Stoic Stock

Winter is strange here. At least it’s a puzzle for me. I can’t get my head around this southern hemisphere stuff and was seriously jangled to hear Xmas music at the peak of summer. Now the 4^th of July is coming up and instead of sun tan lotion and fireworks, I’ve got parkas and freezing temperatures.

But I don’t suffer alone. My stoic stock are out there right now in a vicious rain and serious wind. And I expect them to continue on their high grass diet. At that they are better off than most of the stock around here. Dan is trying to raise the soil level here so we are running very small herds of both the sheep and cattle. This cuts way down on the damage that they can do tromping around the muddy paddocks digging up divots with their hoofs.

This also means that there is more grass for them than there would be in heavier used paddocks. So our stock is still grazing off the good stuff while other farmers have already turned to hay for feed. The down side is that the grass is out in the paddocks not under the sheltering trees or in the horse stalls of the new barn. They have to get out into the weather to eat.

This they do all day long. Right now the steers are in paddock #3 which has the creek and all those willow trees so even denuded trees afford some shelter. The animals seem happy enough but I can’t figure out why they choose to spend their nap times in the gullies at the bottom of the hill. I would assume that these are massively muddy but perhaps they are more sheltered from the wind. Hobson’s Choice – wet and muddy or wind lashed and wet.

The sheep are better off. They can always go into the barn. Of course then they can’t eat but they can be dry. I have been worrying about them since they were recently shorn and all 9 ewes are supposedly pregnant. So I decided to make their shelter a bit more welcoming. After all a birthing center should be attractive.

Yesterday I took my trusty shovel and really great wheelbarrow and went to the barn for a quick clean up. No such thing when 10 sheep have been dossing down there for a week. I wouldn’t want to have to pop out my kid there (play on words alert!). Sheep have very poor personal hygiene and their residence reflects that. I started with the bigger stuff and tossed that into the paddock for the weather to deal with. The pellet poop I carefully gathered in the wheelbarrow (along with straw) and went to my raised beds. I was going to put the poop into the beds and work it in.

Unfortunately the rains came. And how! Its like some movie set for the rains of Ranjipoor or something. Too wet and too cold for me. So right now I am sitting in my snug residence and the poop sits in the garage below me. I am sure the sheep have some terse words about my personal hygiene right now