RescEwe

It is so exciting, after two years of waiting, the fence is going up. Even with the restrictions on social interactions due to the coronavirus, progress is still being made. We hope the perimeter fence will be done by May 9th.

Did I tell you we are building the fence…

We have the south fence hung except for where the southeast gate is. When we are satisfied with the way the panels are set, we will make the final attachment to the t-posts. We started putting in the first posts along the east side cable fence, but had some drama about whether we should put it on the east side of the cable fence (into the road), or inside the cable fence. I personally do not think it is in any way possible to pound t-posts into an engineered roadbed, but some think otherwise. While we have waited for others to come to their senses, we laid out the irrigation pipe on the existing pasture, and put the fence around the horse chestnut tree. This week we started putting up the fence on the west side. It seems that things are sorted out about the cable fencing now, and next week we should be putting in the blue line fences. Whew

If you want to join us, we will be here pounding posts, and wiring up panels. Lots of sun and fun for all… Or you could just come out and watch the sheep.

And did not really tell anybody about it.

If we did not get any pictures to post on social media, did it really happen?

Those of you who have been to the Caldwell pasture will have recognized it in the last post, and realized that we moved. We had a good day for it, and as seems to be typical, were rushing against the weather. This year it was wind and hail. We did have a lot of helpers though. And this is a story unto itself.

One of our long time volunteers was getting a burger in Parma, when she struck up a conversation with a couple missionaries. To make a long story short, the missionaries volunteered to help move the sheep. First, there were two; then the next week there were four; and then when we were rooing a couple rams two weeks later, there were six. Some of them had never been on a farm (they were city folk, and I mean big cities), and never worked with sheep. However, a couple had experience working in their families’ sheep operations, and our ways were not what they were used to. But all of them threw themselves fully into the jobs at hand. It was a joy to work with young people who were so driven to be helpful. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Enough that they kept coming back. We really enjoyed having them with us, enough that they have an invitation to come back at any time.

Some ended their mission early due to the hardships caused by the coronavirus, and the rest have new restrictions governing their ability to volunteer. We have remained in contact with them, and hopefully the restrictions will be lifted before their missions end so we can see them again. Some have asked if they can remain in contact after they are gone. Of course! It is always great to make new friends, especially those who love sheep.

Now that the governor has shut down non-essential services in the state, many people are unable to get out of the house. Parks are shut down. Gyms are shut down, Malls are shut down. Even fishing is shut down.

However, animal welfare is exempt.

At RescEwe we are practicing social distancing, and safe practices, but sheep still need food, water, shearing, and all the other shepherding that needs to get done. Time waits for no virus.

Our first purpose is to serve the needs of sheep, but not as well known is our second purpose, which is to educate the public in better shepherding practices. This is not just a shepherd lecturing, this most often includes dirty hand on experiences in actual shepherding. If you want to know about shearing, come out and help shear.

If you need to get out of the house, come down, pull up a bucket, and watch the sheep. Pack a picnic lunch and sit down in the pasture if you want. Many people find it very relaxing to just watch sheep being sheep. This could be the best therapy in these uncertain times.

Just after the first of the year, we received a card with a sizeable check from Sage Woolens inside it.

Last year Sage Woolens told us that they wanted the next donation to go to our fencing of the new pasture. But little did anybody know, we were going to have to go through more drama concerning the new pasture before we could get started. A full year’s worth of drama. When they contacted us about sending this donation, we were overjoyed. They told us that it had been a good year, had been very busy, and the donation was later than they had planned. We had to tell them we were weeks away from buying the t-posts and panels for the fence. It could not have been a better time to receive this donation. In fact it was the perfect time.

It is not hard to maintain an abundance mindset when our needs are met in such a timely fashion, and we are so thoroughly blessed.

We are riding a whirlwind right now. We are behind, and have a few more posts to get out. Expect more very soon.

