Safe in the Tub

As is inevitable for tiny goats, our new doeling, Macchiata, found a way out of her pen. She trotted around with the ewes and hung out with her sister, Mocha, for a little bit before jumping into a feed tub.

She looked pleased with her find as she turned around a couple of times before settling in to watch Mia, who kept an eye on her from the other side of the gate.

(Mocha liked to hide in buckets last year. It’s fun seeing the similarities between siblings. I suppose that when you’re that small, buckets and feed tubs are safe places.)

Once Macchiata was finished in the feed tub, she visited Galadriel and pretended to walk on a big fluffy cloud.

Thanks for Reading!

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If Sylvan Sundays was forwarded to you, welcome! To learn more about our farmers, check out “A New Year’s Introduction,” and to learn more about our name, visit “Being Sylvan.” Also, make sure to check out “This Week on the Farm” and “Farm Shop” below!

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This Week on the Farm

At the Indiana Small Farm Conference on Tuesday, Jeff and I gave a presentation on our research project looking at weed control in Christmas trees.

For this project, we’re comparing traditional weed control methods (mulching, mowing, and spraying) with grazing Shropshire sheep. We turned sheep out in the Christmas trees in the fall of 2023, and in 2024, we received a grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program* to conduct an official research project.

Our premise is that weed control with sheep can be a viable alternative to traditional methods. Thus far, our conjecture is panning out, as the sheep don’t disturb the trees. We’ll start our second round of measurements in about a month.

The presentation went well, and several participants were interested in what the next step in this project will be!

Farm Shop

We’re now taking pre-orders for 4-H lambs. Reply to this email to let us know of your interest!

And here’s our Etsy shop, open 24/7.

Footnote

* This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2023-38640-39573 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number FNC24-1423. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.