Oh hello hello hello!

I'm back.... I went away for a little while. Not away from the farm of course, just away from the computer. Hello!!! What did I do wth nearly a month? Ahhhhh, that's easy...

500 square bales of hay and 19 round bales of haylage. I have personally picked up, at least once if not twice, every one of those 50#square bales. I am 50 year olds. Hmmm.... I see allot of 5's and 0's there - HAHA!

Also, there was a 2 day ADGA goat show nearby. I show my dairy goats, Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats. I took one of my girls - my breeding - and one of my boys - a yearling buck purchased from another herd. My girl took Sr. Grand Champion Doe the first day, Reserve Grand Champion the 2nd day. The next day was ADGA Linear Appraisals on 20+ goats... I'd never done it before, boy did I learn a few things.

Let's see what else - oh, last weekend we had another herding trial here again. ASCA herding venue, just one day one trial, got a good run and ualified with one of my girls, took 2nd place with another, and failed by making a bad handler mistake with my third dog. Got to love learning tho, we learn from mistakes very well!

Right now Rick's making raw goats milk cheddar cheese with 2 gallons of fresh goats milk... it will be ready for eating late in the fall when we crave eating cheese near the woodstove on a cold evening.

The sheep - well, as the herding season goes on, we find a few ewes that need to go bye bye. They are too sweet, too slow, too easy. They would be WONDERFUL for someone who wanted to start out a dog on calm sheep. They would be great for someone wanting a few sheep to keep their grass mowed. They don't cause any trouble, but they also don't move with the rest of the sheep any more. Nothing bothers them, they don't run, they just stop and graze and pretend the dog can't see them. That's ok...they will be happy in someone else's home. :-) The sheep are having a good summer. The sun has come back out, the mornings are cool, and now they can get more hay, more calories, and more interior body fat for the upcoming winter. Winter is never far away in the far north, just like way up in the mountains. Today is 78 degrees outside with the sun beating down - take away the sun and give us clouds instead, it would have only been 64 degrees. 64 is nice and warm still, but think of it as only 32 degrees above freezing...hehe....so it's time to put their winter fat on, slowly but surely. Now it's time to go mow the lawn around the house, and give the sheep some nice fresh grass with a little clover in it. They will be happy with me in a little while when I arrive with their evening treat!