Come shepherding
This journal was started to give readers a more personal experience of shepherding, White Gum Wool style.
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Into the Racecourse Grazing Area
It's been a month in the Basin Grazing Area, so time to make a move. There was a domino effect, starting a couple of weeks ago when my fencing contractors demolished the old fence along the highway in the rams' paddock. I shifted the rams onto the Racecourse, into the triangular paddock I call the "Stud Paddock"--a legacy of the years I bred my own rams from a small flock of high quality ewes known as studs (yes, it confused me at first, too--how can girls be studs??)
Old Cabin into Waterfall Gully-full day circuit
Quite a contrast to yesterday: we transited nearly the full length of the Basin Grazing Area, and the wind was howling again, out of the west. Yesterday, late in the day, the wind veered northerly long enough to draw the flock out of the Back Gully Reserve and into the Grass Gully, where we picked them up this morning.
Back Gully Reserve, still
A delightful day, with sunshine, light winds and tractable sheep. We did only a relatively short distance but the sheep were grazing most of the time. The NE side of the gully is a bit hard for the sheep to find: they have to make their way through fairly dense cutting sags (lomandra longifolia) and gorse to get well down into the better forage.
Blustery day in the Back Gully Reserve
Cold sunshine and blustery winds made for an exciting short circuit this morning. The sheep were in the Back Gully, near the tree reserve, when we found them, and from there it's just a short hop into the Back Gully Reserve. The Reserve is a rocky, mostly native area, though with lots of gorse in parts. It has good shelter from the westerlies, and lots of forage diversity.
Old Cabin
My computer suffered a nasty power surge last week, and has been limping along since, but only just barely. Today I sent it off for repair, leaving me with only my iPad to pretend to be a real computer. I started working on computers in the mid-1970s, and bought my first PC when they came out in the early 80s. Since then, I've never been without a PC or Mac, so little wonder I'm feeling withdrawal symptoms!
Blizzard in July
This post was added after the fact, when I realised I hadn't published the shots I took of the blizzard on 23 July--a day when the better part of valour as a shepherd was to stay inside by the fire!
Walking on Water
An astonishing proportion of the property, even at elevation, is under an inch or so of water. I can report the sheep have gotten much better (or more resigned) to walking on water than they were before the big rains. On the other hand, my hiking boots have developed a leak, so I'm less happy about it. Today's circuit was not a deliberate attempt to sample all the wettest bits, but we seemed to hit more than our share. The forecast for tomorrow, my usual full-day for shepherding, is showers, windy and cold, so I took advantage of today's beautiful weather to do the circuit.
After the wild weather, into the Back Gully Reserve
Between the wild wintery weather and my somewhat dodgy ankle, I haven't been up to see the sheep for a week. It's so wet I nearly bogged the Polaris, so I've given up driving it for the time being. However, today augers well, so I'm heading up on foot for a half-day visit. I really have no idea where the flock will be, but given the persistent sou'west and westerlies of the past few days, and knowing their preference for the gully in the middle of the Basin Grazing Area, I'm expecting to find them there.
Sneaking back into Waterfall Gully
After the fog lifted this morning, the dogs and I took a run with the Polaris up the hill. It's still very soggy and muddy, and I nearly got the Polaris bogged in an innocent-looking, but nefarious, stretch. One lovely benefit of the run, though, was seeing the flock putting themselves back into Waterfall Gully, grazing into an easterly breeze.
Into the Basin Grazing Area
This wasn't a real shepherding day-just a move into the Basin Grazing Area from the White Gum GA. The flock made it extremely easy--they had put themselves into the top of Waterfall Gully, through the gate I left open a few days ago, when I put them in at the bottom of the gully.
White Gum Grazing Area and Old Highway
Over the weekend, snow was forecast for today, which is my usual full shepherding day, so I hatched a plan to take advantage of the somewhat nicer weather Sunday. (Today's forecast is now for heavy rain-we might get as much as another inch, so my decision was definitely the right one!)
Waterfall Gully via the Basin
We'll try to go down Brian's Track (named after Brian Fish, who discovered the old track when he was bulldozing gorse for me several years ago), and down the old highway. Assuming the flock is where I'm expecting them, at the southwest end of the White Gum Grazing Area. There are several pockets of long grass in among the gorse cover that I'd like to let the flock graze.
Brian's Track
Sunshine makes all the difference. Today's forecast was much the same as last Monday's, but this was a much more pleasant circuit. As you might guess from my roundabout track to the sheep this morning, I had a lovely idea for a completely different circuit than the one we did. The sheep foiled me by placing themselves nearly at the gate into the highway reserve, so off we went, to repeat last week's trek.
Somewhere in the White Gum Grazing Area
Another 1 and ½ inches of rain this week has left us all quite soggy, until last night, that is, when a -4C (25F) frost put an ice coating on all that wet ground. The sun is shining, but the thermometer has not yet thawed past freezing and there is a nasty "lazy" wind blowing (too lazy to go around you, so it goes right through!).
Droving the Old Highway
Don't get too excited about the word "droving": the old highway boundary is only about a kilometre long. Nevertheless, it felt like a most adventuresome day, as we had to traverse several tricky spots to get to our destination. I found the flock at the top of the hill, in their usual favourite spot.
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.
Roundabout trek to the White Gum Grazing Area
It wasn't a proper shepherding day today, though I did do the first part on foot. It's time to move from the Racecourse Grazing Area up the hill to the White Gum Grazing Area, so we did a sort of "farewell" graze in the Racecourse on the way. The sheep were happy enough to follow me out of the first paddock, but refused the water jump twice before Albert, bless him, led them across to me.
Racecourse "bottoms"
Ok, someone in the flock is sneaking around on Facebook. They spent the entire day yesterday in the Stud Paddock, which is where I was planning to take them today. (I mentioned this at the end of my post on Monday.) Though the idea of telepathy has also crossed my mind, the explanation is probably as simple, and encouraging as this: I'm apparently anticipating what the sheep need and want, and they in turn are getting better at moving through the landscape to find it on their own.
Queen's Birthday Shepherding Circuit
Ok, this is one of the many cultural challenges I didn't even know I was facing when I moved to Australia: first, having a Queen at all; second, not being a republic (really??), and third, the liberties that are taken with the Queen's Birthday holiday, which is on a different day in almost every state, none of which correspond to her real birthday on April 21.
Ahem. Seriously daunting forecast
From the Australian Bureau of Meterology, and I quote:"Midlands area Min 1 Max 6 (34 to 43F)
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.