This is our sheep field at the moment:
As you can see it is pretty muddy. We have had a very harsh winter and the result of the continual round of snow, thaw, frost, thaw etc is that the ground is really saturated and there is barely any grass in sight. We are looking out hopefully for signs of spring and some new growth, but not much prospect of that just yet.
Fortunately the sheep don't seem to be unduly concerned by the state of the ground. The vet was in this week for their annual health check and they were seen to be in fine form. Having said that, we do have to be very careful about their diet. As they are pregnant, their nutrition is a priority and we are giving them extra rations of hay and concentrates. There would certainly not be enough grass in this mirey field to nourish a flock of pregnant ewes. We now have huge stockpiles of sheep feed and what can't be stored elsewhere has ended up in our kitchen!
The vet will be back next week to show us how to give the sheep their yearly vaccinations so that we'll be able to do them ourselves next time.
Bring on that sunshine...
I'm dreading mud season here. We've got several feet of snow still on the ground and some piles tall enough the sheep can get out of our 4 ft fences by just stepping over! If it all melts at once we may lose the road up the mesa. We've still got a month to shearing and almost 2 to lambing so I hope we have grass then. We don't have a barn for the sheep.
ReplyDeleteHi Oogie - hope you have some grass by then as well. Wow - still several feet of snow on the ground - certainly makes us feel like conditions are easier for us then. Agree that mud season is the worst of the them all - dirty wellie boots and overalls all over the place.
ReplyDeleteCheers