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The Road Back....
This is an image, captured by my daughter, of an evening walk here at
the farm with our new foster dog "Trixie" and me. Trixie came from a very difficult situation and is now living at Windsor
Wool to have her puppies and start the "road back".
This dog is not only severly under weight and was covered in filth and
fleas when we first got her, but she has several emotional scars as well due to abuse and neglect.
It is amazing how every day she makes great strides on the road back
to being a dog. There are so many lessons we can learn from Trixie. As we may be on a journey back from physical or
mental scars.
I hope to share some of those lessons here in the coming weeks.
As the picture shows, it beings with a look "up" to the master.
Grass is where it's at!
I have come to learn that here at the farm one of the most
important elements to make the wheels go 'round is what is the state of the grass! In the spring, we want the grass
to grow so we can rotate sheep, we want it to be certain length as to avoid parasites and we want plenty of it for the hungry
little sheep munchers and their lambs. We also have two horses that love grass and a little donkey that does not need
so much grass but is always interested anyway. Of course, this is all tied up with rain and sunny days. But then
of course because we are high maintenance so we do not want too much rain because that casuses black spots on the clover and
resultes in "slobbers".
One of the other issues that greatly interest us in late spring is cutting the
grass. My husband is a compulsive mower so the yard is never my concern. However, I lay away nights thinking of
where will the sheep graze and what will we cut for hay. We have access to 33 acres of pasture so it keeps me busy.
I am all about rotation.
This year we had ample grass to cut, hay and graze. Yippee! What is
different about this year is that we got to be involved in "putting up" our own hay. I never thought it would be so
rewarding. I got to drive our neighbor's tractor and what fun that was! The whole family was involved and so far
we have 1/2 our goal for hay in the barn. We even bushhogged the first cut in the big field as fertilizer because of
the boon this year. My grandfather used to do this to shaking heads, and disbelief of his neighbors. Stories are
told that after this practice produced hay stands so thick they would not fall over, they were not so quick to question "Pa
Delk's " methods.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
So far this season we have had 6 precious lambs here
at Windsor Wool. The tally is as follows....
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Daffy had her first lamb on Feb. 2. His name is Leslie and is growing up to be
quite the beautiful boy. He would make a nice fiber pet as his wool is absolutely beautiful and is now a wether.
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Becky had her lamb Georgie on Feb. 22. He became our bottle fed baby as she had
a bit of difficulty her first time taking care him. He will be a forever resident here at the farm. Since Becky's
mother and sister have excellent mothering ability we are giving her another chance for next year.
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Chloe was next on March 12 wih two beautiful ewe lambs named Matilda and Olivia.
Good Aussie names this year for Chloe. As usual, her girls are thriving and a great addition to the flock.
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Diana was next on March 16 to continue with the year of the ram lamb. She had two
health rams with no trouble. Harry and William will stay rams for sale as premium registered Border Leicester stock.
So hard not to pet them as Diana is so friendly herself and the boys are so cute.
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April 27 is the last day for lambs according to the breeding calendar so we are still
waiting for our other registered Border Leicester, Mary, to complete the lambing season.
Edward has been elevated to King Edward status. He has done a great job this year
and went from Eddie, to Fast Eddie then Edward when the rams were born... to King
Edward when the ewes were on the ground.
For Archived entries go to....
www.windsorwoolfarm@blogspot.com
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