Sorting out Sheepfold - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Tuesday 18 January, 2011

by Rosemary at 5:05pm in Renovation Comments closed

It's been a lovely day here - colder than yesterday - but sunny so I've been poo-picking in Sheepfold.

Sheepfold is our two acre field; it's essentially triangular, with a wall on the short, West side and fence and ditch on the north and south sides, coming to a point at the east end. The ponies are in there most of the time, in their Paddock Paradise. We tidied up the south side fence in the autumn and had some hard standing put in at the gate.

The ponies went into the five acre field at the start of January and I'm planning to move them back to Sheepfold at the start of April. I'm also planning to put my newly lambed ewes in there because it has good shelter and a nice mixed sward that should have come on by then, weather permitting.

As I picked poo along the track - during the very bad weather, we couldn't get in and the ponies were on the track and field - I had a good look at the fence on the North side and it's going to need some renovation before lambing time.

Most of the posts are in pretty good condition, but the wire is done as are many of the rails, so I will be suggesting to Dan that, while the field is empty, we should strip off the wire, replace it with stocknetting and refurbish or remove the rails.

I had a soil analysis done last year which indicated that a top dressing of lime was required to raise the pH. I didn't do anything about it then, but will add it to my list for the next few weeks. What I don't want to do is damage the existing sward, which is a mix of grasses and herbs so I'll take advice before acting.