Back to basics with sheep healthcare

Let us just admit it, we got complacent.

In the early days of this farm I made a lot of declarations about how I wasn’t going to adopt a system of livestock care that relied too much on pharmaceuticals and not enough on what mother nature intended for them.

In the early days we questioned everything that came our way. If the books and periodicals said vaccinate, we said why? We talked to vets and read. We were able to take the recommended annual shots from 6 to 1, sometimes 2. Mind you, that was almost 20 years ago but you get the message. We were asking the questions and trying to start off on the right foot, giving the sheep’s needs for living a full and healthy life our full attention. Fast forward almost 20 years and you have 2 farmers working hard to stay ahead of the pastures, the draughts, the losses, the equipment, and wait, I’m making excuses. Yep. We just plain lost sight of our “lighthouse”. When 5 sheep grow to 100 it is harder to manage each individual sheep’s needs (not impossible though). So, in a long, round about way I’m getting to the gist of my post….

Parasites! The number one enemy of sheep and number one reason folks should think hard about raising sheep. The easiest and honestly most full proof method to rid a sheep of parasites is to de-worm with chemical based de-wormers. It has always been our goal not to do that if we can avoid it. We certainly followed our rotation of the sheep through the pasture divisions and we did it according to the experts, some years better than others. Rotation keeps the sheep moving, not eating the grass down too low where the parasites hang out. Problems arise when you don’t plan for drought or you accidently over populate the flock because you have a friend that is selling out and it’s killing her to have to sell her sheep one by one so your big heart has to step in and help, not even thinking about the consequences it might cause on your own farm!

We over taxed our pastures!

We didn’t have the time, or didn’t take the time to realize what was happening. We had a manageable but growing parasite population on the farm. We were rotating and deworming regularly as the hot humid conditions persisted and became more frequent. We went through 1of the 3 available classes of de-wormers in about 6 years. The worms were then resistant to that class (the most effective I might add, Ivormectin). How does that happen? Alot of possibilities and theories but the most understandable is that the dose rate is by weight. We're left with guessing because it’s difficult for most small farms to afford or accommodate scales for 130-250 pound animals. There's no way a small farmer can be sure. We’re close but not exact. So we might underdose? Depending on what we read or conference we attended we’ve been different information, sometimes to double the dose, sometimes definitely not? Some of that information came from vets. Long story short, the efficacy of the drugs are diminished or destroyed by inaccuracies in the dosing. The parasites are slowly resistant. We now have a parasite population that is resistant to the de-wormers! Argh! My research tells me this is a problem world-wide. I actually couldn’t believe the numbers world-wide when I looked closely! Sadly, the sheep industry doesn’t warrant millions of dollars spent in research to address the problem. What’s a farmer to do? Canada has a new de-wormer available that isn’t available to us yet but I think we’ve learned a huge lesson in not being dependent on the pharmaceuticals anyway. Let’s get back to our original philosophies!

We have a plan.

We believe parasites won’t pose such a problem if the sheep's gut health is balanced. Heard that before? Yep, just like us, sheep are being deprived of what their systems need. They're put on pastures with monotype forage and asked to keep their PH in check? They need more. Plus an acidic gut will be more resistant to parasites, this we know. I took a class taught by an organic vet, Dr. Paul Detloff. Someone in the class asked about their flock presenting with black mouths. Dr. Paul responded with a question… “do you have black walnuts?” with the response yes, Dr Paul shared that black walnut is a perfect offering to sheep with parasites. The black walnut is acidic and will help their gut heel. The most exciting part to me is if given the opportunity, sheep would find it themselves. Of course they would. Nature knows!

We also believe there are natural de-wormers. We just have to spend some time testing and experimenting. The “old timers” used many a method. We’re reading and planning. We are excited and hope to turn our difficult year into a positive one.

So, here we go replanting Rosemary around the barns, encouraging our black walnut trees to grow and bare and to make sure these and many other natural foods and supplements are available to the sheep. I'm digging through new and old medical journals. As a farm we are determined to overcome this and actually do something that we intended from the beginning.

Stay tuned. Will keep you posted.

It's hard not to project

As shepherds we think we know what’s best for our sheep. The benefit of years watching and learning from these creatures has helped me realize that most of the time, they do know best and don't need our interference. If we’ll listen to them and not try to “project” our human interpretation, we can see that. Sure, we have to get involved from time to time but I’ve found if we trust their instincts and get out of their way, they’ll often take care of things.

Like the ewe that insists on having her lamb in the woods, we let her. Is it the safest? Probably not but that’s what she wants to do. It makes it harder on us once she’s had the lamb to get them to safety but I believe allowing them to have those moments and make those decisions gives us a more mutually respectful relationship.

