Choring Before Christmas

Our sheep, and the livestock guardian dogs who protect them, have a different concept of time than I do. I’m certain they know the seasons - shorter days and somewhat cooler temperatures mean breeding season; lengthening days and growing grass (not to mention growing bellies) signal the onset of lambing. On a day-to-day basis, one of our dogs knows when the sheep are out of feed - he’ll wait by a junction in the electro-net fencing when he thinks it’s time to move the sheep to fresh pasture. Despite this innate knowledge, however, I suspect they don’t know much about our human schedules. For sure, they seem to know when we’re sitting down to dinner with friends (which is when they invariably break through the electro-net); but they don’t know when it’s someone’s birthday. And they don’t know when we’re getting ready for Christmas. Or do they?

Anyone who raises livestock - on any scale - knows that the chores don’t stop simply because it’s a holiday. Dogs need feeding; sheep need checking. That said, I usually spend the better part of a day (or two) before Christmas getting things set up so that Christmas Day chores are easy. Yesterday, I moved the ewes to a small paddock that would hold them until Christmas morning - and prepared a second paddock that would provide 3-4 more days of grazing. I also took down electro-net fencing and set up a third paddock - one that would hold the ewes until after New Years Day. Thanks to the chores I accomplished yesterday, my chores for the rest of 2022 will be easy.

Tomorrow morning, after we open gifts, my daughters and I will drive out to the sheep pasture. We’ll move the flock onto fresh feed, and we’ll give Bodie (the dog with this set of ewes) a treat of some kind. Before we go, I’ll feed the rams here at home and give Elko (our other dog) a treat. At some point next week, I’ll move the ewes into the next paddock.

Our production calendar, inadvertently, allows us to coast between Christmas and New Years. Since we time our lambing to coincide with the onset of grass growth here in the Sierra foothills, this final week of the year is easy going. The ewes are not quite into their final trimester of gestation, which means their nutritional requirements haven’t ramped up yet - which also means we can push them a bit to eat the dry forage we saved from last year. We still need to do our chores, for sure, but our chores are easier than they will be in 6 weeks!

My pre-Christmas chores have become part of my family’s Christmas tradition - I’m usually building fence the day or two before Christmas. And our Christmas chores are also part of the tradition - I suspect the dogs know something special is happening when the girls join me on Christmas morning. For me, the work I put in yesterday makes the relaxation over the next week all the more enjoyable. Merry Christmas!