Through Others' Eyes

Teaching helps me to see things that I take for granted through another's eyes.  Yesterday, Sami and I taught our intern Callie and her boyfriend Matt how to process chickens.  Sami and I have processed chickens on a regular basis over the last 8 or 9 years (first for our own consumption, then for our customers).  Callie and Matt were new to the entire process, and their reaction to it helped Sami and I see it in a new light.

The butchering process, for me, is both physical and mental.  I always do the "outside" work (that is, I bleed, scald and pluck the birds), while Sami does the "inside" work (evisceration, chilling, weighing and bagging).  I've done the outside work enough to have muscle memory for the tasks involved.  For example, I know where and how to use the sticking knife to quickly and humanely dispatch the chicken.  I know how long to scald the bird to make sure the feathers come off completely, and I know how to hold the bird over our plucking machine safely and securely.  Teaching someone these tasks, however, takes a conscious effort on my part to explain how and why.

On the mental side of the equation, I always remember that butchering involves the taking of a life.  Indeed, eating meat involves this decision.  When faced with this decision, some choose to remove meat from their diets.  My family has chosen to participate directly in the process - I guess we feel like we have a responsibility to make the process humane and dignified.  Our oldest daughter has helped us since she was 5, and she told me yesterday that she feels like her knowledge of the entire process of meat production makes her a more responsible human being.

As we taught Callie and Matt how to do the work, I realized that Callie found the "outside" part of the work somewhat overwhelming emotionally.  Similarly, Sami prefers not to do the bleeding and plucking.  Matt, on the other hand, was determined to learn how to do the outside work with care and skill.  Back inside, Sami and Callie focused on learning to dress out the chickens and prepare them for storage.  Both Callie and Matt remarked that they thought they could handle the type of partnership arrangement that Sami and I have developed over the years of raising, processing and eating our own chickens.  Callie emailed me last night that they were looking forward to a chicken dinner this week!

Whitney Oaks Grazing Update

Taff bringing newly shorn sheep back to the Whitney Oaks project.

Now that the sheep have been shorn, we'll be bumping up our numbers on our Whitney Oaks grazing project in Rocklin.  This year's better-than-average rainfall has resulted in tremendous grass growth, and we find ourselves behind schedule on this project.  Now that we'll have more mouths on the project, we should pick up the pace.

Lack of on-site water means we're hauling water to the animals
on a daily basis.  Each sheep needs about 1 to 1.5 gallons of water per day.

In addition to adding animals, we're boosting consumption through management as well.  We've added protein tubs for the sheep - the additional protein will help the animals consume and digest more dry feed.  Ruminant animals need protein to digest cellulose, and the dry grass doesn't have enough protein for their systems.  These tubs take more labor and expense to use, but the trade-off in terms of animal health and forage consumption will be positive.

Sheep grazing on wild oats.

Protein supplement will help boost
consumption of dry grass.

Shearing the animals will also boost consumption.  Without wool, the sheep will be less likely to seek shade during the hot part of the day - meaning they'll graze for longer periods.  The continued cool weather will also help.

We're hoping to add a second group of animals (goats, this time) by the end of the week - more animals will equal greater coverage.  We'll be purchasing ewes from another producer, too - we finally found some sheep that are available for purchase.

Like goats, sheep will graze blackberries - they like the green!

We're starting to see some evidence of invasive weeds.
This is a stand of medusahead barley in the current paddock.

We're also seeing barbed goatgrass.

Steep slopes and run-off from streets and yards creates erosion.
We're trying to leave enough residual grass to protect slopes while
removing enough to reduce fire danger - a real balancing act!

Finally, we'll be setting up 5-acre paddocks that will allow us to move every day.  Animals will consume more forage if they're moved to fresh feed more regularly.  We'll test this system out this week.

Shearing - Day 1.5

Here are some photos from the first full day of shearing here at Flying Mule Farm.  More will be posted....

Roger, Courtney and Josie at the skirting table.  We're hoping to have some
of our wool processed into yarn this year!

After visiting the stylist, the girls enjoyed a pedicure.  We
put them through the footbath today, too!

Josie - the newest member of the crew.

Courtney showing Paul how to skirt a fleece.

Stress

Bucolic – adjective.  1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral.  2. of, pertain to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life. [dictionary.com]

In some ways, "bucolic" describes the life I lead.  Certainly the first definition applies – I am a shepherd who operates a pasture-based sheep business.  On some days, the second definition also applies – some days are idyllic.  Other days, unfortunately, are not.

Some of the stress I deal with is external.  Lack of rain, too much rain, predators that threaten my sheep, neighbors that object to our use of livestock guardian dogs – these are stressors that are largely outslide of my control.  However, I also find that I put stress on myself.  Most of this type of stress stems from my inability to say “no” – I seem to want to help anyone who asks.

Sometimes, I can’t say no to volunteer activities – things that I think are important to our community but that take time that I don’t have to give.  Other times, I can’t say no to business opportunities that take away from my core business.  Regardless, my inability to say the word “no” creates tension for my time and attention.

Most of the time, I find my present livelihood to be much more enjoyable (and less stressful) than the time I spent commuting to an office early in my career.  Also, I find that the physical nature of my work helps alleviate the effects of stress.  After a particularly stressful day yesterday, I went to a friend’s house and sheared five ewes for her.  The stress hadn't disappeared while I was removing the wool from her sheep, but I certainly felt better when I was done!

Weather Woes

Yesterday, I awoke to rain and an outside temperature of 38 degrees F - normal for March, but unusual for mid-May.  My folks reported an inch of snow at their home east of Sonora - the first time they could remember measurable snow in May in the nearly 44 years they've lived there.  Our intern Paul was caught in a thunderstorm (including hail, thunder and lightning) while moving the sheep in Rocklin.  By all accounts, May 15 was a wild day, weather-wise.

