Summer's almost over

Well here we are the semester is over, and summer is winding down. The sheep have traveled and eaten their way across the campus, revisiting their favorite places like beside Winter pasture. I can believe just how much Jett has grown! She and Lil Boy have kept a healthy body score between 2.5 at the lowest and 4 at their best.
I have learned how to judge the body score of my sheep thanks to a handful of rather old British books and some Youtube videos.
 I have discovered that sheep are adventurous eaters and seem to be into trying anything once. They do pick favorites though, Lil Boy loves burdock, and Jett really likes bittersweet. The strange things was that they would only graze right up to the fence when other options were beginning to run out. They did a good job maintaining the fence row when pushed a little, but it also depended on the plants in the fence row. For example; in the herb garden the fence was being overtaken by bedstraw, which when young is fairly palatable. When the sheep went through a second time and the bedstraw was mature, they didnt try to eat it until other options were beginning to dwindle. The same thing happened in the second tour near Winter, the Canada thistle was palatable when young, but when mature the sheep wont touch it.  As I watched them forage I noticed that they would usually start at the top of the plant, and then leave it alone after a bite or two, then return to it after doing the same to most or all of the other plants in the area, almost like they were regulating how much they were eating of any one plant. I also noticed that on richer foods like clovers and vetch, my sheep got soft stools, and their body score went up after a few days on the richer fodder.
They seemed to keep the best weight (around a score of 3) in areas with a lot of diverse vegetation like in the herb patch. Their body score was stable there and they got to eat a wide variety of plants, and Lil Boy ate a few caterpillars....he actually sought them out and ate them....not sure what that was about.
 I did some research on the 12 most common plants that I was finding in the plots and found that all in all, plants that we consider weeds are actually quite nutritious for sheep. Some of the plants had been seeded there, but most were wild.
 I also looked at the nutrient requirements for sheep and found that it varies with weight, and stage of gestation. This research was very helpful to me in figuring out the needs of my sheep and whether or not so called "marginal" pastures could sustain them. It would appear that a whether and a young yew can subsist quite well on marginal pasture, however during gestation and lactation that may change. I am going to keep grazing my sheep around the campus and watch what they do as the seasons change.

movin on out

after one week in the first two patches by the gardens, the sheep are on to the last patch. This one is a bit spottier, lower grass, more clover, and some sedges, perhaps 2 days in there at max, will be moving across the path tomorrow I hope. Lil Boy is kind of chubby at the moment, body score of 4, Jett is right around 3. I have been looking over my objectives for this study and at the moment I think Im most of the way there. I have gained more skill in the art of sheep body scoring, and in the process kept my fuzzy babies good and healthy. I have come to know far more then the original 12 pasture plants, and am still working on collecting the nutritional data for them. That will be included in my "final post" for the semester as well as any notes I have taken regarding my observation of my sheep and how they graze. Those are my 3 primary objectives. I have the list of plants, I just need to match their info to their pictures and that will be it, due by Friday the 10th at 8 am.

onwards!

Lil Boy and Jett are done in the herb gardens, did a pretty good job cleaning it up, still big dogwoods and bittersweet on the wall though. Jett learned that as much as she loves to eat bittersweet, it may try to trap her. I had to cut her out of it the other day. Now they've moved into a more open area next to the upper gardens. the pasture is the exact size of the fence perimeter so that was lucky, and they mostly have tall to medium grass, might be blue grass. Lil Boy has gone up to a body score of 4, getting a little chubby, Jett is still between 2.5 and 3. Soon they will move down a little,  where the plant variety is a little bit better.

And back to the beginning again!

All right, so the sheep are back in the herb garden where they started, doing a second round in there. The general make up of the pasture is the same save for a new prickly plant that Lil Boy demolished before I could identify it. They mowed through it in about 5 days, and they are now on to the next patch. same amount of space, but the plants are a little more mature, not having been mowed before. There is a lot of dogwood and bitter sweet, tons of bedstraw and speedwell. They are just following the wall down to Henry's property, and then they will be off again. I have started to compile a record of moves, and pasture contents, as well as a file of 12 plants that I have found most often.

