Working Hard

I'll be working hard for a while so won't be around to blog much. The weather has been very cool and damp with showers every couple of days. We have finally gotten the stretch of 4 days with no rains, hopefully, to cut and bale our first cutting. So we are hoping for good winds and a dry evening with no late evening thunderstorms off the mountains so that we can bale hay. We have about 250-300 bales laying on the ground at the moment this morning, waiting to be tedded this afternoon and windrowed late in the day for baling. We need 1,000 square bales in the barn for the year here, but it's a start anyways.

And the girls are working now for their living too.... this Friday, the 4th of July, starts 4 days of ASCA and AKC herding trials held here at our place followed by 2 days of herding clinics. So I'm getting the farm ready, the house set, and all the animals squared away because I'm going to be one very very busy person for the next 2 weeks! The sheep are sorted into groups of three that work well together, and are marked - color coded - so that the stock handlers know which 3 go out each time for a herding trial 'run'. The sheep are kept in 14 pens down at the arena in their respective groups of 3, fed and watered together, then at the end of the day all let loose into the big arena to graze and relax. It's a big management job to ensure they are happy and comfortable and handled easily. The grounds are about ready and all the facilities are almost ready for the 50 to 60 people that will be here each day. Yes, let's just do all this AND haying at the same time - EEEEEEEEK! But we'll get 'er done, we always do...and the girls earn some money to pay for their upkeep too! So if you don't 'see' me for a while, you'll know where I'm at, and it won't be inside the house! HA!