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!

Correction....

Well change of plan, the sheep will be staying where they are for another day or so, their fence will be moved and their grazing area decreased in order to get them to nibble some patches they've missed. Lil Boy is up to 95 lbs, Jett is at 42, I need to find a better system of weighing them because a produce scale just isnt cutting it.

Getting ready to Move on Out

Well the sheep have grazed down their current paddock as far as it can go without me worrying whether or not they will have enough to eat. They got a lot of the dandelions down, not so much of the bedstraw, very little plantain, and left the grass that is going to seed. I guess once it gets to a certain age it loses the flavor they like. It looks as though I could keep them there longer if I trained them to eat bedstraw specifically, but at the moment their services are required elsewhere. At some point soon, a chronology of their grazing will be posted detailing the before and after conditions of the pasture, and the conclusions regarding the actual fence row maintenance. Will try to weight them today before moving them to see if they maintained weight in this spot, and also to see if the wormer has helped Lil Boy. His body condition does seem to be improving so that will be a good thing to confirm. Next stop: the area surrounding the hoop house, mostly tall grasses, few weeds.

More food experiments

This morning the lil ones got a taste of alfalfa cubes to test them out on how they handle different textures, and they gobbled it right up! Lil Boy seems determined to make me worry about him as he looks me right in the eye and goes for the buttercups. I think Im going to go through the pasture and rip them all out. Tonight Im going to mix goat grain and alfalfa and see what they think. I am also trying to determine what I can conclude from the plot sample I took.

Voth training under way!

Last night I started my guys on a slightly accelerated Voth training program. They had a tiny bit of sweet feed last night, a little goat feed this morning, and tonight they will get a handful of sweet feed with some dandelion and bedstraw thrown in. If this experiment doesnt work in the next few days (due to a short time frame) It will be tried again during the semester. Lets hope this works, those weeds need to go!

Moveing on......a few feet to the right....

Well my guys are in their new pasture after 10 days in the herb garden. They mowed it down pretty well, but left some dandelion and bedstraw. Their new pasture has the same plants and roughly the same area. Actual measurements will be forth coming with pictures when my computer gets fixed.. Starting tomorrow Ill be looking at training them to eat weeds using some of Kathy Voth's techniques.

Deworming

So Lil Boy and Jett are beginning to eat the dandelions and bedstraw, I may not have to train them to it after all! I did discover that what I thought was rag weed is in fact buttercup, will be watching that one very closely. In other news, I finally weighed Lil Boy and Jett (not fun, must get the formula instead of the scale for next time) and Lil Boy weighs in at 85-90 lbs! Jett is at about 40 lbs. I gave them both their first dose of dewormer today, and I was surprised at how well behaved they were. I was also surprised at the price, $44 for a bottle of wormer, yeesh. Lets hope it works, Lil Boy looks thin and I blame worms, if he stays thin, I may have to start giving him some supplemental feed. We shall see!

Battle of the comfrey!

Well this morning it looks like Jett has lead the charge against the confrey, and  started to devour it. I think this is her way of telling me that dandelions and bedstraw are not what she wants for breakfast. Lil Boy spent 3 minutes rubbing his butt against the metal fence before trying to tackle me so Id scratch it for him. I checked him for ticks and lice, nothing, and no wool break either. Hope it's not scrapie, but i dont think it would be, Im just a paranoid sheep mama lol. Going to weigh and move them today and take pictures of the pastures, probably going to go into the one they were just in and clean it up with a scythe.

Pasture update

Well after last night's "big storm" the pasture looks no worse for wear, the grass has been nibbled down quite a bit, and the dandelion heads are beginning to disappear along with some of the bedstraw. Lil Boy is beginning to worry me a little though, normally he bleats and comes running when he sees me, but this morning he was lying down and refused to move until i got him up myself. he acted normally once on his feet though. Jett is behaving normally. Tonight after work I may trim Lil Boy's feet and try to weigh them both so as to have a base reading for the semester. Also, Lil Boy had a small amount of white nasal discharge this morning, Im probably playing over protective parent but Im going to do some research tonight and see if that is normal or not. I feel like I should know more then I do despite all I have read ha ha. Off to the gardens!

the experiment has begun!

