4 years of catching up to do

Ok, so I'm regretting that I didn't start this blog 4 years ago. At Preston's encouraging, I started a diary of sorts in a Word doc, but that only lasted about 6 weeks. I really enjoyed going back and reading the happenings back then, so I know what I write now I will treasure later, so here goes ... A day in the life of a shepherd on Quiet Thyme Farm.

You can see more of our farm at www.QuietThymeFarm.com

So here is life on the farm from the eyes of the shepherd, the wife, the mom...

My older son, Ben graduated from high school June 6th. I told him if he didn't have a job when school got out, he would have to help me with projects on the farm and the pay was going to be room and board.

So, I'm excited to say he doesn't have a job (shame on me!). So he has been helping me put up more fencing to make my shepherding easier, my sheep healthier and the grass mowed by sheep and not people.

One of my projects is to subdivide the ram pasture into quads. The total area is about 235' x 275'. Last year, they grazed the area down early in the summer, then we had a long drought that began mid-July. So the grass never had a chance to recover. In addition, without rotation, they battled parasites all summer long.

Their shelter is in the center of the pasture and each line of fence will end near the shelter. I'll block 3 entrances with cattle panels and allow them access to the one remaining. Then I'll rotate them every 2-3 weeks depending on how the grass is growing. It will make it easy and safe for me to go in and fill their minerals and rotate them. After they rotate out of a pasture, I'll be able to mow it to clear out anything they didn't eat. I can also spray the fence lines they won't be near with RoundUp to keep the fence lines clean.



So back to the job at hand. We started Monday, but actually began in the lower pasture where the ewes and lambs are right now. There is a shelter there that will be used for 2 of the lower pastures (7 & 8 - see map). We needed to move them to pasture 7, but had to put up an interior line of fence to give them access to pasture 7 and the shelter, but block them from pasture 8. So Ben and I marked posts by stretching a string where the fence would go and then marking about every 12' for a metal T-post. Then Ben began putting the posts in the a post. For some reason, he didn't wear gloves and had blisters by the time he was done.

Preston came home and helped us put up the fence. He taught Ben how to tie the fence to the stretcher, attach the ratchets to the stretcher and the tractor and ratchet the fence upright against the posts. Meanwhile, I am tying off the other end. We stretch the fence, then I tie it with the T-post clips and Preston & Ben tie off the other end.

We moved the girls easily. With sheep, you just open a gate and the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, so they run eagerly.

With the heat this week, Ben and I decided to get up early... ok, I decided to get up early. Ben wasn't excited, but it was better to work from 6:30-10:30am before it got too hot. So far, we have finished 3 of the 4 lines of fence and moved the rams into Quad B (see map).

I posted a map of the farm layout. This represents about 12 acres of our 30 acre property. The hay field is another 12 acres to the back. The two front pastures are divided by the creek and run the full 600 foot width of our property (less the driveway). These are not shown on the map.

Tomorrow, we will get up at 6am again to finish the ram pasture.