The grass ripened for grazing this week, and the sheep went on grass on Friday. I have been watching them every moment since then. I have been so anxious about putting the ewes and lambs out on pasture, which makes little since as we are a pasture-based farm focused on rotational grazing!
I worried that sheep will bloat during the transition from hay to pasture. Ruminant digestion relies on beneficial bacteria populating the gut of the sheep. They don’t adjust well to sudden dietary changes. If indigestion takes place, the sheep will develop painful gas in the rumen that can cause death in an hour or two. The rumen becomes so inflated that the sheep will suffocate! So I watched the sheep on pasture like a hawk, even training a high-beam flashlight on them at night to check for illness. So far, everyone has been fine.
Another anxiety is whether the lambs will understand to avoid the fence. Ideally, a lamb will touch the fence with his/her nose, get a shock, and jump back. Usually, they run off with an offended “BAA” and learn that the fence is to be avoided. But once in a while you get a special one who runs forward and entangles. So I have also been watching the fence lines for stuck lambs. Also, so far so good.
My final anxiety is about the season. I am worried about whether I have correctly matched the numbers of sheep with the amount of land I have. I am asking this land to support more than 70 sheep, but I am worried that I won’t have the fodder to support them. In short, what if the grass won’t grow? On this one, I am trying to just have a little faith that my instincts are good and the sheep will have feed enough. The lambs will ship just as feed runs low in the fall, so I think I am in better shape than I feel like I am.
Meanwhile, the sheep are filled with joy to be outside. They graze in the bright sun and ruminate in the shade. The lambs bounce and play a bit, but most are old enough that grazing is the focus of their day. Each paddock at this time of year is approximately 164ft x 164ft, more than a half-acre. The sheep move a little more than once a day, primarily because I am carefully watching the grazing rates. It is crucial not to allow the sheep to graze below the growth point of the grass.
The following is from Beef Magazine, but is relevant to my project:
Research shows when up to 50% of a plant’s leaf volume is removed, root growth stoppage is about 2-4%. If 60% of the leaf volume is removed, root growth stoppage escalates to about 50%. At 80% removal, the roots have no regrowth.
I want to have strong regrowth, so monitoring is constant. The sheep are really a full-time job right now.
In other news, we treated GWAR for a bit of footscald with a mediboot. We caught her on pasture and put some nice treatment goop between her two toes and then stuck the embarrassing blue boot on her foot. GWAR hopped away, bereft of dignity but will hopefully feel much better in a couple of days.
