Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

@Mini Horses I am broadcasting the seed. I have the grass cut down to around 4-5" and my spreader can carry 100 pounds of seed at a time. After spreading the seed I'll run a landscape rake to get some of the seed in ground contact and then drag it with a weighted fence panel to get more seed down to the ground. That worked pretty good for us on the one field we did last year where the grass wasn't real thick.

All that and then and hope for rain.

 

[Mini Horses]

OK -- that's a method. Tried to broadcast one year and noticed what seemed like 1,000 birds sitting on a power line running close by. Yep, they swooped in!

But I do have a weighted fence I use to drag and that might get it down enough. I would actually hook it behind while spreading.

 

[Bruce]

Tried to broadcast one year and noticed what seemed like 1,000 birds sitting on a power line running close by. Yep, they swooped in!

You mean like when I seeded a small patch of my yard that had been covered with wood? Except the birds that swooped in looked just like my chickens. Had to put up a cheesy bit of chicken wire to keep them out until the grass came up.

All that and then and hope for rain.

I hope you have better luck with that than I have!

 

[Mike CHS]

I hope you have better luck with that than I have!

We didn't have any rain for a couple of weeks after I seeded last year but we are at an elevation that low clouds are on the ground most nights so it's like a constant light rain.

I'll let Thor in while I'm doing it and he chases everything. I think that boy must run several miles a day.

 

[greybeard]

@Mini Horses I am broadcasting the seed. I have the grass cut down to around 4-5" and my spreader can carry 100 pounds of seed at a time. After spreading the seed I'll run a landscape rake to get some of the seed in ground contact and then drag it with a weighted fence panel to get more seed down to the ground. That worked pretty good for us on the one field we did last year where the grass wasn't real thick.

All that and then and hope for rain.

A roller or or corrugated compactor will improve your yield by increasing the # of ryegrass seeds in contact with the soil.

 

[Mike CHS]

If I had a compactor or a roller I would use them but since I don't I'll use what I have.

 

[Baymule]

What about a harrow? Would that help?

 

[Mike CHS]

@Baymule - that's basically what I'm doing with the panel.

It looks like we are going to be culling one of our black lambs. We did fecals on all of the ewe lambs bout a month ago and wormed the three that had some (but not bad) worm load. We have since ran a fecal on the black ewe lamb twice after trying both Cydectin and Prohibit. Ran a fecal again this morning and she is still carrying a fairly heavy load so went to our vet and picked up some Valbazen and will give her a double dose for the next three days to see what that does. We have retested two and took one fecal sample to have the vet confirm our readings (which he did) so it's just this girl that has some impaired immune issues. We will test again in a week or so to see what her load is but either way she is on her way off the farm. We took another sample that Teresa had worked up and did not find anything which the vet confirmed also so we are on the right track.

I really like this vet. He was busy but still took the time to sit and talk with us about how we are doing the samples and made a couple of suggestions to make it easier. He says that he loves to spend the time helping folks that are trying to help themselves.

 

[Baymule]

A good vet is a blessing. Ours is a young guy that bought out an existing practice when the previous vet retired. He isn't all that on sheep, but he is willing to learn and has compassion for the animals he treats.

You are doing the right thing. If a sheep is going to always be a little off, not as healthy as the others and be more susceptible to worms, why would you want to breed that into your flock? It can be hard to make the cuts, but it is the smart thing to do.

 

[Bruce]

Sorry you may have to lose her but you are doing the right thing, nothing like weakening a herd by keeping low resistance animals.