Any time now

Thyme looks as if she's about to touch the ground her belly is getting so big.

We've spent the past 2 days hauling cattle panels and goat panels through the woods to give the pigs and goats new wooded area's to browse and root.  Exhausting work with temperatures in the high 90's and low 100's.   What was I think when I decided to do this project now? 

Anyway, it's an area that's never been open to the animals and rarely have we even walked in that area.  We had to snake our way through the tree's, over downed wood and poison ivy carrying them one by one and then holding them up till we could get them attatched to the one before.  I'm sure in the next few weeks we'll have at least a few spots of poison ivy on us.   I think we went through a bag full of banana flavored popsicles in the process trying to cool off.  We have a rule to never venture into the woods without our Wellie's on because we have on occasion spotted copperheads back there so that added rubber -to -the- knee's only made us even hotter.

Cattle panels for anyone not familiar with them are 16' long pieces of metal fencing 4' tall.   The goat panels are the same but much heavier because for goats the holes are 4" x 4" and the cattle panels have 6" holes meaning less wire.    They are great for temporary fencing that is fairly easily moved.   In grassy area's it's not too bad a job but hauling them through thick wooded area's is a job.  We had enough to do about an acre.  We used both the types of panels together to make one big area the pigs and goats can share.  The baby pigs can get through either fencing easily right now but have no intention of being away from their momma so aren't going to go anywhere.   When they start to deplete it we'll move it again to new ground.  It keeps the worm load down on both goats and pigs and keeps them in fresh greens while allowing the previous area to recuperated before it's destroyed.    

Last year we would take the goats for walks in the woods so they could eat the browse.   Or we would cut and bring it to them weaving the long branches into the fencing for them to eat.  It will be nice having them get their own this year.

                             

                             

Where Rosemary goes her babies follow.  We took these yesterday just before putting them in their new wooded area.  They are getting big fast.  It's cooler in the woods for them and they have a great wallow back there to laze the days away in when not out exploring and foraging.