Snow Day

It is cold, it is very cold in fact. Now if you are from somewhere where is often really cold and it snows all the time you will laugh and say "That's not snow" or "You think this is cold?" I understand but when you are use to rain and temperatures around 40 or 50 degrees in winter you might agree that this is cold for us.

Elinor

Yesterday morning we woke to no snow it was cold as it has been for several days so nothing seemed unusual. School was scheduled for a 2 hour delay since the foot hills did have some snow and roads were icy. Within an hour though the snow began to fall at a steady rate and started to pile up, school became canceled and thus the snow day began.

Ruth & Zora

The snow does not concern the sheep in the least. It does make finding the grass a bit difficult so they use their noses like plows and snuffle through the snow in search of the green grass below. This makes their appearance rather amusing since the snow sticks to the wool on their faces. They almost look like they have snow beards.

Elinor

The falling snow leaves a thin blanket of snow on their backs and the tips of their fleeces freeze. However the snow and ice don't reach far into their fleeces, leaving them toasty and warm.

Esther

The snow we currently have is a nice dry powder. Unlike the wet sticky snow we typically get in the valley when it snows. However it does have it inconveniences. Though the water pipes haven't frozen the hose did freeze meaning having to haul water to the barn and field. As I went out last night to water and feed I found that with the help of the wind we had yesterday the snow had blown into the barn leaving an inch of snow on the floor and a good amount on the hay.

The snow has stayed overnight and it looks like it will be staying awhile longer and in fact that we might get more. Lucky for us we have a good supply of hot cocoa in the house and a fresh supply of hay  in the barn for the sheep.

Snow Days in March?

It is finally spring so can someone explain to me why it looks like a Christmas card outside.

This is the second day of snow for us, talk about record breaking weather. We hardly ever have this much snow in the first place but add the fact that it is March this much snow is unheard of! So we get an early spring break.

The sheep are not in the least bit impressed they were already soggy muddy messes from the rain and mud but add snow to everything, the poor things are misreable and its impossible to keep the barn clean and dry for them.

But some happy news,yesterday Annabeth had a big ram lamb! That leaves Sugar Foot as the last ewe to lamb like last year.

The new arrival

Someone is enjoying the snow.

Snow Sheep

Yesterday was a busy day here on the farm. It was shearing day...WHAT?!?! You're shearing in January! Are you crazy? It may sound crazy, but there is some logic behind it. We shear our sheep every January right before lambing season hits since a full fleece on a ewe can cause some problems, which shearing can help with. When lambs are born, they don't have a 4 inch fleece on them to keep warm, so if the mother has no fleece, she can feel the cold the baby lamb feels and will take it to shelter. Sometimes lambs get confused and suck on locks of wool when they try to get milk. Shearing also lets us, as the shepherd, to keep an eye on the ewes to see how close they are to lambing. And finally, taking the wool off also lets the younger sheep have a chance to grow.

Now our house is over-run by fleeces, and we are slowly making our way through skirting the fleeces. We had to keep part of our flock inside the barn, because we ran out of blankets that fit everyone. It is too cold out for them to not be wearing coats, because as soon as shearing was over the snow hit as the forecast said it would.