Sheep Across the Road

Posted on November 9, 2025 by Robin

A few days ago I heard sheep making a lot of noise and saw that they were all going from the pasture to the barn. It seemed like more baaing than usual. Then I realized that I wasn’t hearing my sheep.

Two semi trucks with large livestock trailers parked on the road.

These trucks were parked just down the road but where I couldn’t see them from the house because of the trees.

Close up of the side of a livestock truck with a sheep and a dog poking their noses through the holes.

Notice that the two noses poking through the holes are different!

Ramp at the upper level of a livestock trailer where a sheep is looking out.

These trailers have four levels and all were full of ewes and lambs.

Two men placing a ramp at the back of a truck to unload sheep into an alfalfa field.

They move the ramp once because two levels can unload to one position of the ramp.

Ewes and lambs and two guardian dogs in an alfalfa field with a net fence holding them in.

Two guardian dogs were with the sheep.

Ewes and lambs with a white guardian dog.

I was surprised at how young some of the lambs were. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s just that I have no experience with this kind of operation. Our sheep have it easy with barn access and personal attention all the time.

Ewes and lambs with a guardian dog inside a net fence set up in an alfalfa field.

It was quite noisy with lambs and ewes looking for each other.

Large truck with sheep walking down a ramp into a fence set up in an alfalfa field.

The second truck pulled up to unload.

Large truck with a ramp where sheep are being unloaded.

Each driver was responsible for unloading his truck. They switched to rubber boots so they could climb in with the sheep if necessary and keep their other footwear clean. I didn’t see any other fences so I wasn’t sure how they were going to deal with this many sheep.

Flock of ewes and lambs held within a net fence.

I have seen other alfalfa fields where they graze sheep but this is a first for “our” field–the one Across the Road that I know well. I talked to the truck drivers a bit. I think they said they had about 450 sheep to unload. I thought they said that was the number of ewes but maybe it included lambs. I wasn’t sure what they were going to do for the night because I didn’t see any other fences.

Flock of sheep being held in a net fence. A four wheeler with a border collie on it is outside the fence.

There were a lot of sheep crowded into this fenced area. It turns out that this was just a holding area while the trucks were being unloaded. This was late in the day and rain was coming in that night.

Green alfalfa field with herd of sheep being moved away from the fence.

The fence was opened and two men with one 4-wheeler and 3 Border Collies moved the sheep to the east. Fencing was already set up somewhere else and a herder would stay in an RV near the sheep.

Green alfalfa field with an orchard in the distance and sheep in between.

It rained that night and it was too muddy to walk across the road the next day and I was busy all day anyway. The following day I wanted to see where the sheep were. I walked half of my normal route but didn’t want to get close enough to alert the guardian dogs and cause a problem. It’s complicated to bring sheep to graze areas that aren’t set up for it. Fencing is supplied by the grazers–you can’t see the electric net fence in this photo. And they have to have a water source–that’s the white tank.

I’ll probably walk over there today and find out if they are in the same location.

Ginny’s Birthday!

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Robin

Ginny’s birthday was October 12. She just turned 11. I have only about a zillion photos of Ginny so it was time consuming to narrow this down.

December, 2014. Ginny was two months old.

Red Border Collie jumping for a ball that has splashed into the water.

Many of my photos focus on action with a ball. I wouldn’t say that Ginny is ball-obsessed to the exclusion of all else. On the other hand, she is somewhat ball-obsessed. I have lots of photos taken during our walks Across the Road of Ginny leaping for a ball I have thrown. One reason that there are so many is that I kept trying to get that perfect shot and Ginny was a willing subject over…and over…and over…

The heads and horns of Jacob sheep that are staring at a red Border Collie.

I am a sheep farmer and the real reason to have a Border Collie is to help with sheep. That is not necessarily a good time for photos because we are trying to accomplish a task. I don’t have as much work for a dog as the dog would like. We have a small place and pasture management and fencing that makes it easy to move sheep. In recent years my main use of Ginny is to help move rams to catch them or to move the ewes into the barn from the corral. When I need to get sheep out of the pasture it’s usually easy to call them in.

