More Random Farm Photos

This is the view from the south edge of the property.

That distinct line between green pasture and dried out plants indicates the difference between irrigating and not irrigating in the Sacramento Valley in the summer. For a variety of reasons parts of the pasture haven’t had enough water this summer. We had to start irrigating much earlier in the spring due to lack of rainfall, and that has an impact on how we spread out our water allotment through the season. Our water allotment is less this year than in the past. Our irrigation “system” isn’t as efficient as we’d like and it’s very difficult to get water to all the areas that need it.

This is the north end of that same paddock. This is dallisgrass that gets coarse and overgrown at this time of year and the sheep don’t keep up with it. They don’t want to walk through it. If you were a prey animal would you want to walk through grass that is over your head—how would you know if there is a lion lying in wait? The sheep are walking in a gap between the tall grass and where I set up the net fence.

They prefer to eat the more vegetative part of the grass and not the coarser stalks and seedheads.

This photo was taken from the road and there is a fence between the sheep and the grass in the foreground. They were on that paddock last and now are on the one with the taller grass. Their heads are down in the shorter grass and that tall overgrown dallisgrass is behind them.

The title of this post says Random Farm Photos. Here is the fleece of one of the ram lambs I have kept for this year. This is Meridian Rascal with fleece like his sire, Meridian Rambler.

When I fed the adult rams last night one of them didn’t show up. I saw Axis in the barn. He and Barrett were fighting the night before, but I guess they continued the squabble through the day. I hosed most of the blood off his head and sprayed fly repellant on him.

When I was in the barn earlier I heard the chirps of ground squirrels. These two were both up on the top of the fence around the ram pen. By the time I took the photo they were on the ground.

This is the seed pod of a plant called devils claw. The ones above are green and closed. When they dry out they open up and spread into claws with very sharp points. This is nasty stuff to find in a fleece. I dug this plant out and put it the trash. I don’t want it in my compost pile or the burn pile where the sheep have access.

I’m still working on weaving items for the show that I will put up next week. These are three blankets spread out to dry. That’s locally grown wool. The dark wool is Jacob.