Sunday and Monday

Sunday went smoothly considering Ann and Bob were gone. In the morning I set up fences in a new pasture for the ewes and Bob took me up to where the lambs are and told me how things should be done up there because I had no idea... After I hurt my foot I didn't do too much that day or the following one.

In the afternoon we went and weeded garlic and cut scapes. When milking time came around I went down and got the sheep (which was bad for my ankle... but I'm alright now) and then I did the chores. I also had to take the cheese out of the brine which I had never done before but is very simple.

After I had set up the pastures for the sheep, I went back by myself and weeded more garlic. I have learned that you really should keep up on the weeding of gardens and don't let the weeds run rampant. Lol Came back and finished up chores and came in for the night.

Bob got back so late on Sunday night that he told me he wouldn't be out Monday morning to do set up... So I had to wake up at 4:15 and be in the barn by 4:45 to do set up and get the sheep on my own with nobody else around. I didn't see anybody else until 6:45 which was when I was finishing up. After I got done cleaning up after milking, Bob had me go in the house and start preparing for the farmhouse dinner which is on Sunday. Worked until 8:45 and then got to leave.

Yesterday was my half day off and today is my full day off. Mark comes on Thursday evening for the weekend which often makes my work much more enjoyable because he helps with things too. Bob and Ann love having him around which is good because they don't mind that he stays here sometimes.

Anyway, I think I make cheese tomorrow again. Woo hoo? =)

204 hours down... 396 more hours to go...

Thursday, Friday, Saturday...

Sorry, I've been really busy lately. Thursday wasn't anything special. Mowed the lawn in preparation for visitors and also the farm house dinner. We've been doing trimming of the fields as well. I milked Thursday night.

Friday we moved lambs early... And that's when I got hurt. It's only a sprain, but I've stretched my achilles tendon... Went to the hospital, had xray... And I did clean up that night. I've got an air cast, but I'll be alright... :X

Today wasn't bad. Took down fences... Weighed cheeses and put them in the brine... Did some other things for Ann and then she made me go put my foot up.

This afternoon I washed some of the windows in the cheese room and then milked and cleaned up. The lamb I got hurt chasing after is in a pen with the pregnant ewe and apparently we have two more captives we have to take care of as well. Oh well...

Tomorrow Ann and Bob are gone most of the day so the interns will be running the farm. It'll be interesting!

Wednesdayyy the 24th of June!!!

Lots of milking took place today... Woke up for 5 AM milking... After I completed that task and clean up, I had to prepare the recipe for Bob for the savory (cheese) scone recipe. The power went out some time during the morning also, I'm very glad that we had a generator because I would NOT have wanted to milk the last seven sheep by hand...

This afternoon I helped Bob make some new concoction that I believe they are going to use for the farm house dinner which will take place July 5th. I'll have a whole entry dedicated to it, so you all can wait until I do it (probably the night that it occurs)... At 2:45 i did equipment set up and milked. I did clean up... Took the sheep out, which was good since I hadn't been out to their pasture since the beginning of last week, and since they're rotated twice every day, I had absolutely NO clue where they were being pastured.

This work is kind of redundant but at least I enjoy most of it (though we all have crappy parts to work...)... I especially love working with the animals, but I guess that's a good thing since I'm an Animal Science major, right? ;)

The hour count so far is 168.75... Only 431.25 more hours to go! Woo hoo!! As sad as it sounds, I can't wait to be back in NY... I have no idea what I'll do when I go to Virgina Tech. =D

End of last week and today

Thursday was rainy all day so I painted the milk room. The inspector came on Monday during the day (so I was the last one to have cleaned up) and apparently I did an excellent job because he had no critiquing on the equipment to be used, so that made me extremely happy! Thursday afternoon I milked and Friday morning I milked also, cleaned, did some random work for Ann and then went home for the weekend!!

I milked this morning and then had the rest of the day off. Since we had a blind lamb and Cara said she would take it, I drove it down to CT to drop it off for her. It's amazing what can happen when somebody puts forth effort... I took him down there and less than 12 hours later, somebody had seen him and wanted to adopt him. So now he is being all doctored up and is going to a new home where he can be a pet. He certainly is a fighter with a strong will to live... I'll miss having him around though.

