Spring Brings Wet and Dry

Late Winter and Spring have brought wet weather and rather sever drought conditions. We calved and lambed during the wet, cold late Winter, early Spring time . Calves survived and lambs did better this year. We converted more space in our shed to accommodate more bred ewes. Years before I would try to keep an eye on the sheep herd and bring in the ewes when it appeared they were about to lamb. That just didn’t work well. Ewes develop at different rates and size. That resulted in too many lambs born outside. If it was on a cold, wet night, they were stressed or worse. This year I brought in all the possible candidates. Lambs fare much better in an artificially warmed, controlled shed. We’ll stick to that from now on.

Our Galloway cows are built for cold weather. Two hair layers see to their cold weather comfort. They did well. Even the first time heifers seem to do well at calving. We are fortunate about that.

I kept the boars and sow pigs separated until late winter early spring. We just had two sows farrow outdoors. They must have heat lamps in the cold months. They are thriving in our moderate heat now.

The drought has had time to have an effect on our pasture paddocks as well as our ponds. We use our largest pond as a source of water for our cows, sheep and pigs. The pond water gravity feeds to a pump in our shed that pumps water out to stock tanks scattered throughout the farm. Water level in the pond is important. If it drops enough, it may expose the feed line. If that happens, there is no pond water to pump. I did trench in a rural water line up to the pump. I can connect the rural water supply to the stock tank line and run rural water to the animals. That will be expensive. I have yet to have to do it. Our pond did not fully recover from last year’s drought. We’ll have to see what happens.

Another concern of ours is the volume of pasture grass. The pasture has grown marginally. The grass has come to a head and, as a result, has stopped growing. The cows and sheep continue to top it which helps keep it growing, but the lack of water prevents any real growth. I cut and bailed one paddock up close to the barn. We will have those bales available for winter feed. The remainder of the paddocks are the big question. If I cut and bail them, we will have that lesser hay and the grass will have the potential to grow again. If we continue in the drought, that growth will be negligible. That would mean there would be very little pasture out there on which our cows and sheep can feed. We would have to feed the bales early.

If I don’t cut and bail, the grass will remain out there for them to consume in the pasture., but the grass will likely not continue to grow. So, do I cut and bale or do I not? NOAA forecasts increased rains after June, through July and August. If I bale, I will have that hay and the rain will help the grass to grow back again. That would mean the cows and sheep may be able to graze later on, into the Fall and, possibly, Winter season. It appears my best bet is to cut and bale and pray for rain, regardless of a NOAA forecast. That’s not all that is happening out here, but that’s enough for now.

Update 6/16/23

Just saw the current NOAA Drought forecast. The are expanding the drought in out area through Sept. 31. Cutting and baling is not so certain now. Maybe their drought lines are not accurate and we may escape more drought. We’ll have to wait and see.