How do you define ambitious. I think this project fits the bill. But, if we are going to grow we need more pasture.

One of our stated purposes is to give shelter to the homeless. To this end we have been building relationships with local animal control, and animal shelters. This last year we have had inquiries about our ability to help them out, or to take on a group of sheep. We were approached by a shelter to see if we could take in 14 sheep from a potential emergency surrender situation. We said, ‘sure we can’, fenced in a 50ft X 150ft quarantine area, and found a ton of grass hay. The need never materialized, but we were ready just in case.

The thing is, the shelters have to take in animals no matter what, even though they have a limited space for farm animals. This last year a local shelter had to move two pet pigs into the dog kennels because they were exceeding the limits of their farm animal enclosure. Even though it was temporary and necessary, it was not the best space for pigs. Thankfully, someone stepped forward and adopted them right away. That is one of the needs we were created to fulfill. We can give needy sheep a healthy and suitable home while taking the pressure off the shelters. The need to take on a large group of sheep will come about eventually, and we plan to be ready to give a home to those sheep in their time of need.

The picture above is of the new pasture we are developing. In the last post we wrote about the the water lines the owner of the property has installed. We need to grow, and turning this weedy bit of dirt into a functional pasture will fit the bill. The pink and blue lines are where we need to put the new fence. It calculates out to be sixty 16ft wire ranch panels plus a walk gate and a drive gate. As part of the agreement we are to water the horse chestnut tree. The owner is fond of it, and wants it to stay healthy. Because the seeds are toxic, we need eleven more panels to fence the tree off. We may eventually plant shade loving grass, and put a picnic table and benches under the tree.

When the neighbor gets his remaining stacker load of hay off the future pasture, we are going to place a demonstration section of the fence in the southwest corner.

We are going to repair, straighten and stretch the existing barbed wire fence. Our fence is going in about 2ft inside of the barbed wire fence. The intent is to plant a flowering margin between the fences. In the margin, we plan to include flowering plants that are grazeable, but do not stand up to grazing pressure like: echinacea, hollyhock, and fennel. These will naturally seed themselves into the pasture, but will not survive grazing. All the flowering plants we include will support native pollinators, and a healthy ecosystem in the pasture. We found that as the land in the existing pasture healed, voles and mice flourished, snakes followed, and last year a feral mother cat and her two kittens moved in. The cat and her kittens disappeared in October, but they were well fed and healthy over the late summer.

Just like the barbed wire fence, the new fence is going two feet inside the existing single cable fence, with a flowering margin between.

We are calling for volunteers to help design the margin and set it up. The planning is open to anybody, anywhere. We will be setting up a discussion group on our Discord server, or Facebook for planning, and as long as you have an internet connection, you can be a part of the process. It can be a great way to share your knowledge and learn new things. Just let us know if you are interested. You can let us know by messaging us through Facebook, or email us at baabaahelp@rescewe.org

If you feel brave enough to help build the fences, have we got a rewarding experience for you. We expect to be setting up fence building parties over a few Saturdays, or Sundays. The hours, days, and number of days will be up to the volunteers and how they feel. Honestly, I pounded 28 fence posts out there one evening. That was a bit of a workout, and more than I would ever want to do at one time. But as they say, many hands make light work. Even if you can not help build fence, you can sit in a lawn chair, make up fence ties, and cheer on the post pounders. Once again, Message us on Facebook, or email us at baabaahelp@rescewe.org to volunteer.

When the offer was made for us to care for and graze another acre and a half adjacent to the existing Caldwell pasture, we were excited to start right away. However, little did we know that local water politics would prevent us from using the irrigation water we contracted to have. Two years later, with pressure from divine providence, and the wheeling and dealing of the principle parties (of which we are not), we have brand new mainlines installed along our pastures, and promises of water in the coming irrigation seasons to come.

