It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were in the grip of cold, wet, muddy, sludgy winter. All of a sudden it is Easter weekend, and we are preparing for a summer crop of haylage to be taken from our two traditional haymeadows.
The cows have grazed about as much as we want them to take from the marsh and early yesterday morning we opened the gate to let them through into the adjacent lower hayfield. The ground is less wet in this field and the pasture here is all lush and green. As I stand here in the warm spring weather I imagine I can almost see it growing. Under the terms of our Glastir contract we don’t take a crop from the haymeadows until mid July. If not grazed off now, this crop would mature too soon. The resulting overblown pasture, when made into haylage, would be less nutritious.
At the other end of the holding, the sheep are similarly engaged in grazing the top haymeadow. It is a bit of a long round trip, but in the glorious weather a thrice daily stock check is no chore.