I’m sure there’s a shepherd or two out there ranting at me right now, “we must be able to manage them and that requires some degree of doing things in spite of their natural instincts.” Like I said, I realize there are times we need to step in and I realize my way isn’t going to align with most others…it’s just my desire to let them be as true to their natural ways as I can. I might pay for it with a little extra effort on my part but I believe I gain by raising sheep that are in touch with their intuitive ways.

The Girls!

The other day I was rehashing a decision to want to keep one of our older ewes back from breeding. She has given us plenty of beautiful babies. She deserves to rest, I thought. So, I did just that. She went to spend her time grazing in green pastures with the teenagers. What a glorious gift, or was it?

Well, to shorten what could be a very long tale, Willow, that’s her name, ended up pregnant anyway. How? We’ll never be 100% sure. Through a fence? Could be, but boys were not in adjoining fences except for short stints while moving sheep? Could she be that fast? One of our lambs might have been more mature then we thought? Like i said, we’ll never know for sure.

A funny thing happened on that day I realized she was with lamb, as I walked away from her pasture something beckoned me to look back. There went Willow trotting away from me and kicking up her heels.

She was mighty happy.

It’s as if she was saying to me, I love being a mom! You don’t get to decide.

I believe I had just been reminded, we’re not necessarily smarter then mother nature!

Willow

Weaning, a whole new meaning

Year before last we brought my dear mother here to the farm from a nursing home for her final journey.  We knew her time was short.  As we approach another anniversary of her arrival here and her passing and another year of weaning our lambs from their mommas,  I felt compelled to share something that happened during my mother's short time here.

On July 28th 2018, the day before she left this life, John and I were weaning the lambs from their mothers. The window of my mothers room looked out over the pasture where we were.  In the process of separating the sheep, I looked up (my heart and mind during those days were never far from her)  toward her window and room.  At that instant, I couldn't help but feel the magnitude of what we were doing...separating the babes from their mamas.   

To WEAN: accustom (an infant or other young mammal) to food other than its mother's milk.  accustom (someone) to managing without something on which they have become dependent or of which they have become excessively fond.

 We knew my mother was shutting down and that it wouldn't be long.  At this moment I felt the arms of mother nature comforting me.  Yes, it brought tears but in that moment I felt my mother communicating with me through nature as if to say, it is a fact in life, it is real,  and it is happening.  Sooner or later we must say good bye.

This year weaning will be no easier then it ever has for us.  We don't like separating them and for several years we didn't.  What we observed when we didn't wean is healthier lambs (less stress) but the mothers will drop from exhaustion trying to feed their babes and combat the heat.  Either choice is difficult and we make our annual determination based on environmental factors (heat, humidity etc) and weigb in the added stress...because it is real!  This year we've had such extreme heat I'm thinking not, for now.

I will never, ever,  take this process lightly.   I never did.  Especially now.   Nature speaks to me all the time.  Many of her messages bring me to tears.  This one...well, it really got me and will stay with me.

Shearing Day was not a washout!

There are certain farm chores that come with the territory. On a sheep farm one annual task we have is shearing. Most folks shear their sheep annually although some of our sheep need it twice a year.. A great deal of our farms success depends on the wool our sheep provide so it’s an important date on our calendar.

Shearing Day

Regardless, the shearing must be done.

Several years ago we decided to make an event of it and include the public. That’s it, we’ll invite folks that have never had the opportunity to see sheep loose their winter coats. Some folks have never even seen a sheep before. As the annual event has progressed it has turned into quite a big ordeal. Hundreds of folks each year come to the farm to see, learn and enjoy the farm setting.

This year will go down as one we’ll NEVER forget.

Shearing for us always takes place in late February or early March. We plan as far out on the calendar as we can but generally cannot set the date too far in advance because setting that date depends on a few things out of our control. Number ONE, we’re dependent on the shearer. As you might imagine, shearers are not easy to come by. When you find one you like you do your best to work closely with them and develop a relationship you both can depend on. Once you get your shearer to agree to a date all the event planning begins. We cater lunch and offer other activities for folks once they get here. How do we know how many people to plan for? Well we don’t really. We generally go by the previous years attendance and add a buffer. So, we order food ahead. We plan help. We commit to a band. Yes a band; there is something special about sitting on a blanket looking out over a pastoral setting, listening to some musicians pickin’ away.

OK, check, check and check. Everything is in order.

The last thing we’re dependent on is the weather. Yup. Counting on the weather is like tossing a coin in the air. Mother Nature is going to do her thing regardless of how much time, money and effort you’ve invested. Once you’ve set the date (as far in advance as you can for obvious reasons) there is no turning back. We’ve all seen a next days weather forecast change or even sun when Al Roker said rain!

