From the Pastures: A winter wonderland

Hello from Graze-N-Grow. So far, this winter has been pretty friendly to the winter chores. We might be concerned about the lack of moisture for next spring’s crops, but right now dry is good. A year ago I was battling mud under deep snow, but we’ve managed to have only a couple inches at a time this season, which gives the ewes a clean dinner plate for feeding hay in the field.

We’re about done with the mature ewes lambing, mostly the last three weeks of January, and it’s been pretty comfortable for them. Lambs can handle below-zero temps if they have a full belly and a dry place to lie down out of the wind. It’s always a joy to watch them stampede around the flock as I feed the ewes hay in the field, no matter how cold it is, even if only a few days old.

Cold air, calm winds and sunny days make winter wonderful, but wet and windy make winter worse. Both my sisters and their husbands believed there’s no reason for anyone to stay in Illinois in the wintertime if they didn’t have to, so they all relocated to Florida. I, on the other hand, think they are missing out, but to each his own. I think having animals to take care of makes winter seem to pass more quickly.

As for chores, Ruth thought we should restock our laying hens, so I got a few from an Amish friend last fall to supply three households, as well as us, and now we get calls for more eggs than the hens can shuck out.

This bird flu that has decimated the flocks so much would maybe be less of a threat if they would leave some barns from being destroyed and see if the survivors could produce some resistance to the breeding flocks, but that’s just maybe to simple of a solution. I’m just glad we aren’t paying $8 a dozen for eggs. At least all those diehard vegans aren’t, either.

The last batch of bucket calves are weaned — finally. These are Charolais/Jersey and are looking good. They should have a larger finish weight than the Angus/Jersey, so I may finish them myself instead of selling as feeders like the last bunch. I hope the market stays strong until then.

It’s been an eventful winter off the farm, too, as our country is getting back on track. I hope and pray we can all enjoy a peaceful and prosperous 2025 and not like the popular song of my youth. Happy trails.