I spent my entire day today farming.. something that doesn't always happen. With the spring rolling right along and the weather getting warmer, we are doing a lot of work with the sheep to get them ready for summer!
Apart from my usual job of feeding hay to the lambs and the ewes that have been weaned, I helped to "drench" (de-worm) about 200 ewes today. I am definitely going to be a strong girl by the time I leave here, because each ewe weighs about 150 pounds! For those unfamiliar with sheep: they get worms in their tummy! Each flock is different, depending on how often they are on pasture and how resistant the breed is to worms. But de-worming is very common, some shepherds do it up to six times a year, although the Westbergs only do it once a year. One time they went three years without having to do it at all! It's just a liquid medicine you have to give them. Quite simple once you can catch the sheep and hold it still!
I also helped to wean the lambs of about 100 ewes (I get to drench those ewes tomorrow). Weaning is an interesting time for sure... Noise levels get higher than ever during this time of year. It should take a few days then the lambs and ewes will learn to be quite content apart. Some extra tasty food is extremely helpful of course ;).
My last big job of the day was to help catch and sort 45 lambs for slaughter. When I say lamb I mean a 110-130 pound sheep.. So once again I was able to get a workout! Seriously, anyone that doesn't have money for a gym membership should try farming. I'm sure a neighbour farmer would love the help too! ;)
I will say now that watching a sheepdog do its work is really an amazing thing! (Also, how does anyone get by shepherding without one?) It is like nature combined with talent and a lot of training. When it all comes together, it's great! I think I can say I know more Swedish sheepdog commands than English... Someone will have to teach me when I get home!
I suppose for my Aggie and farming alike friends, I should explain a few differences between European and Canadian Agriculture that I have noticed so far.
It is illegal to dock tails in Sweden, and many other European countries. (This includes dogs, pigs and other animals as well). This practice is still common in North America. The obvious reason why this is banned is because it causes pain to the animals. But there are many reasons why people still do dock tails, a main one (for sheep anyway) being that it eliminates the chance of feces getting stuck in the tail. When this happens, gross things like maggots can start living in the feces and will eventually start to eat the sheep. I recently read that in North America people can be "docked for not having docked". AKA they can lose money at the market or slaughter for two reasons: The butcher doesn't want to spend extra time on the tail, and it is also considered poor shepherding if the tail is not docked.
Castration via rubber band is illegal here. Karin (my host mother) said that it is very uncommon around here to castrate, simply because it's takes extra time and is not necessary. Lambs here go to slaughter before they are sexually mature, so there's no risk of pregnancy or crazy ram hormones. From what I know, they get the same price either way. This isn't always so in North America, but it all depends on various circumstances.
I was talking to a beef farmer a couple weeks ago and he raises bulls for meat. I asked him why not steers, and he explained to me that there is a law here that you have to put them out on pasture for a certain amount of time, which adds a whole extra season before they have gained enough to be sent to the butcher. So unless the demand for steer meat increases largely, it is only practical for farmers in Sweden to be raising bulls!
Fun fact: I visited a Swedish Agricultural school last week! It was for ages 16-19. (An extension of high school for them, there are different specialized schools all over the country). I was expecting a day of, well, classrooms and lessons. This was far from my visions! I spent the entire morning exploring the dairy, swine and sheep operations they have on campus, and got a tour of their fields. The students are given tasks every day on the on-campus farm, to prepare them for their farming future! In the afternoon they had welding class (where I did get to try welding for the first time)! Then we spent 10 minutes in the classroom going over a quiz from last week. Then to coffee break where they talked to their teacher about the practicum they had last week. Then it was home time! Best school day ever in my opinion. I probably learned more about the hands-on type of farming stuff than I will at my 4 years earning my Agricultural Business degree (I know, university is all theoretical and stuff... Still makes me sad that I can't play with animals at school)!
For those of you that are totally sick of my farming rant (sorry!) I will tell you this fun piece of info: "chase me" is one of the 3 English phrases that Karl here (5) knows. So after my long day of work I had the pleasure of chasing a little boy all around the house! Who, despite being caught several times, was never "it". So, you can be positively sure I got my exercise tonight! And in saying that, I am totally ready for bed.
Goodnight!
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