A Lesson in Mineral Intake, A Course in Felting
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The start of the week began with a lesson in mineral intake in cattle. A local producer likes to utilize a sea salt mixture for minerals in order to suffice intake in the cattle. I noticed a few birds of prey lingering around the cattle and since it is calving season, I asked if they ever became a problem. The producer said that they haven’t ever had an issue with them, but others have sometimes run into them causing infection from puncturing the cattle. They do have the potential to cause fatalities in lambs depending on the situation. We then lead into setting up the new lease with electric fence that the cattle will be trailed to this week.We continued to establish more of the perimeter fence on property. The wooden posts are finally in to establish H braces on the corners in order to stretch the sheep fence around to make it tight. Also, while picking up electric fence in order to prepare for moving the pigs to a new spot in the pasture.
An H brace was put up so the process of getting the perimeter fence put up. Woven wire was put up with clips onto the T-posts. There is a handy tool used to twirl clips around a string of the fence it makes it easier than using fencing pliers struggling around the smaller holes. Stringing the fence along a pasture that is full of sagebrush sometimes becomes a bit of a handful. Once the perimeter is established, moving the flock will be less stressful near the road.
Lately, we have been getting a lot of rain, at least one storm everyday. This has lead to awesome plant regrowth even after being grazed down. We have also see a large population of mushrooms pop up. BJ said that this is the most mushrooms she has seen around before. They are not toxic to the livestock but some of them contain the hallucinogenic factors. This just means we keep a watch and make sure the sheep are not acting overly funny.
When going to move the herd in for the day to access shade and water we noticed one was staying behind rather stubbornly. We went to get a closer look and she had just gave birth to a lamb. We left he out in order to clean the lamb up and not stress her out. This helps with attachment so she does not abandon the lamb. Later on when I was moving the pen, I went back to check in on her and she was in the process of having another. Twins are good outcome for sheep. It was amazing to see this miracle of life.
This week I also completed a course in felting wool pelts, after finishing up stretching a recent lamb hide that I had started. While rain fell during the week, I sorted wool fleeces in order to see what is stocked. After the fleeces were sorted, we then began the process of preparing to felt a fleece. I spent time carding wool on the drum carder. The fleece being carded is dark brown in order to match the whole fleece we will be felting. Depending on the fleece or wool type sets the premise for how many times you run it through the carder. The second fleece I worked with carded a lot easier and smoother than the one I started with.
Submitted by: Savannah May
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
