As you can see from the yellow grass and the changing colors of the leaves, fall has arrived at North Valley Farm. The first rains are giving a little life to the pastures after almost 3 months without any water falling from the sky. We've been feeding grass hay since the beginning of September because of the unusually dry weather. And today we got a load of oat/alfalfa hay to get us through the first part of winter. You don't want me to blog about feed prices this year because it would just be a string of unprintables.....the good news is that I found a wonderful grower/hauler - Ken Threet - with whom I've been working for 5 years now. He and his wife work over 1,000 acres; in fact, his wife raises sheep, so they have a really good handle on what kind of hay we need, year in and year out. Buying directly from the grower means I get a better price than if I bought from a broker. And Ken knows he can rely on my business, so the situation works well for both of us.
I am very pleased with the quality of sheep our flock is producing. Here is my favorite white ram lamb from this year's crop, out on the pasture. His father is a Larson ram from Michigan, and his mother is a ewe of my own breeding. I've kept his twin sister as well - this is a top producing line that has done well for me over time.
In fact, this ram lamb was the champion white longwool ram just a few weeks ago at the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in Canby, OR and went on to be the grand champion white ram of the show. Here is a photo of the same ram lamb at the show:
It's always nice to do well at a show, but ultimately the test of our flock is whether it is thrifty and productive, in terms of producing good carcass lambs and quality fiber - the other stuff is just icing on the cake. Our sunrise this morning:
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