White Clover Sheep Farm

White Clover Sheep Farm Ulf Kintzel raising White Dorper Sheep, grazing genetics, no grain feeding ever. Breeding stock, ewe and ram lambs, available.

06/17/2026

My two and three-year old White Dorper rams from Lewis White Dorpers. 100% grass-fed. No grain ever.

Today I got my scale out of winter storage and set it up, together with a pen to be able to weigh market lambs and culle...
06/16/2026

Today I got my scale out of winter storage and set it up, together with a pen to be able to weigh market lambs and culled sheep. “Harvesting”, the PC name for slaughtering, will start this week. Turns out, the scale now longer works accurately. I always test if it works by weighing myself first. It showed many more pounds than it should have. Or was it because I left the measuring tape in my pocket?

06/16/2026

shade

Never gets old...
06/16/2026

Never gets old...

This year's vacation brought us to the Spokane area in WA and Coeur d'Alene in Northwest Idaho. Lots of nature, lots of ...
06/14/2026

This year's vacation brought us to the Spokane area in WA and Coeur d'Alene in Northwest Idaho. Lots of nature, lots of hiking, and lots of birds. I just love Ponderosa pine trees. And then there was Frank's Diner. Who is Frank? I don't know but the diner was so good that we went there seven times total. Now back to work...

I got my last batch of first-cutting hay three days ago. I now have about 75 to 80 percent of the hay that I will need f...
06/07/2026

I got my last batch of first-cutting hay three days ago. I now have about 75 to 80 percent of the hay that I will need for the winter. The window is closing for making first-cutting hay that is dominated by “native” orchard grass. The orchard grass is now in full bloom; the quality and palatability of first-cutting hay is declining rapidly day by day. (I put native, the term used for old-fashioned orchard grass, in quotes because orchard grass is not native to the new world. It was brought in by settlers from Europe).

I stack my hay bales on pallets to lift them off the ground. That reduces the amount of moisture drawn up over time from the ground manyfold and thus keeps better quality.

I have one more field to hay, which I grazed aggressively in early spring. It also has orchard grass as its dominant grass species. What’s different about that field? Well, stay tuned…

Today would have been my paternal grandmother's 133rd birthday. You can clearly see where I got my good looks. I was her...
06/06/2026

Today would have been my paternal grandmother's 133rd birthday. You can clearly see where I got my good looks. I was her favorite grandchild. My competition wasn't, well, competitive. She called me her "golden child". Never was a more fitting name bestowed upon me! Yes, I was indeed that adorable. But since modesty is my middle name, I won't brag about it.

This is one of my four new Lewis White Dorper rams, now two years old. He is developing very nicely. He is a full shedde...
06/05/2026

This is one of my four new Lewis White Dorper rams, now two years old. He is developing very nicely. He is a full shedder, has good feet, calm temperament, and a deep body. How is the deep body important? Because it means there is a lot of rumen capacity to fit a lot of forage. Forage is less nutrient-dense than grain. That is why they must eat a lot of it. So, size (as in size of rumen) matters. The deep body is not easy to come by these days, given that most sheep in the US are either grain-fed or show sheep – for generations. Deep bodies are not needed when you feed grain, especially if you feed lots of it. Their bellies are often tubular-shaped. That means there is not enough room to sustain body condition on forage alone when raising lambs or lambs being fattened on pasture.

A German farmer’s saying goes this way: „Man mäht das Gras nach seiner Güte, am besten vor der Blüte.“ (One mows the gra...
06/02/2026

A German farmer’s saying goes this way: „Man mäht das Gras nach seiner Güte, am besten vor der Blüte.“ (One mows the grass according to its quality—ideally before it blooms). Got some more hay today, 25 bales to be precise. Orchard grass, the by far most dominant grass species around here, is still far from blooming. The quality of this first cutting hay is still very good, perhaps even excellent. This will change in a week or so. The quality of first cutting hay will rapidly decline as the grass matures….except, well stay tuned.

Perfect drying weather with intense sunshine, windy conditions, and low humidity dry the hay fast. Fast drying times help preserve nutrients.

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Rushville, NY

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