Greetings from Dennis Farms!
I hope all of you are coping well with your winter weather. Ours has been brutal to say the least. So much for the National Weather Service’s forecast of a warmer, dryer winter than normal. We had several nights in December when the overnight low was down into the teens and highs for the day didn’t get above freezing. January wasn’t much kinder. That’s not the kind of weather a grass farmer in Alabama is looking for. But I’m sure after the snow that is forecast for Wednesday night melts, Spring will be just around the corner.
Lambing Has Begun! After Janie had me on “lamb watch” for a week and a half, our first lambs were born February 2nd. Rose had triplets! We don’t especially like our ewes to have triplets because it is hard on mama and hard on the babies but all seem to be doing well. All three were ram lambs and of very good size for triplets. Our flock sire Maximiser is giving us the extra size we were looking for. Janie and I tagged the babies yesterday. A lesson well learned is that we are getting too
old to be chasing 5 day old lambs around the pasture. We won’t wait that long any more when the next lambs are born. I’ve attached a couple of pictures of the new lambs. The person in the background is the shepherdess Janie making sure I did things right.
Primeburger! We took another cow into the processor for harvesting a week ago. We will have a fresh supply of “Primeburger” in a couple more weeks as we age the meat 14 days before it’s ground. While waiting to unload the cow, the owner of the facility was excited to tell us that he had just completed upgrading his meat grinding equipment which should produce an even better texture to the “Primeburger”. Please e-mail me or call Janie with your new orders and let us know what YOU think of the upgrade.
Roasting Pigs! This summer we hope to have some roasting pigs available for your 4th of July or Labor Day BBQ. Nothing beats the fun and good eating of a pig roast for your holiday celebration. We will follow up with more details as summer approaches on how you can reserve a pig for your BBQ.
Calf Watch! Our new heifer Tammy may be due to calve February 20th or not. If she conceived from her AI sire, that’s her due date. If she conceived from her pasture exposed sire, it will be at least 21 days later. Either bull will produce a great calf, but we are kind of hoping it’s the pasture bull whose the daddy. I’ll let y’all know later.
New Years Resolutions! One of my resolutions was to be more regular in sending out farm updates (yea! I don’t have to type so long). One of Janie’s resolutions was that she would do a better job of updating the farm’s Facebook page. Well! We all know who’s off to a good start.
I can’t emphasize enough how much Janie and I appreciate your encouragement and patronage. Both are essential to us continuing our journey. While the patronage is certainly essential, when the hours get very long and the bones get very tired, it’s the encouragement that enables us to take that next step. Thank you!
Regards,
Greg & Janie Dennis
Dennis Farms
Ranburne, AL
