Here's the plan for the day. I'm moving the flock from the Basin Grazing Area, where they've been for the last month, to the Racecourse Grazing Area, where I hope the forage will hold them for 3 weeks or so. Part of this area was burned in the January fire, and is not yet ready to be grazed. While in the Racecourse Grazing Area, I'll be shepherding them in the Lucerne Reserve and The Forest revegetation area along the highway. It looks like it will be fairly cold and windy, so we'll be looking for a nice sheltered spot for lunch somewhere in the Lucerne Reserve, below the brow of the hill. Thursdays are my "full day" shepherding days, and I'm looking forward to a few peaceful hours shifting sheep from an area they are pretty much "over" to one with fresh, if still rather short, feed. By the way, the planned route almost never coincides with the actual, often starting with me guessing wrong where the sheep will be when I find them.
END OF DAY NOTES: sheep were not where I was expecting, despite the wind and the downhill trajectory from yesterday. As usual, a later start than I intended, and a longer hike up to the sheep (dashed line) since I guessed wrong. Also as usual, I tend to hurry things along at the end of the day, so they came barrelling down the lucerne with help from the dogs, and seemed to be surprised to find themselves at the gate of the new grazing area when they'd been calmly resting only 45 minutes before! Otherwise, it went well. The day turned out to be quite beautiful and sunny--just right for a nap at midday!
P1: Pickup point. I guessed wrong about where the sheep would be!
P2: First gate, out of Old Cabin paddock, into Waterfall Gully.
P3: Second gate--into the lucerne.
P4: Free graze with water access in the lucerne.
P5: Grazing "with intent" before mid-day rest. They are nearly "over" lucerne and are heading for the native grass above the old fence line. This is all in the area that burned in January.
P6: Close to the end of mid-day rest. Time to make a move. The dogs and I also had naps :)
P7: Mixing it up with some grass and herbs to balance the lucerne.
P8: Third gate--out of the lucerne and into the laneway.
P9: Done shepherding for the day--flock heading into fresh forage in the Racecourse Grazing Area