Livestock and Wildlife

The interactions between livestock and wildlife are complex.  In some cases, wildlife and livestock may compete for resources - forage, water, etc.  In other cases, wildlife and livestock seem to be complimentary.  In most cases, maintaining range livestock production (instead of residential, commercial or industrial development) favors wildlife.

We're currently grazing about 240 acres of open space within the Whitney Oaks community of Rocklin, California.  This open space is all that remains if the Whitney Ranch - one of the first sheep ranches in our part of the state.  As you can imagine, this open space is an incredible resource for the community - it provides recreational opportunities, watershed values, scenic vistas - and wildlife habitat.  I would imagine that for many of the kids in the community, it provides the only day-in-day-out contact with the "wild."  For the next several months, it also provides forage for our sheep.

We've been contacted by a concerned resident regarding the potential competition between the resident deer herd and our flock of sheep for limited forage resources.  While it may seem obvious to me that the greater threat to the local deer is wildfire and urban land use patterns, this gentleman is genuinely concerned about the well-being of the deer.  In my experience, deer and sheep have somewhat different dietary preferences - deer prefer browse (e.g., brush), while sheep prefer grasses and annual broadleaf plants.  Given the limited forage available, however, there probably is some competition.

On the other hand, we notice increased raptor activity following the sheep.  As the sheep remove (or trample) the vegetation, hawks (and I presume owls) have greater success in foraging for rodents.  As we moved the sheep today, for example, I saw red-shouldered and sharp-shinned hawks cruising the previous paddock.  I guess "forage" is the the eye of the beholder.

I know I'm fortunate to be out in the midst of wildlife habitat on a daily basis.  We try to be as predator-friendly as possible - we use guardian animals (llamas and dogs) rather than lead to protect our sheep from coyotes and mountain lions (and domestic dogs - the far greater threat in our environment).  As a livestock producer, I have more direct interaction with the "wild" than most folks.  On the other hand, my livelihood (and the well-being of my animals) depends on my vigilance - both in terms of providing enough feed and in protecting them from harm.  This balancing act is part of our larger struggle (as a species) to live within our environment (rather than "on top" of it).

Learning Skills

What do homemade fried chicken, shearing sheep, building fence, driving a mule/horse and working a sheep dog have in common?  They all require hands-on experience to do well!  The Scottish folksinger, Dougie McLean says about learning to use the scythe, "It's not like you can go out and by the video "Scythe in a Day."  The skills I've listed above are similar - they require lots of experience (perhaps a lifetime worth of experience) to do well.

I guess the other thing that these skills have in common is that they are both physical/manual and mental.  Working a dog requires both a physical presence and total mental focus, as does driving a mule.  When my great-grandmother Grace Fleming taught my Dad to fry chicken, she told him, "Mike, if you want to learn to do this, you need to be here at the stove the entire time - it's not something you can wander off and come back to."  Similarly, John Erksine, a horse farmer / friend from Washington, says that driving a horse involves a lifetime of learning and the ability to be totally calm and totally present.  As my Dad would say, "Be Here Now."

The other part of learning these types of skills is the importance of experience.  Experience tells us what to expect in a given situation - and more importantly (if we're paying attention to our mistakes), how to respond. Experience (now) tells me that if my young dog splits off a sheep during a training session, I can let him retrieve the sheep as long as he's not abusing her.  The first time something like this happened, I reacted poorly.

Finally, gaining skill and experience is often easiest when we're working with someone with more of both!  Someone who has fried lots of chicken is a more effective teacher than a website or a cookbook.  The physical nature of these skills requires tactile learning to be effective - a video about how to make homemade fried chicken can't describe how a piece of chicken drops off the fork when it's done.

Those of us who are trying to master skills like this have three responsibilities, I think (at least three).  First, we must strive, as John Erskine says, to be totally present and totally calm.  Second, we must always learn from what works (and from what doesn't work) - observation and adjustment are part of learning.  Third, we must pass on what we've learned to a new generation.  Even in a digital age, these types of skills are important!

Emma's Blog

My daughter Emma "penned" the following entry (and took the photo):

I am happy that it is spring.  Spring is fun.  I love smelling the flowers and grass and the soil and I hear the lambs. We have 12 bottle lambs.  They are so cute; they run like crazy. It is fun to have bottle lambs and they eat twice a day in the morning and night.