Well 2019 shouldn’t have been a total surprise what with the onslaught of rain we’d had. Weeks before and leading up to the day…the rain did not let up. From the first day the extended 10 day weather forecast is posted on television and smartphones, I am tuning in. First thing each morning even before coffee I am reviewing every weather outlet to see the latest predictions. Thursday, before this years event, they had predicted rain all day. THE SUN CAME OUT! Me, the eternal optimism kept imaging Saturday would be the same. Under my breath I also muttered, “it is going to be what it’s going to be”. I knew we’d have to deal with it.

The caterer called giving us the option to cancel or reduce our quantities. A few of the band members came by to say it was OK if we wanted to cancel. Alas, the event had been advertised and the shearer was coming…THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

Saturday began with more rain then I had seen any day that week, POURING! Even if it stopped before the gates opened we’d have mud galore.

How should we prepare? Would people even come?

via GIPHY

Although the attendance was certainly down we had some real troopers out here! No one seemed bothered. Most were fully aware what to expect from the weather. Some learned their water resistant clothing wasn’t as water proof as they thought!. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! Everyone understood I couldn’t ‘warm’ it up or move the puddles.

We sheared, we ate, we got wet and shivered a bit together and somehow, in the midst of all the rain and mud I so enjoyed the day with way more folks then I’d anticipated. In many ways, I didn’t realize it was raining until I removed my wet clothes!

I had several memorable interactions.

The interaction I most wanted to share is the young girl and her parents who together had been discovering the world of knitting. They had decided, to buy some wool and take it through the process of washing, carding, spinning and finally knitting. They were picking a freshly shorn fleece to buy and I encouraged them while here to pick a sheep and really connect the wool to the source. The family was able to deliberately pick a sheep that attracted her. They were able to pet the sheep and watch the sheep get shorn. With a tear in she and her mother’s eye they shared with me how that experience touched them! They will always connect with that finished handmade piece in a way that cannot be matched! I learned of the girls grandmother in Switzerland that would be so happy to hear their experience.

I will never forget that experience and I will never forget them!

Win, loose or draw with the days finance report…it doesn’t seem to matter after a day like this!

The life of a sheep!

Gabby

I was in the barn the other day and our eyes locked on each other.

My mind raced back over our years together. I was amazed at the many facets of this pretty gals life here on the farm.

The daughter of Willow, another of our very photographed and storied gals here on the farm. Gabby was born several years ago. A real beauty of a lamb! Shiny black and long strong legs with a very happy bounce that took her about the barn and pastures. One day during barn chores I noticed her mother, Willow, seeming to talk to me, she kept baaing at me and standing in one place. I followed her cue and found Gabby, clearly not feeling well. Her wonderful momma kept nudging her with her nose. Gabby didn’t have the strength to even nurse her mother, which of course was her life blood. Long story short, we almost lost Gabby. After weeks of constant attention and TLC she survived and was soon romping again about the pastures.

As a shepherd you become especially connected to sheep you’ve spent such heart rending time with. Anyways, I always noted a sort of smile on this little girls face (she’ll always be a little girl to me).

The first 18 months of her life she got to enjoy just the frolic! Then at her almost 2nd year of life she had a baby of her own but poor Gabby freaked! Her instinct, so viable in the Navajo breed , brought her to a wooded area to have her lamb. She gave birth with ease. As she stood over her newborn trying to put two and two together my husband John spotted her and went to check on her. She saw him coming. A little freaked already, his approach was just too much and she bolted, never to accept her little girl again. We tried and tried but to no avail.

Some farms/shepherds might decide it is time to move her along I felt I couldn’t. One might say the situation was contributory. To our wonderful surprise the next year Gabby raised a beautiful healthy lamb!

As we share this moments glance my human self is sure she too reflects back over our many emotional moments together.

Silly human!

Lamb Liver Paté

Lamb Liver Pate'

I love our customers and I love it when they share what they’ve created or how they’ve used our products. At the market last week someone shared his very successful rendition of liver paté using our liver.  He’d made it over the holidays  Not only did it sound yummy I thought, why haven’t I done that?  I decided to try paté with our lamb liver instead of the ubiquitous chicken liver.   Lamb liver is much milder then beef liver and much healthier then all liver.  For those who declare they don’t like liver I’d suggest you give this a try.

I’ve made paté before but most often I enjoyed it while sitting at one of my favorite restaurants enjoying their paté with the traditional accompaniments of coarse mustard, cornichons and caper berries with toasted baguette slices.  One of my sisters brought some to our recent holiday festivities, same accompaniments but, to be expected, made with chicken liver. 

