Keeping Parasites In Check

Let’s keep those parasites in check this summer! Next to moving fencing, parasite management probably takes up more time than anything else on my farm during the summer. I am always trying to figure out the best way to monitor, test, and record stats on each sheep. Parasite management is one of my greatest concerns as a shepherd during the … Read More

Typical Saturday on the Farm-Collecting Fecal Samples

posted in: Raising Sheep 0

A typical Saturday afternoon on our farm goes like this…… Anna: Hello…..I’m home! Mom: Good, you are just in time to help collect fecal samples from the sheep. Anna: I should have driven slower……(smiling)   .   Anna puts on her going out to help collect fecal samples pants with rubber boots and gloves and we head out into the … Read More

Pasture Management for Parasite Control

  In the early spring, we literally sit and stare at the grass on our farm. Here on our Vermont hillside farm, we only graze 5-6 months out of the year. After months of eating hay, the sheep can not wait to get out on grass. With grazing comes the joys of pasture management for parasite control. On our farm, … Read More

Beneath the Blanket of Snow

posted in: Sheep Antics 0

Beneath the blanket of snow that covers our farm, lush pastures rest and wait.   Winter provides one the longest stretches of time when our pastures can rest before another grazing season begins. Rotational grazing is an important component in our sustainable farm practices. Each summer and fall, we utilize rotational grazing. We subdivide each of our fields into smaller … Read More

Dandelions, Lambs and Grazing~Transitioning to Pasture

Dandelion blossoms fill the field across the road, leaving yellow faces on our Romney and Gotland sheep. In the early spring, we use this field to reintroduce the sheep to grazing after the long winter of eating hay. It takes about two weeks of going back and forth from the barn to the field, eating the lush grass a little … Read More