The alpacas, sheep and cows still spend quite a lot of their days grazing. The grass may be short and somewhat devoid of sugars and other nutrients but it is still able to provide some goodness and of course it keeps the animals occupied. This time last year when we were still at Lamorna, all our livestock would have been housed with very little opportunity to go outside. They would have had access to lots of hay and water but how we longed to be able to give them time in the fresh air to stretch their legs and have a good wander.
We housed our animals because our land would have become totally trashed if we left them out, resulting in no grass for the spring. Even smallholders with a lot more land than us will still house some stock inside over the winter. It is usually done to protect the land but sometimes to protect the animals themselves if the weather is especially vile. As our numbers are low and we have some fabulous field shelters, our plan is to have our livestock outside as much as possible. We actually could not put everything in the barn even if we wanted to.
As long as there is escape from the wind and the rain and access to hay; sheep, goats, cows and alpacas should be able to stay outside all year round here at Cadbury. If it becomes very wet again and stays wet and the mud starts to take over, we have the option of shutting the animals inside the field shelters too. We are keeping our fingers crossed for cold and dry: nothing beats seeing grazing stock in the middle of your fields on a fine, dry winter’s day!!!