Soggy Pastures
June 11th, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in farming, Weather
Rain pouring off the roof, looking east
When I first arrived here in May, all the talk was about how dry a spring this was. Well, things have certainly changed. Lately, it seems it won’t stop raining and I don’t think there’s a drearier task than having to move the sheep into a new pasture when it’s raining.
Why would I do such a thing? Well, when the last electrical storm passed through here it knocked out the device that charges my electrical fence. At the feed store where the charger was purchased, they saw signs of arching inside the charger, but couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong with it. So back to the factory it went for repairs. Meanwhile, the loaner charger they gave me stopped working after about two days. So the sheep have been grazing inside their portable fencing without any electricity to zap them if they get too close.
That seemed to work fine until this morning, when some of the sheep decided they’d had enough picking around for leaves on the tall grass in the paddock they’d been grazing the last few days and started reaching for the juicier looking greenery on the other side of the fence. They were getting their heads caught in the netting. So off I went for my scythe to make paths through the grass for the fencing. It only takes about an hour to cut the grass and move the fences. I only wish there were someone else here to take a photo of me hard at it and soaking wet.
At least the sheep are happier now. They don’t seem to care if it rains or not.
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