Hi Bruce,"then" was 2008,this was the beginning of the change in the way we manage the whole farm."Now" was this week in spite of the "current dry",but after 3 weeks from the snow..
Thank you Bruce,the farm will never return to the bad old days because we now have the knowledge and insights to prevent it from occurring.
At present we are running 1 breeder to 2 acs where as our max is 1 breeder to 1 ac and because of this light stocking we can conserve feed to use in the warmer months if we don't get enough rain in the meantime.Our biggest concern at the minute is the amount of stock-water we have on hand because if we do not get "run-off" rain between now and Xmas we will be faced with an early "turn-off" of stock in Jan/Feb rather than our preferred time of Apr/May for Ramadan...T.O.R.
We have finally got rain, we got practically nothing all summer and it was dry, dry, dry. Now that it has rained, the ground is wet and we can get outside and do our fall projects around here.
You show great wisdom in planning for the dry months and conserving what you have by understocking. The grass looks luxuriant and green. I know it has taken awhile to reach the point where you are now. I love the before and after pictures you post, showing the results of your hard work and planning.
How is your lovely wife doing? Is the change over to new breeds of sheep keeping her engaged and interested? Prayers for you both in a difficult time.
The other thing we have undertaken is the control of a declared Invasive Native Species.We contracted a local chap to undertake the work.It cost $1500.00 per day and took 2 days to complete but the results are astonishing to say the least..Its a 5 ac (approx) paddock and it will now be stocked with about 50 Awassi/mixed breed sheep all of Middle Eastern origin.We will clean-up with "Henry" along with a "fire-stick" and herbicide to control any re-growth.Here are a couple of before and after.Impressive to say the least i think anyway.The machine was a mid range "track loader" with a full width "mulcher "out front .The young chap made "short work" of the pest species.
Hi Bay,Jenny 's condition has progressed somewhat and she seems to have passed the "meltdown "stage (thankfully).Her short-term memory and processing functions have declined to a large degree along with a sharp decline in her psychical stamina which means we now only do farm work in short bursts of about 1 hour or so,unless it involves the actual sheep work where she can just assist giving me stuff to do the job at hand.All things considered life is going along OK,she is "happy" and that's the main thing for me and things always appear better after a couple of "single Malts" before dinner....T.O.R.