| Ah, June. Looking back at last month, things with the sheep slowed way down, but hay hauling was enough work to almost make up for all of lambing season! I have to say it’s my least favorite time of year but so satisfying and stress-relieving when it’s over. A few other updates and events have happened this past month as well. Enjoy! Amy | Table of Contents: ~ Craziness! ~ The Barn: Hauling Hay & Sheep News ~ The Coop: Chicken Updates ~ The Funnies: Ranch Humor ~ The Blog: Flowers, Nature & Upcoming Editions ~ Thank You! |
~ Craziness! ~
On Sunday, June 14th, while we were at the grocery store no less – the rest of our big oak tree fell. Last year, in May, the larger half fell and became part of our firewood for the winter. As you can see, that stump was completely rotten! It looks like it missed crushing our fence by a properly located branch holding it up from the ground. We had to cut a path through it to get the animals in and out of that pen, but the main work will likely be this fall. More firewood for winter!
~ The Barn: Hauling Hay & Sheep News ~
On June 16th, we hired a crew of guys to put 12 tons of meadow-grass hay in our barn, hauled from just down the road at the neighbor’s house. It’s always such a hot, sticky, pokey, and miserable job, but it feels good to have it done!
Onto the sheep news…
We sold out of all our Katahdin and St. Croix breeding stock in June! So thankful to everyone who purchased from us this year!
📋 Reserve Your Stock for Next Season!
Breeding stock goes quickly. Tap the links below to view pricing or secure your spot:
👉[Click Here for Our Hair Sheep Price List] (Prices subject to change)
👉[Click Here to Join Our Waiting List]Available Categories Include:
- Registered Stock: St. Croix & Katahdin
- Recorded Stock: Katahdin
- Commercial Breeding Stock: Purebred/Un-papered Katahdin or St. Croix
- Market Stock: Feeder Lambs
On June 14th I put the adult ewes, ewe lambs, and the potentially pregnant ewe, Kin, out together on pasture as our yard grass has slowed way down. They’ll stay together until breeding season sorting happens August 9th (can you believe breeding season is ALMOST HERE?!?!).
Here they are pictured in our “Road” pasture, where they stayed for a week.
We changed pasture rotation to move every week so we had to make sure they had 5 pastures to rotate on. Rams get only 2 pastures but they are a very small group of 3 animals (or will be once the 4 market lambs finally leave). The ewe flock is up to 28 right now including the ewe lambs.
We moved the grandma horse and old llama out with the ewes as well for the rotations. The rams were just being too rough with the llama and were hurting her. They no longer get anything but each other to hang out with (maybe some chickens haha).
~ The Coop: Chicken Updates ~
Mama hen and her surviving 4 chicks. They were doing terrific.
Later in June, a coyote managed to kill the mama hen (we found her feathers in the bottom of the pasture, well away from the coop and orchard). The babies have been doing pretty well surviving without her, but we unfortunately lost one without mama’s protection. It is a very sad situation.
A few days later, I found rooster feathers down by our well. We put up a camera on the fence facing that spot and caught the coyote. Funny enough, we saw the sheep come running up to the barn and they were all staring into the pasture with the well the morning after I placed the camera. I snuck out there and saw the bugger just before it trotted off. It wasn’t super willing to run so I doubt it went far. We have a strict policy: if they leave us alone, we leave them alone. This one didn’t leave us alone, and it was far too close to the house/barn for comfort. Hunting time.
One of these days, we will build a secure run so broody hens can raise chicks inside for a higher survival rate. We also have plans to secure the orchard so hens don’t escape to lay eggs in hidden places. Long-term, we plan to run an incubator once we have a dedicated, predator-proof space for the young chicks.
~ The Funnies: Ranch Humor ~
~ The Blog: Flowers, Nature & Upcoming Editions ~
Hope you enjoyed The Homestead Happenings: Flowers & Nature that I’ve been doing separately from the Livestock Edition!
Here are the links to the June ones if you’ve missed them:
- Homestead Happenings: Flowers & Nature 6/8/26
- Homestead Happenings: Flowers & Nature 6/15/26
- Homestead Happenings: Flowers & Nature 6/22/26
- Homestead Happenings: Flowers & Nature 6/29/26
The next Homestead Happenings: Flowers & Nature blog posts will be every Monday in July, as the world is alive with flowers and wildlife!
We’ll see you all again August 1st, for our next Homestead Happenings: Livestock Edition, where we finalize thoughts on the upcoming breeding season!
The blog is a sampling of all the photos I’ve taken this month, so please head over to our social media to see the photo dumps!
~ Thank You! ~
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Hollow Hills Ranch 