A Second Walk in the Park

Smith and Tolkien Spent another Saturday morning in a local park. This time it was Luby Park in Caldwell. There were fewer dogs in the park, but more people. It only took about 15 minutes for the first person to come up and want to pet the sheep.

Throughout the morning, every time anyone wanted to pet the sheep a shepherd gave them pointers on how to approach the sheep. The shepherds also told how to and how not to pet or scratch sheep.

As you can see, the boys were a whole lot more relaxed, and were not huddling together for security like last week. They also spent some time looking for goodies in the lawn. They were doing their part to clean up the park and improve the lawns.

Cleaning up the cottonwood leaves.

Yumm, Kochia! This surely does not need to be in the lawn.

In the picture above, you can see the new bells Tolkien and Smith are sporting. We were not sure how they were going to react to the bells, they did not seem to even notice that they were there. It is hard to find a place to attach the bells to the harnesses, but we are going to keep trying different attachment points till we find the best way to do this.

Tolkien getting some attention from a shepherd. Like I said, they were a lot more relaxed. We even had a quinceanera party of about 30 come through. Tolkien and Smith did really well with the young ladies and gentlemen. Several got a chance to interact with our boys. We found out that Tolkien likes the girls, and was more than willing to have them pet him. Smith pretty much liked anybody that would give him scratches, but was a bit more shy.

Tolkien posing.

Poop was scooped.

And back home to the Caldwell pasture. Around the world, shepherds complain that it is hard to get good pictures of sheep because they turn their butts to you. This shepherd has been spending too much time with the sheep, and is picking up their bad habits.

Next park, Memorial park in Caldwell. less than two weeks before Pet Extravaganza 2019.

Just a Walk in the Park

Smith and Tolkien did not know what the day had in store for them, but we had been planning an outing in the park for about a month.

We had selected Centennial park because it was about a mile away from the Caldwell pasture. Centennial park also has large soccer fields and an off leash dog park. We wanted to get Smith and Tolkien a feel for public parks, and see how they would react to other animals. They have been selected to represent the RescEwe sheep at Pet Extravaganza 2019. We selected them because they are best buddies, and combined they weigh 570 lbs. (258kg). We are assuming that the greatest number of pets attending the event will be dogs. They should be able to stare down just about any dog, but we had no idea how they would react when confronted by any dog. We soon found out.

Smith and Tolkien were tethered to an old cottonwood tree with 50 ft. leads. They moved as far away from the dog at the picnic cover as they could, and one was carefully watching him at all times.

Good thing it was not a sheep dog, but wait, isn’t that a Corgi over there.

They were vigilant, but never acted scared.

Even when confronted with a small yappy dog.

Or lions, tigers, and oh my a SQUIRREL…

We have three more weekends before the Pet Extravaganza, and will be trying out a busier park each weekend.

And yes, we poop scooped behind our sheep. However, not all of the dog owners did.

Time for us to Shear Your Sheep

RescEwe is hosting another Bring Your Own Sheep (BYOS) shearing event. This year it will be on May 18th. As always this is a really good deal for some shepherds. No set up fees just a straight per head charge of $9. As always all of the proceeds are going to RescEwe.

We will once again be shearing at the Caldwell pasture. The address is 20595 Farmway Rd, Caldwell, ID 83607.

Back in Caldwell Again

Since time began, sheep have been nomadic, and followed the grass. The RescEwe sheep are no different. They have a mailing address, and a office, but no real place to call their own. The time to graze in Parma is over, and a new season means a new job location.

Our thanks to the volunteers who made the day a fun and joyous occasion. They say many hands make light work, but light spirits make for joyous work. Even though there was a lot of meeting new sheep, and fellowship along the way, the whole move took less time this year.

Looking at the alfalfa field, the untrained eye would not think that there is much for sheep to eat here, but annual grasses and mustards had already started to come up. Over the last week on the field, hay consumption had almost fallen by half from a month ago. Too bad the alfalfa is just starting to come out of its dormancy too.

The alfalfa field the day of the move

The Caldwell pasture however has a lot of annual grass growing. The chard and chicory are only just starting to get some green.

  • The Caldwell pasture on the day of the move.

So, the season changes, and so do the daily routines. Feeding and fence moving still happens twice a day, but we have a hose for filling water buckets. Watering the pasture will start soon, and we are already getting visits from the local workers who are glad to see the sheep again.

Preparing for the storm

Yesterday,we had a winter storm warning for 5:00 pm. The forecast called for high winds, rain, freezing rain, and snow. We were already seeing the wind, but it was just going to get worse as the day progressed. Typically we get two types of snow. When it comes out of the north, It falls straight down. However, the forecast called for the winds to be coming out of the south southwest. When the snow comes from that direction we end up with drifts, sometimes as much as three feet (1m) deep.

So we had to prepare for the worst. The usual light shelter does well in most conditions year round. Sun, rain or even some snow. However, with the forecast being what it was, we needed to put together a bit more

The picture above is of the shelter when we started. the wind was 12 mph (19kph). We added a snow fence / wind break, and tightened up the cover. By the time we finished, the temperature was just above freezing, the winds were 20mph (32kph) sustained, with 28mph (45kph) gusts. It was only going to get worse.

This morning, we had about 1.5 inches (4cm) of snow on the ground.

The snow fence / wind break did it’s job.

