First signs of Spring

This has been a pretty mild Prairie winter. And the signs of Spring arrived much earlier than it did last year! Tomorrow is the official First day of Spring. Although some years, that is just a technicality and the temperature could be -20 with 2 feet of snow on the ground. This year, it appears almost spot on.
For a week or so now I have heard and seen the return of the Canada Geese, and even a few ducks. And yesterday, the gophers were out. (Richardson Ground Squirrel). I took a picture of this guy out in the field where the cows were bale grazing.

Another sign we start looking for, is the first real growth of grass. Last year I documented the first weeds at April 17th, and the grass didn't really start until April 20th. But today I saw grass. Grass that wasn't there yesterday. That is pretty exciting. Of course by this afternoon the rain had turned into sleet and by tonight it will be snowing. Spring is fickle and dances just beyond our reach!

So what are we busy with this time of year?

Well let's see:

•  last week I vaccinated all the goats, and dewormed the ones that needed it. I also trimmed  their hooves as needed, and they are now ready for the kidding season that starts in 4 weeks. 
• Next, I am working on getting set up for shearing day for the sheep, which is next week. On shearing day, the sheep will receive their vaccinations too.
• Last year the snow came early, and my yard is still covered in leaves which I would like to tidy up. 
• I have started some veggie and flower seedlings indoors in preparation for the gardening season.
• What I like to do now is prepare lots of easy meals for Spring when I am busy with kidding, lambing, and chicks in the brooder as well as yard work and getting the garden ready, and my day job. So when I cook, I make extra large batches. Extra chili, beef stew, chicken soup, bean soup, butternut soup, cookies and granola bars are processed into meal-size portions and frozen, ready to just heat up after a long day. 
• Then of course there is Spring cleaning, and checking supplies for kidding and lambing season: electrolytes, colostrum, milk replacer and nursing bottles in case they are required, vitamins, a stomach tube to quickly get colostrum in chilled goat kids, ear tags are ready to record births.

A busy time of year! Spring is about rebirth, awakening as the short days of winter give way to longer days, milder weather and the glorious anticipation of the return of Life.

The Guardian

I got a llama yesterday! This is Jewel, she is 10 years old and registered.

It was a bit foggy out this morning, which made for some neat pictures

Jewel with the sheep

Checking out the short fuzzies...

...And the tall majestic ones....

an itchy moment

Jewel seems very alert and curious. She has been handled lots and is halter broke, I still need to remove her halter. The sheep are familiar with llamas so they were not too traumatized. The goats think she's a bit weird but they don't really care. The milk cow - well maybe her eyes got a bit bigger, it's hard to tell, she is a Jersey with pretty big eyes as it is! :) 

The horses weren't really spooked but they thought it was a great excuse to ACT spooked and run around like crazy things! 

I caught Macy and Jack standing still in the fog:

Macy

Jack

The only ones that really noticed the llama, were my dogs. They know to stay out of the pens, but they run around the paddocks. They barked and growled at the strange new creature.

My hopefully future herding dog, Spice

I will monitor Jewel in the next week or so, to make sure she bonds with the flock. It might be a bit of a challenge because the goats come back to the corral to sleep at night, but the sheep prefer to sleep in the pasture. The horses go wherever they feel like it. If it looks like she is not bonding, I might separate the horses out into one camp, and bring the sheep up to the corral at night too.