Yakul the Katahdin Ram showing off his fresh paddock in the maple sugar bush

In seasons past the rams have had full access to this 2 acre stand of sugar maple trees to eat all the vegetation keeping the forest floor open for when I tap the trees in the winter. This year, I have been paddock shifting them through the woods about 1/2acre at a time. The perimeter fence needs an overhaul and won't do a good job of keeping the rams contained. Until I find time to tackle that fencing project, these rams will move through the sugar bush one paddock at at time.

#permaculture #permies #homesteading #grownostr #sugarbush #forestfarming #rotationalgrazing #regenerativeagriculture

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Putting the rams to work cleaning up the edges of the backyard

The rams have eaten through the understory in the maple sugar bush. Now that there is grass growing in there we wanted to let it recover for the rest of the season rather than kill it off. We are using the rams to clean up the edges around the back yard to improve the views into the woods from the house and expand the yard into the woods. Picked up the last load of hay they will need until we put them back with the ewes to breed this fall.

#permaculture #permies #homesteading #grownostr #meshtadel #selfsovereignty #sheep #rams #edge

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Is that an electric net and a single electric rope above it?

It's two different fences. The rope is for horses. We run through horses in a narrow track loop around the outside edge of the sugar bush and then this season we have been rotating the rams in the center of the doughnut of the horse track to eat the understory growth. In the past we would unleash them in the whole area but it turned out to be too much fence to maintain to keep them contained reliably. Now we rotate them with the net fence. A bit of a pain but it's forcing me to clean everything up and make clear paths for fencing all throughout. Next season will be much easier.

Gotcha...thought you were on to something there. Last year my ram wasnt having that net fence once I seperated him. Did fine with the flock, but figured out real quick how easy it was to clear that 3' net. Thought maybe you added that rope to co tain them.

The ram was "gifted" to me. Found out over dinner this summer that our friend "gifted" him to us because he was an escape artist.

Now it makes sense why when he dropped him off he said "if he gets out just shoot him".