Things are moving along here. I have posted some pictures to show the progress
I keep posting pictures of the clear-cut and sheep and I imagine to most people they all must look the same. My point is to show some of the progress of the change in vegetation from woodland to grass/clover and the mechanism of its change, i.e. target grazing. I realize the progress is slow and may not appear that apparent. In this post I have a picture of what looks like sticks and fairly bare ground. The purpose of this picture is to show how effective the sheep and goats are at removing vegetation. The second picture is showing a before shot of that same area. This before and after occurred in 2 days. The idea is to take the animals and put them in a very small area for a short time (about 60’x60’ per 20 head for 1 1/2 to 2 days). In this short time they will not over graze the good “desirable” grasses and clover they will however remove a fairly uniform amount of vegetation. This vegetation is then deposited on the ground (yes poop!) where the desirable plants can access it instead of it being tied up in the growth of brush. Grasses and clovers have evolved to be grazed and to grow back afterwards, brush and forbs have not. Little by little the woody plants are being stunted and the grasses and clovers are getting an advantage. Another point that is important is distributing the seed of the desirable grasses and clovers. Before the sheep are moved to another spot clover and timothy seed is broadcast by hand onto the ground. As the sheep work around the small area there little hooves are pushing the seed into the ground. You can imagine that combination of removing vegetative cover, applying manure and working the seed into the ground makes for a very good environment for the establishment of a good grass/clover field.
