unfortunately this year it was very late. Some breeders have lambs in January-February so that by time the grass is gone, so are the lambs. Icelandics are a smaller heritage breed so they grow slow and they don't get very big. We would rather wait until April (or May in this case) when it is warmer and we can turn the lambs right on to fresh green grass with mom, because regardless, we will need to keep them over the winter and feed hay so they can get big enough to sell for the boys. The girls will get one year off to get bigger and then they will become moms too.

Ewes have a five month gestation period. We move the girls into the barn five months the day we turned the rams out with them. This is actually the most crowded time of year for inside space. The ewes are put into lambing jugs. These are small pens, most recommend 4'x4', but we usually make them larger and odd shaped to fit the space we have available. These give ewes no choice but to love on their babies. You can see from the pictures that pretty much every scrap piece of anything gets used as fence/barrier material for the jugs.

Let me out!

Well, Holly has had twins. A black girl and a white boy. Both have nursed from mom and she seems to be doing fine, despite Noel knocking over her water and flooding the jug. Hay and shaving added for bedding so she (and I) can go get some sleep.

Notice the obligatory bailing twine holding it all together.

Dirt Farmer

Long, long ago, when we were first starting our farm, Karen said she wanted a garden. Being an ardent carnivore, I promised help as far as it could be done from the seat of my tractor. As a child I grew to hate weeding with a passion and began to hate the gardens that produced them. So, we tilled a corner of the field, fenced it off with electric and planted everything under the sun. The only thing that came up was some raspberry shoots from my Great Grandmothers garden and those were quickly devoured when the sheep figured out that the power had gone out (I have a suspicion the goat had a hand in this). Karen was heartbroken but for me it just reaffirmed that gardens suck....time and money and energy from you.



Yeah...I did it. And the next time you plant I'll do it again.

Now, don't get me wrong, I would gladly have a fresh juicy whatever from my own garden than some pesticide laden junk from the supermarket. That has been the driving force behind most of our farm plans. But, I just never really enjoyed the garden much. We were also lucky to have a friend who grew an abundant garden that kept us fully stocked anyway. But, when we moved back to New Hampshire, other than some free zucchini, we were on our own. It is rumored that the only time people lock their cars here is when zucchini is in season because friends and neighbors will sneak in and dump a few bushels without your knowing. After a season with a regular garden where Karen came into her gardening prime, as well as years of fencing experience under our belts, we decided to make a garden that was user friendly. Enter our raised beds.



Just like that!

We decided to make our raised beds taller than normal. Advantages- you can sit on the sides comfortably so no bending over to weed. Also, deeper soil to grow in. Disadvantage--more lumber and more compost. We ended up doing 6 raised beds and were very pleased with the results. Some lessons that we have taken away are that spreaders like pumpkins, watermelon and squash should have their own area on the ground or a separate bed. We also keep horseradish, rhubarb, garlic and other recurring plants or overwintering plants in a traditional garden bed. If a really harsh winter hits, the beds don't retain heat because of their exposure. While I may not help much on the weeding, I do get into the spirit by planting seedling and watering- you know, Lazy farmer stuff.

Yummy!

Vet visit day

        One of the rituals of spring is to get all of the animals checked out by the vet before they start having babies. The vet checks them over and gives required shots. As you probably guessed, that requires rounding everyone up so that she can take a look, and as with most things for us, we have gotten better at this with time. Catching sheep and goats is more art than science. Our first attempts were aided by a smaller pen within the larger pasture where we could contain the animals and systematically run them down. This often resulted in terrified sheep and exhausted farmers. Our next upgrade was a chainlink dog kennel that we would put hay in and shut the door once we had gotten all of our patients cornered. It became this by default since Cody can somehow climb out of it if he feels like it. The biggest problem with this was that it is really heavy to move so if you have multiple animals in multiple locations, you were out of luck.

 The livestock trailer has become the standby method for catching animals. The main trick is to skip a meal before they need catching and then put the feed inside the trailer. This often works best with two people. Sheep are especially leery and it helps if you are slightly hidden while another person spots them all inside so you can shut the door. With one set of especially wily pigs, I sat on top of the trailer for hours until hunger got the better of them and they were convinced no one was around. They walked in and I slid the door shut behind them.

This time, since we were just catching them for shots. We used feedlot panels (A 16' rigid steel wire panel) to hold them in a small area and the vet administered shots and inspections through the fence.

Round up time!

One of my dreams is to have real handling equipment that we can funnel the sheep and goats through and by switching the gate one way or the next, everyone goes back to where they belong. As always, this is very attainable....if you have a grand or two to spare. One thing I did discover was that should we get any more cattle, we will need something better. Erica managed to throw our very pregnant vet back and me sideways when the first needle hit her. A full body hold against the tractor by Karen and I kind of worked but if she gets much bigger that probably won't be very effective.


Before the shots-I believed that cute look....

Long story short, everyone checked out with a clean bill of health. Best wishes to Dr. C expecting her first child. Her help is always a lifesaver (Literally!) for the farm.


Spring Cleaning

I apologize for my lack of postings recently. I would however, ask everyone to notice the title is not "Confessions of a Diligent Blogger". The syrup season is nearly complete! Actual, it is but one part remains----the dreaded clean up.

Some of the aftermath-each of those 5 gallon buckets has tubing in it also....

I resolved in January when I was cleaning with ice water trying to get ready for the sap I would have an orderly and efficient clean up time this year and by god I am trying to. The first thing is the tubing. As with many things in the maple community, there is some disagreement over cleaning. Some folks use bleach water, which others say attract rodents and leaves a poor taste in the lines. Some do not do any cleaning. I am of the flushing fresh water through the lines crowd, followed by compressed air and a drying period. To do this, I built a contraption that allows me hook the tubing up to our hose bib and force water through the tubing. I use a compressor to blow out the tube and then hang dry with a weight on the bottom to allow water to drain out. Once they dry, I will store them in a 55 gallon drum by tap amounts on the line.

