The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Bramham Wiltshire Horns on March 11, 2019, 01:55:06 pm
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basically wheer i am lambing in a large polytunnel the areain the small paddock 10m x 10 is getting a little boggy
once finished lambing i am thinking of ewesing (see what i did there) that area as abit of a natural medicine cabinet
what sort of plant are goodfor sheep to help with any ailments
something they can go in for a few days and then back out in the main field
thanks
in advance
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Sounds like what you want is a really mixed pasture of herbs. The specifics depend on your soil type and what you think you need - but I'm a fan of the Cotswold Seeds website for lots of info on different leys
Any chance of a willow hedge too? That always seems popular.
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The plant I would recommend is Comfrey, the Bocking 14 cultivar. You can buy root cuttings from the Garden Organic catalogue. The plants rapidly grow and can be divided and grown on to get many more plants. I wouldn't use them in your 10x10 area though as they would swamp everything else - they grow up to a metre tall. We have dotted plants around the fences, just on the other side, close to the fence. This way the sheep can graze the top growth as it peeps through the fence, but not destroy the roots.
Comfrey is an all round healthy plant, for people as well as sheep, and brings up minerals from deep down with its long roots. It really needs to be grazed directly from the plant rather than picked and fed, as it wilts rapidly and is then not palatable.
I agree about a willow hedge. When the plants are larger and need to be cut back, whole branches can be laid in the pastures and the sheep will strip the bark and any leaves, getting to wonderful minerals and vitamins under the bark. Willow is a wonderful winter tonic, and provides interest when feeding hay.
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excellent thanks for the advice
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Would these plants also suit goats?
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Goats would knock you over for a willow branch :D .
Been reading up about comfrey, as I have some.
Apparently common comfrey is better for them than bocking 14, something about alkaloids I think.
Now to find out which I have ??? .
Also I am in a dilemma whether to cut it for them, as the bees love the flowers :)
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Apparently in Australia they grow small fields of chicory, which is a natural wormer.(For goats as well!) When they want to worm the sheep they drive them onto these fields. The sheep are quite happy about this as they like chicory for a change. (Well wouldn't you after months of eating grass?) So effortless, stressless worming. :thumbsup: I think it's grown with grass in with it, so it's not a complete change of diet.
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A friend had some chicory in a herbal mix on part of her field. Within five years the chicory had taken over. Her mistake was in letting it flower and seed.
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A friend had some chicory in a herbal mix on part of her field. Within five years the chicory had taken over. Her mistake was in letting it flower and seed.
Wish mine had! The animals liked it so much they virtually ate it out. It certainly never got a chance to go to seed.
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Apparently common comfrey is better for them than bocking 14, something about alkaloids I think.
Now to find out which I have ??? .
Also I am in a dilemma whether to cut it for them, as the bees love the flowers :)
If you have a comfrey patch which is reasonably well-behaved, you have Bocking 14.
if you have other than Bocking 14, it is all over the holding, and you wouldn’t be worried about cutting some for the goats as there would still be tttttooooonnnnneeessss for the bees :D
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I did not know that you could get well behaved comfrey.
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Other comfrey types set seed, Bocking 14 doesn't, but does spread by the tiniest root cuttings. I have it intermingled in my cultivated bramble patch and it's certainly a pest there, also it pops up all over the place in the tunnel where I've used it as a mulch or dug into tomato planting holes. B14 tends to be thicker and juicier than self seeded types, and produces more bulk. For the bees, cut it in rotation, so there are always some flowers and some regrowing plants. It can become very straggly if left uncut, once the flowers go over. Any part except the roots can go on the compost heap, and roots can go into the liquid comfrey tea barrel.
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Sounds like I have Bocking 14, must try and get a common variety . Thinking the roots will hold a steep slope (about 20+ ft high) that keeps sliding down into beck, bonus of flowers for bees :bee: .
And then I can have some for goaties ;D