from Peter and Susan Dill
Happy December and Merry Christmas!
We have definitely transitioned into winter! The temperature has been in the teens to low 20s for days - the snow we got last week although not very deep is still on the ground.
Jonathan is home again from France for a month or so, and we have a nice group of folks helping out this winter on the farm. It is helpful to have some cushion as the flu goes around!
Jonathan holding baby Ashler.
Heather, Aaron, Asher, and kittens!
Peter holding Asher.
The same day Jonathan arrived home we had the lovely curly willow taken down. It was the tree often in the border of the pollinator meadow photos. A large branch had crashed down a couple of weeks earlier and our arborist (Jeff Bayes of Tree Maintenance) advised that we had come to the end of the tree's life (the average is 10-15 years). There was just too much rotten in the center...It is sobering to watch 50 years of growth and memories disappear in an hour and a half...
Joy and sorrow together.
We moved the steers to the Beasley field mid-November, so far we have had just the right days of sunshine to fill the water tubs there with the solar pump. We will add an additional solar panel so on overcast days there will be enough power collected to run the pump.
The company representative encouraged us that storing electricity in batteries is very expensive, so we are storing water! Instead of one tub (150 gallons) for the group of 20 animals we have four tubs lined up!
Peter with solar panel
Their water intake varies from day to day with humidity (they drink a lot less when it rains!!) and what forage they are eating. Usually they average about 5 gallons per day per animal.
The heifer group is in the 30 acre field also grazing the pasture that we did not graze in the fall to reserve it for the winter. That leaves just the cow group that we are feeding supplemental hay to in the west fields.
Baby Maximus, the next herd bull, is growing!
Claire and Peter have a great "chess" game strategy set up where they will feed a week's feed in the next paddock to the west which will allow an eight week rest period for each paddock before we need to have animals rotate through again. It is amazing how the grass continues to grow (yes, slowly!) even in the winter.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!