Four dogs running on the dirt road. Two dogs are black and two are red.

This is a photo from 2018 taken on a walk Across the Road. At that time 5 dogs lived here. Rusty, the first red Border Collie came from Terry Mendenhall, as did Ginny. That’s Maggie at the top of the photo. The two black dogs are Finn and Sawyer who moved to Boise when Chris and Meryl moved.

Three dogs looking in a pile of lumber for a rodent.

Rusty, Ginny, and Maggie pursuing some kind of critter, probably a ground squirrel that ran into the woodpile.

Five dogs waiting on the grass to be given a piece of cake off a platter.

This was a celebration of Finn’s and Sawyer’s birthday. All dogs had to wait for permission to have their treats.

Red and white border collie staring intently at the camera.

Ginny in 2019.

Two red and white Border Collies on a dirt road with a ditch on the right.

Ginny has always created her own entertainment by dropping the ball at the top of the ditch and letting it roll in. I tell her to “get it”, she retrieves the ball, and does it all over again farther up the road.

Tennis ball in a net made of the leash wrapped around a forked stick. Border collie in the background.

I try to pay attention when we get to the part of the canal that is cement. There are places where the water level drops a couple of feet and the water flows quickly, creating a whirlpool effect at that drop. Ginny can get in and out of the cement canal when the water is not so turbulent, but I don’t want her in this part. She seems to like the game of dropping the ball at those places and then expects me to get it out. The drop-off creates a turbulent whirlpool and the ball disappears and then resurfaces over and over, but doesn’t move downstream. I’m not getting in there and I’m not sending Ginny in. There have been several times when I was able to create a net with a forked stick and the leash, and eventually snag the ball by leaning over the wooden plank that is the walkway over the canal.

Border collie staring at a tennis ball on a pallet in front of alfalfa.

Here is another of Ginny’s habits. When the skirting table is in this part of the barn and I am working Ginny intentionally puts the ball in this spot and then moves behind the wall of the barn and that upright pipe and expects me to get the ball, often barking at me if I haven’t paid attention.

Red and white Border Collie in a pen with a dirt floor.

Lambtown was last weekend and Terry was there with her sheep and her older dog that she didn’t want to leave home. This is Jill, Ginny’s mom, who is now 14.

Red and white Border Collie on dirt road with hills behind.

I took this photos of Ginny last week. Looking pretty good for11!

Week With the Grandkids – 1

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Robin

I’ve written a few posts about lambing, but that wasn’t the only thing going on. During the middle of lambing the Texas grandkids were here for a week. Kirby, age 10, and Kasen, age 8, flew solo (without parents) in mid-March, also spending a few days with the other grandparents a few miles away.

The first afternoon here we walked across the road with Ginny. I like this view of Mt. Diablo due south.

This photo shows the main canal to the right. I got carried away just now and did a bit of internet research about this channel, which I know is called Sweeney Creek, but it doesn’t look much like a creek anymore. This document describes the Ulatis Flood Control Project constructed in the 1960’s and 70’s, a series of channels that end in the delta. The focus of the document is a fish survey done in 2023 and sampling point #9 is at this location. How does this relate to this post? The kids wanted to walk down to the water and the easiest place for that is below the structure at the right of this photo.

At that point we saw splashing and realized that there were a lot of large fish in the rocky area below that structure. There is a fish at the top of this photo.

In a small still area we saw over a dozen fish.

Kirby decided that a rescue was called for to move the fish from the small rocky pools to a place where the water flowed more freely. She was able to easily catch several of the fish that were in the small pool.

One of my friends identified this as a Sacramento sucker, which I learned is the native fish found at this location in that 2023 fish survey.

The kids spent about an hour splashing in the water and catching fish.

I walked along the water edge and an artifact I recognized. How many tennis balls have we lost during our walks?

This one has become its own ecosystem.

