Spring Scramble

One of the things that happens in the spring is an evaluation of which pastures are getting used, which ones are not and how to move the animals around.  I had moved Steele, the Welsh pony, up to the top of the property when the weather got so cold this past winter because the shelter up there is the most enclosed and therefore the most protection.  With the temperatures in the teens it seemed like the best idea.  The other animals would have used that shelter if it was available but they can easily be brought into the barn on those especially cold nights.

Saturday morning we moved the pony back down towards the front of the property and let the llamas, alpaca and goats have access to that pasture.  Steele was tickled to be on a pasture that hadn't seen grazing since last fall.  The llamas and goats were right up there at the gate checking out the now empty pasture.  All the animals pay close attention when anyone is moved about.

It took the concerted effort by both my husband and me to get hay put into the shelters for the newly sheared goats for the upcoming rain as well as open and close the appropriate gates.  We also needed to adjust or repair the dog proofing on the gates.  Sadie is really good at getting through small gaps whether that is under a gate or between the gate and post. 

Our property has a definite slope.  It's not a huge difference, maybe 15' over the 1000' length of the property, but it's large enough that gates need to be carefully hung to open easily.  Some of them have a large enough gap at the bottom for Sadie to slither right through.  To combat this we hang hog panels on the gates to block the space below.

When we open gates they no longer need to be Sadie-proofed but the ones that are now closed do.  The hog panels are usually attached with carabiners for easy adjustment but it's much easier with two of us working on them.  We moved two hog panels and verified all the gates were as we wanted, then turned the animals loose.

Now all is right with the property - or at least all is right with the gates.