Western Washington pasture

[colinml]

New to sheep. We have three ewes (CVM/Romeldale) and a few pygmy goats. We have 20 acres of mixed forest and grass. Perhaps 6 or 7 acres is grass.

I am confused about what I have been reading regarding pasture management. I've been on a quest for weeks to find information about how to manage my pastures. The local sources I have investigated (Cooperative ext., university literature) say, essentially, that I should confine the sheep to a small sacrifice area for 9 months out of the year, feeding hay, and cleaning this area of manure every few days. If I don't do this, I will surely ruin my pastures. On the one hand, I certainly see the logic. The rain here is almost perpetual from Sept-April, and mud is a real issue. Hoof rot, worms, trampled pasture: These certainly are realistic concerns. But, really? I only get 3 months of pasture? I have also read a bunch of other stuff, but, unfortunately, much of the literature is written for people in Iowa, and I can't really tell if concepts like forage stockpiling even work in the PNW.

If anyone can provide personal experience that relates to the maritime northwest climate, I would be indebted.

Thanks,
Colin

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Sorry, I'm on the opposite coast, so our management is probably different than yours. I do know that it is recommended to remove animals from pasture when it's soggy, but that's especially recommended for large animals (horses and cattle).

If you only have three ewes on that many acres, I can't imagine they'd do that much damage to your pasture. I'd venture to say that you shouldn't have to worry about taking them off at all. But, that's must my opinion, and we definitely don't get nearly as much rain as you do.

But think about Great Britain...they've got tons of rain and tons of animals on pasture. I highly doubt they're all taking the animals off when it's rainy.

You could always try it and if you notice them mucking it up or pulling the grass up by the roots, then remove them.

 

[rockdoveranch]

My suggestion is that you contact your local county agricultural extension office for advice.

I live along about 50 driving miles from the Texas Gulf Coast. We experience periodic droughts and flooding rains. A freezing day to me is when our temps stay in the mid 40s all day long. Our land is basically flat.

We have 9 acres devoted just to our sheep. It is divided into 4 padlocks, and we rotate. However, our ewes are allowed to free range on our other 23 acres unless they are lambing.

A concern I would have in a very cold, wet part of the United States is hypothermia. Wherever you keep your sheep, make sure they are able to move to a higher dry area with a shelter if their pasture or padlock stays wet and muddy and the temperatures stay low.

We lost a beautiful mature ram last year to hypothermia. We had an usually cold, COLD, rainy, RAINY winter, and much of our land was saturated with water for days at a time. Although the pasture he was in had dry areas, he was moving through standing rainy water as he grazed with the rest of our ram herd.

To be honest with you, we were SHOCKED when the vet at Texas A & M University Veterinary School called us to say that the necrospy revealed that he had died of hypothermia. He told us he sees this all the time in cows, horses, sheep and goats when Texas has extreme cold, rainy winters.

Hopefully this will NEVER happen to your herd or anyone else here on this forum, but I believe it is an important issue to bring up.

 

[colinml]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies so far. I'm all set in terms of dry shelter, and I'm using portable electric netting to rotate and keep everyone on the driest parts of the pastures. I think the key part I don't understand is whether the various ways to extend the pasture season I've read about in books and on the internet have any application to the Pacific Maritime climate. That is, there are quite a few books about concepts like stockpiling forage, planting root crops, leaving the remains of a harvested crop. But I wonder if any of these, or similar, concepts even work in the constant downpour of the PNW.

And, regarding Great Britain, yes, the climate is very similar. The problem is, as a novice, I worry about doing what seems to make sense, especially when what seems to make sense contradicts the information provided by local authorities. On the other hand, some of the information I have gotten from local authorities has turned out to be just plain wrong. I was told by a local conservation official, for instance, that goats wouldn't really help with getting my blackberry problem under control, and mechanical (backhoe)/chemical removal was the only thing that would really work. On the contrary, the goats have done a fabulous job. Those of you in the PNW will understand what I'm talking about regarding blackberry. If you're in the south, think kudzu. Lastly, in my research, I have to keep wondering whether what I'm reading is aimed at large scale producers who are more inclined to large scale confinement type operations anyway.

So, the problem I'm having is that, while there is plenty of information out there, it is contradictory, and much of it seems to be aimed at a different audience. Certainly I could just try different things, but I'd rather not find out what doesn't work by process of elimination. My wife and I love having the sheep around, and a few sheep on this many acres leaves a lot of room for error, but we are considering expanding, so I'd like to find information I know is relevant to my situation. That's why personal anecdote is encouraged here. If you live in this climate, and you have livestock, I'm curious about your experience.

Thanks.

 

[Royd Wood]

At least your sheep are bred from the Romney line which originate from the Romney marshes area in Southern England so the resilience to foot rot could still be there in your ewes ????. Thats one of the reasons we chose purebred Romney and so far no feet probs here.
We are on clay and after a shower or two the water starts to hang around but 18 sheep dont seem to damage the pasture except for gateways but it does dry up quick here. Cant say the same for my cows who soon start ploughing.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Just a thought ,if you have ample 'dry shelter',have you considered a 'deep litter system',so you are not cleaning out sheds all the time.........It works a bit like this ,start with some sort of bedding about 1ft thick,as soon as it starts to get damp or smelly add more (about 6ins),and after that just add sufficient to cover the soiled bedding,do not disturb in a short while bacteria will start to break it all down ,this 'breakdown generates 'heat' which helps keep the bedding both 'warm and dry',but ensure there is a positive air flow through the shed.....Clean it out at the start of spring,but leave enough behind to continue the process and put it on the vege garden or spread it on your pastures to increase your level of 'organic matter'...........Would you say that your forest area is well drained?.......We have spent a considerable amount of time developing 'woodland grazing' using 'native grass species'(if I ever work out the photo posting,I will show you what a difference it can make)...............T.O.R.

 

[kabri]

Oh my, I totally disagree with what you were told!!! We are just south of Issaquah, we have 17 sheep right now with only about 3 acres of pasture, the rest is woods. I've have about this number of sheep for 15 years. My sheep had access to all of the pastures, all year, until the year DH decided he wanted a horse. (Had to get 2, what was I going to ride????) Pastures look terrible now! Sheep kept everything mowed, and the only mud problems were the high traffic areas by the barn when they would access their shelter. Seriously, it's way better for your sheep to be able to move and exercise, plus confining them to such a small area had huge potential for foot problems and concentrate parasites.

Some sheep breeds don't do as well here. A friend of mine had a pure romney ewe who would get wool rot every year on her back. I had barbado hair sheep and their feet just could not handle our wet ground for so much of the year. Our Cheviots have such fantastic feet we only have to trim them twice a year, and have never found any rot.

So, as long as your fences are really good, let those sheep out!

 

[Baymule]

I found lots of good info in the archived articles here:


http://www.stockmangrassfarmer.net/index.html