Monday 18th September 2017
A bit of dry but,, the poaching has begun!
We have now had two days more or less without rain and it has been bliss!!! The land is still very wet but nonetheless, the dry and the sunshine have really lifted spirits and the goats in particular have really reacted well, to the point where at breakfast this morning, they were nowhere to be seen, having already headed out into the field to graze and browse.
Despite all this, we are aware that the grass growth is slowing and more importantly, the 'quality' of the grass is deteriorating as the levels of sugars and minerals lessen. Now, animals vote with their feet and despite the fact there is a 'metaphorical' sign on this hayrack that says: 'Alpacas only', the sheep have been rather helping themselves recently.
We've succumbed and started giving the cows some too, although they demolish it very quickly and would get through a couple of bales a day if we let them. The other issue with giving them hay is that the hay trolley ends up with a circle of trampled ground all the way around it. The bottom 3-acre field where the cows are, is in fact, quite poached in places already... and to think that this time last year we were dry. In fact our blog for 1st October last year talks about our ‘first’ mud – blimey, we have had mud most of the summer this year, on and off...
We've succumbed and started giving the cows some too, although they demolish it very quickly and would get through a couple of bales a day if we let them. The other issue with giving them hay is that the hay trolley ends up with a circle of trampled ground all the way around it. The bottom 3-acre field where the cows are, is in fact, quite poached in places already... and to think that this time last year we were dry. In fact our blog for 1st October last year talks about our ‘first’ mud – blimey, we have had mud most of the summer this year, on and off...