Rotational Grazing

Rotational grazing has been an intention from the start but seems slow coming. Secure boundary fences are needed first. Almost there. I have been using temporary fence. Polytwine can be easily put up and taken down but it is time consuming. This has been good as I learn the lay of the land and how best to arrange padocks. I think a plan is forming, and I am ready for some permanent fences to section the fields. These will be high tensil wire anchored to a single permanet wood post on each end with plastic/fiberglass line posts. One of these posts was planted in mid November. It has not been extremely wet here so perhaps an error to start, but I wanted to get one in the ground. First 20 inches of digging, no problem. Next 16 inches, like chiseling through rock. A very slow process, but being one to finish what I start, I persevered to a three foot depth. Post in ground, not wide enough at the bottom of the hole. Post would not go in all the way. had to pull it out and do a little bit of carving out the sides.

Now I have a post hole digger for the Ford 8N. Under such conditions it tends to stop drilling at about 18 inches. With no downward hydraulic pressure, it just spins. Being I was only doing one post, the shovel was more expedient than attaching the auger to the tractor. I did second guess this decision after I hit hard clay but I also second guessed the entire decision to dig the hold in the first place. Then I wondered why I am even raising sheep. Post in the ground and satisfaction of a job done and all is good. Sheep still have a home.

So the plan is to place fencing on all the white lines. Between the woods and the pasture, that fence is up. This will privde four padocks from 1 - 2.5 acres in size. The larger ones may still be subdivided by some temporary fence. All depends on the productivity of the field and duration of the grazing period. Hopefully, no more than five days per confined area.

The next challenge, besides putting up all the fence, getting water to all of these padocks.

In case you are wondering about the map, go to http://mylandplan.org/. This is a great tool for mapping your property.

Shiitake Experience

Two winters ago I tried my frist shiitake mushroom logs.  A friend had some left over spawn and loaned me the inoculator tool he had.  I cut down a few pole sized trees.  These were trees that were not of great quality and competing with more desirable ones. Their removal gave me both shiitake logs and more growing space for the desirable trees.  I used mainly shingle oak.

This tree rarely makes a nice log, good acorns, but I have more per acre than needed for good growing condidtions.  The logs were inoculated in February, went through a summer and should have fruited the following spring.  They did not.  But the winter prior, I inocualted another set of logs 

Then this fall, I was excitted to see mushrooms on my first set of logs. Picked two one gallon icecream pales full.


The picture is suposed to be portrait so lie on your side as you look at it. Something about this program will not allow me to import it the way it is suposed to be. Tried several times. Shiitakes on the grill with some balsamic vinegarette is prety fine. Cook them to a desired tenderness with the stems removed. My wife is not a mushroom fan and out of three kids, I have one daughter that now devoures them.

If you are interested in producing mushrooms, check out the Forest and Woodland Association of Missouri. A workshop is planned for March 1, 2014 in central Mo. Go to http://www.forestandwoodland.org/ for details.