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| Wyn and Belle |
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| Winter Feeding |
Winter in our part of France is not always snowy, but this year it has become really cold very early. We have had temperatures as low as -9. Today I took some photos of the sheep whilst we were out feeding. As always Wyn and Belle, our two sheepdogs, were with us. The snow should clear tomorrow, but we will carry on feeding because the baby lambs are growing inside the mothers, and extra feed is needed. The sheep are pregnant for about 5 months, but it is in the last two months that the foetuses put on most of their growth, and that is when the mother's need concentrate feed. We feed a mix of whole maize grain, sugar beet pulp pellets, lucerne pellets and rapeseed-meal pellets. If the snow were to be on the ground continually we would have to bring hay to the ewes straight away. As it is, there is still some grazing to be found and we have to ration our precious hay stocks. The spring of this year was very dry over a large part of France, and hay production was greatly reduced in these areas. We only have about two thirds of the hay crop we would normally expect. Lets hope the winter is a short one.
It looks very pretty, but so cold... I hope the areas where the sheep can graze last a while yet. Do the dogs cope well in -9?
ReplyDeleteIt will get colder yet. We got down to -15 last winter, so we expect more to come. The seasons are sharply contrasting here. Spring comes like a green firework display of leaves and flowers and warmth. The grazing is very soggy now with all the melted snow and the rain making the ground wet. The sheep prefer the cold and dry. The dogs cope really well. They never mind the cold, wet or wind. The heat of summer sometimes slows them down a bit though.
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