Pigs & Turkeys

Have you hugged a pig today?


The wiggies have been outside this spring digging up last year's garden and feasting on the left overs. Now, they are getting set to begin their work tilling up the straw pack in the sheep barn and making it into a fine compost to spread onto the fields. This move indoors is a bit of an adjustment to the little guys, who were used to having lots of room to run. Now, they must resign themselved to playing "Ring Around the Piggie", check it out :)


In other news, our flock of Bourbon Reds - 11 hens and on lucky Tom Turkey, are going to be breeding, laying eggs and raising their own little ones this year. At least that's the plan! Here, we had a turkey parade where Todd (the biggest turkey of them all!) left the group up onto the wooded "island" in the field. Our hopes are that they will make a comfortable home for themselves here, and we will come back in a month or so and find many little turkeys running around.

Shuttleworth Farm Goes Green!

In 2006 the sheep went out to pasture on May 10th. In 2007 it was May 1st. This year, we opened the barn doors and evicted them on April 25th!!!

As you can see, there was little protest!


Except for a few slow learners. "Mom??"

"Here I am!"





Everybody's happy

Out on the range

Our yearling ewe lambs are a hardy bunch so we let them out to pasture earlier than anyone! They delighted in munching down the brown grass left over from last fall - just like hay standing in the field.
Walking into the pasture, we are greeted by a vicious guard dog!

Oh, wait, no, that's just Jay Bird smiling at us! She and Silas are on duty.




Personal space? What's that???

more from lambing season. . .

Here are a few more photos from Lambing 2008. The main section of the barn houses the girls left to lamb,

as well as the new mothers and their lambs.

We redesigned the lambing portion of the barn to allow room for more "jugs." These pens, where the ewe and lamb spend the first 24-36 hours getting to know each other, are roomier than last year, and allow us to view all the lambs in one glance.


We use a giant dry erase board to keep track of which pairs are in which pen, how long they have been there, and how they are doing.

Just how many teats does this ewe have???

aw, brotherly love.

bad hair day?

snugglin'

The Thundering Herd

Well it's that time again, lambing season has arrived. More accurately, it has arrived and nearly finished! We apologize for the lack of updates, but lambing season brings with it a lack of sleep and lack of free time! This has been our best season yet, more lambs, healthier lambs, not much to complain about. The snow has finally gone away and the grass is greening up before our eyes. We hope to move some critters out to pasture as soon as this weekend!
A beautiful thing happens when all of the ewes get up to feed. The lambs take full advantage of the clear runway to do their training for the Lamb 500 - you have to see it to believe it.