Ranch Hands Feb 2015

This last month our sheep made life WAY more interesting at the ranch!! 

So far this season we have 16 very energetic lambs....  still four new mom's to go too.  But this large group is learning lessons from each other at a scary rate...  they are breaching our electric fences & even climbing lava rocks to eat the trees inside the fences!!!  Truly a season of first's here!!!

When we got our first sheep in 2012, the old guy gave us great advice...  one was "Have a plan for when they get loose!"  I thought "Yeah right, not us!"  Well late in January one of our "chow hound" moms pushed on a gate & the whole flock was suddenly eating new stuff all over the ranch!!!  An exciting two hours and all were back in their pasture.....  Never say Never.

December to April is Hawaii's traditional wet season....  not this year!  Our last regular hard rain was December 22nd....  since then we have had rain on only 2 days... record setting dry spell, which isn't good for sheep who luv grass... now we're even adding hay to the flock's diet on top of what we harvest & feed them.

Sheep on the Loose

I had quite a busy day planned today but the sheep had other ideas. 

Somehow, one of the paddock gates was not closed properly and the sheep decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. So, out they went. I was lucky enough to run out and close the front gate before they went out on the road and fortunate enough to keep them away from the dog. They had about an hour to munch all sorts of things (none of which was grass) before Mike came home to help me put them back in. I tried by myself but they were not convinced that I was serious and kept slipping by me. 

Here are some pictures of their destruction. 

The Ti plants took the biggest hit. 

And my poor poinsettias. Hopefully they won't make them sick. 

A rather hectic morning. Back to all the stuff I wanted to do today. 

Ranch Hands January 2015

This year the flock had 13 pregnant sheep going into the winter, so far we have 14 new lambs 'pronking' and playing in the pasture with 5 more pregnant moms to deliver!! All healthy & only one delivery we had to help with (a HUGE lamb!!).  The store that sells our lamb is in Hilo and is now getting monthly deliveries from us.  It quickly sells out, so they are even happier about the new arrivals!

Leslie's Christmas wish was for a hot tub to help shoulder and back pain....  so the Bunk House now has one & Mike's next big goal is finishing the drywall, painting & wiring it for cable, TV & Wifi....  he agrees it helps sore muscles!!!

So our Xmas card foto this year is Eggnog, the first lamb born this season.... our task is tracking the sheep & managing them for health matters....  an unexpected challenge was naming all those we'll keep and breed....  this season 12 of the 14 lambs are ewe's (females) so we needed lots of names, guys just get a letter!!

Boars: XXVI

Mongeese: CCXV