Sunday Reading - Getting Ready for Winter

The days are getting short enough that once again I don't seem to have enough daylight to get everything I want accomplished done. Of course it didn't help that I laid around like a bum pretty much all day Saturday either or that now I have become the surrogate father figure for the critters that were solidly in camp son until this Summer. His cat is especially needy since he moved and the great oaf of a dog was pretty much in camp grumpy old alpha male since years ago anyway.

I did get the new gutter run on the garden shed however.

I spent the morning today cleaning up and blowing out two of my three chainsaws that I haven't really used in two years. Believe it or not I got em both running smoothly and then went down and dropped the leaning half of that Mulberry tree. Once the falling tree threat was completely removed I brush hogged the front 50 foot or so of the hay field to remove the short briar sticker bushes that had come back since hay cutting and then turned the Sheep out there.

Just as I predicted it took em about 5 minutes to discover the now downed half of the old nursery tree and began happily munching on the leaves low enough for them to reach. I had actually counted on this. Tomorrow I will cut the higher up branches so they can be foraged too that way the tree will be bare by the time I cut it up in a month or so. 

I haven't had the sheep out in the big hayfield in a few years either as I was letting it grow some of the base grass back but this year I plan on giving the side pastures a bit of a rest for Fall. I also closed up the sides of the barn lot as they will get really muddy in Winter. This way since I am down to only 10 sheep and a ram I should be able to limit them to just the main barn lot and keep them totally out of any mud this Winter. Mostly. Should also be better for their hoof health this Spring I hope as I have a short gravel driveway through there straight out into the hay field. 

One annoying issue I have always had with sheep here is there is no rocky soil for them to naturally trim their hooves on if I keep them out of the hay field but the gravel will do an excellent job of keeping their hooves trimmed down as they come back and forth on it. If I was still running 30 plus head I would probably keep em out of the hay field but these few old retired sheep are not going to make a dent in it and they like the space honestly.

Since I moved the sheep I also just opened all the small West side pastures up to the goats. They of course went insane and were running around like three idiots with me as I surveyed the trees I have earmarked for cutting this Fall and Winter. Mommy goat was butting my thigh with her horns trying to get me to scratch her head and neck and then they all three began locking horns over the remains of a hay bale I used for the new garden section. My goats wish I would just live with them 24/7 for some reason even though I built em a 3 story house to live in. They only seem to be truly happy when a human is with them although I have never once saw any evidence of a coyote or dog messing with them or getting inside my fences.

I still need to finish a little more mowing, move some round bales around, pick up all my Summer hoses and put them away and start running stock heater lines plus finish harvesting my pole beans. I am also thinking about cloning a few Tomatoes for Winter to keep a Yellow variety I picked up this year for next year. 

So I still have a lot to do before November when I will switch over to barn and out building repair and wood cutting. Pretty much certain I have forgotten a dozen things that still need done yet anyway. I really hope we have a mild Winter this year cause I have a lot to do and takes me three times as long do anything these days.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!