Are We There Yet?
October 10th, 2015 · No Comments · Posted in farming
In a lot of ways, October is the toughest month for us here on Spy Dog Farm. The pastures have been fairly eaten down, but it’s not hay season yet. The boy goat is still separated from the girl goats, the boy sheep from the girl sheep. Hormones are raging, but we still have three weeks till breeding season begins at the beginning of November.
Do livestock get bored? We watch them day after day, roaming the fields in their search for the tastiest grasses and legumes. We maintain, keeping their water troughs full, their mineral supplements easily accessible. At this point, the pastures are still green, but with days growing shorter, and sun sinking lower in the southern sky, nothing is growing much to replenish what’s been eates. The leaves are rapidly turning their flamboyant fall colors, skittering away in the breeze as they shed from the trees.
I count the days, hoping the pastures can sustain our flocks (and cows) into November, maybe even into December before they are covered in snow. Each day that passes with animals foraging, we don’t spend money on hay.
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