Come shepherding
This journal was started to give readers a more personal experience of shepherding, White Gum Wool style.
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Half day in the Highway Reserve
I had a great plan for today, but the sheep forestalled me by doing it on their own yesterday: grazing the steep hill facing north toward the farmhouse. They spent the morning there, contentedly grazing the burned area from stem to stern, and even more importantly, from top to bottom. All I can say is downhill in this case was also upwind. Wind won, this time.
ANZAC Day in the White Gum Grazing Area
Well, though on Saturday I promised you a circuit in a new area, I lied. Not lied, exactly, just didn't think it all the way through. I'm betting the sheep will still be on the eastern end of the White Gum Grazing Area and therefore close to the Lucerne Reserve. Might as well have another bite at beating the bugs to the lucerne crop!
Into the White Gum Grazing Area via the Burn
While I'd hoped to keep the flock in the Racecourse Grazing Area for a full three weeks, it's getting pretty tired and stale. Three weeks was a bit optimistic, especially since I didn't want to graze the big flat that was completely burned in the January fire.
Full day, back to the Lucerne Reserve
It continues terribly dry, though a bit of rain is forecast for Thursday, so I decided to do my full-day shepherd a day early and keep Thursday for a (hopefully!) rainy day of finishing my quarterly taxes. The bugs are gaining on the sheep in the lucerne (for those who missed earlier posts on this, I have aphids/mites turning my beautiful stand of lush green lucerne (alfalfa) into yellow standing hay).
Another trip around the "bottoms" of the Racecourse Grazing Area
I've been out with a nasty tummy bug since Friday, so no shepherding this weekend. I'm preparing to totter around the Racecourse GA (Grazing Area) with the flock this morning, hopefully all will be ok. We are now desperately short of rain, again. Essentially no rain for the past 7 weeks. So I am trying to spin out the grazing in the Racecourse GA as long as I possibly can, before putting the flock back on the White Gum Grazing Area.
Lucerne Reserve, full-day shepherd
The Lucerne Reserve is an area encompassing about 50 acres of monoculture lucerne, with grass and weeds, and an upper area of predominantly native pasture. Most of the fences shown on the map are no longer there-I took them down last year to allow free access from the sheltered hill area (native) to the lush feed of the lucerne flat. My plan is to give the flock the morning in the lucerne, then head up the hill into the native pasture for the afternoon.
Racecourse Grazing Area
The plan is to work the flock around all the lower edges of the paddocks that make up the Racecourse Grazing Area. Sheep prefer high ground-a predator thing, I'm convinced: much easier to spot the lions in the long grass if you hold the high ground. Of course, there's not much long grass to hide in these days...
Chilly with showers
Here's the plan for today--half-day. I'm taking them into the lucerne for a graze, then back to the Racecourse Grazing Area at noon or thereabouts. I'll post photos on Instagram (whitegumwool) as I go, and then post a final track at the end of the day.
Moving to Racecourse Grazing Area
Here's the plan for the day. I'm moving the flock from the Basin Grazing Area, where they've been for the last month, to the Racecourse Grazing Area, where I hope the forage will hold them for 3 weeks or so. Part of this area was burned in the January fire, and is not yet ready to be grazed.
Beautiful Autumn Day
This is a work in progress--a way to share the experience shepherding. Keep an eye out for developments. Nan
Come Shepherding
This journal is no longer active but you can browse the full archive of posts.
Experience the feeling of being out on the hill, get to know the individual characters in the flock and see the wildlife and landscape.