A baby step

8:23 PM, Friday, 5 February 2010
Temperature: 42F, calm and dry

One job done, plenty more to go. The enclosure containing the ewes and waterfowl has been expanded to offer them some fresh pasture. This is a good thing - it feeds sheep, it clears pasture, and it reduces some of the pressures of cohabitation for the animals.

The new pasture suits them all - the geese and sheep eat it, while the ducks both crop the pasture and hunt for exciting new bugs to eat.

Everything has been fed and watered, at least enough to survive the night. The ewes still want to eat the bird food, which is an annoyance, but it can be controlled by standing around, waving the sheep off while the birds get some. To make up for it, the birds were also fed half a loaf of bread. They're far too fast at gobbling it up for the sheep to get much.

We are running low on hay, so this weekend might be the right time, between all the other chores, for a hay run. The truck can easily carry four bales lain flat in the bed. We might as well go for eight, and use a bit of rope to tie them down so that they don't fly off.

We don't have a hayloft, but we have a scheme that works nearly as well. We put old wooden pallets on the ground, put the hay on those (so that they don't get wet from the bottom up) and then pin down a tarp over them. The hay stays dry and ventilated, at least long enough for us to use it before it goes bad.

When Spring really arrives, we will be able to pretty much ignore hay, except for special needs. The grass around here grows so fast one can practically hear it. Add to that our mix of seeds for cover crops, and the grazing animals will be very well fed. Some green manure to keep the soil rich, and all should be well.

Ultimately the waterfowl may well be let wander fairly freely. The only reason this might not happen is that we don't really want them inhabiting the porch. We can't keep them entirely confined, but the real reason for putting them behind electric fencing has more to do with predators than with pinning them down. We need to make nesting arrangements for them, but what form that will take remains to be seen.