Minimum day, the calm before the storm

The day before yesterday was one of the hinges of the year, where we turn from one segment of the farm calendar to another.  In the morning, I went up to the barn.  I gave the elderly sheep a scoop of senior equine feed.  To the does, I gave a feeder-full of orchard grass hay.  For the ewes, I only had to fluff up the orchard grass that was in their feeder, for they hadn't cleaned it up, and as soon as I opened the door they bolted out into the pasture.  I walked over to the bucks, filled up their feeder with orchard grass, and fluffed up the rams' feeder.  I then walked over to the junior bucks, topped off their feeder with orchard grass, walked over to the junior does and did the same for them, and I was done.

That was the morning feed.  The junior does and bucks had been getting supplementary grain and a little alfalfa, but they had outgrown their need for it.  The senior bucks are coming out of rut, and no longer need extra calories from grain.  The sheep are working the pastures down to nubbins before I spread seed, and are less interested in hay than they are in fresh grass.  Those animals had just finished tapering off their feed requirements.  Today, some of the animals are starting their increase--the first does are expected to kid in a week or less, so now they are getting a generous serving of alfalfa.  Things will get more complicated as we have kids to bottle feed, milking does to nourish,  and possibly a ewe or two with lambs--and that's not to mention the routine of milking.  But, for a couple of days there, feeding everybody, including the chooks, the cats, and the dog, took only twenty minutes.