Although it isn't massively obvious from the photo, the top 3-acre field is full of reeds (they are the darker patches) and so today we had both the top and bottom 3-acre paddocks sprayed to kill them! It's one of the few times we have to resort to chemically treating the land. We could cut the reeds back but we would need to keep doing it several times over a season and for several years. Spraying them with weed killer (or getting a chap in to do it for us) is a lot quicker and more effective, although again, must be done for a few years for maximum effect!! The animals now have to stay off this field for another two weeks by which time the 4-acre will be well and truly grazed down and the 3-acres more than full of grass for them. It will be lovely to have them all back in these fields so we can see them from the house.
And in Onion news: well, if we thought yesterday was an upturn, today has been remarkable. She has eaten masses of grass nuts and alfalfa (the first day we have tried her on these), lots of browsings and her poo is really getting back to normal (ish). It is all utterly incredible. We spoke to Rachel at Market Vets and agreed she no longer needs any drenching and now it is simply a matter of getting her to put weight back on and really get her rumen back up to 100% efficiency.
We also are going to start letting her back outside and hope that she returns to browsing for herself!! Her kids will be pleased although we will still probably separate at night so they don’t fully go back to suckling her. They are quite used to the bottle now - well, the little one isn't but we know he is stealing from the other mums...- cheeky monkey!!