Well my life has been changed FOREVER!

So easy.  So good .

Hey, did you know lamb’s liver is one of the worlds richest sources of B vitamins, and an incredible source of iron, zinc, copper, vitamin A and D.  

Ingredients

• 1 shallot, minced

• allspice 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon, depending on your tastes

• peppercorns, whole 3 teaspoons

• creme fraiché or cream, 2 Tablespoons

• port (or brandy) 1/8 to 1/4 cup

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 3/4 pound lamb liver

• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced or 2 teaspoons dried crumbled

• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced or 2 teaspoons dried

• ½ cup butter, melted

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

• ⅛ cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Saute the shallots in the butter and cook for 2 minutes on medium-high. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the liver, sprinkling with the herbs. Cook until no longer pink in the center. Add the port and cook just to incorporate. Remove from heat, and place contents into a blender or food processor with the butter and all other ingredients except peppercorns. Process until it forms a paste, adding more port if too thick. Add the peppercorns and pulse until they crack.

1. Garnish with some fresh herbs parsley 

2. Serve with thin baguette slices and cornichons and coarse mustard.

YUM, just sayin’

BTW, it freezes beautifully.  DH isn’t fond of it so I have a bit, freeze the rest for a time I want a bit of decadence or just to feel really healthy.  It’s a great protein source for morning needs.

 Since my original post I’ve had quite a bit of feedback! One of our fans (a chef by trade) suggested adding a caramelized pear….2 DIE FOR! Another of our friends decided to use the lamb liver but created her own pared down version…first for simpler makings she roasted the liver, tossed with some EVOO. Then she blended simply with lemon zest, and the caramelized pear idea. She brought some for me to try. AGAIN, 2 DIE FOR! The lemon zest added a brightness that was so refreshing.

I guess the moral of the story is, use good quality ingredients and combine to your hearts content!

To Wean or not to Wean

Observing a mother and her new born is a heavenly site.  We respond  based purely on emotions,  whether we've actually "mothered" or not.   At the moment you lay your eyes on this site all the world around is a blur and all that matters is the true love that halos around them.  It is such a pure connection that under no circumstances one should want to come between them, right?

A lot of the methods used in sheep farming  are about "management" of the flock.  The larger the number your trying to manage the harder it is to keep "order".  Orderliness becomes a goal for efficiency.  Efficiency adds to profits.  Follow me?  This is a slippery slope.

Weaning is one of those "management" tools.  According to reference books,  lambs should be removed from their mothers at 8-10 weeks old.  The reasons are mainly that the needs of the lambs for maximum market potential are different then the mamma's.    Growth of the lambs requires richer, higher protein grasses or grains which the mamma's don't need.  The only way to accomplish such a task is to separate them.  The other argument we found (didn't read it in a reference book) to support weaning  is the mothers will give and give until they are basically spent.  We find the heat of the summer, coupled with the very selfless nature of mom's takes everything out of them and begins to compromise their own health.

For these reasons one might wean.  

Wean:accustom (someone) to managing without something on which they have become dependent or of which they have become excessively fond.

Now that I've given you a bit of knowledge about weaning I'd like to share our journey with this decision.

We began this farm knowing we would make choices about the care of our animals based on our experiences, not just because everyone said so. Many topics of care and handling were researched and we found enough disparaging information that we felt strongly our decision to observe first was a worthy one.

Many of our farming practices were established by observing,  educating ourselves, then we'd established our way.  Weaning the lambs was one really challenging task.  Now 8 years later, after going back and forth, this year, we're not weaning again.  The first three years we didn't wean.  I wish I could tell you why we decided to wean the 4th year but I'm betting we succumb to the "text" book ways.  Most other shepherds around us weaned which made us question our decision even more.  Our farm was growing and as often happens after you've immersed yourself in something you loose some of your "curiosity" or better yet, the luxury of time to remember to be curious and ask questions.

So, we spent a few years weaning.  It is a very difficult task, not physically challenging, just heartbreaking really.  They cry and baa for easily 48 hours.  The mothers also.  Eventually they all settle in but gosh it never felt right.  As often I'm guided on this farm, if it goes against nature my heart cannot find peace with it...this is one of those lessons.  

With most industrial farming models, maximum growth of the lambs became the  shepherds primary goal in order to get those lambs to market fast and efficiently.  Is fast and efficient our ultimate goal.  Those that know this farm know our answer to this question is NO.  We strongly believe you sacrifice so much in order to achieve those fast/efficient goals.  It is this very reason that so many breeds of livestock are in danger of being lost for good...they don't meet these industrial models!