Avian Sign Posts

I was reminded today that my work as a shepherd is tied closely to the rhythms of the seasons - and that nature also pays close attention to these rhythms.  I heard and saw the first Bullock's Oriole today in a tree in one of our pastures.  The return of the Orioles (from Central America, I think) generally occurs in our part of the foothills around the third week of April.  They remind me that it's time to shear!  The Sandhill Cranes go south in the fall - about the time we turn the rams in with the ewes.  They come back north in February - about the time our new lambs arrive.

I count myself fortunate to make my living in partnership with nature - sometimes I have to stop and remember to be quiet enough to hear what nature is telling me!  Sometimes it's the call of a bird that wakes me up!

Contract Grazing - Not for the Faint Hearted

Twice in the last week (on Saturday in Rocklin, and today in Lincoln), we've had sheep out of the fence on our contract grazing jobs.  We know for sure that the sheep in Rocklin were chased through the fence by some kids.  I suspect that the sheep in Lincoln may have had human encouragement (if not outright assistance) in their great escape this morning.  My assistant manager, Paul, saw the sheep inside the fence at 5:45 this morning - by 6:45 they were out.

Steep terrain and proximity to roads can make pasture set-up difficult!

The risk of having sheep out in an urban area is just one of the challenges in contract grazing.  Other issues include the potential for poisonous plants (either growing naturally or fed as yard clippings), predator attacks, and neighbor complaints.  In my experience, 99.9% of the neighbors love seeing the sheep.  There are always a few folks, however, who don't like the noise, the smell, or the fact that someone is being paid to graze their animals.

Obviously, there's a great deal more to contract grazing than simply turning the sheep or goats out.  With fuel approaching $4.50/gallon, there's obviously the cost of hauling animals in and out of projects.  The lands that lend themselves to grazing are generally steep, rocky, overgrown - or all three - which makes building fence and moving livestock more challenging.

Grazing animals have three distinct impacts on plants.  First, they consume them.  Second, they trample on them.  Third, they help cycle nutrients by excreting on them.  Depending our our clients' goals, we try to impact every plant in a particular paddock in at least one manner.  As some plants reach maturity, they become unpalatable to the animals - which means we try to trample the plants as much as possible.  Trampling requires us to manage the density of our animals carefully.

Taff examining "herd effect" - the sheep trampled this vegetation.

By increasing stock density, we can increase the "herd effect."

Finally, there is a hidden cost to contract grazing.  When we found the sheep Saturday night in Rocklin, they were obviously very frightened by the ordeal of being chased through an electric fence.  They remained quite skittish for the next several days, and they probably consumed less vegetation.  Not only does this slow our progress on the contract, it impacts animal health and well-being.

Contract grazing can be an incredible useful tool for land managers, and a useful business enterprise for livestock producers.  It does, however, take a certain level of management expertise - not every producer is cut out for contract grazing.

Working in the Woods - in the name of good beer!

While our main enterprises center on sheep grazing, we also produce sustainable forest products in partnership with the Edwards family in Colfax and with Courtney McDonald (who interned with us several years ago).  Today, we completed an order for 24 peeled poles for another small farmer here in Auburn.  We used 21 Douglas fir trees to manufacture the 24 poles.  These are trees that needed to be thinned from the Edwards' woods to improve the health of the forest - it's nice to have an economic reason to remove these little trees.

The process involves felling and limbing the trees, cutting the poles to length, and then peeling the bark by hand (using a draw knife).  This time of year, the sap is starting to move up the trees, which makes peeling the bark much easier.  Timing is everything (as with many things) - last week, the 20-foot poles took Courtney more than an hour to peel (because the sap wasn't running yet).  The poles I cut today took about 20 minutes to peel - an amazing difference.

Darrel Cote, a small farmer near Auburn, bought the poles to use as a trellis system for the hops he's growing.  We're looking forward to seeing these poles in use!  In the meantime, I got to sample a bottle of the beer brewed by the outfit he's growing the hops for - Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing!  It was great - can't wait to taste a batch of the beer that we had a role in producing!

The Ernie Report

After taking a break from working Ernie due to lambing, I've finally been able to work our youngest dog, Ernie, on a more regular basis.  Tonight, he really made progress - he checked himself, and he generally gave more space to the sheep.  As per my previous entry, communication can sometimes be positive - sometimes discouraging.  Today was very positive!