Sheep

Shearing Good Time

Sheep / April 10, 2021 / By

Another shearing day is in the books.

Wool sheep in full fleece having a good stretch

This one was made unusual by the collapsed wool market. With very little wool moving on the export market many large flock owners are having to decide what to do with wool they won’t get paid for. One more example of agriculture being at the mercy of exporting product rather than having local initiatives and markets for what is produced in any given area.

Freshly shorn ewe having a graze while also calling for her mates

I kept numerous individual fleeces for processing into batting for selling, plus I’ll use some in my felting work. But the bulk of the wool clip never even got bagged this year. Instead we piled it on the ground and I can’t tell you how off it felt to do that. I did have some plan for it though so at least it wasn’t going to the dump which is where a good many wool clips will end up this year.

My first plan was to use the wool for erosion control on the trails out to pasture, and then for some land reclamation trials. But then Allen came up with a better idea. We have an outbuilding that is slated to be a three season wool house / small dog kennel in the future. We’re going to use the wool for insulation of this building which feels very fitting and eased the sense of wrong that piling it on the ground presented.

Freshly shown sheep on the move

The whole wool scenario causes me to reflect on the felted flock project which seems very timely now. I have a renewed urgency to tackle that project and see it done. There have also been numerous whispers this past year, whispers to value add. At first I thought of this only in regard to the sheep flock and the farm but now I realize that artwork is value adding what I have and photography is value adding what I witness here on a regular basis, and writing is value adding the experiences lived while here on this place. This is the value adding that needs my attention.

The Woolies

Sheep / April 2, 2021 / By

As a years worth of wool growth manifests and shearing nears they become affectionately known as The Woolies.

Stone Cold

Sheep / February 12, 2021 / By

The ewe flock is nestled in the low spot of a dry slough bottom, trees and light bush on three sides. Over the past week they have hardly moved. The only time they venture out is to get water. It’s cold enough that even the wool sheep are cold but they are doing fine nestled in here as they are. Each morning we weasel the tractor into their tidy grove and feed / bed them right where they are despite doing so on top of some of the previous days manure. It’s all frozen anyway and it’s too damn cold to feed in the open.

natural comfort of wool

A spell of bitter cold weather is typical on the northern prairie and no doubt time has erased the sting of all past cold weather days. But every year this kind of cold makes me nervous no matter how many years I’ve lived in it. There is no way to prepare for the hidden dangers of bitter cold weather. The smallest molehill of a mishap becomes a mountain of distress, which seems a wee bit too reflective of the world situation right now and compounds the feeling of coldness seeping into my bones.

The side by side vehicle will not run – the battery is frozen. In the morning I have the use of the tractor to travel out with and feed with. In the evening I stack dishes of food into a pail with a handle and walk out to feed the guardian dogs.

The cessation of the wind when stepping into the grove where the sheep are bedding is a beautiful reprieve. On one particularly windy evening I stood in this slough bottom pocket with the ewes and watched the snow blowing across the landscape of hills, erasing any distinction between land and sky. It created the sensation that maybe there was no solid earth at my feet after all.

Song lyrics came to mind while I watched the blowing snow.

“I come from a land that is harsh and unforgiving, where the snows can kill you and the summer burn you dry.”

—- Canadian singer/songwriter Connie Kaldor

Cutting words, truthful and fitting. There is full understanding in these lyrics.

We are forecast to be moving out of the deep cold in the upcoming week. Today the temperatures rose a few degrees above – 30 Celsius and it felt positively hopeful outside. The Kelpies and I played a good game of fetch in the bright winter sunshine this morning. Any warm up will be a distinctive relief peppered with satisfaction of having navigated extremes.