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SageHill

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Baymule

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@Margali and I had a great time. Lots of information to absorb. The organizers of this seminar did an awesome job on the presentations and speakers.
Quoting @Margali , the pasture speaker was a dud. I don’t think she knew a lot about sheep. Cattle yes, sheep no. She kept talking up Bermuda grass, soil testing-to see how much NPK ( nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) is needed to make the Bermuda grass grow. My sheep ignore Bermuda grass.
The rest of the day was great.

I’m in Crockett, just ordered Chinese food. A neighbor fed for me so I know I don’t have to rush home, I can actually stop and eat. Such luxury!
 

Margali

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@Baymule Drive safe! I just got home.
20230415_073154.jpg
 

Baymule

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Welcome home after your fun road trip! Who was the speaker on pasture grass at the seminar?
A specialist from the Texas forage center in Overton. Extremely knowledgeable but sure hung up on Bermuda grass.

I used to think it was THE grass until I got sheep and they ignored it.

Beautiful lush green fields of Bermuda grass, a monoculture that demands inputs to perform at its best-commercial fertilizers and weed killers. I used to admire those fields, the pinnacle of success, but now I know better. For cattle and hay-yes. For sheep-no.

I had to rethink pasture. A mixed sward of as many types of grasses as possible, toss in interesting weeds, broad leaf plants, things that make a field look untidy and unkept. The very plants that are sprayed and killed are the very things our sheep demand.

My pastures have not been sprayed. There are lots of different kinds of forage. Also some undesirable species such as thistle, silver leaf nightshade, goat weed, to name a few. I’ll have to do something about them, possibly spot spray or pull them up or mow them before they set seed. I don’t want to kill off the wonderful mix of plants and forage. It will be an ongoing maintenance.

Fence rows? Spray the heck out of them. Kill every thing that dares try to overtake that expensive wire fence. I’m not going to put in all the hard work to clear years of neglect, take up old barbed wire, build new fence, only to let it all grow up again.
 

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