[mariegold]

Hello, we have a 3 acre field that we split into 6 half acre paddocks for our 7 sheep. Our grass is already really long so we've taken to scything half an acre at a time. Our question is, how long should we wait after scything before putting the sheep back on? Will they be ok with the cut grass or should we let it dry out over a few days/week? We'd rather not rake it off if possible. Thanks in advance for any advice 

[Fleecewife]

Why not leave one or two paddocks until they are at the point where the grass can be made into hay?  Just turn it every day in the sun, using pitchforks, then when it's crispy but still greenish and sweet smelling, stack it under cover for later use.  It takes about 4-5 days to make hay if it doesn't rain.  Seems a shame to waste all that grass and an acre is not too much to do by hand.
If you leave cut grass lying, it will shade the growing tips underneath and the cut grass itself will rot. Best not to let sheep on it as they are designed to eat short, plucked grass.  I think they might also bloat on cut grass, but we've not tried it so I don't really know.

[Anke]

We scythe (using a strimmer though with the brush cutter attachment) long grass and feed it fresh to our goats, I am sure sheep would also appreciate it, though they can get their own 24/7. It is even better to dry it for a ocuple of days (make sure it isn't stacked up tight or it will heat up), lets say loose layers in the polytunnel (to make sure it doesn't get rained on), and the goats go crazy for it! It is a good alternative for hay in the evening and/or on rainy days. (though not cut during the hay obviously).

[Justin]

Is there a limit to how long grass can be for sheep? We have a 4 acre field currently with 7 sheep on it. Some of the grass is getting pretty long but they seem to be munching the shorter stuff, just wondered if they'd eat the longer grass or if we should stop them.

We have a couple of other fields that are getting longer (10-12") and I'm concerned as to whether that's too long for sheep to safely graze. I could flail cut them which would mulch the cut grass down and put them on later.

[Fleecewife]

I think it depends on the breed of sheep.  For example the breed we keep mostly is Hebridean, a Primitive type, which are fine with eating quite long scruffy grass.  They will choose for themselves whether they take the long stuff, or rummage around nearer the ground for green leaves.  The point is though that they are pulling it for themselves, so they can take shorter sections of long grass and gradually eat the long stalks down that way.  If the grass was very long and was cut for them, then they would only get long stalks which would tangle up inside. Sheep rip their grass as they eat so if it's precut they have nothing to pull against.   Goats must be much better at chewing through stalks than sheep are.
For sheep which are being raised quickly as fat lambs for meat, the grass is most nutritious at a short length, which is why cattle are often used to bring down long grass to sheep height.  Cattle crop their grass by wrapping their tongues around the stems and pulling, which leaves shorter, nutritious blades for sheep.

To me it seems a waste of grass to cut a paddock and leave it to lie and rot on the surface.  Better to restrict access to a smaller area and make good hay for winter feeding from any pastures un-needed in the summer.

[Justin]

Thank you very much, that makes sense and puts me more at ease. These are Devon Longwool so while not an ancient breed, they're pretty hardy. They're our first sheep so it's a pretty steep learning curve at the moment.

[mariegold]

Thank you for all the replies. Very helpful 
The grass we are cutting is the longer spindly types rather than the lush green grass (does that make any sense?)
So we are not leaving big piles of lush grass but lots of whispy bits. We will probably make hay off an acre or so but just wanted to get on top of some of it now. I'm amazed that 7 sheep can't keep on top of 3 acres, but we are new to the area (Devon) and the grass kept growing even in the winter!

[SallyintNorth]

Thank you for all the replies. Very helpful 
The grass we are cutting is the longer spindly types rather than the lush green grass (does that make any sense?)
So we are not leaving big piles of lush grass but lots of whispy bits. We will probably make hay off an acre or so but just wanted to get on top of some of it now. I'm amazed that 7 sheep can't keep on top of 3 acres, but we are new to the area (Devon) and the grass kept growing even in the winter!

I'm in North Cornwall, and even my grass grew this winter.  It was an exceptionally mild one.  Now we have drought and no grass 

It probably won't take anything like 4-5 days to make hay where you are, mariegold.  It took 4-5 days where I was previously, north of Hadrian's Wall, and Fleecewife is further north still, but here in North Cornwall last year our grass was too dry to turn on the second day but not dry enough to make hay so we had no choice but to wrap it for haylage.  If we'd left it another day, or tried to turn it one more time, it would just have turned to dust.  I finally understood why the farmers who had moved up to Hadrian's Wall from Yorkshire didn't work their grass and expected it to be hay!  Up there, unless you work it a minimum of three times, it's never going to be dry enough for hay, and you still want a very sunny day for baling to make bales which aren't "a bit sharp".  I now know that down here, unless you have a really thick, luscious crop and a bit of cloud, you can't work the crop more than once and maybe not even that!

From which you will conclude, correctly, that

it's a pretty steep learning curve at the moment.

that never changes

[SallyintNorth]

Thank you for all the replies. Very helpful 
The grass we are cutting is the longer spindly types rather than the lush green grass (does that make any sense?)
So we are not leaving big piles of lush grass but lots of whispy bits. We will probably make hay off an acre or so but just wanted to get on top of some of it now. I'm amazed that 7 sheep can't keep on top of 3 acres, but we are new to the area (Devon) and the grass kept growing even in the winter!

7 sheep without lambs will probably only need an acre or so of Devon grass in late spring / early summer.  My exposed 4.2 acre field suits 22 moderate-sized sheep in a usual summer (less if there are lambs with them of course), but 8 adult sheep is plenty for the same field in most winters.  Mind, we are particularly wet where we are, and on clay, so that impacts the winter stocking levels massively.

There are just soooo many factors!     People who don't farm have no idea how much thinking, planning, and replanning is involved in even a fairly small operation.

[twizzel]

I’ve got 13 lactating ewes, 10 shearlings and 34 lambs on just shy of 4 acres    obviously in winter this would not suffice but during summer on a lowland farm stocking density can be high especially if you rotate the grazing (the field mine are grazing is cut in half, they graze for 7 days and rest for 7).

[mariegold]

Right! I think I need more sheep

[twizzel]

It’s more what your land can carry over winter. You can always top the grass or cut for hay (if you’ve got a friendly farmer close by) but there’s no point having more sheep if you’re overstocked in winter. I’m lucky and once the cows have gone in for winter have about 60 acres to graze along with some off ground at a neighbours.

[SallyintNorth]

It’s more what your land can carry over winter. You can always top the grass or cut for hay (if you’ve got a friendly farmer close by) but there’s no point having more sheep if you’re overstocked in winter.

What twiz said   You set your permanent / breeding stocking by what you can carry over winter - and the winter we have just had was nothing like typical, be warned. 

If haymaking isn't the answer for you, you can always get a few store sheep or even calves for a few weeks or months in the summer, either your own or on keep, or if you plan to breed your sheep then of course you will have at least twice and in general nearly 3 times the number in summer that you do in winter

Can't recall if you told us what type of sheep?  If they are ones that need two summers to fatten and fitten, then you also have to think about the yearlings over winter once you start breeding. 

If you're not planning to breed the sheep then you will need to have a plan for the summer grass.

[Buttermilk]

The trouble with bringing in other sheep is the risk of bringing in disease or resistant worms.