A Spring Day in the Life of a WA Humane Livestock Farmer
By Lydia strand with Lydia's Flock
It has been an unusually cold and wet spring here in the Pacific Northwest. Older neighbors are telling us they’ve never seen such a wintry spring in all their time living here. The occasional sun is a welcome sight after months of gray; the pastures are lush, green, and growing though still incredibly soggy after a long fall and winter of unending rain and wind.
Our non-lambing sheep flock moved out to their respective grazing space about 3 weeks ago because no matter what the forecast was telling us the sheep made it clear that winter is over and it’s time to hit the pastures again. Butchering for our 1 year old rams is scheduled for early June so this is their last opportunity to turn lush forage into delicious lamb to feed our community. Though signs of spring are as evident as they are deceitful, we are working hard to get everything ready for the 2022 grazing season. 28 Icelandic and 4 Shetland ewes have lambed in the past month, with 57 lambs on the ground. It was an eventful and successful lambing season and this crop of lambs is one of our finest. The first group of ewes and lambs headed out to the pasture this morning with all the chaos of reorienting lambs to a new environment while their mothers have been impatiently waiting to get out and graze, all but leaving the lambs to figure things out for themselves for the moment.
My husband is finishing our first ever laying hen chicken tractor that will follow along behind the sheep once the pastures are a little more solid. After raising chickens for 14 years, it’s about time we got them moving behind the sheep, building soil tilth and breaking down manure. Finally, an opportunity for these chickens to really earn their keep.
Our pack of 6 Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs are vigilant as they know lambs are now potentially vulnerable being out on the pasture with their mothers while also cognizant that coyote pups have recently been born in the woods next to farm and their parents are making their presence known. For two of our guardian dogs, it will be their first season with lambs and they are very sensitive that change is in the air.
There is so much uncertainty in the world (and in our communities) today and if ones focuses too long on all that we cannot control, we lose ourselves. Here on the farm we really work to focus on the here and now because that’s where we’re able to make our greatest impact. Giving the best of ourselves and holding to the highest standards of animal welfare in the shepherding of our sheep flock brings so much joy and pride. Lambs are small for such a short time that to focus on the unimportant means we miss all those wonderful moments like sheep frolicking in the pasture as the sun sets or running to greet us when we come out to visit with them at the end of a long workday. Whatever is going on the outside world, I look to our sheep flock to provide me with contentment and purpose while they look to me for exceptional husbandry and safety. That is what Spring here is... a renewal of that very precious relationship between shepherd and flock.
Lydia’s Flock is a 40 acre farm located just east of Bellingham in NW Washington State owned and operated by Lydia and Jared Strand. We raise Icelandic and Shetland sheep for pastured lamb, registered breeding stock, raw and finished fiber products and offer beginning and ongoing shepherding and pasture management education and mentorship.
Photo Credit: Rachel Jackson