Things didn’t quite go as planned this year, I had done all that work last year on a cow pasture, but then my sheep went and had way to many little ones this year (that flushing worked well) and so I ended up wanting to use that pasture as well for them as the cows, so I always kept the cows on half pasture and half hay, they graze during the day, get fresh air, sunshine, rub on trees, nibble on the tree’s and get to be cows, but in the evening, they get put back with their ration and a feeder full of good hay, we switched from winter hay to first cut hay back in end of may.
Having said that, the sheep being sheep, would not touch the bale I had out, they were after pasture only, but now its july and our pasture is not holding at all, typically my sheep are on pasture only from spring till late fall, I don’t normally have to start giving hay till sept/oct, sometimes they barely touch it till nov..
This year is different, parts of the pasture is being locked down for slow growth and recovery time and to keep everyone off it, which leaves them with fewer pastures, that are already done and so we are now into them eating hay, regardless of how they feel about it!
The last rain was good but I will need alot more then that if I want to have my pastures come back for a second flush of growth.
How is it in your neck of the woods?
Just another Day on the Farm 
We have had plenty of rain here lately and temperatures are a little lower than normal, but getting back to being sunny again now. My difficulty this year is a worrying lack of pollinators in evidence. Tomatoes and zucchinis are producing plenty of flowers which arent setting, I think I am going to have to try to find time to hand pollinate as much as I can. Even the bee balm is free of insects. Totally different to last year and very concerning.
Glad to hear you have the rain and the temps but yes, you do need the pollinators, hand doing it will help but wonder why so few this year, can’t say that is a issue here at all, the farm is full to bursting with little critters of all kinds, no baby praying mantra’s yet, but should be seeing them soon I hope.. Keep us posted on how it goes and if you see an increase later in the season or not..
Wish I could send some rain your way!
Was thinking of you when I heard that the saskatoons are huge, and the bushes are loaded at my dad’s place, but no one is picking them.. sigh,, wish I was closer, understand that his place got over 3 inches of rain in an hour and that it was a real gully washer..
Drought is a serious issue around the country right now. I hope you get some more rain to revive the pasture. Hard to think of feeding out hay in summer! Let’s all do a raindance eh?
*anna
I know, I get a little frown lines each time I look at those hay bales 🙂 I’m game for a little rain dance..
I didn’t realize sheep were such picky eaters! It is dry here but also unseasonably cool. We are having very strange weather overall. Still hoping to get some produce from the garden.
The sheep will always choose to eat fresh over dried if given a choice but in terms of what they will eat in the pasture, they are not very picky, there are few things they don’t like as much but overall all, they are much less picky then cows/horses or even my goats to a point..
Cool, now that is one that I have not heard before, there is still lots of time yet for all of us to get some produce from the gardens, and I don’t know about you but I will be using every season extending trick I know to help in that regards..
We have not gotten any animals for our little farm (past cats and dogs) so I have a lot to learn about them…obviously!
We have had some hot days…up into the 90s…but overall it’s been cool and windy. My squash and peas are thriving but my peppers and tomatoes are looking sad. I guess I need to read up on season extending tricks!
I really like this new canadian book called the Year Round Vegetable gardener by Niki Jabbour, I will be doing a full write up on book in review on this one, but I LOVE it, she not only goes over the different things to build or work with but she goes into detail on how each different veggie should or could be done, including different choices of the same produce, what names to look for etc. I would highly recommend it!
Wow! Just one more thing to add to the list of bizarre crap happening this year, hey?
No pasture here and I haven’t been to the farm this week, so not sure. But I can tell you that even in the normal 4-5 weeks of drought we’ve gotten used to in years past, we’d still have the natural stuff in bloom – a miniature garden of White Sweet, White Dutch & Red Clovers, Blue Burr, Trefoil, Queen Anne’s Lace, Black-Eyed Susans, Ox Eye Daisies, Chicory…
But this year the “grass” (defined here as anything that stays green) has been dormant for weeks and, in spite of getting an inch of rain on Monday, right now there’s only a few Queen Anne’s Lace and Mullien seed-heads poking up… But wait! After staring out there, searching for signs of life, I think maybe, just maybe there’s a hint of green in the lawn and now I see a Robin preening while he waits at the garden’s shady edge and a Flycatcher perched high up on the Birch clump between forays out over the lawn All good signs, but still praying for that rain tonight.
YAHOO! Thanks for that rain dance Girls!! 😀 Lovely, (mostly) gentle, life-giving rain: falling, falling…
ordinarily we don’t feed in summer, but I saw dh hauling a bale out to pasture a couple of weeks ago, so we are having to supplement. we’ve had some rain and life is returning to the fields somewhat, but it’s still short and dominated by scrubby things. makes me think we should have goats, at least they would have something to eat! but our fencing is all wrong for that…