Mini Horses
Herd Master
I love her smile, too. She'll be missed but, you know she was treated well as a senior! 
SageHill Ranch Journal
- Thread starter SageHill
- Start date
Baymule
Herd Master
14 years is a long good life. 
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Sadly losing livestock is a fact of life for all of us. Long lifespan, kept great condition, and a great teaching ewe for the dogs and younger sheep made her a well loved part of the flock.
- Thread starter
- #1,004
SageHill
Herd Master
Giving the grazing another go. Once it was all brown, and we'd grazed a lot of brown the sheep were just going for a walk and not really eating much out there. Lazy bums - they wanted the easy "feed us alfalfa" route. The green that came of the 1/4 inch of fall rain had browned out and wasn't tasty. These gals will eat the brown and crunchy but only to a point. Or there's nothing left that they need nutritionally???
At any rate we had rain last week? Week before? A whopping 1/2 inch! And now there's a little greenery under the "brownery". The ground is soft (ahhh so comfy on my feet) as well. So we went out grazing this morning. The sheep were happy happy. Obi and Zo were happy. I was happy. God thank you for that rain.
The sheep would nuzzle through the brown to get to the green. They must truly need the uber-fresh green. As they'd graze an area Obi and Zo kept their "moving fence" grazing up. After a bit, God love these dogs as they would shift their "fence" moving the sheep along to another area and then stick to that area for awhile. This is something that I've noticed now for several years. The dog, or now dogs moving the sheep graze area on their own but not to the point of moving the sheep out of "graze mode" or to a "on the road home mode". I've often thought that there is something that happens with the dogs, in that they seem to know when to move the graze are so as not to let the sheep totally graze it down or destroy the new growth. The more I see this pattern happen, the more I believe that is actually what it happening. I haven't read or heard anything of that nature, but it sure seems that way to me.
On the subject of "brownery" looks like we are losing 8 or more avocado trees (there is no irrigation and no easy way to get water to them). They've not been irrigated for easily 15 years and are survivors with deep roots. That's how bad the lack of water is here right now. Add in I believe the orange trees that are along the seasonal stream are in trouble along with scattered oaks all over the ranch. Probably a lot of chainsaw time in a few months.
ZO working the head (his favorite thing)
OBI working the rear..
OBI and ZO working together -- I just love watching these two work. Together they
work the sides on the road, the head and the rear of the flock.
At any rate we had rain last week? Week before? A whopping 1/2 inch! And now there's a little greenery under the "brownery". The ground is soft (ahhh so comfy on my feet) as well. So we went out grazing this morning. The sheep were happy happy. Obi and Zo were happy. I was happy. God thank you for that rain.
The sheep would nuzzle through the brown to get to the green. They must truly need the uber-fresh green. As they'd graze an area Obi and Zo kept their "moving fence" grazing up. After a bit, God love these dogs as they would shift their "fence" moving the sheep along to another area and then stick to that area for awhile. This is something that I've noticed now for several years. The dog, or now dogs moving the sheep graze area on their own but not to the point of moving the sheep out of "graze mode" or to a "on the road home mode". I've often thought that there is something that happens with the dogs, in that they seem to know when to move the graze are so as not to let the sheep totally graze it down or destroy the new growth. The more I see this pattern happen, the more I believe that is actually what it happening. I haven't read or heard anything of that nature, but it sure seems that way to me.
On the subject of "brownery" looks like we are losing 8 or more avocado trees (there is no irrigation and no easy way to get water to them). They've not been irrigated for easily 15 years and are survivors with deep roots. That's how bad the lack of water is here right now. Add in I believe the orange trees that are along the seasonal stream are in trouble along with scattered oaks all over the ranch. Probably a lot of chainsaw time in a few months.
ZO working the head (his favorite thing)
OBI working the rear..
OBI and ZO working together -- I just love watching these two work. Together they
work the sides on the road, the head and the rear of the flock.
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Well fed sheep!! 
- Thread starter
- #1,006
SageHill
Herd Master
Thank you!!Well fed sheep!!
