You might wonder about how we manage to take care of 180 head of sheep (as of spring 2018) without going a little crazy. To answer your question best, I want to give you a first-hand walkthrough of a day in the life of a sheep farmer.
The day usually starts at seven in the morning, when everyone drags themselves out of bed. We usually split up to accomplish various small chores. Charlesey mixes milk for the bottle babies and feeds them, Ron feeds the puppies or moves feed bags up to the barn, and I let the chickens out from their coop and feed them.
Roscoe and the girls.
Once this is done, we reconvene up at the barn. We have two barns: one consists of a working facility and the other is a hoop barn where we hold younger lambs annd rams and can split up what kind of food we give each group depending on their age and weight. We check on the sheep at this time. This is when things are most likely to go wrong. Premature lambs, loose sheep, broken fences, sheep caught in twine, you name it. This isn’t to say that our facilities aren’t up to the task of holding sheep, it’s just that, when working with animals, you must keep in mind that they are wholly unpredictable, especially when you aren’t watching them.
Charlesey untangling our ram Andy.
Morning disaster handled, we move on to the morning chores. While I am filling the water buckets, Charlesey is filling the creep feeder for the ewe lambs and ram lambs and filling up the hay rings. Sometimes, we have to catch lambs and tag and vaccinate them, which is harder than you might think. Catching a very small, very frightened animal is always harder than you think it is.
Chalesey pouring feed into the creep feeder.
One of our lambs checking out the tag clamp.
Once the water buckets and food troughs are filled and the sheep have plenty of hay, we usually take half an hour to just look at the sheep. While to anyone else this may seem pointless, this is actually one of the most essential parts of the morning. This is how you pick out sick sheep, underweight sheep, and any other problems that may need fixing. In addition, we can see what sheep will by good to sell or which ones should be kept for breeding and improving the genetics of our flock.
After the morning chores, the day is usually filled with other tasks. Fencing, working sheep, shearing, and many other tasks. Once in a blue moon, we get a free few hours to relax, but this usually doesn’t happen. Farming is, after all, a full-time job. There’s always something to be done. One project in progress on the farm right now is a chicken coop, which is a very big project. During certain times of the year, the day is taken up by baling, moving, and stacking hay, which can be a multi-day task. There is almost always a task to be done to fill the time.
Charlesey’s dad, Charles, working on the tractor.
In the evening, everything repeats, but with less work. Our wool sheep are usually sheared in the early morning or the evening, when it’s cooler, so that might be done if needed. Hay and water are checked, sick sheep are given any treatments they might need, and bottle babies are fed. The evening is usually fairly calm as the sheep are laying down to rest. The chickens are locked in their temporary coop.
And that’s it! I mean, it’s a lot to do, but it’s worth it to see the sheep happy and the people happy (and exhausted!). Wash, rinse, and repeat for the next day, adding in the crazy happenings that might make themselves known suddenly and usually without much warning. It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it!
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