PyreneesExperiment--part1

Bette

I don't know how many of you are familiar with guardian dogs.  We use Great Pyrenees guardian dogs to protect our herds and flocks from predators such as coyotes, cougars, and birds of prey.  We usually pair up the dogs, and they spend most of their time with one herd.  For instance, Belle stays with the hens, Bert and Beau with the sheep, and Barks and Bette with the goats.
Goats and sheep are fairly similar, except that goats need copper, while copper is toxic for sheep.  Since we have free-choice mineral (meaning there's a tub, and the animals eat when they want/need mineral) program, we hadn't run sheep and goats together (meaning in the same field) because we figured either way, one group wouldn't be getting their mineral needs met.  A few months ago, my brother and I gave all the goats a copper bolus (basically a copper pill that's supposed to meet their copper need for a year) so that they could go in with sheep, and eat the same mineral, (without anyone being deficient or poisoned, yay!) and reduce our labor/management.

Barks and Bette, on their way to meet Bert and Beau.

From L-R: Daniel, Barks, Lucy, Bette, Beau, Bert.  (And Goats in the Distance.)

Bette with Sheep in the Distance

Anyway, the copper isn't the point.  It's that the other day, we put the sheep and goats, as well as their respective pairs of dogs in the same pasture for the first time.  Although Barks is the papa, and Bette, Bert and Beau are all litter mates, the pairs have little to no interaction usually.  We weren't sure what would happen--would they fight?  Stay apart?  Run as a pack and abandon their herds?  Would they fight and create different pairings?  The herd animals often self-segregate, so we were pretty curious to see what would happen.  (haha aren't you??)

BaGawkers

I was trying to write the noise chickens make, because it ISN'T "cluck-cluck", it's more...I don't know.  I don't think there are letters to represent the sounds...but I took some pictures in any case.

She'll peck you, no joke.

IrrigationStation

It feels like we spent weeks and weeks bemoaning how wet it was...rain rain rain, drizzle drizzle rain...and now, all of a sudden everything is DRY.  Did the growing season really only last a week?  Not good for grass farmers (we're essentially grass farmers, with ruminant herds eager to consume said grass).

At Sweet Home Farms River, we have water/irrigation rights to the lovely Calapooia River, which flows right behind the house.  (This gives us the opportunity to keep the grass growing and extend the length of time the animals can graze--for this reason, the finishing cattle are here!)  Today was the day for the arduous task of setting up the irrigation system: pump, pipe, and sprinklers.  I can't stress how important it is to water the grass BEFORE it dries out, so timing is essential!

I'm sure other places have newer, fancier equipment...ours is a bit funky and clunky:

Danny and The Pump.

The foot valve, which will draw in the fresh water.

Upstream Calapooia.

Downstream Calapooia.

The fuse box.

Red to red, white to white, black to black, and the ground.

Serious electrical cord.

Water gets pumped up from the river...

...And out to the field.

View from the orchard, water is pumping!

PrettySlime

BottleBabes

These little lambies were abandoned/not recognized by their mamas. (Motherhood is tough work!)  This can happen to a first-time ewe, or if the ewe has triplets...too many to keep track of!  That's when the nice humans step in and bottle-feed the babes.  These two lambs are now so used to getting their food from us, they coming running over "baa-ing" every time we're in the same field as them.

I wanted puppy pics, they wanted milk.

FenceWalk

 I went to check the perimeter fence at one of the properties we lease, to make sure things were still in place after all the storms we had these past few months...it was spectacular, and turned into more of a hike in woods and meadows.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon at work.

View from the top of the hill.

Sheep grazing down below.

Fall/Winter forage area for goats in 2011.

Amapolas

 The sun is here!  The sun is here!