Farm Early

Today, I got up early so I could feed animals before work. I think I’m going to have to shift to these “farm hours” for the winter. This will enable me to make sure the animals have thawed water in the morning, and that the sheep have all day to eat their grain. I’ve been getting by with feeding them after work, but now it’s getting dark, and the sheep won’t eat then.

It felt good to be up and about; knock on wood, hopefully I’ll keep thinking that. Normally I’m not a morning person, and get up at the last possible moment. This is turning over a new leaf for me.

On the subject of grain; I’ve sure been pondering how I want to feed the sheep. It’s working out well feeding them grain now, they are acclimating to my presence, and I can take a look at them up close while they’re eating. They are about at the end of their flushing phase, and the bag of grain is running out. So, I may let them go without for a little while. It seems the cost of grain can quickly add up to the cost of a lamb or two, so I feel that I want to be conservative on how much I utilize.

Some sources say to start adding grain in the last two months of pregnancy. That would be in the November time frame for the ewes that came already bred. Yet, the ones that were bred this month shouldn’t be allowed to get too fat during the early stages of their pregnancy. So, I don’t know what I’ll do.

I’d so far been feeding a bagged sheep ration, but I don’t like the idea of all those processed grains. I think I’ll switch to dry COB (corn, oats, barley) when I buy the next bag.

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