Nourishment

catchall for hay, pastures, water stuff

Update on pasture food preferences of Soay sheep

Update on pasture food preferences of Soay sheep

Much has been written about the grasses and other edibles Soay sheep lived on during their thousands of years on the tiny islands of the St. Kilda archipelago and how that compares to their relatively posh existence these days on the grass pastures here in North America. There also are plenty of articles about what […]

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Water water everywhere: a 10-year look-back

Water water everywhere: a 10-year look-back

As we approach the end of 2015, we are encouraged by the report of over 60 inches of snow on Big Red Mountain, the only source of water for our Little Applegate River once the rains diminish in April and stop altogether in May. Last year there was no snow on Big Red – zero […]

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“Ram lookin’ over a four-leaf clover…”

“Ram lookin’ over a four-leaf clover…”

Yesterday was a stunningly beautiful early autumn day in the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains, a perfect day to photograph the rams leaving our farm for eight (so far) new homes in the next few weeks. Now I’m back inside with a couple of hundred photos and struck by how many of them show an […]

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Soay sheep by birth, piglet by behavior: gorging on summer grass

Soay sheep by birth, piglet by behavior: gorging on summer grass

I was out yesterday taking pictures of our adult ewes to send to people who have taken advantage of our half-price sale when a sweet 2013 ewe, Winfield, walked right up to me and began shamelessly chowing down everything in front of her nose. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud, […]

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It’s March, and the yearling Soay rams love their new spring pastures

It’s March, and the yearling Soay rams love their new spring pastures

Out here in Oregon where we have been spared the endless rounds of blizzards and ice storms, our year-old rams can’t get enough of the emerging pastures. I was photographing parts of our fencing earlier last week for an earnest post about how to construct a fence that will keep Soay sheep safe and happy, […]

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Do Soay sheep really prefer weeds to grass?  Photographic evidence

Do Soay sheep really prefer weeds to grass? Photographic evidence

Ever since we got our first Soay sheep nearly seven years ago, we have bragged to our friends, and frequently boasted online as well, about how great they are for cleaning up neglected pastures and keeping grass pastures healthy.  Everything we learned online in the early days reinforced our notion that our sheep were in […]

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