Sheep Safely Rest

I tiptoed out to check on the sheep and found them lying around, resting peacefully, still sleepy. I try not to get them stirred up as there is nowhere for them to go in the storm anyway, except out to the round bales behind the barn. There was nowhere else to put them. This farm is not set up for round bales and without a tractor we can't transport them to where they need to be. We got 8 bales around to the back by pushing and rolling them before the big snow hit. This should never be done by one person, as deaths have occurred from round bales rolling on people. We found these bales in North Brookfield, at a dairy farm turned hay farm. Alas, he was waiting for a tractor trailer to come and take them all down south. God bless Central New York, we are feeding a whole lot of critters who would otherwise be sent to market. I feel awful for the small farmer like me who would never be able to afford the prices they are charging down there. I heard $12.00 a bale in Tennessee???? I found a farmer four miles away with a thousand square bales of gorgeous green hay and he is willing to hold them for me. What a gift. I just have to pay for them - $2.75 a bale, almost what I was paying in NJ last year, and high for me. Fortunately, he would rather keep the hay here for people like me (couldn't believe what I was hearing) and will let me pay him as I pick it up every two weeks. A thousand bales might last me through February. When I put it out the sheep and goats rush the bale like it's candy, and leave the other hay I bought earlier standing there. There is hay and there is hay. With all these pregnant ewes I have to give them nutritious hay or I will pay for it in other ways.