Sheep

Highs and Lows of Weather and Life

Dogs, Sheep / February 5, 2021 / By

The week rolled in with beautiful temperatures and bearable breezes. Two pluses for a prairie winter. By the calendar breeding time for the ewes could go another week but by the weather I called it over and decided to sort rams out. The downside was that the timing coincided with Allen being away which meant the work fell to me alone. Well, not quite alone – it fell to me and Kelpies, but since it wasn’t a huge task I tackled it. The Kelpies were pulled out of pseudo hibernation and into action.

Writing about how actual tasks get done is writing I like the least. To tell all that had to be done in order to get done makes for a long and dull post, but to boil it down to just sorting some rams out does no justice to the workload either.

But the point of this isn’t the work that was done it was how the work unfolded. And on this day it unfolded seamlessly just like a beautiful weather day. I had a phenomenal time of it. No real hardship to have an attitude about and yet all of it a hardship in the way that doing any complicated task with a multitude of animals is. Particularly when on your own and in a winter landscape. I worked four stock dogs because I could, and each one was so willing and at ease with the work. I take their eagerness and help, I need it.

The day was so thoroughly and completely good even the exhaustion at the end was gratitude making. I wish I could say it always goes like this but this kind of work day is more rare than that – far more rare than I like to admit.

By caparison the next day was just calm and simplistic and restful – which it needed to be. This morning the weather was turning, cold was coming on again. Some of the coldest cold of the winter is on its way. I was extra pleased to have done the sorting two days prior. There is no long complicated work at hand this day. Just the somewhat complicated morning routine of unrolling hay amidst a swarm of winter hungry woolies who have no regard for a moving tractor.

I ran over a ewe lamb. A favourite Corriedale ewe lamb. She didn’t suffer.

Feeling stunned, I placed dishes of food down for the guardian dogs who pay no mind to the dead sheep. I pulled the warm, wooly body over to the front end loader. While the dogs ate I stood watching the little Corriedale body and felt a brutal low moving in. I’m so utterly responsible but I feel so cheated. And angry that now I must deal with a dead body. A task that feels unbearably complicated to my spirit no matter if the physical task actually is or isn’t.

This week ticked along just like the weather, complete with beautiful highs and brutal lows.

A heavy body leans against my thigh. The senior guardian dog seeking attention after eating. A second dog approaches with head and tail low, and slips a white muzzle under my gloved hand. Canine reassurance. I take it, Lord knows I need it.

Miles To Go

Sheep / November 27, 2020 / By

I walk every day. Every day I walk. And I am always in the company of dogs when walking. This time spent walking is a spiritual fitness and it does make me wonder what changes might naturally come about if farmers and ranchers walked their land on a regular basis.

Winter walks may be on the cold side but they are gloriously peaceful. I enjoy the prairie as much in the quiet of winter as in the warmth of summer. Any sense of needing to hurry dissipates for so much of daily ranch work that is present in the warm season is now on hold. The pace of winter has settled upon us and the routine work is feeding hay to the flock in the morning and then returning to do a second check and feed of guardian dogs in the evening.

In a northern hemisphere winter is a season of testing; when a sound and healthy flock is needed to get you through without a lot of extra work. To see animals and the land still in sync through the winter and to know, that even in a season of such harshness, everything you need is here, is a marvel that is lost in modern agriculture.

This year marks our first year of having a tractor with a cab and I must say it is wonderful to have a cab on a tractor when doing winter feeding. We never set out to be such minimalist farmers but working with so little for so many years resulted in the realization that we need very little to operate this place. This tractor came along because this was the year we could afford to purchase it. Taking such a minimalist approach also means we tend to keep operations rather simple which gives us some down time in the winter months. This downtime is when I settle most deeply into my studio space and figure out how to continue giving the world glimpses of this remarkable prairie life with sheep and a few dogs.

Winter 2020

Sheep / November 17, 2020 / By

And just like that it is full on winter.

After a weekend of snowfall and wind we spent the day moving snow and sheep to a new winter feeding area. For several years we have wintered the flock south east of the yard where there is ample bush for shelter. Feeding hay out on the pastures in the winter results in layers of hay residue plus urine and manure naturally spread by the flock, which over time, becomes a healthy layer of organic matter. It’s also much healthier for the ewes.

Through these past few years of minimal rainfall this winter feed area stood out from the rest of our land base. Even this year, with only a few inches of rain received, that area of pasture was thick, thigh-high tall grass. You could walk through this area and feel that it was much healthier than the other pastures. The flock just came off grazing it before the snow arrived. With the usual winter feeding spot responding so well we’ve decided it’s time to move to a new location and repeat the process.

The ewes already passed through the stockpiled forage we try to save for early winter grazing and it’s early for us to be feeding hay, which is sign of how dry it has been here. As difficult as it is to get around and tend to the regular happenings on the place with a lot of snow on the ground, the snow is sure is a welcome sight.