February Farmstead Update: A wild and woolly month!
February was a cold, windy, snowy month here on the farmstead. Luckily it is a short month and we made it through. Read on for an update of what is happening around the farmstead.
February on the Farmstead
February brought with it lots of cold (several days WAY below zero), lots of wind (hello drifts!) and quite a bit of snow.
It was actually a good old fashioned Montana winter…and while it is never fun doing chores at 25 below zero, it was a relief to see a good amount of moisture and snow pack in the mountains.
Butchering Lambs
February was also a big month for us because we butchered our very first lambs on the farm!
We aren’t new to butchering our own animals, we have done chickens, pigs and cows for many years now…this was just our first time doing lambs.
We ended up butchering three – one to a friend and two for us. Be sure to ask us about buying meat lambs and butchering them right here on the premises!
It was a new experience for us, but it went very well and we are very happy with the meat. Our favorite dish featuring lamb so far is Greek Pastitsio – keep an eye out for a recipe!
Also, we saved the hides and brains to experiment with tanning and the fat to render into lard for cooking and candle making. Lots of fun new content to hit the blog soon, I promise! If you think videos on this content would be interesting be sure to comment below and let me know!
Also in February my dear hubby celebrated a birthday. He got a bread lame for a gift and has been having a lot of fun entertaining our children with his…lets say, “unique” art work on the bread. He actually does a great job – now if I could talk him into making the bread as well…
Shop time with hubby and the kids
Speaking of dear hubby he and the kids have been busy out in the shop. The girls have been really into welding lately and have been cranking out a lot of projects which is fun to see. If you or your kids are interested in learning blacksmithing or welding be sure to check out the “Farmstead Forge” tab above – Jayce offers laid back classes perfect for beginners!
As for me, well I’ve been enjoying the slowness that comes along with cold, snowy weather. Curling up by the fire and diving into my large stack of to-be-read books.
Working sheep
However as February closes and the warmer weather of March comes around the corner, I have switched into “getting things done” mode. At the top of the list is working sheep. Now is the time to get them shorn, vaccinated, feet trimmed, tagged, body condition scored, and checked for lambing closeness. (Is lambing closeness a phrase or did I make that up?)
Jayce dived into shearing only to have a part break on our shears after only 5 ewes. Thankfully, there are replacement parts for our clippers (Premier 1 400 series) and instead of paying $150 for a replacement head or $400 for an entire replacement set of shears, I only had to pay $10 for parts!
The parts showed up yesterday and we were able to get back to work. Thank goodness for that!
Now some of you might be wondering why am I vaccinating my ewes? Well mostly, it is for my unborn lambs. I vaccinate the ewes with CDT to give my lambs passive immunity through their momma’s colostrum. That way I don’t have to give them a poke when they are brand new, just a booster when they are about a month old. This is the only vaccine we give our sheep.
Other fun things happening
I experimented with making lamb bacon. It is a pretty thin little belly but yummy and worth the effort!
Jayce and the kids have been taking advantage of all the snow and have been riding the snowmobile. We just ride around home but being close to the mountains, our bunkhouse would make a perfect basecamp for those wanting to ride up there.
I made a Colby cheese with red pepper flakes with the last of our frozen sheep milk. Only two more weeks until it is ready to eat!
Our frozen milk supply is getting dangerously low – I’m not sure if I just didn’t save as much as I usually do or if we’re just using that much more! Normally I save 30 gallons for the dry season and I usually have gallons to spare by the time I am back in fresh milk. This year I am anxiously awaiting someone to lamb or calve since I am down to my last two gallons…eek!
With all of the wind and snow we got snowed in for days! No big deal other than the girls were missing school. After missing two days, we caught a quick break in the weather and the county plowed our road. We ran the girls into my moms where they ended up having to stay for like four days before we could get back out to get them home.
The little guy has thoroughly enjoyed being able to ride the snowmobile and four wheeler right over the top of fences due to the snow drifts.
The bunkhouse rental has been pretty quiet which is perfectly fine since we have been snowed in! However with lambing season set to start now is a perfect time to bring your family to stay and snuggle brand new lambs!! Book it here.
Ram problems
Speaking of snow… one morning after the worst of the wind Jayce came in from doing chores. He hollered to me to get the little guy dressed and get outside to help him – my ram was COMPLETELY SNOWED IN HIS SHED!
Panicked that he couldn’t breathe, I got my two year old dressed as fast as you can possibly dress an opinionated toddler. We got outside to where Jayce was digging out the shed by hand (there was no way to get equipment back there without doing a bunch of plowing first).
After a lot of work, we got him dug out and he was just fine. He didn’t have much room left, but thankfully he didn’t run out of air in there.
The day before this storm our cows were almost snowed into their shed as well. Jayce used my little bitty sheep panels (that’s all that was needed since there was so much snow!) to block the entrance of the shed to keep the cows out.
The ram’s shed seemed fine, so we left it open and well, you know the rest of the story.
Wrap up
Needless to say, all is fine, the sun came out and the drifts (except for the huge ones) have all mostly gone off.
Oh and one more thing, if you are going to give a little guy a haircut, do it before he sees you shear your sheep. Ask me how I know 😂
That pretty much sums up the last month around here. It is now the first week in March and I’m ready for lambs. Come on ewes!!
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