Breeding season is almost here! This year we’re experimenting with ram effect. By putting the rams adjacent to the ewes (with a strong fence between them!) 7-10 days prior to turning them in together, the ewes should be stimulated to ovulate and their estrus cycles should be relatively synced up. This will help to maximize conception rates and shorten the lambing burst to a narrower time span.

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For the past week they’ve been grazing in “Palm Springs” (pasture, that is). There’s tons of good forage left: rye, kale, vetch and clover as well as all their favorite volunteer plants including mustard, prickly lettuce, and purslane. However, after months of waiting the CrustBuster no-till drill has arrived. That means it was time to move the sheep to new pastures so they can clean up the residual and volunteer grasses and forbs to prepare the ground for “crust busting” and seeding a warm season mix of millet, black eyed peas, cowpeas and sunflowers.

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Jessie Maier herding sheep.

Jess and Owen, our guard dog pup herd sheep the low stress way through our future vineyard site. We are mimicking nature using animal herds to create healthy soil as a foundation for great wine to come. Ewe herd it here.

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