In summary, we've have some of the best looking, healthiest lambs ever, happily growing on mothers milk...there must have been some divine wisdom in that!

---

Sustainability & Our Precious Soil

As farmers, we've been told over and over, your #1 asset is your soil.

 It makes sense, the soil is the foundation of everything on this farm.  For us and most sustainable livestock farmers the pastures feed our sheep by daily spring, summer, and fall gnashing and in the winter its fed as hay.  That's all pretty straight forward, right.? 

 Prior to my farming life my familiarity with grass was only my own "city" lawn.  The lawn that framed my house and defined my space....the lawn I had to mow.  Almost every week-end in the summer I knew I'd be rolling out the self propelled grass eating machine to "manicure" my lawn. Just like everyone else in the neighborhood I kept my 9 to 5 schedule  during the week knowing yard work, long moments with coffee and the religious newspaper experiences were all part of my upcoming, predictable, always looked  forward to week-end.  I don't recall ever worrying about the grass other then it's color or the number of dandelions that emerged.  I probably could have done more to beautify my lawn but that wasn't my thing.  I was all about my garden beds and the pots that adorned my entrance or patio. As long as my grass was "groomed" I didn't do much else to my lawn.  My next door neighbor, now he was into it.  Every evening after work he was ready to work some more... in his yard.  His week-ends were spent fertilizing or amending something.  He had the lawn!  You know, the kind you imagine running barefoot through. Everyone knows the lawn I'm describing, like a green carpet with perfectly shaped edges.

I drove in and out of that neighborhood with all the perfectly manicured and aspiring to be lawns and never thought twice...it was all I'd ever known.

.....

if I knew then what I know now.

As a farmer working directly with mother nature I see so much I never realized.  

She speaks in so many visible ways.  

Naturally, as grasses grow then die back with the seasons, the soil is replenished with decomposing nutrients and a layer of "mulch" for protection.  If we mow the grass or take the grass for our livestock or "manicured" lawns we've robbed the soil of it's natural sources for replenishment .  

Simply put, "taking" the grass

 impacts the soil's fertility. Whether we mow a lawn or graze a pasture we are interrupting the natural process.

Because we depend on the grasses on our farm we learned very quickly the choices we had available to keep that grass healthy and growing!    If we we're going to take her natural source of nutrient we had to give something back.  

Our choices?  Natural or Synthetic. The nutrients in both types of fertilizer are much the same. The differences lie in their source, quantity, availability to plants and long term effects on the micro life of the soil.

Natural fertilizers sources come from plants, animal waste and natural minerals.  They also provide micro nutrients such as boron, copper, iron and manganese. Synthetic fertilizers contain nutrients made from fossil fuels.  

 See this beautiful pasture?  Just as green and lush as you can imagine.  It's kept that way at a tremendous expense.  Every year the farmer applies synthetic fertilizers and every year it looks like this.  What could be wrong with this?  Just like my "city" neighbor applying all those synthetic fertilizers on his lawn, the results are gorgeous and we're conditioned to want them that way.

So golly, why not?  

The synthetic fertilizers are like steroids, they feed the plant but interrupt the symbiotic relationship between the plant and the soil.  The plant can no longer depend on the soil to feed it.  

Eventually, the grass, without another application of those same synthetic fertilizers won't even green.  The natural flora of the soil is gone.  Believe me, I've seen it, even on this same pasture not far from our farm.

 Our other option and the only sustainable solution... we rebuild and/or replenish the soil with natural sources of nutrients.

Why isn't the natural solution the most chosen method?

First, we've been conditioned (brainwashed) to dependency on the commercially available options.  Second, it takes an investment of time and effort.

 It takes years of applying natural sources of nutrients back to your soil for the perfect balance to be achieved.  It takes testing your soil to know what's absent.  It takes sourcing the nutrients or in our case creating them from sources here on the farm.  We collect the leaves and gather our kitchen scraps.  We trek our barn waste to our collection areas along with all the other valuable waste materials and layer them together to age. In this way we build our own dark rich compost that we refer to as gold. We apply that "gold" to our pastures and our soil has what it needs to do what mother nature intended...GROW GOOD STUFF!

So, it takes first admitting the need to do it for the health of our soils and ourselves and second the commitment to the investment of time and labor.

Are we willing to make that investment?

Can we afford not to?

Come out to our farm and see first hand how my immediate boss,

Mother Nature

, whispers in my ear, pokes me in the arm and sometimes slaps me upside the head...

As I write this post I feel proud that we've taken the time and ever prouder of that dark, rich, healthy soil we give back to our soils........