I am not sure what possessed my sons today. Whatever it was, it was a good angel. I think maybe my concern for the animals may have spurred them on a bit. Because of the wet weather, I am having a few parasite issues and in the last couple of days two goats are showing signs of foot scald. The culprit is wet ground. So, they decided to give me a day at the barn. The two of them tag teamed the scraping and hauling away of piles of manure. Feeding areas were mucked out and gravel hauled in. They repaired fences and hung a new gate to help me better rotate pastures. It looks fantastic.
I helped with the raking and mucking for a while. When they headed to pick up supplies, I milked, dewormed, trimmed feet and dosed all the goats with copper boluses.
Taking advantage of all the new and clean areas, I decided to go ahead and separate the sheep. Most all of the lambs were old enough to wean. Instead of allowing them to continue to "try" and nurse, they were sent to their own pasture. The ewes were moved to the front 7 acre field. The two ewes left with lambs went to the nursery pasture for a bit longer. All in all the sheep look pretty good this year. Only one of the older ewes needed worming. That is HUGE for us! About half of the lambs needed a dose. Still acceptable for me with the Icelandics. It was a long day and tiring day, but oh, so worth it.
We had to knock off around 4:30 because I had to get bread baked for the store and the CSA for tomorrow. I will not be working because I am attending a "Native Grasses" workshop.( I am really looking forward to that! ) Knocking off early came just in time because a storm came up and another inch of rain was dropped in 20 minutes.
So, 15 loaves of bread bagged, one meatloaf and a shower later, I crashed. A good day on the farm.