Other than that, things are well. I'm going on a sheep delivery tomorrow with their daughter Sarah so that should be fun!

Tuesday and Wednesday...

Tuesday morning I helped clean up with the person that milked, I had a break from 9-10:30, which was when we were to go to the auction. It wasn't the first auction I had been to, but any of the other auctions I had gone to were strictly cattle auctions. This auction, however, had all types of livestock and also hay and corn. It was very interesting and I also learned to come prepared if you plan on buying hay and only have a pick up truck... Ugh. Oh well, we managed.

Today I milked and then did a lot of clean up stuff including fully cleaning out the holding pen. I also brush hogged some more and weeded garlic. I learned a lot of things about growing garlic in the process which I find fairly interesting. After we finished with the garlic for the day, I came back and cleaned the milking parlor.

I feel that we do a fair amount of 'grunt work' here, but we also are given excellent opportunities to go along with it, and it's not like the interns are the only ones doing it. The owners do it too. I really do enjoy the education and experience I am getting here.

These Entries Are Getting Fewer and Far Between

These posts are getting fewer and far between. Probably because I'm extremely busy and exhausted after working.

Thursday after my last post we cut cheese, and then worked on putting it into the molds. We had to keep rotating them, trimming them, and eventually they went into the cage. It was a pretty cool experience and I can't wait to do it again.

Friday I milked and had misc work to do. I helped Bob in the kitchen for a little while preparing for farmer's market in Brattleboro. Friday evening I milked, cleaned up, and fed the rams.

There is a ewe that didn't have lambs in the spring and we think she is bred so on Saturday morning I separated her into her own pen. And it's one more chore that we have to do. Saturday morning I milked and proceeded to clean up and do the pens outside. Saturday evening we were working on cleaning up the farm because visitors were coming from Boston, I guess it's one of their biggest customers.

Sunday morning Mark (he was up for the weekend to visit and went and worked with me saturday and sunday morning) and I made a new fence for the pigs and we moved them. This took a long time because the pigs are pastured in the hedgerow to clean it out so the sheep will have more pasture, so a lot of trimming was done in the hedgrow to get the fence to stay hot.

Sunday evening I had to take care of the pigs, rams, and ewes. I also had to get stuff ready for the next morning and put up fences for the milking ewes so they would have a place to go after milking.

This morning I worked at 5 because I was milking this morning. By the time I got done and took out the sheep, I had an hour left so I went into Bob's kitchen to help organize and clean it because it was an absolute mess. Today is my half day off and since I have this weekend off, I'm working tomorrow (my full day off).

Monday Morning, Wednesday, and Thursday Morning

Monday morning I milked which was all that I did and then my day and a half off started.

Yesterday I had to work at 7. I helped clean up from milking and then clean the sheeps waiting area and such. Nahum and I then went to pick up sawdust from a sawmill. This time Bob didn't go with us so I was held responsible for communicating to the owner to explain who we were and to give him the cheese Bob told us to give him. When we got back we had to unload it into the sawdust area in the barn.

Last night I milked. It took a little while longer because the set up of the milking machine wasn't quite right... which really made me learn to always double check things before you start milking because accidents happen. After I had completed that, I did the dishes and the cleaning up of the yard. I also took care of the rams.

Lately we have had problems with mastitis, so we've been testing for that. Tuesday Bob sent 7 ewes to market and we still had a problem yesterday. Anne found it this morning so now hopefully it will all be gone.

This morning I started by cleaning up things for the person who was milking and then went to change my clothes because I was to learn how to make cheese this morning. Its very interesting and as I'm writing this, we're waiting for the rennet and culture to work. We just finished adding the rennet and we have to wait 35 minutes.

Fridayyyy, Saturdayyyy, Sundayyyy!!

Milked at 5 which was basically all I did in the morning... plus cleaning up.

