Tag: rotating pastures

Finally

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We finally got the yearling ewes and two of the wethers, Moe and Larry, moved out of the barn pasture and into their new paddock… again.  We gave up on Jack and he will stay with the bred ewes, probably through lambing.

It was a very exciting day.  They played follow-the-leader with Davita.  This very quickly evolved into a chase-the-cats-out-of-the-pasture game.  We are assuming that the yearling ewes won as Davita and Muffy ended up on fence posts.

They discovered the goat tree, just as any animal we put in this pasture seems to do.  Sheep, goat or dog they all seem to love this little crab apple tree.

The rams discovered that they now have neighbors, and had to show off a little for next season’s ladies with a minor head-butting, neck-wrestling tussle.  Not to be outdone, the yearlings had to do a little showing off of their own.

What was a very exciting day for the yearlings, finally ended with some peaceful grazing… yes… finally.

Mayhem

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Mayhem ~ a collective noun, at least around here.  It seems to be a name given to the yearlings each spring.  Here you see them – calm, relaxed, enjoying the post-shearing sunshine.  But this is not the paddock they are supposed to be in.  This picture is post-mayhem. 
In the hours preceding this, the yearlings, their watering trough, and mineral feeders have been moved, Moe, Larry and Jack (the three very large wethers) have been re-caught and moved, fences have torn down and re-built – twice.  This at the end of a long shearing day… we gave up.  They are in the barn paddock with the expectant mamas, and there they will stay until we get our plan in place to out-smart them.  The worst of it is — they brought the wethers back with them… sigh.

Right here, that girl looking us right in the eye is Grace… the ring-leader.  Just look at that innocent face.

Before the Snow

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Before the snow, we broke up the breeding groups and moved all the ewes back to the granddaddy green paddock at the barn.  This will make morning chores much easier througout the winter.  We penned Poseidon and Aragorn in a small space in the barn for about 24 hours and then moved them to the paddock behind the house.  We’ve done this for several years and it seems to significantly lessen their aggressive behavior once they are removed from the ewes.  We left the older ram, Liam, in with the group at the barn so that we can  sneak him a little grain and carrots. 
Everything went really well until we opened one of the gates and as a group of ewes came through we noticed an extra black ewe marked with the blue breeding wax.  Blackberry, who was retired last year, had managed to weasel her way through two temporary fences and had a romantic rendezvous with Liam sometime during the day.  She was promptly removed and taken back to re-join the ewe lambs; fences were re-built and strengthened with some extra poles.  A minor mishap… fingers crossed that if she did get caught that she won’t have any problems this time around.
So happy to have the ewes all together back at the barn!





Big Weekend Plans

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The breeding ewes have spent the last six weeks or so in one of the hayfields, giving some of the pasture paddocks a rest.  They spend the day in temporary fencing, coming inside the pine grove paddock’s perimeter fencing at night.  We have moved the large temporary paddock twice which has allowed the ewes to graze a large portion of the hayfield.  We have followed this plan for a couple years and it seems to have really improved the hayfield along with eliminating many of the weed problems.
This weekend we plan to move the ewes back to the barn paddock and begin hoof trimming and crutching in preparation for breeding season.  It won’t be long now… the circle of life begins again.

The Big Weekend

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As many weekends are… this was a very busy weekend on the farm.  We moved the yearlings and the older ewes back to the granddaddy green by the barn.  It is so great to have them back at the barn, if only for a little while.  In a couple weeks we will move them to a paddock where they will have access to one of the hayfields during the day.  We also moved the rams to a new paddock… inching slowly towards breeding season.

Took Raven into the woods after doing a little work with the goat boys, and flushed that blasted fox.  It took off up over the hill through the graveyard field.

Celebrated Mom’s birthday… Happy Birthday, once again, Mom!  Great-granddaughter Harley is ready to help blow out the twenty candles she counted to put on the cake.

And we sold a dozen of our ewes – yearlings and proven two-year-olds.  Many, many thanks to the McComb family for making the trip from Marlinton to buy some of our girls.  We are so excited that they are going to a handspinner’s flock.  We hope they will love the fleeces the girls produce and enjoy spinning them as much as we do!

Rotating Pastures

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Summer is a constant cycle of rotating pastures… trying to minimize parasites and get the most out of each paddock.  The ewes and lambs were moved to the barn pasture a few weeks ago so this weekend we moved the yearlings and wethers to the knoll paddock after it had been brush hogged with the Squealer (love that name).  Then we brush hogged the paddock that the yearlings vacated, encouraging new growth and disrupting the life-cycle of any paraistes they left behind.  In a month of so it will be ready for new tenants.

We also set up temporary fencing in a section of the barnyard that we neglected avoided mowing for a few weeks, and loosed the bio-mowing ewes and lambs.  This, in an attempt, to stretch the barn pasture for a couple more weeks when we will wean the lambs.  We are trying to prevent the added stress of moving them twice… in two weeks… in this heat .

Speaking of heat… this weekend’s hazy, hot and very humid weather had us all seeking the shade whenever we could.