It's Hot

Been pushing the upper 90's with heat indexes above the 100 mark and little to no wind or clouds the last week or so. Perfect weather for getting in hay but not so great for the poor sheep.

I make sure to keep plenty of water troughs filled for them and lots of shade around for them to lay in. A couple of the smarter ewes figured out that curling up next to an evaporating tub of water keeps them a few degrees cooler.

Some of the younger ones just demand air conditioning or think since I am the great food supplier I can magically control the temperature for them.

Sorry guys.

Here's a shot of the 8N pulling in a load of the hay from Sunday I forgot to put in. Trusty old girl that tractor I must say. No matter what I can always count on her to start and get most every job done as long as ground speed isn't an issue. This afternoon however I needed to get out the diesel and take care of the Buckwheat plot I am putting in.

This is the section I plowed with the 8N some time ago and I am about 2 weeks late getting the Buckwheat planted but I figure there is still enough time. Last year I planted the Buckwheat strips in May and the heavy rains stunted their growth and eventually killed them off so this year I decided to wait until June.

I put in about a 1/4 acre I think and I am hoping to get another strip about this same size in this week down in the back of the pasture. It's the only real planting I a doing this year and I am hoping the bees hit the Buckwheat blooms heavily. I know they did last year until the rains killed the plants.

It's been so hot even the mighty hunter cat now spends all his time in the shade or inside in the AC. We will see higher temps in July and August I am sure but June around here is when the 100% humidity is at it's worst so it kinda adjusts the uncomfortable feeling that much higher.

The half grown Easter Egger chicks seem to really enjoy the outside shade too. They quickly found the edge of the wood chip zone and made themselves all kinds of napping holes. Trouble is the dog doesn't treat these new additions as chickens yet and he will chase and kill them for some reason if he can even though he has been leaving the grown hens alone.

Tomorrow I get to start the mowing cycle all over again and just maybe by Thursday I might be able to actually work on fencing once again. So many things to do and more than a few are time sensitive so my fence work keeps getting pushed back once again.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!