Making A Pasture

[Bruce]

That is a lot of poop (and bedding)!

There’s more where that came from!

And will be as long as you have sheep!

 

[Baymule]

We started on the main part of the Sheep barn today. We raked up, shoveled and loaded 4 mule loads of loose dry manure. We all wore dust masks, I had one for the neighbor kid too. We spread the manure in pasture #2, the pasture featured on page one of this thread.

Then we got down to the hard stuff, the hard packed poop and rotted hay. BJ ran the tiller. Neighbor kid and I raked, shoveled and loaded. We made two loads and spread them. We quit at 1:00 and I took Neighbor kid home.

BJ and I were whupped. We collapsed in our recliners and took a two hour nap.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Ya have come a long way Bay from when ya started and are reaping rewards from the hard laborous work yall have invested.... ..it certainly is a process and it will continue to improve....It had slipped my mind about your thread here, but glad to have found it again....

 

[farmerjan]

Haha, a little too much "silvo" and not enough "pasture" I had some nice rye grass growing in the shaded areas, but the sheep didn't want it. They wanted the grass growing under full sun. I deduced that the shaded grass didn't have the nutrients or taste of the more preferred sunny grass.

And they will eat it if you make them get a little hungry to eat the rye. My cows love it until it gets so tall and heads out and then it gets more like straw. Different flavors to the different varieties but one of the things about rotational grazing, is for you to leave them long enough in a small enough space, that they eat and tromp down the taller grasses which makes more organic matter to break down into the soil. Maybe try to put them on the rye sooner?
Your sheep are spoiled

 

[Baymule]

@farmerjan i put them on the rye grass well before it headed out. They graze the strip in the full sun and ignore the grass growing in semi shade. So i turned the weaned lambs out on it, they are not old enough yet to be stuck up snots, they preferred the stubble out in the sunshine, but finally grazed the "silvo" grass. LOL

 

[farmerjan]

Strange sheep

 

[CntryBoy777]

I sowed the Big Boss variety of rye grass and saw a definite difference from the previous one and it has a higher reseeding rate than most others. By growing it, ya are putting nitrogen into the soil and the root system will aid in holding your soil in place better thru the dormant season of the summer grass. I can't speak of the reseeding, because we were runoff before I got to see the results....the ducks, goats, and deer loved it.

 

[Baymule]

This past fall i seeded a triploid variety of rye grass and it put out a LOT of growth! The sheep loved it, horses loved it and it made a lot of grass. In pasture #2, I took the sheep off and let it go to seed. It made a lot of stalks and they got trampled. Now we are putting sheep manure from the barn over all that humus which ought to enrich the soil and help and improve the bermuda grass.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have actually purchased hay that had a LOT of seed head and fed it in different areas of a field, knowing it would help reseed. Heck, cost me less than "seed" and the left over stems covered it from birds, the horses & goats laid and pooed in it. Way better results than if I had spent time & $$ to do it "right". With some grass there, this method works nicely.

In my front pasture, the areas near the fence -- where I often throw hay over -- is thick and lush, as are areas I've spot fed. I know it works!

I bought some chicory seed this year. Plan to put it in areas already in grass, throw hay on it, let the animals work it. Pull them for recovery of field, feeling it will work. Chicory is high protein and will add to forage. tossing turnip seed also -- the more top type....gotten cheap on closeout.

 

[Baymule]

Yesterday and this morning we got a total of 1 1/2” of rain! That’s what we needed on the Sheep compost we spread. We could use more, but I am delighted for what we got.

The giant Bermuda I planted last spring did poorly because of not enough compost or humus. There are survivor sprigs here and there. It is already looking better.

This is in pasture #1.