Grazing

I've always observed Brick and Pow grazing with their sheep when working in the woods or grazing them out front. They seem to watch the sheep and eat EXACTLY what the sheep are eating - if a sheep near them is eating grass, they'll sample that, if it is eating greenbriar or blackberry, they'll eat that. I've seen them eat poison ivy if the sheep are eating that. Same with tree leaves when I'm felling trees. I think part of it is a method of lowering pressure on their stock and showing the sheep that they are working in watchdog/boundary dog mode, rather than moving herding mode. It certainly isn't random, and they go to a great deal of effort to sample each time.


This morning I took Whiskey into the woods with me to take down some trees, working on continuing thinning out and making grazing areas. We gathered the sheep to where I was working, and I just watched Whiskey pick up working the boundary. In the woods, it is kind of abstract, as the boundaries are basically the areas around each pile of freshly fallen trees and brush. She left the grazing ones alone, bugged the stragglers, and bugged anyone trying to venture off, just as it should be. She never wandered off, despite I rarely said a word to her and was out there for 40 min. She didn't worry about shaking trees and falling brush, or about me moving large amounts of vegetation over her. She puttered, she checked scent, checked sheep, puttered some more. She also grazed. I'll have to watch to see if she's doing the same specific grazing as the boys.

Oh, the picture is of hackberry, which we will be harvesting today over at Deep River Collies and hopefully making some jelly or jam. They are tiny, sometimes tart, sometimes sweet, sometimes astringent berries, and seem to be naturally occuring. I have to ponder how to save and cultivate the plants on my property.