Kidding is done, on to grazing!

Kidding season is no doubt one of the busiest times of our year here at Sunny Acres, and leaves little or no time for blogging, even though it does give us plenty of things to talk about!  But now most of the kids have been weaned, and we're into the second busiest time.....rotational grazing season!

Rotational grazing is beneficial for both the goats, for parasite management and growth, and for the land, as it helps replenish the soil nutrients and promotes regrowth of the pastures.  However, it does entail many trips across the fields, setting up, taking down, moving the temporary electric fences we mostly rely on.  In a perfect farm world, we'd have permanent boundary fences on all the pastures, and would only need to set up cross fences for each day's paddocks.  But time and money come into play, and so, we manage with what we're able to do!  The photos below show the goats in a new paddock, and you can see the edge of the paddock from the day before.  It is ideal to move the goats daily, which leaves lots of trampled residue, protecting the soil from the heat of the sun, and adding organic matter to the soil surface.  This organic matter feeds the soil's micro-flora and earthworms, which in turn bring nutrients up to the roots of the plants.

One of the challenges of rotational grazing is deciding which pasture is the best feed for which herd (does with kids? weaned kids? breeding bucks?) and then moving each herd through that pasture.  The cold spring here had a drastic impact on some of the types of forage we have available, so we find ourselves moving the herds through the pastures in a different sequence from other years.  However, the goats are happy to go wherever the shepherd takes them, and fill their bellies until they return to the secure paddock just before dark each day.  Most of our pastures offer little shelter in the way of brush or trees, necessitating the return to the pole barn shelter at night.  Soon the dry does will be moved to the hedge rows between the mowed hay fields, and will stay out day and night, sheltering under the trees. 

And, when it rains too often, or there just isn't time to mow the lawn, the goats are happy to do it for us, as seen below!   Too bad they can't be trusted not to eat the lilacs and other intentional plantings around the yard, or I'd keep some on around the yard every day!