Hello!

I'm happy to have a blog on this great website because it helps us to fulfill an important part of our mission as a student group and farm -- to increase the level of transparency, dialogue, ideas shared between food producers and food consumers. Through this blog we can share happenings with the sheep flock and the management ideas and decisions that we discuss and implement. As a group of college students running a farm, we are always learning and trying new things with the goal of producing food in what we feel is the best way possible, changing to adapt to the new situations which are presented nearly everyday when dealing with the dynamic biological system that is a farm. In this way, management is a constant exploration: How is the grass growing right now? What are the nutritional needs of this animal, based on its stage of life? What is the weather and how is it affecting the animals behavior? What are common diseases during this time of year and how can we prevent them? We've been a student group-farm for just two years now, and already have learned so much about assessing these questions and fine tuning our management.

One example of a management change we made this year, based on what we've learned and experienced, is supplementing the mother sheep with a small amount of grain during late gestation and early lactation. Decisions like these come with a  significant amount of deliberation, study, and observation among members of the student group. What we learned is a meshing of animal physiology, pasture management, and nutrition. We learned that  sheep, especially those carrying twins like many of ours, have a limited amount of room in their abdomen for food intake during late pregnancy when the lambs have grown and are taking up space. This, combined with a greatly increased demand for nutrients while supporting fast growing lambs, means they have to get a lot of nutrition in a small amount of space. Bulky forages like grass and grass silage are necessary elements of the sheeps diet, but the nutrient content is such that they can't always eat enough quantity to get the nutrients they need. A small amount of grain, which is concentrated in energy and mixed with some necessary vitamins and minerals, goes a long way in providing the extra nutrients to supplement what they get from the grass. We are also giving them a small amount of grain in the first few weeks of lactation when their body has a high nutrient demand for producing lots of quality milk to get the lambs off to a great start. Our lambs are still 100% grass finished, the ewes eat forage only for the majority of the year, and all the sheep live on grass pasture throughout their lives.

We always welcome questions and feedback from consumers, so please feel free to email us at essapasturedlamb@gmail.com .

Happy spring!

 - Alea