Tag Archives: commercial sheep grazing

Sheep Across the Road-Part 2

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I first shared photos and a sheep story in the November 9 blog post. The sheep were brought in to graze the alfalfa Across the Road November 4 and were there until December 14. Now I have another story to tell about this flock and the grazing operation, but I should at least finish the part of the story that was right across the road two months ago.

I often walk Across the Road with Ginny, but during this month I didn’t walk there very much. That was mainly because I didn’t want to cause any trouble with the guardian dogs that were on duty, but maybe also because that was the month it was so miserably foggy and dreary. It’s not foggy in this photo but it is a good example of how thoroughly the sheep grazed each paddock before they were moved to the next.

One morning I was checking the fence in our pasture when I saw the sheep being moved away from the main road back to where they had been farther back in the alfalfa. I assumed they had gotten out during the night and wandered out on the road and now they were being herded back. The next day I realized that I interpreted that scene wrong.

That morning, about two weeks after the sheep had first arrived I saw this scene from the southeast corner of our property. This wasn’t the same flock, but another being trailed up the road.

They had been grazing another property and were being moved to the one near us, as had the sheep the day before.

They turned the corner onto the road along the canal and were herded to a paddock further to the east.

This is the fencing that the herder moved to set up new paddocks when it was time for the sheep to move.

The three flocks were kept separate. I counted from about 180 to 220 ewes in the groups. That’s not counting the lambs.

That was from a distance with binoculars, but I later confirmed with the owner that was about right.

Eventually they moved to the alfalfa right across the road from us.

If I went to the mailbox the guardian dog came alert.

One of the flocks moved to south of the canal.

The other two were north.

My flock grazed just across the road. It’s a very different scale of management.

Sheep Across the Road

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A few days ago I heard sheep making a lot of noise and saw that they were all going from the pasture to the barn. It seemed like more baaing than usual. Then I realized that I wasn’t hearing my sheep.

Two semi trucks with large livestock trailers parked on the road.

These trucks were parked just down the road but where I couldn’t see them from the house because of the trees.

Close up of the side of a livestock truck with a sheep and a dog poking their noses through the holes.

Notice that the two noses poking through the holes are different!

Ramp at the upper level of a livestock trailer where a sheep is looking out.

These trailers have four levels and all were full of ewes and lambs.

Two men placing a ramp at the back of a truck to unload sheep into an alfalfa field.

They move the ramp once because two levels can unload to one position of the ramp.

Ewes and lambs and two guardian dogs in an alfalfa field with a net fence holding them in.

Two guardian dogs were with the sheep.

Ewes and lambs with a white guardian dog.

I was surprised at how young some of the lambs were. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s just that I have no experience with this kind of operation. Our sheep have it easy with barn access and personal attention all the time.

Ewes and lambs with a guardian dog inside a net fence set up in an alfalfa field.

It was quite noisy with lambs and ewes looking for each other.

Large truck with sheep walking down a ramp into a fence set up in an alfalfa field.

The second truck pulled up to unload.

Large truck with a ramp where sheep are being unloaded.

Each driver was responsible for unloading his truck. They switched to rubber boots so they could climb in with the sheep if necessary and keep their other footwear clean. I didn’t see any other fences so I wasn’t sure how they were going to deal with this many sheep.

Flock of ewes and lambs held within a net fence.

I have seen other alfalfa fields where they graze sheep but this is a first for “our” field–the one Across the Road that I know well. I talked to the truck drivers a bit. I think they said they had about 450 sheep to unload. I thought they said that was the number of ewes but maybe it included lambs. I wasn’t sure what they were going to do for the night because I didn’t see any other fences.

Flock of sheep being held in a net fence. A four wheeler with a border collie on it is outside the fence.

There were a lot of sheep crowded into this fenced area. It turns out that this was just a holding area while the trucks were being unloaded. This was late in the day and rain was coming in that night.

Green alfalfa field with herd of sheep being moved away from the fence.

The fence was opened and two men with one 4-wheeler and 3 Border Collies moved the sheep to the east. Fencing was already set up somewhere else and a herder would stay in an RV near the sheep.

Green alfalfa field with an orchard in the distance and sheep in between.

It rained that night and it was too muddy to walk across the road the next day and I was busy all day anyway. The following day I wanted to see where the sheep were. I walked half of my normal route but didn’t want to get close enough to alert the guardian dogs and cause a problem. It’s complicated to bring sheep to graze areas that aren’t set up for it. Fencing is supplied by the grazers–you can’t see the electric net fence in this photo. And they have to have a water source–that’s the white tank.

I’ll probably walk over there today and find out if they are in the same location.