Third Cutting

Well this has been a great grass growing summer. Not only have we had good yields, the quality has also been very good. Below we are wrapping our third cutting hay. One of the best investments we ever made was getting a tractor with an extra seat (the buddy seat).

All the hay we made this year was very good quality and will be a real pleasure to feed to the animals this winter. We will feed third cutting hay to our lambs this fall and winter as we grow them to processing weight. We'll feed the second cutting to lambs and maybe the ewes who are lambing in March. The first cutting is fed to all the cows and the ewes who spend the winter on pasture.

Here I'm letting the main flock of ewes and lambs into a new section of pasture. The sheep we usually move every other day. They're excited for the fresh grass.

On the main cow-calf farm, about 12 acres of pasture is located across a town road.  Four or five times a year we walk the cows a few hundred yards down the road to get to the other side, and then a few days later we walk them back. Most of the cows are used to it so it's usually not a big deal. I occasionally do it by myself but it's always better with help.

Thanks for reading,

Leith, Mary Kate, Norah & Edith MacKenzie