The weather has been extremely mild. Been working in the shop, taking apart the old Belrus tractor to overhaul the engine or at least see if it is economically plausible to fix it. Went to the Black Hills Stock Show Sunday to see the sheep shearing contest. National Western (Denver) quit the shearing contest so the BHSS had the national Championship shearing for the first time this year. There were many local and regional shearers. Also a young lady from California in the amature division. She had the best looking pen for the whole contest. One guy just flew in from Austrailia. There were over forty shearers in three divisions. The winner of the Junior division from Newell has sheared for the crew that shears for us the last four years. In the Amature division there were four shearers in the finals and two were young ladies. The crowd on hand was nice crowd. The bleachers at times were pretty full. The announcers, while not professionalls were very informative and kept the crowd intrested. It was a fun event and should continue to grow.
Last night at 5:30 Pm the temperature was 35 degrees. By the time we went to bed the wind had come up and the temperature had risen to 47 degrees.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Colder weather
The past week has seen much colder weather than we have been used to this winter. Tempature readings in the -10 range and a stiff wind blowing with some snow falling. We accumulated maybe 4 inches of fluffy snow.. Most of the winter I have fed four bales of hay every day. But during the cold weather I had to increase the amount to six bales. Over the course of the winter of 180 days this can make quite a difference. The one stormy day I was in the house catching up on book work. Sending in paperwork for registering last falls calves.
One day we put the old Belrus tractor in the shop and started taking it apart. I think it will need a crankshaft and maybe more. We will have to see if it makes economic sense to fixit up.
One day we put the old Belrus tractor in the shop and started taking it apart. I think it will need a crankshaft and maybe more. We will have to see if it makes economic sense to fixit up.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Eyeing ewes
Sorted off the early (March) lambers. They will be sheared in about 5 weeks. The rest of the herd got the wool sheared away from their eyes, so they can see to eat and follow their buddies. So the shearer came and eyed about 700 on Saturday and finished the others at the ridge. Run through about 240 in an hour and a half. Then we got to watch the finish of the Bronco's game.
On Monday we got the summer calves in and casterated the bull calves. We use a bander, so doesn't cause much discomfort. We will be weaning these calves in three weeks and in March they will come over here and become "red sheep". They will run with the ewes till we get the sheep in to lamb. They will eat grass all summer and will be sold in the fall hopefully weighing about 700 lbs.
With the cold wind blowing today we are glad that we sold some old cows at Philip yesterday. The market looked good. I watched some on the internet. Last week old ewes sold in Newell for $90 per cwt. Unheard of. When I was a young'un old ewes sold for $5 per cwt.
On Monday we got the summer calves in and casterated the bull calves. We use a bander, so doesn't cause much discomfort. We will be weaning these calves in three weeks and in March they will come over here and become "red sheep". They will run with the ewes till we get the sheep in to lamb. They will eat grass all summer and will be sold in the fall hopefully weighing about 700 lbs.
With the cold wind blowing today we are glad that we sold some old cows at Philip yesterday. The market looked good. I watched some on the internet. Last week old ewes sold in Newell for $90 per cwt. Unheard of. When I was a young'un old ewes sold for $5 per cwt.
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