Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Summer Ending

At least I hope summer is ending, although this has been a fairly mild summer in the hot weather department will be glad to see the end of the 100 degrees and the dry brown barren pastures.  Can't wait for the first rain, every year after the first rain and the sun comes out you can actually sit and watch the grass grow.  At first there is a tinge of green on the ground and after a few days of sun there really will be some grass.  Last year was a really  nice year for rainfall and snow pack in the Sierras.  The river is still running bank to bank should keep farmers happy this year.

One of the Dorper ewes lambed last weekend with 2 little ram lambs, didn't she know that 104 degree day is hot?  Several other Dorper ewes are ready to lamb in the next few weeks.  One thing about the Dorpers is they will breed year round.  I leave the Dorpers with a ram year round so there is usually a good supply of lambs.

Wtih the Shetlands being a wool breed I will wait a few more months before letting the ewes join the rams.  Time to shear the Angoras soon, and then the Angoras will be sheared again in early spring along with the Shetland Sheep.
After all the frustrations of creating my first blog I decided to create a new one to update life here with all my critters.  Tombstone Livestock is located on 20 acres in the Sierra Foothills in east Fresno County, CA.  Currently livestock includes Shetland Sheep, and Angora Goats for their wool and mohair.   Also a herd of Dorper Sheep for meat, as well as Boer Goats.  Other critters here are 5 cows, 2 ponies, a donkey, a llama and several dogs and cats.