To the Sheep and Back Again

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”The ewes are now well accustomed to heading to the bed ground for the night. The only time they might still be out at nightfall and need incentive from a stock dog is when the weather is fine and warmish which it hasn’t been of late. Since I can expect them to be at the bed ground, most nights I walk out to them rather then starting a vehicle.

The walk is across a small paddock and winter winds have created a firm snow pack now. The walk is easy for now and not terribly far. The two youngest guardian dogs who are in the vicinity of the yard most days often meet up with me and run out in front.
” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:16|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”2744″ img_size=”large”][vc_custom_heading text=”At the far side of the small paddock I step cross a second fence line on a snow bank, skirt a rather enormous snow pile and drop down into the bed ground. It’s like a small, well protected coliseum and it’s not difficult to stay here for a few minutes and wait on guardian dogs to eat. Sheep mill nearby, some already lying down for the night. Feet are always tucked up underneath their wooly bodies and the ewes lie very close to each other on the colder nights. Dog houses are situated on the perimeter. Some dogs use them, some do not.

When I leave the ewes I head back the way I came but then continue past the yard and head up to the sheep building where the rams and our old Anatolian Shepherd are spending the winter. A short repeat here to feed the fellow and wish him a good night.

It’s a very basic evening chore routine, made more so this winter by the decision to walk. Even on the evenings when I feel annoyance about having to do chores in the cold doing a very basic activity shifts my thoughts and the walking settles the incidental worries of the day. ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:16|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Why Sheep?

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A recent article in our local forage newsletter listed four labels for us agrarian types: homesteader, farmer, rancher and agribusiness owner (I know which one of these I am not).

It does my heart good to know there have been enough people returning to the land to grow their own food and raise their own animals that homesteader is now back on the list. Many of these homesteaders are woman, or have women who are driving the dream; which means sheep are a more common consideration when it comes to keeping livestock.

Two very related questions I have been asked over the years: why did you get into sheep and how did you get started?

Homesteading was not a trendy movement twenty years ago and while I share some of the aims I can’t lay any lofty claims to that being my reason. And I’ve been at this too long to be called a homesteader now. No, the very first sheep I bought were for my Border Collie. I had it mind to train a stock dog. That’s it. No more fancy a story than that. I got into sheep with the aim of working a stock dog; the guardian dogs were an unexpected bonus. Now the dogs are my partners in the work of raising sheep to help this prairie thrive.

When I started I knew nothing about sheep and what I knew about livestock wasn’t much more than that. What appealed to me was the size of the animals, the wool and the ability to train a dog with them. The grazing and the grass management were items on the radar but not in place yet. Even still, I know that I never got into raising sheep dreaming about how good a carcass I would raise and how fast I would produce it. That was never a reason and I suggest that these are not viable reasons to get into livestock of any kind, although the entire industry will do everything to convince you otherwise. But if you’re here reading this blog it’s very likely you’re interested in something deeper than intensive carcass production.

As for how I got started…
I started with five ewes. A year later I moved up to thirty ewes I bought on shares (a share of the lambs produced each year went to the seller which allowed me to pay the purchase price of the ewes over time).
That flock of thirty grew in size for a few years just by way of keeping replacement ewe lambs.When I felt I had a handle on this sheep thing I made the decision to purchase a flock of two hundred animals. Then grew from there (and it was still a big learning curve).

Right from the get go I knew I wanted to raise sheep on grass (not artificial milk and grain). I knew I wanted this endeavor to be about the natural purpose of grazing animals – to keep grassland ecosystems in good health. To that end I rear this flock in as natural a manner as I can on the parcel of land I have. You can do this with sheep, you can do this with cattle, with pigs, with chickens….. the Homesteaders are doing it and I applaud them. It’s so good to know the movement is here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Prairie Winter Priorities

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Yesterday morning arrived with cold temps, stiff winds and snow. I chose to feed hay right where the ewes were bedded so they could remain where they were, snug and protected from the winds. The wind keep at it all day long creating drifts wherever the landscape allowed; drifts that had to be cleared the next morning in order to feed at all.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2669″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In the evening I did not bother getting the side by side vehicle out to drive out to the flock but instead I loaded dog food and bowls into a zippered grocery bag and went out on foot. The flock had not moved; the guardian dogs barked a warning at my unusual approach on foot. I dropped down into the hollow to feed them and sat for a spell in the stillness of the prairie cold but where the wind couldn’t reach. The snuffling noises of ewes and the nudges of a dog nose now and again provided small comforts at the close of another day.

Every winter there is a stretch that draws out the pure simplicity of what needs to be done. A prairie winter simplifies your priorities in a manner that a prairie summer can never do. The chief priority of every day is getting food to animals and getting them to shelter if needed. Each morning is an assessment of where to feed that day and how. It probably bears noting here that I don’t rear sheep with any intention of mass production and therefore do not lamb in the winter. I rear sheep with the intention of having grazers on the land and wool in my hands. This minimalist approach allows some leeway in the winter workload and means I do not spend my winter in a barn. It also means that while I use a tractor to feed nowadays (this was not always the case), I’m not running numerous pieces of equipment or heating barns during the coldest months of the year.

In a season when weather can present all manner of extra steps, like clearing snow so you can access the hay feed or the route to pasture, it’s getting the work done that matters. And wether it is a calm day or an ugly one, the feeling of relief and gratitude upon getting hay feed rolled out for the ewes is present all winter long but particularly when working on one’s own.

This is only our second year of feeding using a tractor with a cab on it. As I drive out with a hay bale for the ewes, sitting in the relative comfort of a tractor cab, I am baffled that prior to this we managed feeding with an open cab tractor for eight + years, and prior to that, we managed with no tractor at all. We arrived to this place with just the two of us, no left over equipment or livestock infrastructure to start us off. When crop farming proved a dismal failure (and thank god it did) we made it work because we had to, but from my seat in the cab today, being able to warm my hands and my face for a few moments, I can not believe we did so. Feeding a large flock without a tractor feels like a distant, forgotten life; like a story I told once a long time ago. And if I take into account the farms around us, each with three/four or more tractors parked in the yard, it seems more outlandish that in the twenty first century we went without one for as long as we did.

Not having equipment, and not able to go into more debt so we could have it, is one of the many occurrences that lead us down the road of getting where we are today. And I suppose the doing of it is what gives me the perspective of knowing that the efficiency promised us by way of using equipment doesn’t really add up. And of knowing there is always a way and sometimes not getting on the industry bandwagon in the first place is the only way.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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