Lawn mowing bee eating flock of sheep

[soarwitheagles]

Our flock of sheep has increased from 10 to 26 [we traded three lambs for labor]. Many of the ewes are pregnant again, so soon we hope to be over 40 sheep.

Our sheep and bees appear to get along well. For some reason, the bees love going to the sheep watering trough and drinking water with sheep feces and mud. They prefer this to clean water. What can I say? Both the flock and the hives are thriving.

We would like to sell next year and then repopulate with all Dorpers.

Exciting adventures!

 

[Latestarter]

That's a lot of hives in one place... it's a wonder they can all find enough to eat. And I remember how green and lush that pasture looked 6 or so months ago. Grats on the sheep and bee success! Hope all your plans for each come to fruition.

 

[babsbag]

Do you know what kind of Eucalyptus trees you have? Do you like them or wish they would up and disappear? Is there a reason that I shouldn't plant some? We have a neighbor with a junkyard for a yard and when I scan the horizon I see his garbage and I would rather see trees. I want something tall, drought tolerant, and fast growing.

If things are as dismal in the bee yard as I fear I might be interested in buying some splits next spring, the earlier the better, I would like them here to pollinate my apricots.

 

[Mini Horses]

WOW -- a lot of hives!! Nice.

 

[soarwitheagles]

That's a lot of hives in one place... it's a wonder they can all find enough to eat. And I remember how green and lush that pasture looked 6 or so months ago. Grats on the sheep and bee success! Hope all your plans for each come to fruition.

Yes, we began the bee adventure with one hive, now we have 15 hives. We would have had over 30 hives this year but I made several newbie mistakes. Each year is a new learning adventure. I attempted to water our "annual" pasture this summer and it was a complete total, dismay failure! UC Davis Extension people came over on Monday and showed me the correct seed to plant for a perennial pasture. Today I drove to Woodland and purchased massive quantity of seed to experiment with a perennial pasture. We hope to begin this new adventure next week. Thank you for well wishing us!

Do you know what kind of Eucalyptus trees you have? Do you like them or wish they would up and disappear? Is there a reason that I shouldn't plant some? We have a neighbor with a junkyard for a yard and when I scan the horizon I see his garbage and I would rather see trees. I want something tall, drought tolerant, and fast growing.

If things are as dismal in the bee yard as I fear I might be interested in buying some splits next spring, the earlier the better, I would like them here to pollinate my apricots.

I believe the Eucalyptus trees where we live are the Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) variety.

I have a love/hate relationship with these trees.

Here is what I love about them:

They grow crazy fast [in one year a new tree will grow from 6 feet to 25+ feet]!
They provide lots of shade
They make a great privacy hedge if you strategically plant and trim them
They provide a habitat for many species of birds and animals
They provide some of the best firewood on the planet [burns hot and clean]
They are super easy to cut when the wood is green, and must be split when it is dry
They smell incredibly good
They are a beautiful looking tree and are much better than looking at miles upon miles of dead, dry, brown grass
The sheep absolutely love eating the leaves and often eat them on a daily basis with no ill effects

Here is what I do not like about these trees:

Incredibly dangerous and flammable tree to live near in the event of a fire [google Oakland fire storm 1991]
Very, very difficult to kill
If you plant them to make a privacy hedge, you must trim them 2-3 times per year, otherwise, your "hedge" turns into a forest
During summer time, large branches can break off and come crashing to the ground [very dangerous to live under them]
When the wood is dry, incredibly hard wood and it dulls the chainsaw cutting chain super fast [we burned through 25+ chains when we first moved here because we had to cut up 30+ cords of very dry eucalyptus wood on the ground]

As you can see, my pro's list is longer than my con's list, so I suppose I can honestly say I love living surrounded by these trees. Living near these trees requires responsible choices:

Keep the trees at least 100 ft. away from your dwelling
Keep the forest ground clean to assure fire safety
Exercise caution when cutting them down, bucking them up, and splitting the wood


If you can plant some and they are far enough away from your house to not place you at risk, then I would say plant them for sure! But, I think you may have colder winters than we do, and it may be possible they would not survive the winters up there.

These trees here have not been watered by man since they were planted over 100 years ago, so they do not need man assisted water, but, I heard these trees drink massive quantities of water.

WOW -- a lot of hives!! Nice.

Thank you Mini!

 

[babsbag]

The trees will be about 300' from my house and I want them to grow tall. This neighbor that I am trying to block is on a hill across the stream bed from me. I live on a hill too and we are about level in elevation, but 1200' apart. When I look out my window towards Mt. Shasta I see his junk in the foreground of a beautiful view and I want to block it. The trees need to be about 40' tall in order to do this. I think I will look into planting some, probably about 4 or 5 should do it. They would be in a pasture, no real undergrowth for the ladder fuels for a fire and DH used to be a fireman and he has given me the go ahead. I know that they burn hot, I used to get them as firewood when I lived in Fairfield, they were great. I think that the pros will outweigh the cons and I checked the hardiness zone and they are good down to 10° so that should be fine. Last year we had no frost at all but I would say our average lows are around 28°

 

[babsbag]

Looks like all I can find for that tree is seeds; they are cheap enough so might have to try.

What kind of grass did the tell you to plant for your pasture?

 

[soarwitheagles]

Hey babs,

I am not sure exactly when the little euc sprouts start coming up here. I will keep my eyes open. Then, if you are ever down in this area, you are most welcome to pick some up for free. 28f should be no problem at all because we too have those types of lows here and it does not adversely affect the trees at all.

For annual pasture, here is the mix:

15% various clovers
15% Blando Brom
60% annual rye
5% chickory
5% birdsfoot trefoil

Remember, the annual version does not grow in the summer but really does well during the rainy months!

Perennial pasture:

30% Tet Perennial rye grass
25% Fawn Tall Fescue
20% Potomac Orchard Grass
10% Spring Green Festulolium
5% birdsfoot trefoil
10% Clovers-strawberry and alsike

 

[babsbag]

I would make a trip down to get seedlings. My son and DIL live in Rancho Cordova so it is a good excuse to visit them. Just let me know and I'll bring my shovel, some pots, and some dirt. My kind of job.

Thanks for the information on the pasture. If we get the property next to us we would like to start amending the soil and plant some; probably annual to start. I haven't even heard of most of those grasses.

Did they mention Tall Fescue toxicosis from the endophyte that can accompany tall fescue? Goats and sheep aren't as affected by it as horses and cattle but just wondered if they even mentioned it.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I would make a trip down to get seedlings. My son and DIL live in Rancho Cordova so it is a good excuse to visit them. Just let me know and I'll bring my shovel, some pots, and some dirt. My kind of job.

Thanks for the information on the pasture. If we get the property next to us we would like to start amending the soil and plant some; probably annual to start. I haven't even heard of most of those grasses.

Did they mention Tall Fescue toxicosis from the endophyte that can accompany tall fescue? Goats and sheep aren't as affected by it as horses and cattle but just wondered if they even mentioned it.

Babs,
When the rain lets up, I will see if any seedlings have come up yet and then let you know.
Yes, the UC Davis Extension people did give us a strong warning about endophyte free grasses! We purchased the perennial pasture mix in Woodland from TSL seed company at the recommendation of the UC Davis Extension. TSL are well aware of the endophyte issues in grass and are careful to sell the endophyte free versions.

The exact seed we purchased is their General Pasture 1 mix. It is produced in Chowcilla by Lockwood seed and grain.

Hope this helps!