Wednesday, July 17, 2013

July in the Barn

    The arrival of mid summer finds us searching for shade and relief. July started with temperatures topping at triple digits with humidity almost as high. Grazing needed to be done early in the morning as well as late in the afternoon. Welcome rain showers arrived this week bringing much needed relieve and restoring to the pasture grounds.
     Kids born this spring are now completely weaned, enjoying the freedom of pastures and play areas. Daily romps across the high grass are made even more joyful when paired with a session of leaping among the logs.
      Yearlings are taking their place among the adults, sharing grazing space during the early mornings. Hopefully Jubilee's first breeding season will be successful yielding another blue eyed beauty. Mattie is maturely sporting the characteristics of a herd buck, complete with beard.
       Naomi was dried off and had been sharing a field with a buck in hopes of success having proved a good mother and a wonderful producer. Unfortunately, we lost Naomi last week.
        Doc continues to oversee the operation with his grumpy frown and boisterous holler. He has yet to see the purpose of guinea fowl; their racket sets him bucking.

       The coop is open with hens loose in the corn pasture. Grasshoppers and grubs are their new favorite morning nibbling.  Hadassah keeps them in line, rounding them up when they roam too far. We had a brief run of viral infection in the flock, fortunately loosing only one. All others have recovered and have returned to the group.
       Fans are blowing, water troughs are replenished. It's a muggy afternoon here in the barn. While the livestock rests I'm off to do a little quilting and maybe get some dusting done.

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