 

 

As for the buckets. We scrub any debris or dirt out and then rinse with a water-bleach solution (20:1 is the recommended amount) and allow to air dry. Then they will be stacked and covered in the sugar shack. By far this is the most tedious part of the process but is key to making good syrup next year and saves money on having to buy new tubing and buckets each year.

With any luck this will be complete by tomorrow. Then the real fun starts with the cleaning of the evaporator. All the ashes get shoveled out and the grates are removed for cleaning. Then all the small parts are taken off and cleaned in the sink. The larger parts like the pans will be pressure washed and scrubbed. I am in the market for some covers to go over the top for the off season but most likely I will just store the pans upside down so they won't collect dust and debris. Now you can see how exciting things have been over the past week or so and why no postings. I'll spare you the fascinating story of getting our taxes done.....

 

 

In other news, the snow is mostly gone and cleanup of the winter mess has begun. Erica the calf is happy because she gets to spend her days out in the back field taking sun baths. The mini truck is back on the road and the heated buckets have all been put to bed. One season down, the next is just beginning. Soon we'll be shearing the sheep to get ready for lambs!

Squishy-Squishy-The mud is here.

Ahh, Spring. That beautiful time of year when everything is brown or snow colored like Wyatt after a dirt bath. As the white stuff recedes, we see all of the things that we didn't get done before the winter. Like all the hoses neatly coiled in a fine rats nest, only broken by the slashes courtesy of the plow. Or the shovel half buried that we have spent most of the winter looking for. It goes on and on, and as much as I enjoy a clean farm, I have to just ignore it as maple syrup calls and until all the snow is gone, it is a futile effort to pick away at the small stuff.

Do I have something in my teeth?

Maple season has been good so far. We have already made more than all of last year and production continues, at a slower pace due to weather that was too warm, which had the sap stop flowing and now it hasn't been getting warm enough during the day to make much of a run. I am enjoying the brief break though as a chance to catch up on bottling, labeling and delivering to customers. The warm-up was preceded by a marathon boiling session to ensure that none of the sap went bad and there is only one sure way to make that happen-turn it into syrup! Thanks to all the friends who came by to visit and partake in the New England tradition of watching the sanity of the sugar maker slowly disappear. It is entertaining for the guest but helps the sugar maker because no sane person would watch and think they should do that too, so competition stays low. Here is a picture of the operation in full flow for those who can't be here to watch.

To elaborate on the turkey fryer process a bit more and how our evaporator works. The big silver tank in the background is the feed tank. We pump from outside tanks into here with a filtering process to remove most things from the sap. This tank feeds a float box which controls the amount of sap in the syrup pan.

The flue pan, which sits in front of the tank in this picture, is where most of your evaporation takes place. It has small alleys or flues in the pan that make more of the sap in contact with the heat below.

After it has boiled in the flue pan, the smaller box to the left will control it's release into the syrup pan. The syrup pan is the shorter pan to the left where you get to making the finished syrup product, or in my case, close enough to finished but not in danger of burning and ruining a $1,000 dollar stainless syrup pan. I prefer to use, you guessed it, the good old turkey fryer to finish my syrup on, after filtering, because I can do large batches and easily control the heat since it is propane. Plus the pot is $45 which would sting but wouldn't cause a heart attack.

We are still refining the process but we are getting there. Construction wasn't fully complete when we started as you can tell from the scaffolding in the background. That will have to wait for the snow melt too.

Farmer Phils Big Winter Vacation.

For those who don’t know, we raise Icelandic sheep on our farm. The sheep were actually the first animals we got on the farm along with Mama the goat. Most sheep need to be sheared (get a hair cut) at least once a year. We shear twice, in the spring and in the fall, as the fleece quality is much better the more you cut it. It also makes lambing easier and the summer a little more bearable for the sheep.

 

Previously we have hired a professional shearer to come and do this for us. Not many people would look at the process and determine that it is easy. It takes a lot of strength, flexability and patience as you finagle a 175 lb. animal around with really sharp clippers that can cut both of you. All the while, they are attempting to get away not realizing the impending danger they are in. Despite this, I have been watching it for a number of years now and really wanted to learn how to do it myself. Enter my big vacation to the Cornell University shearing school this past weekend.

The shearing school was a two day course at the Cornell sheep farm in Dryden, NY. It teaches the basics of shearing while giving you a hands on experience handling all types of sheep. (No major injuries to report to student or sheep).  Shearing has been fine tuned over the centuries to a standardized pattern of cuts that are used across all breeds of sheep. The process we were being taught was perfected in New Zealand in the 50’s . It breaks down the shearing in simple, easy to follow steps, which as with most things, look great on paper.

 

 

He doesn't appear to be in pain or yelling expletives and that sheep is holding still - based on recent experiences, I am calling Shenanigans...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After getting a few demonstrations, we began shearing. We would then get some more demonstration and shear some more sheep. It really was a hands on learning process because no sheep will react the same way and each step takes a few times to feel comfortable with. By the end of the day on Sunday I can claim that I sheared 11 sheep. I will probably be practicing on our lambs as a refresher for when we do the full flock. I'll try and go a little further into the process then.  As one instructor put it best “ sometimes whatever gets it done is the best method”and I think that sums it up. All in all a great class, where I got to meet some great people and learn something new-all the elements of a good trip in my book.

I did attempt to have a guest blogger tell the story of how our horse earned the name of Houdini while I was gone but she was still traumatized from the event, but I am sure we can get her to tell the tale soon.