Afternoon I helped Bob a lot with making different food items and doing miscellaneous chores around the farm. I also got to do some fences... woo hoo... That night we got to go to Brattleboro to sell some cheese... plus one of the other interns was participating in a grilled cheese competition. It was a very interesting experience.


Saturday I milked at 5 again. We were supposed to only work 3 hours but I worked late. We were supposed to get some time to go to the strolling of the heifers parade, which we did but we were about half an hour late. Yet again, it was a wonderful experience.

Saturday was our first "test" on the farm. Bob had gone to the farmer's market in B-boro and Ann had gone to Maryland that morning and wouldn't be back until Sunday evening. When we started again at 2, we had a lot of work to do which the other interns seemed slow to start so I had to boot em in the butt kind of... I set up the milking parlor and equipment and went out to get the sheep with one of the other interns. I didn't have to milk, but I did have to set up fences...

I also had to help do mastitis testing because nobody else knows how to strip out a sheep. We've had some traces of mastitis so I had to test the whole herd. I did it both Saturday night and Sunday morning at 5. After stripping for mastitis Sunday morning I got a bit of a break because I had worked much more than the other interns. Tonight I just had some random work to do around the farm, much of which is normally expected anyway.

Tomorrow I get up at 5 and done at 9. And then the rest of the day off as well as Tuesday!!

Eighth Day of Work...

Started work at 7. I started by weighing the cheese and figuring out how long each different weight had to stay in the brine. Too much brine=salty cheese=no good. I also moved the animals from one pasture to another which was successful. Some of the other animals got out (3 rams from one pen on the home farm)... and the group of lambs about a mile down the road. I got the 3 rams in by myself and I helped Bob with the lambs, donkeys, and llama. Next I had to clean the holding area and I also cleaned the where we place the ewes after milking. I ended my morning by picking up fences from a previously used pasture and placing them where the next pasture would be. I ended at 11.

I started work up again at 2:30 because I was milking. I helped Max put together the milking equipment (which we successfully did without the assistance of Ann or Bob) and then brought the sheep up to the waiting area. I also was the milker for the evening with some assistance from Max. The young ewes are still really difficult to deal with because they jump and kick so much. Hopefully by next week they will cull the ewes that are too terrible (I think there is 2)... I also cleaned the waiting area and the back yard where the sheep are put after milking again... Bob and I took the sheep out to pasture that Max had prepared earlier that day and we also fed the pigs. I ended by mixing up a bleach cleaning solution that is used for cleaning the ramp into the parlor. I ended at 6:30.

5 o' clock milking tomorrow morning. Woo hoO! Strolling of The Heifers tomorrow though in Brattleboro which I believe we all are supposed to go to. It should be an excellent experience!!

Forgot To Update Last Night!!!

I have Monday afternoon and Tuesday off so I guess I got out of the swing of things as far as updating goes, but it's ok. Yesterday morning I milked by myself, so it took a very long time. By the time I got all the sheep milked and everything washed, it had been four hours. There is a lot entailed in milking to remember and since it was only my second time, I won't completely remember it all. I think I have come to the conclusion though that I would rather be milking cows...

Yesterday afternoon I did a range of things. I helped Bob make scones (the savory ones)... They had sheep cheese and garlic for flavoring. They were really good though! I also had to go and help Ann milk for a little while. Yesterday I also learned how to move the sheep out to pasture and back in for milking in the evening. It wasn't very hard but it is a little nerve-wracking... I mean, what if they don't follow? But I suppose that's what their Border Collie Juba is for... Oh well. That was about all for yesterday. Last night after we got off of work I went and observed Bob making sweet scones. I also helped some which I feel was good experience for me. It also allowed me to ask questions about their operation as well.

Sixth Day... Half Day... Finally...

Finally a little time off was given to me in the afternoon... This morning I was up at 7 and helped to finish the milking and then helped move sheep out to pasture. I learned how to clean the parlor after milking and also the set up for the next day. I also started to learn a lot of good mastitis prevention. For the second half of the morning I learned how to brush hog a few of the fields. It was a fairly easy task, but some how I managed to get mildly injured... Oh well.

Today was my half day off and tomorrow is my full day!! yay!!! Sleeping in finally!!