Managing Chicken Pasture with Sheep and Goats and Fences and Seed Application

[centrarchid]

I have started doing sheep and goats recently. Their primary purpose is to help manage landscape in part for chickens. Strip grazing is being used when forage has not been under snow. When snow covers ground, they stay in place longer as hay allotment becomes more important for meeting needs. During periods where they are not moved as much, they really chew down the vegetation, even trees. Some of tree consumption is out of boredom when they are getting lots of hay. When moved as desired there is lots of vegetation remaining although they still do a little feeding off the trees. Soon I will be seeding with legumes and a cool season grass that will be used to stockpile forage for next winter. Later as herd grows and spreads most of ground will be managed for production season pasture that will also be subjected to strip grazing. Hope is to have chickens access much of those areas after they are grazed during recovery phase for plants.

 

[Perris]

 

[3KillerBs]

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Good luck. See my sig for my flock. I have goats. I have pasture (my acre of weeds), far more than the small number of birds I have should be able to effectively graze. I also have a much more forgiving climate.

I find my goats (I can't speak to the sheep, but the general recommend is that you not have both, for lots of reasons - more than I wanted to deal with, anyways) will eat things down to about 6-8" in height. Blackberry bramble are particularly popular. That does help keep some of the potentially taller things under control, so they don't shade the rest and cause die offs. However, it also means there are few stiff, tall structures to provide support for vining, tendril climbing plants like vetch which can provide nutrition and cover in winter months.

Even so, it is *remarkably* difficult to keep chickens from finding, or digging up, even widely scattered fresh seed, even when its deposited at night, after they have headed into their run for evening feeding and bedding down. A 4' fence will NOT stop them, and they get pretty good at defeating stretched electric lines of the type used to mark off acres of cattle or the like. I'm suffering thru that right now.

If you come up with something effective, LMK?

 

[centrarchid]

Good luck. See my sig for my flock. I have goats. I have pasture (my acre of weeds), far more than the small number of birds I have should be able to effectively graze. I also have a much more forgiving climate.

I find my goats (I can't speak to the sheep, but the general recommend is that you not have both, for lots of reasons - more than I wanted to deal with, anyways) will eat things down to about 6-8" in height. Blackberry bramble are particularly popular. That does help keep some of the potentially taller things under control, so they don't shade the rest and cause die offs. However, it also means there are few stiff, tall structures to provide support for vining, tendril climbing plants like vetch which can provide nutrition and cover in winter months.

Even so, it is *remarkably* difficult to keep chickens from finding, or digging up, even widely scattered fresh seed, even when its deposited at night, after they have headed into their run for evening feeding and bedding down. A 4' fence will NOT stop them, and they get pretty good at defeating stretched electric lines of the type used to mark off acres of cattle or the like. I'm suffering thru that right now.

If you come up with something effective, LMK?

Most of time, excepting during winter months, the sheep and goats will be ept well away from areas chickens use. Chickens currently using about 3 acres but I intend to bump that up to about 6 acres. Sheep and goats will be moved separately later. They are showing more dietary overlap than I expected. Both readily graze while sheep will do some browsing just like the goats although not as much.

 

[centrarchid]

My son and I just setup our fourth paddock to be grazed hard and seeded. Chickens will likely not be an issue although Mourning Doves, Eurasion Collared Doves and Rock Pigeons will.

Very soon the Woodcock will like be paying particular close attention to same areas for foraging and nesting. That is something I want to see more of. In the past it was nothing to see and hear several males displaying at the same time.