Grassland management
November grazing
Monday 31 October, 2011
Because I am a bit of a control freak (possibly with a hint of OCD), I like to rotate the grazing on the first of the month. I keep a spreadsheet by month and grazing group, and mark up who was grazing where and when - so moving stock monthly makes that easier. It's also my understanding that, to reduce the worm burden, grass needs to be rested for about three weeks.
So for November, the ewes and tup are in Far Ditch Field (field names are also a "thing" of mine 
). Leo went out on Saturday 29th October - which is close enough to 1st November - and has served two ewes. Seven to go. They will stay in that field until Leo comes out.
More strimming
Thursday 20 October, 2011
The life of a smallholder is certainly varied. I was strimming on Tuesday (in addition to the routine jobs). Yesterday, we trimmed the tup's feet, dagged the ewes and move the tup (and wether) into the adjacent paddock, so that they can indulge in a little foreplay prior to Leo going in with them at the end of the month. Then I made sloe gin and a pile of sponge cakes to use up the eggs we found in the hedgerow.
Today, it's back to strimming rushes. I've now finished Top Field and chopped the few in Far Ditch paddock, then I ran out of petrol. Looks much better though. If we can eliminate the rushes by draining,cutting and grazing, we'd rather do that than spray. The drain's mad a big difference and the new fencing will help us manage the grazing better.
Strimming
Tuesday 18 October, 2011
I've been strimming this afternoon. It's been lovely here - sunny and dry, but very windy. Dan and John were finishing the fence between Ditch Field and the Bothy's garden so I got the harness on, the yellow helmet with ear defenders and visor and fired up the strimmer.
I was aiming to cut down the soft rushes in Top Field. They are quite bad this year - we didn't spray last year but we did this summer and we've had a new field drain put in, so hopefully we'll get on top of them in the next couple of years. What really prompted me though was that I took the train to Perth last weekend to meet a chum and, as the railway runs along the bottom of our holding, I saw the field from the railway. It looked awful 
. So today's task was mainly vanity, but I hope it will knock them back a bit for next year.
