Today we had rain, it was most welcome as we have been incredibly dry for much of April but also pretty cold, and as such the grass has not really grown as well as we would have liked. The top 3-acre field has had the sheep, goats and alpacas grazing in it for well over a month and with the lack of earnest growth, now needs a jolly good rest.
And so it was that yesterday we opened the gate to the bottom 3-acre and, to the cows’ disgust (who have had it to themselves), allowed all the sheep and alpacas to run on in - which they did, with great enthusiasm. The grass here is still really good and we hope (fingers crossed) will support all three sets of animals for a good week or two. As this is our first spring we are still learning how to manage the land and what we can expect from it but of course no year will ever be exactly the same as the one before. And whatever works this year may not work in the next!! Nonetheless, year-on-year patterns will emerge and by keeping careful notes and learning from them, we can hopefully maximize our grazing potential.
Already we know that next year we want to lamb a little later so that the top 3-acre field will potentially be drier and the grass growing better before we turn out the sheep. Similarly we need to ‘shut up’ the bottom 3-acre a little earlier as in places it got a little too poached by the cows and so is a little uneven. Both these have implications for the 4-acre field though in that, as our ‘winter’ field, it will need to have the animals on it earlier and off it later. To this end we have plans to put up another field shelter, use electric fencing to split it in two and so give each half a bit of resting time…
Such is the delight of running a smallholder: dealing with the daily dramas (today’s was missing ducklings!!!) whilst also looking ahead to the following year. It is very rare ever to be able to sit back and think how wonderfully sorted everything is!! We do love a challenge!!!!