Dear Curiosity Journal,
Between being cooped up for breeding season and being on a diet of dried-up forage, the ewes have a gate-busting combination of cabin fever and spring fever. They seem to interpret Rameo’s absence as their natural transition back to free grazing. My dad took care of the animal chores while we were at the Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference and reported being rushed at the gate and having to finagle water buckets while also leg-blocking a mass exodus, narrowly averting “mayhem”. I know it’s too early for them to be back on pasture, as the grass is barely bouncing back and needs time to regrow before being mobbed by munching ruminants. However, I’m a straight-up sucker for Betty “hoofing the gate” and her twin babies’ beseeching baahs, so I set them loose for a little while, grinning like a mom watching her kids run screaming toward a swing set. I don’t know why, but watching their happy animal mannerisms, kicking up their hooves and shaking their heads, just gives me an elevating dose of dopamine. It’s time to get my rotational grazing and pasture management plan together so I have a strategy for keeping the flock on fresh grass as much as possible.
~Joy
