Something to Chew On

This year the excess rain has created such rapid growth of grass that even in the pasture land the sheep have struggled to eat it all. Let's hope this does not persuade the avid grazing lobby to push for more of them in future years - though nothing would surprise me. There is far more long grass this year and even a smattering of common flowers such as buttercup, clover and even vetch.

This is an interesting comparison with the two previous years when conditions were more normal. During a prolonged dry spell sheep (and cattle) have less new growth to chew and therefore eat up much more of the other vegetation which means tougher grasses and non grass plants. This happened in 2011 and has generally happened in most years. This year there has been so much succulent fresh growth that much of the stuff that's normally snaffled up has been neglected in favour of the young shoots of their preferred choice. As we should all know, the more you cut grass the more it grows and that goes for chewing and grazing too. And that's happened with a vengeance this year, all going to explain why there are so many fat sheep and obese lambs and plenty of growth they've yet to get round to dealing with.

The sequence of photographs from 2010 and 2011 showing the effects of sheep grazing on the land in two years one with and one without sheep is still highly relevant.

This year has had sheep on the land and it does not look the same as 2011 but it's been exceptional. Even so it's not the same as in 2010. Those wanting evidence to support their wish for more grazing will probably try to deny the obvious lesson, or any evidence at all.

Meanwhile ouside the grazing enclosure grass still grows amazingly and now blessed by the promise of ripening under sun.