Monday 12th December 2016
Woodchip and cows on the move!
The first load of woodchip arrived yesterday afternoon and we are now beyond excited as our 'winter proofing' really starts to take shape.
First things first: we put loads all the way around the field shelter in the 4-acre field including the water trough (in anticipation of Dexter hooves) and then we opened up the bottom gate to let the cows in. At first they stood somewhat bewildered as Jack rolled their hay-laden trolley up towards the gate and out of site, but with a little bit of encouragement they then followed to see what was occurring. At the last leg, they fairly galloped through the gateway! Sage and her calf did not even look at the hay trolley, but got their noses down and began eating grass. And lo and behold, at tea-time, there was even a little bit of hay left: unheard of back in the 3-acre!
It was so nice to see the cows having a good wander round their 'old' field and even nicer not to see them getting muddy feet. The bottom 3-acre is definitely poached near the top (the location of the shelter) but actually most of it is okay, albeit much wetter than the 4-acre. It will now be left till the spring when we will get it rolled and then watch to see it return to its former glory (hopefully).
The woodchip round the shelter seemed to work as both cows and sheep came to sniff and investigate and then, realising it was not food, wandered off again. The good news was that we did not get masses of muddy footprints!!
We have also begun to put woodchip in the area outside the barn, although not heavy with animal traffic (the goats just twice a day usually), it is an area that WE use all the time. We have flagstone paths in place and the hope is that the woodchip will now help the flags to stay in place and stop the mud oozing up, as well as make it easier to get the quad and trailer in and out of the lean-to!
As further loads arrive in the next week, our next plans are to make the 'woodchip goat path' and get the area in the Collecting paddock woodchipped so we can have the cows contained. Although it would be great to keep them in the 4-acre till the spring, this is possibly not realistic.
All these woodchipped areas won't last forever but that is fine: at the moment we don't want to use concrete or any kind of hardcore because until we have been through a full year here at Cadbury, we feel we should not commit to 'permanent' solutions like these. The woodchip will eventually mulch down, grass will eventually grow back through it and it may be that next winter we will simply add more as and when we need it. We do like the 'natural' element to using woodchip, concrete et al is not exactly pretty!!!
So, a very satisfying day, albeit one that has left us both aching somewhat (we also took delivery of 42 bales of straw and then because we had to wheel it up from the drive, our next hour was spent sweeping up all the bits we dropped…). No need for any kind of gym membership when you run a smallholding!!
First things first: we put loads all the way around the field shelter in the 4-acre field including the water trough (in anticipation of Dexter hooves) and then we opened up the bottom gate to let the cows in. At first they stood somewhat bewildered as Jack rolled their hay-laden trolley up towards the gate and out of site, but with a little bit of encouragement they then followed to see what was occurring. At the last leg, they fairly galloped through the gateway! Sage and her calf did not even look at the hay trolley, but got their noses down and began eating grass. And lo and behold, at tea-time, there was even a little bit of hay left: unheard of back in the 3-acre!
The woodchip round the shelter seemed to work as both cows and sheep came to sniff and investigate and then, realising it was not food, wandered off again. The good news was that we did not get masses of muddy footprints!!
We have also begun to put woodchip in the area outside the barn, although not heavy with animal traffic (the goats just twice a day usually), it is an area that WE use all the time. We have flagstone paths in place and the hope is that the woodchip will now help the flags to stay in place and stop the mud oozing up, as well as make it easier to get the quad and trailer in and out of the lean-to!
As further loads arrive in the next week, our next plans are to make the 'woodchip goat path' and get the area in the Collecting paddock woodchipped so we can have the cows contained. Although it would be great to keep them in the 4-acre till the spring, this is possibly not realistic.
All these woodchipped areas won't last forever but that is fine: at the moment we don't want to use concrete or any kind of hardcore because until we have been through a full year here at Cadbury, we feel we should not commit to 'permanent' solutions like these. The woodchip will eventually mulch down, grass will eventually grow back through it and it may be that next winter we will simply add more as and when we need it. We do like the 'natural' element to using woodchip, concrete et al is not exactly pretty!!!
So, a very satisfying day, albeit one that has left us both aching somewhat (we also took delivery of 42 bales of straw and then because we had to wheel it up from the drive, our next hour was spent sweeping up all the bits we dropped…). No need for any kind of gym membership when you run a smallholding!!