Bay Haven Farm Cleveland Bay Horses

Round Hill, Virginia

home of OldDominion Stud & model Tregoyd Journeyman 

The Farm Hand's Almanac Archive

The Farm Hand's Almanac was started in late September 2005.  The intent of the Almanac is to add the farm hand's perspective to the goings on at the farm.  Below is an archive of the Farm Hand's Almanac entries.  (the photo above is entitled "Farmers" (aka the Williams Brothers Farmers) courtesy of stuffucanuse.com)

May 11 - Bors celebrates his 2 month mark today.  He weighs in at 373 lbs (nearly a 100 lb increase), his cannons grew to 7.25 each and he now stands 12.2 hh.  He did a lot of growing in 1 months time.  It's been a cool wet weekend.  Everyone seems content lying down in the cool wet grass.

May 8 - Olwen and Isolde have been measured and their new stats posted. Indalia is back and in foal to Joe!  Wonderful surprise.  I suspect that she is due either June 8th-ish or June 26th-ish.  We are expecting three visiting mares for Joe this weekend.  He is keeping very busy.

May 6 - Well, wonders never cease. Our girl Indy is back.  We had found her a home after 5 months of trying unsuccessfully to get her in foal.  We had been informed that there was a possibility (after her late '06 foal) that excessive uterine scarring may prevent her from holding a pregnancy.  She is now back in our fields and is due with a Joe foal sometime in June.  We have always adored Indy and are delighted she's back and in the condition that she is in.  I will take and post some new photos tomorrow afternoon weather permitting.  We are due for some spring showers.

May 2 - The bottle lambs continue to require some very regular attention, but they are getting bigger by the day now.  They are now outside in a small fenced pasture area of their own with a giant dog house for shelter.  They remain quite adorable although very needy.  All the young foals are doing well and growing quickly themselves. The first four photos below were taken yesterday evening. The last two were taken this evening.

April 29 - Isolde turns one month old tomorrow.  She is a delightful little thing.  I am interested to see how her measurements compare to her older brothers.  Some new photos from this afternoon below.

April 28 - More rain is giving way to lots and lots of long green lush grass.  We may have to hook up the bush hog sooner than usual.  Things are slowing down a bit which is a nice switch.  Hopefully a slow down will lead to more time with the camera.  Bors, Galahad and Isolde are doing famously.  They love to hang around and play together.  They are social and friendly and get their fair share of attention from their humans too.  It is our plan this weekend to start some additional fencing around the barn.  I will also aim to "hook up" our three little bottle lambs with some small make-shift pasture space of their own.  I will hopefully get the turkey's out of the barn too.  I am not a fan of giant-sized birds and at this time they are larger than the chickens and a lot more scary looking.  I will hope to catch them while we still can. 

April 23 -An amazing set of photos from this morning below.  It was a fine misty morning and I spotted Joe (our stallion) lying down in the cool wet grass.  Upon closer examination with the binoculars we found he was accompanied by all three of his foals and Buttercup.  The series of photos below are from the photos taken of that picture perfect moment.  Eventually, as is always the case, movement occurred.  But if you look closely in the early photos, you can see 3 foals lying on the other side of Joe.

April 22 -The sun came back out today briefly and the grass is absolutely amazing!  I am going to need to bush-hog the sheep/lamb field soon so that I will be able to easily locate the wee ones when they are sleeping in the grass.  Galahad recently hit his 1 month mark.  We now have three pure bred colts' measurements all at 1 month old to compare. It is quite interesting indeed...if one has an interest in that sort of thing.  The updates can be found on the Growth Statistics link.  The foals are enjoying being part of a herd and enjoy their interaction with their humans when they come to visit as well.  Bors and Galahad are very social and friendly.  They are always in the mood for some bum scratching and all the other places they can't reach.  Isolde is warming up to the idea and taking her cues from her older brothers.

April 20 -Rain, Rain, Rain.  Nice.  Lots of rain. The fields are green and growing.  It is nice to have a proper spring.  Boo, Buttercup and Cleo with their foals have been turned back out with Joe.  He seems quite pleased to have most all his mares about him again.  We still await the arrival of Willow's foal how is now 346 days in utero.  Last year Willow carried for 350 days.  Galahad turns one month old tomorrow.  I hope to get out to the big field with the camera for some more photos soon.  The ones below I caught of Isolde, Bors and Galahad in the field a couple days ago.

April 15 -While lambing is nearly done,  with only one ewe left to go, we found ourselves with some "bottle babies" as of this morning.  Ewe 263, aka Moonbeam who is one of our favorites was looking poorly yesterday evening.  Her lambs were not looking as nourished as they could have been either.  As it turns out Moonbeam had developed mastitis as well as milk fever, rendering her no longer able to provide milk to her twins.  The vet was out this morning and has treated the mum, and we are hoping for a full recovery.  Meanwhile, Stiltz and Bond (her eartag number is 007) are warm and toasty in the tack room and are getting accustomed to the bottle.  We have another ewe who does not take kindly to one of her lambs, but seems to be getting better.  So the sheep are taking up a good deal of our man hours lately.  Below a photo of the barn nicely painted.  Will post some new photos of the foals soon.

