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.