Move #7....been a while

Well due to technical issues of various kinds and my usual habit of spreading myself too thin, I have not been able to update but now I can! We shall start where we left off. Lil Boy and Jett moved through the rye and vetch very quickly, moving gradually into denser more homogeneous plots of just rye and vetch which plumped them both up a little bit. They mowed it down quite well, not as well along the fence however. During their time in the rye/vetch patch they were given some mulch hay for fiber just in case. On 6/11/12 they moved again to the former sacrifice paddock above the upper barn. At that time it was noted that their body condition had improved during the rye/vetch graze. Using 3 similar sized plots about 20x30' round with similar vegetation. Broad leaf plantain, narrow leaf plantain, bedstraw, red clover, white clover, timothy, vetch, buttercup, burdock, 1 canada thistle, orchard grass. This area is pretty heavy in clover. In 7 days they mowed through the first plot, devouring the burdock and ignoring the thistle. Once again they left the taller flowering grasses and ate the leaves. The majority of the plants growing against the fence were ignored. On 6/18/2012 they moved into the second plot in the area where they immediately destroyed the 2 big burdocks. Seems to be a favorite. There is no fence at the moment to observe, these plots are a way of seeing the variety of what the sheep will choose to eat, as well as helping the farm team manage the pasture. They are also being trained for their next plot which will actually be in the edible forest garden. They will be used to graze down the bishops weed that has taken over the area. I am curious to see if bishops weed will be enough to sustain them, and if so perhaps they can be used to clean up bishops weed in hard to mow places like fence rows (nudge nudge). I have applied to stay over break in order to process some numbers and try to get a better more scientific idea oh what my sheep have been eating and the like, hopefully I can stay. Other wise I may be lurking around at NorthWoods for the week. Pictures and poorly made video when camera returns with the boyfriend hopefully this weekend. Also......my sheep love getting baths......

move # 4

Well Lil Boy and Jett are getting a taste of the 5 ft tall rye grass and very abundant vetch that had been used as a cover crop in the hoop house. Finally found my notes from pasture 2 regarding the species content for a representative 3x3 plot: dandelion 14, Broad leaf plantain 11, narrow leaved plantain 2, orchard grass 10, clover 6, speedwell 5, buttercup 2. there was also abundant bed straw by the fence and wall. At the end, all but the 2 foot tall orchard grass had been chowed down. The pasture was 132' by 15' and they were in there for 7 days. Pasture # 3 next to the hoop house didnt really have any good spots that represented the pasture as a whole, but here are the notes I have from it : size 71' by 10', orchard grass, dandelion, alsike clover, brome grass, speedwell, 1 rhubarb plant?, and 3 species that I have yet to identify. It took them only 4 days to plow through that patch, and now they are in pasture # 4, measurements to follow hopefully tomorrow. This one has a similar constitution as the last one, but with the addition of butter cups, vetch and 5' tall rye. They only have a thin sliver of the vetch as it is very rich, and are being supplemented with course hay for extra fiber. Jett's body condition seems to be at the right stage, she is plump but not obese. Lil Boy is not fair quite as well, he is a little thinner, but not to an alarming degree. Will be spending some extra time working on my body scoring skills. Hopefully pictures and measurements of new pasture will be up tomorrow!

Move # 3 complete

Ground close up after grazing, still some dandelion and speedwell

Pre-mow post-graze, the comfrey got hit hard

First pasture, post-graze, post-mow

Well thanks to two very good friends Devin, and Darienne, the sheep are in their 3rd pasture which contains mostly obscenely tall grasses but will be detailed further tomorrow. For now, here is a look at where they have been.

First pasture, post graze, pre-mow

Now for pasture 2:

Lots of dandelion and bedstraw

The shelter

And after......

Only the orchard grass is left! Yay Voth training!

A closer look....

Just Grass stalks left

And here is the new pasture, mostly tall grass, will be examining further tonight. Next post will include some more details about all 3 spots.

Grass so tall you cant see Jett!