Over the river and through the woods.

They’ve had their eye on it for six months now.  Every time they passed by, they looked longingly at the abundant native pasture and sheltering woods.  Deep down, instinctively, they know it is their home.  At least is should be.  After all, their ancestors came from land like that.

Our flock of Gulf Coast ewes were ready to cross the river and finally graze the only part of our property they’ve never been to.  The South-West corner of our property, some six acres is cut off by shallow Lavaca River.  Because of the ravine it rests in it is nearly impossible to reach it with equipment.  Any ambitions of improving this area by previous owners of this land would have been extinguished by this fact.  The result is a native savannah and woods.  It’s about as close as we can get on our property to the piney woods forest the Gulf Coast sheep were supported by for so many years.

Gulf Coast Sheep were free-grazed in the piney woods of the Gulf Coast for centuries.  They fended for themselves with little human intervention.  That is the Culture that has been lost, nearly taking this breed of sheep with it.  It has been been our goal to recreate as many of the components of that as we could on our limited land.  We move the sheep daily.  We let them graze native pastures, trees, weedy patches to ensure we don’t breed out the ability they have to forage and thrive in less than ideal pastures.  Our biggest dream is to create a savannah over the rest of our property.  This will take time, but it’s a goal worth pursuing.

Until then, our sheep will be limited to their “vacations” in the woods.