When Life Upends the Chore Chart: A Hard-Won Lesson in Farm Preparedness
Sheep, Holistic shepherding Olga Elder Sheep, Holistic shepherding Olga Elder

When Life Upends the Chore Chart: A Hard-Won Lesson in Farm Preparedness

We had let traditional roles set in, and suddenly, John was sidelined with a cancer diagnosis. Today, he’s healthy, but the chaos of those months taught us an essential lesson. The farm tasks he was the "primary doer" of—from equipment maintenance to daily feeding—became a scramble for me to reacquaint myself with. If you run a small farm, you must cross-train. Don't wait for a crisis to realize you don't know how to run the baler! Click through to see our full wake-up call

Read More
Breeding season is underway
Sheep, livestock management Olga Elder Sheep, livestock management Olga Elder

Breeding season is underway

Here’s the rub: we only have so much space, and the actual logistics of moving the groups are a precision operation.

Once the ewes are in their respective pastures, it’s time to move the rams. This is the hardest part. A ram will not walk into an empty field, but he will bolt if he catches sight of or even just smells a rival ram or another group of ewes along his route. The desire to dominate or breed is a powerful distraction!

The move has to be mapped out with surgical precision, thinking through every turn to ensure no two pastures are engaged or overlapping during the transfer. It’s like a high-stakes, bovine chess game where one wrong move could result in a broken fence or a breeding group disaster. We execute the plan, cross our fingers, and hope everything goes exactly as scheduled.

Ready for the full story about the ram who refused to move until he had a perfect view of his girls?

Keep reading!

Read More