by On August 15th 2021 I put what is now my flock of Dorper Sheep into an intensive rotational grazing program. I kept my sheep out of confinement and moved them relentlessly across 23 acres of pasture for 4 full seasons. What I did not expect, however, was that my first year of rotational grazing sheep would contain historically extreme weather conditions. In this post I am going to share with you how I (by the grace of God) managed my natural resources as well as a few minor inputs to keep my sheep on pasture for 358 of 365 days in my first year.
But why this obsession with avoiding confinement? For 2 years my family had owned this flock of Dorper sheep and their health had been an ongoing struggle. Internal parasites had taken over and we weren’t sure the flock would make it. When I began managing the flock I knew that in order to get the sheep’s parasite load under control 2 things had be avoided at all costs: confinement of any sort and allowing the sheep to graze any paddock longer than 7 days.
Until I began the intensive rotational grazing program with the sheep, my family would move the flock to a gated paddock to sleep at night. This was to keep predators at bay. Unfortunately the predators within this sleeping area were more harmful than the ones outside of it. This gated area contained a significant amount of grass that could be grazed. This, combine with the pile up of manure from bedding down every night meant the flock had a huge amount of daily exposure to parasites. So we took the risk and stopped using the gated coral at night, leaving the sheep in their pasture paddocks. (**Sidenote, we have not lost any to predators this year. This is likely the result of a lot of prayer, a tight woven wire perimeter fence, and 3 mid-large size pet dogs that bark all night).
So with a bit of the “why pasture only” answered, I am going to jump straight into how I managed my Rotational Grazing System to keep my sheep on pasture for all 4 seasons.
Here are three resources that proved invaluable in my first pasture rotation:
Strategic use of paddocks with tree coverage.
Lean-to shed
Autumn:
Challenges: None to note.
As a rule, I make sure my sheep have shade from the sun when temperatures exceed 79 and shelter from the rain when they dip below 65.
I began my Rotational Grazing Program on the cusp of Autumn which was the perfect season to start with. Temperatures were cool enough to where I could paddock the flock without shade, yet warm enough to where I did not need to worry about too much cover for rainfall.
Winter:
Challenges: Rain, ice, off-season lambs, and historic snowstorm.
Resource management:
- Use of lean-to for bred ewes and off season lambs during 7 day snowstorm.
- Avoidance of low-lying swampy areas (cold and wet are killers when it comes to off season lambs).
Inputs:
- Feed for overwintering (which I actually went way overboard on!)
- Bedding for one week of shelter.
In east Texas our winter is not extreme, or at least it was not until the week of February 15th. Thanks to winter storm URI we received close to 11″ of snow and ice, which was more than this area of the country had seen in 30 years. We toughed it out during the ice, but I ultimately pulled the flock off pasture for 7 days during the snowstorms and housed them in a lean-to style shed that we have on property. I was asked what I would have done if I did not have the shelter for my sheep. I would have left them on pasture and moved them to the most dense tree covered area I had. The ewes were heavy bred, and some may have miscarried if I did not have the shelter. It was not as much the weather that would have caused the stress, but the sudden shift from 65 degrees to sub zero and 11″ snow fall.
Spring:
Challenges: Lambing during abnormally high rainfall, leaving lambs on pasture during extreme thunderstorms, managing parasite loads, and hoof care (the pasture was a puddle from February-July which is not good for sheep hooves).
Resource management:
- Using the forecast to decide where to paddock my sheep.
- Planned moves to paddocks with dense tree coverage for the days when intense thunderstorms were scheduled.
- Using paddocks on high ground when rainfall exceeded 5″ in one week.
Inputs:
- Loose minerals.
- Hoof care.
- Dewormer.
This spring took a lot of forward thinking to keep the flock on pasture 100%. Using the forecast I moved the flock to high ground and/or tree coverage when significant thunderstorms were on the radar. When the forecast showed cloudy but no rain, I would graze the paddocks that had no shade whatsoever (this was a bonus because during the summer I would have to skip or haul shade to those paddocks). During significant downpours the temporary shade structures were put way and I made sure every paddock had significant tree coverage. My pastures are really open, so at some points I actually ran out of tree coverage. At those points in time I would open up the back fence onto a previous paddock to allow them shelter in an area from a previous day.
Summer: Extreme uptick in heat (108 heat index for 10 days straight), providing enough shade, watering, managing over mature forage, treating a selenium and electrolyte deficiency in the flock, and providing a small protein supplement on pasture to compensate for over-mature forage and low-rainfall.
Resource management:
- Enlarging my paddock sizing to provide more natural shade and allowing the flock more selectivity in grazing and allowing me closer access to watering points.
Inputs:
- Loose mineral + Selenium Specific Mineral.
- DIY portable shade structures.
- Vitamin/protein/electrolyte recharge.
- Small protein supplement to compensate .
Every season is going to hold both challenges and reprieves. The is to not wish away one season for another, but work day to day to produce solutions.
-the Shepherdess
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Phil. 4:13
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