Lucerne Reserve

Lucerne Reserve

I haven't seen the flock move into the Lucerne Reserve on their own, so I'm assuming I'll find them somewhere in the middle of the Basin.  The forecast wind is westerly, so depending on how miserable it is I may or may not have trouble moving them down the hill into Old Cabin.  If that all goes well, I'll take them on our usual circuit around the perimeter of the paddock, and from there into the Lucerne Reserve.

Northeast Basin Grazing Area

The morning started with a gorgeous sunrise, and a -2C (28F) frost--our first proper frost of winter.  Although it's only forecast to be 10C (42F) with sunshine and light winds I'm hoping for a lovely morning circuit.  However, more rough weather is on the way, interfering with my shepherding schedule, so I've decided to move the flock to the northeastern end of the Basin Grazing Area today.

Lucerne Reserve, full day circuit

Lucerne Reserve, full day circuit

I love my full-day circuits.  I think it's because the length of time, with only the animals and the landscape around me, lets me enter a different part of myself.  It's restful and timeless, in the sense of no deadlines other than organic ones, like hunger or fatigue.  I hear and see so much:  birdsong, wind in the she-oaks, the sound of an eagle's wings as he lands in a tree near me, the chatter of a fairy wren family, the sound of sheep eating.

Old Cabin, not Back Gully Reserve

Old Cabin, not Back Gully Reserve

I cheated and looked to see where the sheep were yesterday evening when I ran the dogs, so I'm assuming I know where they'll be this morning.  There's lots more forage in the Back Gully Reserve, so we'll take another trip there today, unless the flock completely fools me and ends up on the northeastern end of the Grazing Area, in which case we'll go for the Lucerne Reserve.

May 11-13: Wild Weather Continues (Into the Basin Grazing Area)

May 11-13:  Wild Weather Continues (Into the Basin Grazing Area)

It's as though winter has decided to make up in a week the lost time in March and April, when it was so warm and mild.  We had yet another ½ inch of rain overnight, following an inch on Monday night, both with blustery westerly gales.  Last night as I drove back from choir practice about 10:30, it was sleeting horizontally, and the temperature outside my kitchen window was hovering at freezing.

No shepherding today-raining instead

No shepherding today-raining instead

I'm wimping out from shepherding today-forecast is for significant rain.  Here's a photo from Saturday's shepherding-one I took with my real camera and its real telephoto lens.  My only unhappiness with Instagram is that I have no way to zoom in on the images I want to send you! This was coming up through that rough gully.  Notice the nice bite full of long grass in the lead sheep's mouth.  By the way, I often see this older ewe up front, so maybe Horatio has some competition for Prime Minister.

Reprise-Highway Reserve

Reprise-Highway Reserve

There's lots of good forage still in the Highway Reserve, so my plan for today is to head back there and try to work some of the less-grazed corners.  I have no idea where the sheep will be, so have done an "eeny-meeny" guess.  We'll see!  Light northerly winds may help us to do a full length transit.   I've appended two of my favourite photos of Elf and friends Clara and Vicki.

A gentle walk through White Gum Wood

A gentle walk through White Gum Wood

After our wild weather (and nearly an inch of rain, calloo, callay!)  I thought today I might just take the flock through the middle section of White Gum Grazing Area, the paddock I call White Gum Wood.  We'll concentrate on the downhill side of the paddock, and time permitting, may poke our noses into the southwestern end of the Highway Reserve.

No shepherding today

The good news is we had 14 mm (just over ½ inch) of rain over the weekend, in a series of wild storms and gale force winds.  The ground is covered with tiny moths flying below the radar--their first chance for the right hatching conditions all year, I suspect.  Today the forecast is for 50 kph winds, so I think I will let the wet sheep hang out wherever they darn please, and give myself a break from trying to convince them they WANT to go into (or even with) that wind.  I skipped Saturday's half day as well, mostly because I was still worn out from Thursday's marathon.  You see how easy it is to slide into laziness and complacency with this shepherding business?  Good thing I have all of you to keep me honest!  I really will do a circuit on Wednesday--probably back to the Highway Reserve for half a day, to let them enjoy this:

Half day in the Highway Reserve

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.

Full day, back to the Lucerne Reserve

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

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.