Normally I enjoy late season storms - I soak up the cooler weather knowing that the summer heat is just around the corner.  This year, since a canal outage has disrupted our supply of irrigation water, I'm especially grateful for the nearly one inch of precipitation we received yesterday.

On the other hand, we're trying to get our sheep shorn.  We're nearly 3 weeks behind our normal shearing date, thanks largely to the extraordinarily wet March we had.  I was planning on shearing about 30 ewes myself yesterday - we gave up after shearing 21 because the remaining ewes were too sloppy from having been penned indoors overnight.  Our contract shearer is due to arrive Wednesday morning, but we're still up in the air because of the rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.  And we're behind on several grazing contracts - mostly because of the tremendous grass growth that all this wet weather has supported.

As I write this, the sky looks as if we'll be getting more rain soon.  I'm reminded of a story my Dad tells from the summer when he and my uncle were setting up their first farm equipment auction in southeastern Washington.  They were sitting in the kitchen of a wheat farmer on an August morning, watching the rain ruin the crop.  My Dad asked the farmer (Mr. Fulgham, as I recall) what he was going to do.  Mr. Fulgham replied, "I guess I'll just let it rain."

Getting Ready to Shear - 2011

Seems like shearing preparations are hectic every year - we typically have to move sheep home or to some other central location to get them shorn.  The wet spring (and the threat of more wet weather next week), combined with the number of grazing contracts we have this year, has made this year especially crazy.

This will probably sound like whining, but listing all that we have to do between now and next Saturday (May 21) is therapeutic!

May 13
Beginning Farming Class in Jackson

May 14

• Move portable corrals and footbath home and set them up
• Move 10 pairs of ewes and lambs home from Shanley Lane
• Move 2 rams home from Dry Creek Road
• Mark large lambs for weaning and note their mothers' ear tag numbers
• Sort 30 of the ewes whose lambs we'll wean off for shearing on Sunday
• Set up shearing barn, skirting table, wool sack stand, etc.
• Arts Council of Placer County Out of the Box Auction

May 15

• Shear 30 ewes (I'll do these myself - should be interesting!)
• Put 30 ewes through the footbath

May 16

• Haul 30 shorn ewes to Whitney Oaks project in Rocklin
• Haul 80-90 wooled ewes home from Whitney Oaks project
• Haul Clara the guard llama home from Whitney Oaks
• Shear Clara and Tina (the other llama) - Sami will do this!
• Haul Clara back to Whitney Oaks
• Farm Business Planning Class in Auburn

May 17

• Haul water to sheep at Whitney Oaks
• Clean up shearing barn and wool handling equipment for round 2
• Meeting with County Supervisor Robert Weygandt
• Bring ewes from Whitney Oaks into corrals, sort off the best fleeces to shear first
• Beginning Farming Class in Auburn

May 18

• Shear 80 or so ewes
• Put ewes and lambs through footbath
• Sort ewes for next day's shearing - dry lot them in the corrals overnight
• Skirt good fleeces and individually bag them
• Sack the rest of the fleeces
• Check/move sheep at Whitney Oaks (thank goodness for shepherd apprentices!)

May 19

• Shear remaining ewes (about 70)
• Put remaining ewes and lambs through the footbath
• Skirt good fleeces (again)
• Sack the rest of the fleeces
• Clean up shearing barn and wool equipment
• Put all sheep back on pasture
• Check/move sheep at Whitney Oaks
• Beginning Farming Class in Auburn (what was I thinking?!)

May 20

• Wean large lambs
• Haul 3-4 loads of ewes back to Whitney Oaks

May 21

• 4-H Youth Activity Fair in Roseville - demonstrate sheep dogs
• Haul remaining ewes and lambs back to Shanley Ranch
• Breast Cancer Benefit Auction in Loomis

May 22

• Collapse from exhaustion!

Needless to say, I'll be quite happy when the next 10 days are behind us!  I hope the weather cooperates!

Urban-Rural Conflict

On Monday, we hauled most of our ewes and lambs home from a grazing contract in Lincoln - we're hoping to get the ewes shorn in the next several days, and we need to do the job at home.  The move home is always somewhat noisy - lambs looking for their mothers and vice versa are very vocal.  I delivered the last load at about 6 p.m., and everyone quieted down for the night.

However, they apparently didn't quiet down quickly enough for one of our neighbors.  We found out from our friend Tom Harper, who keeps several bee hives at our place, that someone from Placer County Code Enforcement had talked to him when he checked his hives yesterday afternoon.  I followed up with the woman from the County today and learned that a neighbor had filed a written complaint that we had too many sheep for our property (despite the fact that the grass in our pasture is thigh-high).

While our home property is relatively small, it is zoned "Farm," which means the County allows most agricultural production as a matter of right.  The woman let me know that her research into our property, and her visit to our back pasture, indicated that we are well within our rights as property owners to have the sheep here.  She indicated that she would respond to the neighbor who complained, and that she would let them know that the sheep will only be here long enough to be shorn.  I was pleasantly surprised by the tone and substance of our conversation.

On one hand, I feel bad that a neighbor was so upset by our operation that they felt the need to file a formal complaint.  We try to be good neighbors, but farming can be a noisy, dirty business at times.  On the other hand, I feel upset that someone who lives in what is still a fairly rural area would object to a rural business such as ours.

It's been interesting having our sheep in very urban settings this spring.  Nearly everyone who encounters our sheep in Rocklin and Lincoln loves them.  I find it troubling, I guess, that a more rural neighbor finds the sound of lambs calling for their mothers to be offensive.