Kirby’s rubber boots didn’t keep her feet dry after awhile

Ginny’s look after her explorations.

Another look after getting back on the road.

Christmas Day

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Robin

We had a Christmas Eve dinner with my brother and family, but Christmas Day was spent here on our own. The sun came out and felt wonderful after the days of fog and drizzle. I had been inspired by some visitors who came a couple of days ago (and are excellent wildlife photographers), to get my camera out and try for some real bird photos. So I went for a walk.

A view of the barn from and pasture the southwest. You don’t usually see if from this vantage point. I can’t walk very far west on this road because it is a private driveway.

I spotted a snowy egret, easy to identify with bright yellow feet.

I had not walked Across the Road for several days because it’s been so wet. I don’t want to leave big tracks on the road or carry five pounds of mud around on each boot. However, now that the grass has been growing in on the edge I can walk there without tearing up the road. Evidently, somebody tried too soon to drive on this road.

The greater egret is a larger bird and has a yellow beak and black feet.

Continuing to walk along the canal in the grass.

These mushrooms are under 3″ high.

Osage orange tree.

Osage orange fruit. It’s a strange looking fruit about the size of a grapefruit. Its easier to photograph plants than birds.

Wide-angle view of the farm from the road.

Family Here for Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2023 by Robin

The best gift of all is having my family around. Not all could come, but here are photos of the start of the holiday week.

Chris and Meryl got here on Saturday afternoon along with dogs and cats. Meryl went to visit her mom, and Chris and the dogs stretched out on the couch at our house.

Ginny is not supposed to get on the couch but Finn and Sawyer don’t have that restriction. Notice that they are all focused on the tennis ball that Finn dropped on Dan’s chest.

Finn and Sawyer feel right at home.

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen these photos. Chris and Meryl were away for the first night and the cats stayed in the other house, where they used to live before moving to Bosie. I went to check on them and found one, but went back three times to find Luke. Do you see a cat in this picture?

Now do you see him? I finally found Luke when he jumped onto the refrigerator. Later he retreated again and I took the photo.

Chris and I took all the dogs on a walk Across the Road. Do we seem a bit mismatched from the standpoint of clothing? Our mid-50’s/60’s felt warm to Chris.

All three dogs like to run after the ball. The goal is to get them tired out.

On Christmas afternoon we went for another walk and Meryl joined us. People dump things along some of these dirt roads. When I find something metal I bring it home for Dan because he plans to weld something artistic one of these days. Usually it is rusted bolt or something they fell off a tractor. We found this in the dirt and thought it was a good gift for Dan.

Tonight’s excitement is that Kirby, age 9, flew to Sacramento from Texas today. She will stay with Uncle Matt and Aunt Kaleena for a few days and will then be here for until January 1.

Tomato Harvest

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Robin

The field across the road was planted in tomatoes back at the end of May. See this post. I have watched the progress of the crop since then. When I walk Across the Road with Ginny it’s these fields I walk around. I wrote this post September 26.

I took this photo at dusk Thursday, September 28 and heard activity over there just before midnight.

The harvest had started. I stood in our driveway and took photos. I didn’t want to miss it! I think I didn’t need to rush. I don’t know how many acres this field is, but it took about four days, working 24 hours/day. At first there was one harvester working, but later there were two.

The first morning I took my usual walk, but walked on the other side of the main canal so that I wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. There is a lot of infrastructure involved. This is a water tank with a portable toilet and a place for shaded seating.

At times there were four or five sets of double trailers staged here. The tractor pulls them next the harvester as it works and then drops them here. Another tractor brings the next set of trailers to the harvester. The trucks come and go from here, taking full loads out and bringing back empty trailers.

I know nothing about tons/acre, or how many loads were harvested, etc. Maybe I’ll ask next time I talk to someone. I think the answer is A LOT.