The sheep were dry, under the shelter was dry, and everybody was in great spirit… Time for breakfast.

I know most shepherds agree that they love working with the sheep. Seriously, if we did not love it, why would we be out here, hauling water, feeding hay, and giving out pets, and scratches, in high winds and freezing temps. One of the additional perks is that we are outside watching the star filled sky at night, and vistas during the day.

More snow and wind forecast for tonight. One never really knows how much, but we are ready.

Closing the year, and planning ahead.

Winter is a quieter time. A time for catching up, feeding hay and the occasional treats. It is also the time for planning the year ahead, and beyond. While we decide how many sheep per grazing group, shepherds per group, and the equipment for each group, music has played an important part of this work.

So we are going to share some of the music that has been in our playlists while we work. Hope you enjoy.

One Amazing Donation of Hay

We have been waiting to make this announcement until we were able to show you what this donation looks like, and how big of a donation it really is. The folks over at Sage Woolens gave us a donation for hay, and it will cover over half of our winter hay needs.  Just to put it into perspective, this is what more than half our winter’s hay looks like.

I know, that’s a lot of hay. Just be thankful you were not the one loading and stacking it. We are thankful to be blessed with this donation.

The hay is an excellent quality, second cutting, grass hay with about 10-20% red clover. Last year it did the sheep very well, and the grower once again gave us a good price for buying in bulk.

Sage Woolens has been a great benefactor to us, and has done a lot to spread the word about what we are doing at RescEwe. As far as we are concerned, this donation is simply the icing on a really excellent cake.

 

A Great Day at the Twisted Ewe

So many of you have asked about our day at the Twisted Ewe, but with all of the hay moving, shearing, and sick sheep, I have been remiss in putting up this post. Well lets get started…

Shady trees, treats, and attention galore was the order of the day at the Twisted Ewe. The Twisted ewe invited RescEwe to come out for their anniversary and grand reopening celebration. They had a great location set aside for our information table and sheep. The hospitality of the folks at the Twisted Ewe was beyond compare. Even with us our forgetting our folding table, they were able to find one that we could borrow for the day. They tried to meet our needs long before there was even a need. Even with our protestations that we were fine, they still set us up with this and that, ‘just in case’. It was really a good example of what a culture of service can be.

The day was pleasant sunny and a bit cooler than it has been lately, the shade trees made it even better. Lots of kids of all ages were able to feed the willow sprigs, and brussels sprouts we brought to the sheep. A few were able to get a some pets and scratches in too. Good lessons on sheep behavior were doled out like “think and act like a sheep, not a wolf”, and “no pats on the head, that tells them that you want to fight”. We also got to share a bit on basic sheep care and management;  what they eat, and what their wool is like.  We brought a bit of washed wool from Tolkien and they got to see him and experience his wool as well.

The reception we got from the vendors at the event was great too. They all seemed to be having as good of a time as we were. The reaction we got from one vendor when we arrived was priceless, ‘FUR BABIES!!’. Or something to that effect. Being our first journey into the public, we were both surprised and pleased with that kind of exuberant reaction. It was great to meet more of the local fiber artists, in such a pleasant and welcoming environment.

One question came up in the afternoon a couple of times. “Why do sheep need rescuing?” Unfortunately, some of the public has a negative, but well founded suspicion of organizations that proport to be helping animals. With all of the sensational press that some groups have garnered through illegal actions, and other groups that raise funds and never end up doing anything to help a single animal; who can blame them. It gave us an opportunity to tell some of the more incredulous public, why we exist, and show them what makes us different from the most infamous farm animal rescues, or sanctuaries. I don’t know if we made any converts, but at least they walked away with an understanding of what we stand for, and that they could agree with most of our goals and methods. Most people who raise animals are good, and want all animals to be treated with compassion and care. That is our common ground. At RescEwe, remembering that is part of how we maintain a good relationship with pet owners, and producers alike.

 

Back on the Lush Greens Again

We are started the third phase in the grazing cycle of the Caldwell pasture. Prior to this, the second phase took about 7 weeks to complete. The second phase is drylot. Not the most exciting phase, but important from a health and safety standpoint. The second phase started when the cheat grass and foxtail barley went to seed. The dry seeds tend to get into eyes, and can do serious damage to the eye. So for drylot, they just stopped right where they were, and ate hay till the second wave of green got well underway. The drylot area is ideal for seeding. The surface is torn up topsoil covered with trampled down grass, waste hay, and of course manure.

The Dry lot area after they moved out.

They moved about 120ft. (36m) to where the green grass and kochia start again. We are feeding a small ration of hay twice a day because kochia can very rich and cause scours. We have been using part of our limited water allocation to water the kochia before grazing. Kochia can be an oxalate and nitrate accumulator, and watering ahead of grazing can reduce concentrations.

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The area they grazed during the first phase was seeded with our own pasture mix. After 7 weeks of water, and sun the previously bare dirt now has our grass growing on it. In fact the earliest seeded, has pasture grass that is already going to seed itself. The new grass is protected by a three foot deep layer of sow thistle.

In about six weeks, the sheep will be done with the kochia, and the portion we can water of the pasture that was seeded last summer. Then the sheep will flip to the opposite end of the pasture, and start on the new grass and sow thistle. A couple of bonuses from last years seeding are chicory,  birds foot trefoil, and a flowering plant that I will have to go through the seed lists to identify.