Thursday January 27, 2011

Heirloom Breeds & Seeds:
Bale Slicer

Well we managed to get through the cold and the snow and more snow. This is
a hard winter. I am looking forward to spring...but not the mud...countdown
to lambs has begun. Jenn said she "smelled" lambs last night once we were
finished cleaning the barn and had the girls back inside. She can usually
detect that scent up to a week or so away from the first lamb being born. My
nose isn't that good. I have to have a newborn right up to my face in order
to catch that scent.

The new bale slicer works great! George came and fixed it, we hooked it up
and whoosh....it cut the "mostly" frozen wrapped bale right in half! It was
so easy to pick up a section. Think of a wrapped bale as an onion. Stand it
on end (stalk up, root down) and cut in half. You can see the concentric
layers of the onion as the two sides are separated. The bale slicer works
the same way as the knife in this situation, except this is a 1500lb.
onion...made feeding the sheep their evening meal so much easier and faster!

The BCAE class with Chef Michael was a smash hit! All of the attendees were
thrilled to be able to work with such a talented guy and loved my lamb and
the Pretty Things Beer it was paired with. Here is a link to the photos
Many thanks to Leise Jones for sharing the photos!