Empty Paddock
May 16th, 2014 · No Comments · Posted in Blog, farming
Our permanent paddock has turned strangely quiet now that all the animals have moved out to pasture. Beginning last December and for five full months through the winter, this was the center of activity on the farm. This is where I delivered hay, refreshed water and tended to all the livestock needs. Not until very recently did we have fields elsewhere ready to graze.
It was the woman who sold us our Friesian ewes who suggested we fence in an area close to the house where the animals could congregate when needed. We then hired a contractor to build the big walk-in shelter to provide some protection from the weather. It may have been the smartest thing we’ve done since purchasing our farm property. These simple features served us so well.
I built a pen inside the shelter to house our boy goat. Later, this is where the mother ewes gave birth and nursed their newborn lambs.
Now I pass by the paddock and all those memories of a particularly harsh winter replay in my mind. Day after day of plodding through deep snow, negotiating my own frozen tracks, hauling water buckets with temperatures 15 below. All that remains now is to gather up all the spoiled hay on the ground. But soon enough it will be winter again and life will return to the paddock.
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