It is fascinating to watch the harvester at work. I have several short videos but I think I won’t try to load them here or I’ll never get this post written. I posted one on my YouTube channel but I’d like to do another showing more of the process. That one is good at showing what is going on with the harvester. The row of plants is cut and then lifted by the conveyor into the harvester. I haven’t seen inside but was told that lasers are used to sort the tomatoes and debris. Some debris goes out the back and some to the side while the tomatoes are being lifted into the trailers pulled by the tractor.

Here is a view from the other direction. The harvester fills the trailer in a back and forth motion while the tractor with the trailers pulls it forward as necessary to keep up with the harvester.

Taking two trailers back to the staging area.

In the middle of the day on Saturday we had a brief, but heavy rain. We got 1/8 inch in less than 15 minutes. That’s a lot for us, especially when this was the first rain since spring. It’s dry enough here that it wasn’t enough to stop the harvest for long.

The harvesters worked all night and this was about 6:30 the next morning. By this time there were two harvesters at work with two tractors pulling trailers.

It was’t until Sunday that they finished the rows that were closest to the road.

I don’t remember if they finished Sunday evening or if that was just the last photo that I took of the harvest.

I have had a whirlwind of activity with Lambtown October 5-8 followed by a trip to Boise and now I’m getting ready for another adventure. So I missed all the steps that brought this field from one just harvested to this one that is ready for fall rain.

Across the Road – Tomatoes

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Robin

The tomato plants Across the Road aren’t as striking as the sunflowers I showed in my last blog post, but it is still interesting to watch the progress of the crop, especially now as they get closer to harvest. I have heard that harvest time is problematic this year, mostly due to the prolonged rainy season this winter and spring. Fields didn’t dry out soon enough for farmers to work the fields and many planted 3 to 4 weeks later than normal. That means the tomatoes ripen 3 to 4 weeks later. Tomato farmers have contracts with the cannery that state when and how much they deliver. The cannery can only handle a certain amount at once and will turn away excess. Some farmers may risk harvesting while some tomatoes are still green. Others may have to wait until the cannery can take the load, but they risk over-ripe fruit or early rain. Farming isn’t as simple as it may seem.

If you’re interested in reading more about this situation in 2023 read this article in Ag Alert, published by the Farm Bureau.

Here’s the tomato field I watch because it is right Across the Road. The latest ditch has been filled in and smoothed over. I assume there will be no more irrigation.

The plants are not that impressive when you look over the whole field.

When you look up close you see the red tomatoes.

There are still a lot of green ones in some parts of the field.

My walks aren’t all about a study in agriculture. They are mainly to get some exercise to fight off the effects of aging and to get Ginny out. More views from Across the Road:

This field is across the canal from the tomato field. They just harvested hay and it will be interesting to see what goes in here next.

Another view of the field prep.

I usually don’t walk here when they are spraying, but this started just as I was getting back. I saw the label on the tank of spray. It’s a regularly used fungicide. The last time I saw spraying it was with a helicopter.

Sunflowers

Posted on September 21, 2023 by Robin

I’ve been moving my photos from my computer’s hard drive to an external hard drive because I’m running out of room. As I moved the Across the Road folder I saw yellow flashing by and I thought I’d share. The landowner Across the Road from me often grows alfalfa in those fields. That is usually a three or four year crop. So every fourth or fifth year there is something else there. This year it is tomatoes. Other years there have been sunflowers. I love sunflowers.

There isn’t a story here. I’m just sharing photos of sunflowers…and in no particular order. I just like seeing these flowers.

Planting Tomatoes

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Robin

I didn’t plant tomatoes. They were planting across the road.

Here is the view this morning. It’s a big operation involving lots of people.

Each tomato planting machine is pulled by a tractor. There were four in this field today.

Tomato planting machine operated with a tractor.

There are six people sitting in the machine. Two other people were following. One of those moved the trays of seedlings, keeping up with the planters. The other seemed to be filling in spots where a tomato wasn’t planted. There is the tractor driver too. That is 9 people for each of these machines.

Close view of people sitting in tomato planting machine with trays of tomato seedlings.

