At Stone Circle Livery we have three varieties of sheep. Our own Soay and Southdown are both rare breeds and we rent out grazing during the winter months to a flock of Romneys. In the pictures here the Soays are the goat-like brown sheep. The Southdowns resemble Teddy Bears and the Romneys are the large white sheep you can see on the hill. The Romney is a superb breed for Kent as their feet can cope with the wet clay loam better than most other breeds.
So, why sheep? Well it all comes down to worms. We all know the importance of worming horses as part of a successful pasture management programme.
The three main groups of worms which horses are susceptible to are round worms, tape worms and bots, all of which need to be taken seriously and the most harmful being small redworms (a type of roundworm.) Worms can actually threaten the lives of horses and all livery yards should have a worm control programme, ideally drawn up with the local vet.
At Stone Circle Livery we only use herbal wormers. Whilst worming products are important, other measures also need to be taken in to account. One option is using sheep or cattle as “biohoovers”. There is no crossing over of worm species between horses and different species of livestock and mixed species grazing can be very effective in parasite control despite it being thought of as ‘rather unfashionable’.
The alternative is dung removal from fields, which is particularly important in heavily stocked paddocks, and should be done at least weekly and ideally more often in order to be effective. We remove dung on a daily basis.
Garry Holter, the pasture management guru who has consulted at Stone Circle Livery supports mixed-species grazing both for its benefits in worm control and also for the benefits to the pasture: “The more species you have grazing in a field the less damage will be done to that field as the horses will be able to pick and choose what they want to eat.” He emphasises the importance of looking after the grazing through not overstocking (his recommendation was that 20 horses need a minimum of 80 acres), regularly aerating paddocks, putting down meshing in gateways into fields to prevent poaching, and ‘resting’ pasture.
The rare breed flock at Stone Circle livery is an important part of the organic and natural pasture management cycle. Rare breeds are more hardy and resist many ailments associated with the more popular breeds.
Stone Circle Livery are winners of ‘Pioneering Rural Land Management 2007/8’
Rare Breeds Survival Trust: http://www.rbst.org.uk/
Gary Holter - http://www.meadowmania.co.uk/default.cfm/loaddoc.172
No comments:
Post a Comment