June is about making hay. A break in the rain with 4 sunny, breezy days allowed us to get the first cutting of hay started. We actually were able to get 30 round bales done on Memorial Day weekend. With another week of rain predicted we will be waiting on a good stretch of 4 dry days to get the rest of the first cutting done. Hopefully it will get dry enough to make square bales as we get a better price for these. If not, it will go into round bales. It takes that long to be sure the hay is completely dry. If it is not dry enough it will mold. If you have heard about spontaneous combustion in hay barns – it really is a thing. The damp hay ferments and can create enough heat to ignite.
In the hop yard the hops are all strung and growing away. The 50 starts of the new Monocay hop that we planted last year are up a growing vigourously. They have done well with more rain this year than last. Hops require a lot of Nitrogen so they will get fertilized just before it rains. This helps to ensure the nutrients go into the soil and do not just vaporize away. Towards the end of the month, we will put the sheep back in the hop yard. They will eat the lower leaves but not the scratchy, woody bines. Removing the leaves helps to increase the air flow thus controlling fungal diseases.
The lambs are all growing well and are all eating grain by this time. As the weather gets hotter and the grass dries up the ewes begin to produce less milk. This helps to transition the lambs gradually to a diet of grass and grain. They got their first round of vaccinations in mid-May so will be getting the booster vaccines in June. (Sound familiar?). We will also shear the lambs in June – this helps them to grow better as they are less heat stressed. Getting rid of the ‘lamb fuzzies’ also makes for a nicer fleece. The rest of the sheep were recently shorn so we are still sorting through and cleaning up or ‘skirting’ those fleeces. We do have some nice raw fleeces available for any spinners out there! We were proud to have the best Leicester Longwool fleece at the MD Sheep and Wool Festival for the second year in a row.
In the fields around us farmers have planted corn and soybeans which are beginning to emerge. Please avoid these fields and be careful not to walk on the young plants. Be mindful driving in the area. It is quite common this time of year to have farm equipment on the roads and some of it is quite large!