On Saturday, Lil Boy and Jett were separated from the flock to begin their summer of fence row maintenance. They are being pastured in a somewhat over grown area containing 4 herb box gardens growing comfrey and valerian. The pasture itself contains some tall growing grasses, dandelion, speedwell, ragweed, two kinds of plantain, bedstraw, peppermint, red osier dogwood, wild blackberries and a few other plants as yet to be identified. It is a sizable area, being maybe 10-15 ft by 50 ft. At the moment, the sheep are content to nibble to tops of the grasses, the buds and leaves of the dogwoods and blackberries, the comfrey, and sometimes the bedstraw. The plan is to see if they can knock down the area so that it does not need to be mowed, while keeping them in good health. Lil Boy still seems to be a little bloated with sunken flanks, but in good spirits, and  both sheep are regular once again. More as it develops! If I can figure a good way to do it, weights may be incorporated.

Better weather = back on the grass!

The rain has stopped, and the flock has moved on to greener pastures, so I walked Lil Boy and Jett the half mile to meet them.........both need more walks to get them used to being on a leash. Lil Boy is making an odd noise whenever her runs, sounds like when your belly is full of water and you jump and can hear it sloosh, only it sounds more hollow then that. The whole flock is now 50 ft from my door, and Lil Boy knows it, he keeps bleating every time he sees me through the windows! The pasture they are now on has a good amount of dandelions, clover (white?), and a taller growing grass. At the moment they are taking the top 3 inches off the grass, have not touched the other stuff yet, but they did just get in there. Lil Boy seems to have benefited from eating hay for 24 hours, his stool is returning to normal. Going to research having some fecal work done, and then worming my guys. To the books!

Wet sheep are sad

So it has been raining since some time last night, and the sheep are soggy. Lil Boy ended up standing up against the fence with 2 lambs moping. He and Jett Shied away when I tried touching them which is very out of character. It's supposed to get colder tonight so I put my two babies in the barn with some mixed hay so they can dry out and get some fiber. This new spring grass is making for some rather upset bellies and some rather dirty rear ends. Later this week They will be heading out together to start their fence row work (I hope), and I'm going to try to rig up a small portable shelter for them to get out of the rain under as they travel. Lets hope their moods improve by morning!

ready to roll!

After many technical difficulties I am finally able to post the pictures of shearing Lil Boy! It didnt go exactly as planned, he was accidentally fed that morning, so we gave him lots of breaks, and I was so scared to cut him or make it hard for him to burp that we had to deviate from the shearing plan and shear him however he was most comfortable. But he lived through it! and only 2 tiny cuts! There is  A LOT of second cut in his fleece, but that will be used as quilt stuffing. The important thing is that I got some practice, and Lil Boy survived it only mildly humiliated.

Move to the lower barn

Well Lil Boy has been moved to his new home in the lower barn. He graciously gave up his open air stall to the calves to improve their health and so he could start the process of socializing with other members of his species. Yesterday he got to meet the new ewes but did not respond well to them, he tried to butt them and ended up butting the boards of his stall. He is a little stressed out not being able to see all the animals making noise all around him, but he's settling down. He keeps trying to escape every time his door is opened but we will see if he keeps that up after he gets more comfortable. Pictures coming soon!

Lil Boy snug and safe during the snow storm

Well things are progressing rather slowly, the snow storm has prevented me from being able to get Lil Boy out and walking for some lead training, and this cold is not helping. He is getting better about getting moved around for shearing, so that is good news. For now he's going to hunker down in his stall all safe and sound to wait out the storm.

New semester, Lil Boy and I are ready to go!

All right, so here we are, 3rd day of long block here at Sterling College, and I am about to embark on my first (of many) independent study with Lil Boy! Generally what I am looking at here is the economic viability of sheep-raising on a micro scale. That pretty much means that I am going to find out if it is worth it to raise 2 sheep for milk and fiber production. Right now it's just me and Lil Boy, but in a couple of months he will have a lovely young lady friend for company. Both sheep come from Bonnieview Farm, where they raise them for milk, not fiber, so it will be interesting to see what kind of fiber I get from them. When Lil Boy's friend is old enough I plan to breed and milk her, and raise the lamb for meat, but that is waaaaaaay down the line. For now it is all about this little fellow. I am going to be looking at the entire ovine organism, the nutritional needs and all, and working on my shearing skills with a great group of people in a little network I am developing. The end result will be this blog, and a cost/benefit analysis of the project based on fleece weight, feed, medication, and the like for 1 year for 2 sheep. Wish me luck!