Last years test plots were a mixed success. Before we agreed to take on the land, the ground had been repeatedly treated with soil sterilants, and weed killers for many years. We put a halt to that practice immediately. After over a year without the poisons, we were able to get many seeds to sprout, but many seedlings did not survive. None of the legumes that sprouted survived a month. most pasture grass was sickly, and the casual observations indicate that the dirt (I refuse to call it soil) has an 8.5ph or possibly higher.

We have started to spread waste hay to add to the “green” organic matter of the soil. The soil health and diversity of organisms in the adjacent pasture that we have been sharing with the Fantasy Farm sheep has improved significantly with good management. Part of that has been the waste hay, not just the manure.

Planning the seeding, and procuring the seeds is the next part of the process. We have found a legume that can tolerate high ph soils, makes a great cover crop, and is grazable. It is an annual that can grow up to six feet tall, has deep roots, and will die off by first frost, adding mulch to the surface. We are also going to seed a lot of daikon radish and chicory too.

We are going to build a sturdy fence this year to protect the sheep, and will be planting a grazable flowering margin all along the road sides of the pasture. We have volunteers that want to help in the planning and creating the flowering margin. It should be fun, it is intended to be both pretty and functional. it will be another place to experiment and try new things.

Coming Soon, We Need to Build a Fence.

Well on Saturday, we moved the sheep back to the Parma alfalfa field they winter in. They have the north half (seven acres) to make their way across and back before the first warm days of spring.

The farmer who raises the alfalfa, lets us graze off the remaining alfalfa after the last harvest. We get some free winter forage, and his field gets fertilized. He was having to truck manure in from a large sheep farmer’s lambing ground about a half mile away. This saves him time and fuel.

We share the field with the Fantasy Farm’s rams, and they take the south half. The rams from the will be moving in this coming weekend. We keep about 200ft between the RescEwe flock and the Fantasy Farm rams. After all, we do have one ewe in our flock, and we would not want to start a riot. Although, Betsy may see it differently.

Another reason for the separation is for biosecurity. It would be too easy for disease or parasites to move from flock to flock if they shared a fence. Over the last year, we have been working on a basic guideline for flock size and biosecurity. The current idea is to limit the size of individual RescEwe flocks, and restrict movement between them. This was highlighted recently by a contagious and ultimately lethal disease being brought into an overseas sanctuary by a single homeless sheep.

For those that have been following us for a while, you may remember that Del came to us as a lost lamb. It is hard to believe that was two years ago. He has grown so big, and still has a way to go.

Del has never lost his lambish spunk. He is a bit of an instigator, and keeps some of fuddy-duddies on their toes. He even gets Cookie the llama to play chase with him. Cookie rarely moves at more than a stately pace, but it is amazing how fast she runs when she wants too. Del will probably participate in the park visits next year.

For those that met Smith at the park this last summer, Smith weighed in at 320 lbs (145 kg) this week. That is 20 lbs more than he was carrying during the summer. I think Smith is ready for the colder than normal weather that is predicted for the coming winter. He is also starting to get fluffy as well.

Bring on the white stuff, we are ready.

I can’t say enough good things about our donors who have made sure that we have this winter hay, or the volunteers that came out to help get it stacked. Both have been an absolute blessing to us. We now have ninety five bales in the stacks at about 100 pounds (45kg) apiece. Our goal is to have 6 tons (5.4 tonnes) in the stacks on November 28th. The 6 tons should get us through this winter.

That means we only need another ton and a half.

With the unexpected, and devastating mowing of the Caldwell pasture, we have no forage there for at least the next 3 weeks, and possibly longer.

Fortunately, we have been blessed with a donation equal to 1/2 ton of good grass hay. That is just the beginning, The donation is open ended to include all the hay that we will need to get through this period. We just need to tell them we need more. The first half ton was brought in on Saturday. It is pictured above. We can not tell you who committed this great act of love, they choose to remain anonymous. I guess it is true that, “love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant.” At least true love that is.