Farm Entry #4: My 2024 goals for the farm

The past two years I’ve used a lot of resources to acquire good breeding stock for my flock and building up the infrastructure to support the sheep and goats.

This year my goals for Mossflower Hill Farm are to:

1. Focus on more yarn production and share my yarn with more people! I love supporting other small homesteads by purchasing their wool and creating cool combinations of yarn with my fiber sheep and their’s. I’d love to keep doing this and develop more yarns at different weights with different breed sheep!
2. Add another fiber sheep to my flock. After rehoming Lina and Lifra I have space for 1-2 more sheep. Which breed would best fit my fiber goals/needs? Not sure yet. I wonder if I should go for a breed with more luster like a Teeswater or Wensleydale or move to a softer wool breed like a Romeldale CVM or Corriedale? If you are into sheep and have some ideas, shoot them my way :-)
3. Focus more on the input and output of the farm. Last year I spent a lot on supplies, hay, and other necessities for my first year of lambing. I really didn’t keep good track of any of these expenses and ending up spending a lot more on feed than I should have. This year I want to focus on spending less while still keeping the flock’s health at the top of mind. Keeping track of what I produce and what we consume internally to calculate how much we are saving in groceries. I’d love to break even so this homestead can remain sustainable financially.. We’ll see!
4. Learn to make cheese! I haven’t talked about this a lot yet, mostly because all my sheep and goats are dried up for winter, but a majority of my flock right now are dairy animals! I have East Friesan/Lacaune, EF/Icelandic, EF/Katahdin and two Nigerian dwarf goats. This year I anticipate having a TON of milk and I really want to try my hand a hard pressed cheese like a Gouda and a soft cheese like a brie. I’ve been making chèvre and mozzarella for the past two years and I’m ready for something new.
5. Build perimeter fencing around the pasture (this one is self explanatory). Doing this will save so much time with setting up fencing for rotational grazing and allow me to keep the sheep on pasture at night and into the fall without fear of predators. I’ll talk more about this in the future.

Overall, lots of big, ambitious goals for 2024. But that’s what keeps it exciting, right?