New Pastures

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This week was a bit more chaotic as we prepared to move the sheep across town to new land. I started off the week by learning how to reconfigure the chicken coop. We needed to change the nesting boxes as some of the chickens were cracking the eggs. I drilled in some old kitty litter boxes that we used as new resting boxes so that it would be harder for the chickens to reach the eggs, as you can see in the picture. I also learned how to drive a stick shift while picking up old barbed wire. At the new land, I learned how she moved sheep out of a trailer. I also learned how to optimize the amount of land in the electric fence. This will come in handy when we add 30 more sheep, as we will have a little more than 100 sheep total.

This week, I would challenge moving sheep with more efficiency. At the new land, my host wants to move sheep every day. This provides its own challenge, as moving electric fences daily is time-consuming and takes a lot of energy. It is important to move the sheep frequently so that the pasture does not become overgrazed and so that there is enough forage for them to graze. However, I believe our system can be improved to be more efficient, such as by planning how to rotate the pasture or figuring out a better way to transport the electric fence. We could also find a way to build the fence larger so that we could move every other day. This could save us time to do other projects.

My question this week is about the chickens. There has been a problem with the hens laying eggs the last few weeks. I want to understand what affects the hens laying. I understand that a lot of it boils down to nutrition, so it would be important to figure out what they are missing. My other question is about the electric fence as it is not producing the proper charge. I want to understand what effects the fence getting the proper charge and how to fix it. This would help us not have to attach three chargers to the fence.

One of my favorite things to learn this week was driving a stick shift. This is a very versatile skill that can be useful in many different ways throughout my life. My host said that many of the ranches she worked on had manuals, so I think this would be a useful skill. Figuring out how to graze new land by looking at the different factors that affect it, such as type of plants, irrigation, and growth time, will help me with grazing all types of animals. Problem-solving with the chickens will help me think from new perspectives when it comes to issues around the ranch, as she came up with a very resourceful solution. I think I have learned a lot about using what you have lying around to create solutions rather than buying something from the store. You may be surprised that what you would believe is trash can be used for your next project.

Submitted by: Elizabeth Herman
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team