Killing a tree

It was an old and sick one, however it is still terrible to cut a tree. The biggest cherry tree is gone - making space for our new sheep fold.

Breeding season (I)

We got our ram! Arnold collected him by car in the Czech Republic. "Don't they have good ones in Slovakia?" you might wonder. They do, however few Frisians and we suspect most of this breed to be related to our two Frisian ewes. So fresh blood had to be imported from the other site of the border. He is a half year old but already ready for 'his job'. He is wearing a harness which enables us to fix a piece of colored chalk on his chest. Now we daily note which sheep have a colored bum to know when to expect his first offspring. This morning we counted six yellow bums!
I just calculated the expected lambing dates with this tool: lambing calculator +/- 19 February 2012.

In typical Slovakian range sheep operations ewes usually do not get in heat the first year and thus first lambing occurs at two years of age. We however want to achieve that most of our ewes lamb for their first time at one year. This requires a higher level of management and feeding than if ewes are handled more traditionally. Breeding an ewe as a lamb will increase her lifetime productivity significantly.

Ewe lambs can be mated successfully without negative affects on future reproductive performance providing they achieve a threshold body weight within the breeding season. In general, ewe lambs must weigh approximately 65 percent of their mature body weight at the start of the breeding season in order to insure a high percentage of them breeding. With good management, this should produce conception rates of 75 to 90 percent. We hope to get at least 20 out of our flock of 22 lambing next spring.

Lazy

'Lazy' is not only the name of our campsite. In Slovak it means something like 'rural place'. In/on Lazy live Laznicks 'rural people' which is something like a 'boor' but for those living there (including us) also a proud nickname.
In/on Lazy life is pure and can be rough, it is not like some of those 'Country and living' or 'Landleven' (Dutch) magazines delude of country life. You wont find design benches and wrought-iron gates, flower arrangements and tables set with the right crockery.
Living in Lazy is about growing potatoes, chopping wood for long and cold winters, milking at five in the morning, eating your own produce, not being bothered by fashion or interior design, often some poverty but also a certain freedom. After ten years working in a environment where careers and politics where more important than people and solidarity we longed for a different lifestyle. Being Laznick suites us. Maybe it is just a phase but at present I cannot imagine returning to that part of the society where I was supposed to fit in.

Growing

This month we will collect theit husband in Czech Republic!