The sheep are thoroughly enjoying being fed in the pasture!
It's been a week since I posted about feeding the sheep out on pasture despite the snow on the ground -- And now I have some exciting discoveries to share.
Thanks to @idyllwild for sharing some of her excellent photos for this post!
One of the most interesting things I learned is that the sheep are hardly drinking any water at all! Now that they are busy rummaging through the snow for little bits of alfalfa that they missed they are consuming large amounts of snow and quenching their thirst that way.
Normally I would refill their water twice a day. Now they hardly touch their water and it can go several days without needing to be refilled. This is seriously reducing the load on daily chores.
Yesterday I made another important discovery. As I was walking down to feed the sheep I saw a lot of green and thought the sheep weren't finishing up all of their alfalfa and maybe I'll need to cut down on the feed a bit.
But then I looked closer and realized what I was seeing was green grass not alfalfa!
Where the sheep had trodden and nibbled their alfalfa the snow was significantly mashed, some melted, some eaten. We had a span of time with no snow and some warmer days.
The rest of the field had no exposed grass, but here there was. As you can see the snow in the surrounding areas is at least 6 inches high.
In the sheep's paths I thought they had trodden down to mud. But as I looked closer it was manure mashed into the grass... perfect for fertility!
Well today there was some more snow and colder conditions froze the ground so the sheep didn't have immediate access to the grass anymore. But anytime there is some melting condition it will probably be revealed again. If not again before spring, at least come spring they will have earlier access to grass in these places.
The area they are being fed is moving outward day after day. The sheep are thoroughly enjoying it.. I think it is much more natural than standing around the barn day in day out.
And I think the pasture will see some improvement for it as well. I will continue rotating the hay around the field!
