It’s been a couple of blissful, no-sun days.
We have been parched, PARCHED, I tell you. The severely hot weather poses a myriad of problems that need addressing pronto. No margin of error allowed. Like the water situation. Cows can drink up to 20 gallons on an average day and the traffic at the water cooler only multiplies when the heat is on. And cows have been known to drink too much when moved to a new, fresh supply, causing a toxic reaction to the sudden intake. Being over-served is no laughing matter when drought is concerned.
Plus all the animals need shade and fresh grass, thus must be moved more than usual. If the grass is dried up, we have to get hay out to them wherever they are. And the pigs absolutely have to have a wallow to cool their skin down. As if summer wasn’t busy enough with harvesting, haying and a general uptick in busy work. This creates more tension than lambing season!
Fortunately we got a nice, long drink of rain water and a couple of days off from the sun and crazy heat. Big sigh of relief. Hopefully the grass in the field will stop resembling my 80′s-era hair and resume growing.
While I’m on the subject of severe weather, there is an excellent local film maker, Jared Flesher, who has directed, filmed and produced ‘Sourlands’, a movie about farming in the Sourland Mountains on New Jersey. We were lucky enough to go to a screening a couple of nights ago at Eno Terra. I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in farming or interested in local, sustainable food. I would really just recommend this movie to anyone. Click here for more information.
One more parting shot of the flerd…
Lambs…they grow so fast!
