White Gum Grazing Area: into the Highway Reserve

After a couple of weeks working the small paddocks of the Racecourse GA, this feels like complete freedom.  The sheep could be anywhere, but I did spot them coming down the front hill as I left for a day in Hobart yesterday.  (The high point of my Hobart trip was having lunch with my good friend Ani (aka close_knit) and catching up on several months' news.)  Anyway, it's a wild guess where the flock will be, and I'll work with whatever I find.  I'd like to get them into one end or the other of the Highway Reserve, just for something different and diverse.  We'll see!  Hopefully, I can get Instagram to do a more consistent job of posting videos.  In the new version, you are allowed to record longer than 15 sec, but the catch seems to be you can't always get them to post!  This real-time social media stuff can be a bit challenging ;-) END OF THE DAY NOTES:  The flock was at the far southern end of the Grazing Area, about as far as it's possible to get from my house, so it was a long walk out.  I let the dogs gather them the last few hundred metres, so I didn't have to walk all the way (V1).  We brought them into the Highway Reserve via the southern gate (V2), and had an excellent graze up the Reserve.  Two water hazards were negotiated without dramas (P2,P3,V3,V4), and there was lots of browsing and grazing in the native forage bits(P4,P5).  The weather was nicer than expected--the breeze was cold, but once we were in the Reserve, having our tails to the wind made it much warmer.  There is certainly some new growth, but still too many bare patches for comfort.  I think it will take several seasons to come back to the kind of wild abundance of foliage I'd really like to see.  Still, all in all, a most satisfactory circuit.

June 18, 2016
June 18, 2016
P1: One of my favourite springs, full and overflowing. This little tree reserve is quite a special spot, and I'm looking forward to seeing it grow up over the next few years. I tried to take a video of the frogs croaking, but whenever I got close en…

P1: One of my favourite springs, full and overflowing. This little tree reserve is quite a special spot, and I'm looking forward to seeing it grow up over the next few years. I tried to take a video of the frogs croaking, but whenever I got close enough to hear them, they quit! You can just see the sheep in the background--try clicking on the image to get better resolution

Being a bit lazy--getting the dogs to gather for me

A video posted by White Gum Wool (@whitegumwool) on

 

Video V1 above.

Into the Highway Reserve

A video posted by White Gum Wool (@whitegumwool) on

 

Video V2 above.

P2: This waterhole is the leakiest one on the place! I don't remember EVER seeing it full. You can see the wet track through the gorse, where we're headed. May be too wet to cross.

P2: This waterhole is the leakiest one on the place! I don't remember EVER seeing it full. You can see the wet track through the gorse, where we're headed. May be too wet to cross.

P3: Albert braving a new water hazard--a little streamlet flowing down the gully, just under his hooves.

P3: Albert braving a new water hazard--a little streamlet flowing down the gully, just under his hooves.

Getting everybody across the streamlet.

A video posted by White Gum Wool (@whitegumwool) on

Video V3 above.

The sinuous track through the wet, gorsey gully

A video posted by White Gum Wool (@whitegumwool) on

 

Video V4 above.

P4: Having a browse of wattle. Oh, for the neck of a giraffe!

P4: Having a browse of wattle. Oh, for the neck of a giraffe!

P5: Ditto the poor gum tree. Happily, they moved on fairly quickly and didn't do much damage. There are only a few of these young trees along this section, and I try not to let them get over-browsed.

P5: Ditto the poor gum tree. Happily, they moved on fairly quickly and didn't do much damage. There are only a few of these young trees along this section, and I try not to let them get over-browsed.

P6: At the northern gate of the Highway reserve. We'll leave them here and head home. Hopefully, they'll graze back into the wind and stay in the reserve a while longer. Very satisfying circuit. And I just turned around to see them head back south--…

P6: At the northern gate of the Highway reserve. We'll leave them here and head home. Hopefully, they'll graze back into the wind and stay in the reserve a while longer. Very satisfying circuit. And I just turned around to see them head back south--yes!