Kind Horn Farm Blog—News from the Farm

Five years ago we decided to resurrect an old hill farm here in North Central Vermont. Our farm had been a sheep farm in the 1800's to sometime in the early 1900's, but by the time we came to the land, it had all grown up into pretty mature forest. But, we could see the outlines of the farm through the old house and barn foundations and the numerous old stone walls that divided up the property. Our first summer, we began by carefully clearing fourteen acres, preserving the old hedgerows, stonewalls, and roadways and letting these be our guide to shaping the meadows.

Read more: Restoring The Farm

Well, finally after getting up our equipment shed and putting up new barnyard fencing for it, we were ready to put together our breeding groups.  Of course, as is with all building projects, it took us a couple of weeks longer than anticipated and so the breeding groups were put together a bit later than we wanted.  But, the rams were all that much happier to get in with their gals!!!!

We were really happy with the three rams we used last year, so they got to go back to the breeding pen this year.  We also have one ram lamb that we are using on a few ewe lambs and as "clean up ram" for the adult ewes.  I am just hoping that as the clean up guy, he's got what it takes.  This young guy has a super genetic background, with 75% AI.  I will be adding him to the rams page soon, so you can get a look at him and his lineage.

Looking forward now to lambing season and seeing what lovely lambs we get from these breeding combinations.

Read more: Breeding Season 2009

Bringing back good pasture from forest land is not an easy task.  Fortunately, we have these wonderful Icelandic sheep who will eat just about anything.  Our sheep do most of the work in restoring the pastures here.  They are quite happy eating saplings and briar bushes!  As we practice intensive rotational grazing, the sheep are spreading their manure as they graze.  This saves us from having to spread much manure and the fertilizer is free!  Our Icelandic sheep are improving soil quality every day.  We have seen dramatic improvement in the fields over the last two summers.

Read more: Restoring The Pasture