Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Farm Update

The weather has been absolutely steamy and miserable the past few days. It puts undue stress on the humans and the animals around here. So far, everyone has survived. The Farmer keeps checking on everyone every morning and evening. Heat like this can really jeopardize the life of an older sheep. The animals are pretty smart. They stay in the shade and don't move at all until it cools down in the evening. Then they graze all night long and stop moving in the morning.

The piglets decided they didn't want to be in their pen and I gave up chasing them. They are now grazing with the sheep happily. I don't know how long this will last because as they get older, they plow the ground with their noses and can really cause damage to the pastures. I'm hoping they get big enough soon to no longer escape.


I am feeding them every morning and night. I'm trying to get them used to me so I can start training them to a grain bucket. I put the piglet crumbles in a pail just outside the sheep fence and they eat it every evening and morning. As you can see, they aren't quite sure about me standing there taking photos while they are eating.


But of course, their stomaches got the best of them and they chowed down. One of them is particularly shy. This is another great experiment. I think they will grow much slower on pasture so I may be forced to confine them soon.


p.s. If you look closely above in the sheep and pig photo, you'll see a little lamb who was born 3 weeks ago. Sheep very rarely have lambs this late so it was a surprise for the mom and us!

10 comments:

ruthee... said...

I didn't even notice the lamb until you said something. I was too busy looking at the sheep, thinking to myself "UGH, hot with all that woooooool"

I hope everyone/everything does well with the continued heat of summer.

Anonymous said...

Oh I thought that was a pig and I was wondering why it looked like it was nursing! hahaha Change of life baby? aww heck nother cutie. Those pigs... will they get tame? At what age do they become bacon?
Another Ruth :)

Anonymous said...

Those piglets are so sweet! I love hearing about your farm. Thanks for sharing it!

Peggy said...

Hmmm, your piglets sound kinda like "Babe."

Anonymous said...

Dear Kristin,
I can tell you from experience that while they will grow slower on pasture (the piglets) they will be amazingly tasty. The only caveat to this is that they stay out of a creek or watery bit as they will eat snails and fish and things if they can and the meat gets fishy. If you can keep them till fall they will "till" your garden for you. Good luck!
meg

Marcy said...

Well I sure am glad those are piggies! When I first looked at the top photo I thought those were some pretty weird looking sheeps. :D

Peg-woolinmysoup said...

Perhaps your pigs are from royal lines. You are not allowed to take a photo of our queen when she is eating! That is a little warm weather sheep - no cold arrival in the world for him/her!
It is very warm here on Vancouver Island and our pets just lie about too!

Anonymous said...

The pigs think they are sheep!

Margaret said...

Love the photo of the sheep and pigs together! Goodness knows what the ladies are teaching those little piggies!

We're in MA but near the coast so every now and then we get just a touch of a sea breeze; don't know how you do it in W. MA with this heat!

Maymomvt said...

I'm delurking to say that I love your blog. My kids were at Old Sturbridge Village camp during these hot days. Those long dresses and sunbonnets were wilting hot!

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