The end of the grass

We started our final rotation on the lower pasture today. The grass is only 4 to 6 inches in most places. That means we will have a 20 day rotation rather than a 35 day rotation. We will still have a few places around the farm where we can graze, but probably not more than a weeks worth. I'm negotiating with a neighbor for grazing privileges on some of her property. It's pretty wooded and over grown, so I don't know how much time that will give me if she agrees. All in all it looks like we will be feeding hay about a month earlier this winter than we did last winter. Irrigation might have helped a bit, or getting rid of some of our stock, but we weren't set up for the first and couldn't bring ourselves to do the latter. That is one of the differences between a micro-farm with a few animals and a larger farm with larger herds. On the micro-farm you know each of your animals, have named them, and are emotionally bonded with them. It is hard to get rid of them for economic reasons, even though that is what would make the best sense. On a big farm, they are just one of the herd, a number, and you can cut and cull where and when needed without feeling a great emotional loss. We'll get through this, but if I was being true to my philosophy, I would have cut my herd by half rather than importing feed. It may come to that, but we will try one more year to get things in shape here.

Wellington's catching up with the 'big boys'
Happy Goats
Wellington and May

I don't expect we will have significantly more grass growth this year. We had our first frost yesterday, and things aren't really warming up all that much. That usually slows things down a lot.

On the home front, we had to start the wood stove yesterday. It was just too cold in the house. Even after the sun came out it didn't warm up. M has offered us some of the trees on her property that were blown down by the last storm. Putting a bit of extra wood by is probably a good idea.

The Mouse Wars continue at a low level. This morning I sat down at the computer to check my email. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, turned to look and there was a mouse sniffing my foot. There was a time when my reaction time was fast enough that I could have squished him with my shoe, but not today. So, I'm living with a trap under the desk. Makes you careful where you put you feet.