April 13 -It has been a busy weekend and therefore my postings ignored.  Bors measured 278 lbs (our heaviest foal at one month old to date), he measured 6.75" cannons, and stands 12.0 hh at one month old.  This also makes him our tallest foal measured at one month.  Speaking of tall, Rhiannon, Olwen and Gwynith have all gone through what seems like an overnight growth spurt.  I have not gotten around to measuring little O or Gwynith yet, but I can tell you that at nearly 21 months old Rhiannon towers over all at 16.2 hh.  Gi-normous.  She is lovely and just as sweet as ever.  She is going to be a very very very tall girl.  We have also recently witnessed for the first time coltish behavior from our boy Fred.  He got 'excited' over one of Joe's mares.  (Fortunately Joe was on the opposite end of the field and there is a fence line between them.)  I did not yet get a picture of the barn in it's new skin of red and white paint.  Will do soon.

April 10 - We had twin ewe lambs today.  Finally some more girls! They are big strapping young ladies and doing well.  One more ewe to go and she looks as though she may have a week or two to go yet.  The three foals so enjoy being together.  I caught them all sleeping together in the hay this afternoon.  By the time I had gotten the camera, Isolde had risen.  Regardless, I was able to get a few good shots of the Kodak moment.  The barn is near finished it's painting.  It is now red with white trim to match the house and our various other outbuildings.  Originally I was not sure how I thought it would turn out but now that is near done it looks fantastic!  I will take a photo tomorrow and post it.  Willow is 337 days tomorrow.  Tomorrow is also Bors' 1 month birthday.  While he couldn't be bothered from his nap today, I will be sure to get his measurements and birthday photo tomorrow.

April 6 - Cleo's filly is doing wonderfully.  Still no name for her yet but hopefully the Farm Hand will have one sorted out this week.   Willow is 332 days in foal today.  She has begun to bag up.  We will watch her very closely.  It has been a busy weekend which included the arrival of TRIPLETS yesterday morning.  The triplets consist of a ewe lamb and two ram lambs....again with the boys!  We are now 5 ram lambs to 3 ewe lambs.  They lambs are turned out during the day as Mosby gets reacquainted with this particular aspect of his job. (The watching and guarding of the lambs).  We have been putting the mums and lambs away to the barn in the evenings, but will entrust them to Mosby's care as they will remained turned out 24/7 soon.  You can see from the photos below that he is already re-familiarized himself with this part of the job and is quite comfortable with the responsibility.  Bors has the most amazing personality.  He is social and loves his people and the scratches they give.  He will be one month old on Friday already.  Galahad is a bit more of a mama's boy at the moment and although he has his social moments, he prefers to be tucked safely at mums side. 

April 3 -We are pleased to welcome our first filly of the season.  Cleopatra had a large filly at 357 days in foal during the early morning hours of March 31. A bit odd that our foals have been born on the 11, 21 and 31.  Coincidence I'm sure.  She is not yet named but will be soon.  She is our first foal to show up with "chrome".  This little gal won't stay little long. She is likely to be a big girl and a big mover.  She is a sweet thing and she and Cleo are doing very well. Cleo is an excellent mother.  In other news we have had an additional set of twins today. Ewe #273, aka Betsy, had a set of twins one ram lamb (to be called "stilts") and one ewe lamb.  We now have 3 ram lambs and 2 ewe lambs. And there are 3 ewe's yet to go.  Let's hope for some more ewe lambs to balance the scales a little!  Meanwhile, Bors and Galahad are getting better acquainted and having a great time gallivanting around together.  We now await Willow's foal.  Willow will be 330 days tomorrow.  I bet she foals by the end of next week.  So much for rest!

April 1 -It was a gorgeous day.  Mosby is taking his job of watching over all the new births here very seriously.  He is such a wonderful boy and everything we could have hoped for in a livestock guard dog.  I wish we had a couple more just like him.  We bid adieu to another pup this morning.  This leaves two.  Things are much quieter but we find ourselves missing them.  Ewe 263 also known as 'Moonbeam' gave birth to twin lambs today.  One ewe lamb and one ram lamb.  Funny how our lamb population and genders match that of our foals.  Photos below are from this afternoon.

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2008 - 1st Quarter

Year End 2007 Sum Up Archive Entry

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2007 - 4th Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2007 - 3rd Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2007 - 2nd Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2007 - 1st Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2006 - 4th Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2006 - 3rd Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2006 - 2nd Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2006 - 1st Quarter

Farm Hand's Almanac Archive 2005