Here they are!!! Our sheep!!

Jon took a 12 hour ride down to Missouri yesterday to buy some sheep from Greg Judy.  If you have ever read any of his books Comeback Farms or No Risk Ranching, you would know our excitement.  He has managed to create a flock of hair sheep that does not need to be wormed and is very low input.  These are not sheep that will need to be sheared, they lose their hair in the spring just like cattle.

Jon met Greg in February in Junction City, Kansas at a speaking event.  Greg had mentioned he had a waiting list for sheep and Jon immediately used his cellphone to email him at the event and get us on the list.  And our number just came up!

This wasn't particularly good timing for us money or time wise.  But when an opportunity presents itself, sometimes you just gotta make it work. 

And here are the lovely ladies and gentleman:

One of our 100% St. Croix rams.

Poor buddy...he was tired.  Long trip!

 Our females.  They are an array of breeds, I think maybe some Dorper, Barbados, Katahdin and just a good mix of hair sheep. 

Aren't they gorgeous!

We got them situated just before it got dark, which was perfect timing.

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Farm Update

Good Morning All,
The two day Greg Judy conference was GREAT! We learned a ton and are even more inspired to move forward with our farming operation. Most importantly, we are starting to get a better idea of the direction we're headed. Our "direction" will continue to evolve but we definitely have a clearer view of it, then we did before the conference.

We accomplished quite a bit over the weekend, thanks to help from our family. I won't give it all away because I think Jamie is working on a post to show you some of it. But I will say that we were able to put a door back on the machine shed and repair a couple others. It has made a vast improvement to the function and aesthetics of the farmyard. Hopefully, I can get the rest of the doors fixed in the near future.

I was checking on the cattle this morning and noticed that one of our cows has a HUGE udder. I mean two-three times the size of a large udder. I would almost think that she had some sort of hernia that caused the calf to drop. She doesn't seem distressed so I'm not sure.

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Weekend Report

Greetings Everyone,
Well we didn't get as much done as we hoped but Jamie's little sister stayed with us, so it's ok. She's a bit of a city girl so it was good for her to experience the joys of country living. And of course we threw in some chores, for good measure.

The first poultry shelter is finished and in operation. We put the Pekin ducks in it, rather than move them back into the "coop" for the night. Which worked out perfectly because my cousin had just finished cleaning the nasty bedding out of the coop and those ducks like to splash and make a mess.

Which brings me to a "soap box moment". My youngest cousin lives nearby and will be a senior in high school next year. He wanted to help on the farm and a gladly agreed. A big part of "sustainable agriculture" is minimizing the money spent on big machinery and expensive equipment. However, in turn, it is often much more labor intensive. I'm not here to debate which is better for a successful farm but I would like to point out how it can benefit rural communities. If a fourth of the farmers in a rural county/area embraced this strategy, there's a good chance it would increase the population by a good 25-50%. A farmer with a thousand acres could easily (I use the term loosely) support 2-5 employees. 20+ would be on the conservative end for more intensive operations (such as large scale produce production). With numbers like that, it wouldn't take long for nearby towns to flourish to past heights of prosperity. As long as everyone wasn't farming the same thing, there would be unseen stability for the community. It's a much healthier population influx, as opposed to one large employer coming into town and then possibly going bankrupt or moving out in 10 years.
(stepping off soap box)

Lawn mowing troubles took up a good part of my weekend AGAIN. But I'll spare you the details. We have a Grazing Conference in Tecumseh Thursday and Friday and we are very excited. The speaker is Greg Judy and he is a very good speaker and quite the expert in Holistic Grazing. I went to Junction City, KS earlier in the year to hear him speak and I look forward to a two-day event to get even more information.

FYI, we will be butchering some 7-8 week old Pekin ducks this weekend. These are the ducks that we have been taking out to a pen to hang out in the grass and sunshine all day, so they are "pastured". What they don't get from the grass and bugs we make up with organic feed that we have made for us, so they are also "organically raised". The carcass weights should be between 4-6 lbs and the price is $5.50 per pound. If anyone would like some, please let one of us know.

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