About Suwali and MeadowLamb Farm
In August of 1999, we drove up a steep and rocky driveway after meandering
along ridges and over hills trying to decipher directions to what appeared to
be a non-existant road. Stopping at the locked gate, Rik hopped out and climbed
over (we'd toured enough of Southern Ohio to hope that whomever owned the for
sale property was either not around or wanted to sell badly enough not to correct
the intrusion with a shotgun and slavering dogs.) All I could see was green
gold hilltop pasture, a good sign after so many places had not panned out, being
mostly forest or swamp.
"There's a pond!" Rik called excitedly.
"And a barn and....wow it's gorgeous!" and with those words it was decided. Next day we called the realtor and made an appointment to see the 42+ acres, 1991 singlewide mobile home, and large 1940's oak barn.
The
property had just about everything we were looking for. About 35 of the acres
were in pasture, much of it a mix of pasture grass and clovers and in relatively
good shape. There was a 1/3 of an acre spring fed pond, very clear water and
cool, despite the heat of summer. There was spring water to the house and a
separate spring to the barn. The mobile home was new enough to be in good shape
with a big deck in front and a smaller covered deck in back. The view was breathtaking,
looking out over the pastures to the wooded hills of Wayne National Forest.
It didn't hurt that two deer strolled out while the realtor had us standing
on the deck admiring the view.
After discovering that we could take a much quicker route from Trimble, the property proved remote enough to keep down noise and traffic, but close enough to town to make quick runs to grocery, hardware store, and post office when needed. Burr Oak State Park was four minutes away, with it's low motor fishing and swimming lake, and Athens was only 1/2 an hour away...providing a few job opportunities and at least a couple of decent restaurants if we needed a civilization fix.
By
the end of October it was ours and November first we had moved in. We named
our farm Suwali, combining my Mom and Dad's first names (Sue and Wally) as a
memorial to them. Both would have loved this beautiful place and it was their
inheritance that made it possible. It was fitting tribute to parents who taught
my brother and I to love the outdoors.
The next year was spent building fence, getting gear and equipment for farming and acquiring critters. The chickens and Dexter cows came first. Then our Livestock Guardian Dog, Juno (an Akbash) who took up residence in the chicken paddock. Finally the sheep arrived, first Harold the Katadhin ram lamb, then the 10 Katadhin ewes and Arthur, the registered Dorper ram.
We learned alot that first year. We learned all about raising chicks, how to collect and clean eggs, and how to kill, pluck and gut chickens for meat. We learned that the words battering ram and rampage all have ram at the root for a good reason. While we were finishing fence (we have yet to learn to finish building fence and housing before acquiring animals), our new Dorper ram Arthur, battered his way out of his newly constructed wooden stall, dented a stock panel trying to flatten our Katadhin ram lamb, and generally ran amok. With help from a neighbor (I was still trying to finish the fence, Rik managed to capture the escapee and built a pen around him that became known as ram gulag. Arthur stayed there for two weeks until we were ready to turn him out with the ewes for breeding. Moral: never keep a ram next door to ewes in season!
We survived our first lambing, losing three lambs out of 22 total. Two were from a ewe who had a misrepresentation birthing the second of triplets. Note: do not try to catch a ewe on a hillside with just a crook... they are very strong and can flip you 3 feet in the air and 15 feet down the hill and put you on crutches for three weeks. One was a twin who had something wrong and was rejected by his mum and did not respond to tube feeding. We did manage to successfully raise another triplet on a bottle. He and his two sisters were born in a thunderstorm (hence were named Soggy, Damp and Wet). Soggy was castrated (another experience!) and is now being weaned and will probably be a pet. We are happy with our 19 lambs, especially since 15 of them are ewe lambs and will really get our stock number up this year!
We are working with the Soil and Water Conservation service to implement a rotational grazing plan. I've studied this method of pasture management for many years and we are very lucky to have Scott from SWC to help us make the best possible use of our grass. Our goals are to 1) feed livestock well 2) improve our pastures using mostly animal stocking and rotation 3) preserve riparian areas, creeks and the pond 4) model good management practices and share information about this livestock managment method.
The Kelpies think they are in dog heaven. They run with us everywhere, help with chores, handle the livestock, and sleep in the house. Why (Adelong WhyNot) had her of Kelpie pups in August of 2002. We've retained several for farm work. We've also added a Jack Russell Terrier for rodent patroll.
MeadowLamb Farm
In 2004, we got our first mobile retail license to sell lamb. After a year of effort, the state finally approved our label and we now sell