One Door Closes & Another Two Open

On Thursday morning, our 12 year old barbados ewe passed away. She was very intelligent and very pleasant around children. She unfortunately lost her lamb this spring and her body condition never really recovered.

We will miss you 

The next morning I went out to the pasture and we had two lambs out of one of the 20 Barbados ewes we bought back in May. One male and one female lamb requiring little assistance. Those ewes were under constant exposure so it is possible to have lambs at virtually any point.

Two little newborn lambs

Progress on the farm continues. Jim from Pella came out today and we put in a gate on the south end of the farm and ran some electric line. This morning my neighbor to the south, Jesse, and I moved bales from the neighbor to the north's field, Corny. We speed up the process by putting one in the bed of my truck and hauling the other behind a tractor Jesse borrowed. The bales we too much for my tractor. 

Turkeys continue to grow. We have struggled to keep them from smothering each other. All I can say about young turkeys, they are good at being cute and fluffy and at dying.  Losses have now crept up over 20%. We strive for 10% and build in a sizable cushion. I still enjoy them immensely. I picked them some clover yesterday and the birds just went wild. They grab the clover leaves and try to run off with them. Next thing you know the whole pen is moving.

Turkeys love their clover