Zoomed in view under the canopy.

I was amazed at how smoothly the beds were prepared a few days ago in preparation for this. Three beds are planted at a time, each with two rows of tomato plants.

Caterpillar tractor with a ditcher behind.

I took Ginny for a walk in the evening after everyone had left for the day. The job was not finished. I was surprised to see how much more there is to go. I continue to marvel at the amount of people and equipment involved here. I’m sure that this tractor will pull the ditcher around the field as soon as the planting is finished.

These are the crates that hold the tomato seedlings.

These are stacks of the empty trays. I think I count 28 spaces in a row. These trays are square so that would be 784 seedlings in each tray.

Field of newly planted tomato seedlings.

This is a view of the field looking south to Mt. Diablo, just visible in the haze. Last year I took a photo from this same spot weekly and intended to have a post that followed the sunflower field from start to finish. I still have those photos but never had time to do that. I’ll try to continue with the tomatoes.

Table and benches with sunshade, on wheels for far workers to use.

There were two portable “comfort stations”. I just made that up–I don’t know what they are called. They have seating under a shade and toilets.

I’m not sure if these tanks supply water or fertilizer to the tractors pulling the planting machinery. About a week ago another machine was pulled through that I though injected something as they made the beds–maybe that was fertilizer. I think the seedlings are getting water now to keep them going until the whole job is finished and they can irrigate.

Here is what the planter looks like. There are six chairs facing back.

It’s really hard to describe how this works. I don’t understand it without having seen it in action close up. The seedling is put into that v-shaped thing in the middle. It is on a rotating disc and it gets put in the soil. Every pair of seats had one disc with three of the v-shaped slots and one with two. That means that the two rows of tomatoes in each bed are offset to give the plants more room.

View from where the people sit inside the tomato planting machine

This is the view from sitting in the seat next to this disc. I just found this video to show how one works. It’s not quite the same, but the same function.

Forklift with large crates that hold tomato seedlings.

More infrastructure. There was a forklift to move the crates around.

Front view of tomato planting machinery with water tanks on front of the tractor.

The front view of the tractor with the tanks that I assume hold water. This part of the field is already planted so I think they just took it off the dirt road to park or maybe they needed to go back over this part for some reason.

Field partially planted with tomato seedlings. Planting machinery is in the field.

This shows the beds behind the tractor planted and beds in the foreground not planted yet.

Disc and grader both attached to tractors on a dirt road.

Even more equipment. The disc had gone around the edge of the field followed by the grader to smooth it out. They are parked on the dirt road in this photo.

View to the north.

Field with newly planted tomato seedlings.

Another view. That’s a lot of tomato plants. There are a lot more to plant. I don’t know if they will finish tomorrow. I’m sure they are under pressure to get those seedlings in the ground since those crates were delivered yesterday. At least it’s not very hot right now.

I hope I didn’t bore you with all these photos, but I’m fascinated by this.

Grandkids Across the Road

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Robin

While the grandkids were still here we made an excursion Across the Road. I hadn’t wanted to take three dogs and the two kids on my own because of the part where we have to walk on Meridian Road. There isn’t a lot of traffic but the cars are fast and there isn’t much of a shoulder to walk on. I didn’t want to pull the wagon where Kason was riding and hang onto three leashes, all the while trying to get the dogs off the pavement when cars came. (The dogs want to stay on the pavement because they have learned that when they walk off the pavement they are apt to pick up puncture vine burrs in their feet.) By the way, Rusty shared some photos of this in his blog.

The wagon worked well for Kasen and had the added benefit of taking all the necessary things like water bottles and the doll.

Meryl and I traded off with the wagon, but part of the point of this walk was for Kirby, wearing her black and pink Nikes, to run with Aunt Meryl.

Eventually Aunt Meryl tired and needed a ride. Time to go home. Kirby started to pout because she wanted Sawyer’s leash. I let her take Rusty and all was OK.

Meridian Jacobs' Blog

Life on the farm and at the loom.

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