Monday 14 April 2014

Bits and Pieces

Things have been a little hectic the past week or two,
mostly because lambing started, and the lambs came a little quicker than we expected them too.

Not only that, but this weekend I was invited to speak at a conference in Calgary called
"Celebrating Wildlife".
The organizers flew me in on Friday, which gave me the opportunity to visit with Zoran, Ranka and their twin daughters.
Zoran is a fellow Sarplaninac lover and owner,
 and it is wonderful to visit with him.

Saturday was the conference.



A number of speakers came and gave a brief presentation about various topics regarding wildlife.
There was a talk about bears, coyotes, the Cochrane Ecological  Society spoke about their work with (among other things, the swift fox), a wild life photographer Kerri Marten talked about the story behind the image,
and then there was me,
talking about ranching and predators co-existing together.

The wonderful thing about these conferences is that it is not all doom and gloom.
The shared experiences, interactions and openness to share ideas is motivating.
I flew back late Saturday night, and dived straight into the night shift with lambing...

Calving is due to start this week, although I am not really ready for it,
I am sure that once it gets going, we will get organized...



See, lots of rotund cows

I wanted to share this short video of our old flock of sheep in the Netherlands.
Sometimes, when they are tired of grazing the banks of the river the Eem, they like to do a little shopping.
Our dear friend and colleague shepherd Willo was in charge of them...


All I can say is.. I know that feeling!

We are also in the middle of mud season, the snow is melting fairly rapidly,
the dugouts are over flowing,
and all the run off does not have anywhere to go.
So a simple task such as walking to the barn,
turns out to be a mud-bog.
Hopefully in another week, the snow will be gone and things can start to dry out a little.

We have a new student, a young woman from Sweden.
She is ex- army, did a tour or two in Afghanistan
 and is now helping us here.
I think Eric is happy as she want to learn to butcher chickens, cut up meat etc..
I gently remind him that when he met me I was a vegetarian
 so he knew what he was getting into to!

So, not too many exciting things happening here,
just busy.

Blogging may be a little sporadic these next few weeks,
but I promise not to forget you all!


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