The weather’s been beautiful lately. Except for the days when it’s not.

It’s been sunny, 80 degrees, shorts and tee-shirt weather. Except for when it’s a chilly 60 degrees, damp and raining.

It’s been outside-all-day, work and play in the sunshine time. Except for the allergies, sinus migraines, and ear infections. (All me, this time!)

The point is that it’s a normal spring in Virginia–and whether it’s sunny and 80 or drippy and 60, we’re out in the paths and pastures every day with the dogs. A regular pasture walk is so important to overall farm maintenance.

 

What is a Pasture Walk?

It’s a regular and routine walk through your pastures and fields to keep an eye on what’s going on. That includes surveying your animals, as well as the infrastructure and environment on the farm.

Why is it important?

So you know what’s going on all the time.

I know, that was an over-simplification. But that’s really the crux of the issue. I’m going to go into some details about what to look for while you’re out there, but the basic idea is that you’re keeping track of what’s happening on your property.

Look at your grass and forages

Is your grass growing like it should be? Do you see a good variety in your pasture mix? (Or are you a single-crop program and you don’t want to see variety in your sward?!) Do you have weeds creeping in? Do you need to mow or rotate your animals? Do you see a strange bare spot? Are the animals causing damage or making trails in the grass that indicate overgrazing?

One of the main things I try to do is note weak spots and weedy spots in the fields so we can come back with either fertilizer and seed or a hoe and spray to get things under control–we’re in a constant battle with one thistle or another!

Look at your trees

Being tree farmers, we might notice this more than the average livestock farmer–but even if you don’t have many, your trees are an indicator of soil and weather that you shouldn’t ignore. You’re looking for healthy growth habits. Are the leaves turning out like they should? Are leaves dying off in the wrong season? Do you have flowers and seeds like you should? Do you have broken or dying limbs? Insect loads? Invasive species and vines taking over?

Is there damage that needs to be repaired, like branches fallen on the fence or equipment, or over a walkway? This is also a good time to mentally mark any trees for firewood later in the season.

Look at your animals

Make sure to count noses every day. Keep an eye out for anyone that’s hanging out alone instead of with the group. See if there’s anyone that seems to be limping, head-hanging, or laying down when everyone else is up walking around.

Yesterday I noticed that our cow Annabelle has developed that strange mottled look on her face that means she’s shedding out her winter coat and her sleek summer coat is coming in. Depending on your climate and livestock, their natural rhythms can give you a clue to upcoming weather. No more cold weather here!

Look at your equipment and infrastructure

This means your barns and buildings, your implements and supply piles (your “farm junk”!) and your fences, gates, and chutes. Do you have any roof, tarps, or coverings that need to be straightened out or repaired? (Like our chicken hoop house cover!) Do you have any fence lines down or posts broken? In our case a lot of times I’m also scanning for tools and baling twine that might have been left out while someone was working.

This is also a good time to glance over your water lines (which in our cases are just hoses stretched along our paths) and gate latches. Most of our gates are latched with a short chain and a snap hook around a pole. That means that if you’re not careful they can fall in the grass and get lost. So I use a short length of wire or baling twine to tie most of them to the gate or pole. I check these ties regularly. The last thing you want when you’ve got to move animals is for gate latches to be missing!

Since I check gates and fence lines every time I’m out, I was excited to see that Mr. Fix-It finally had time to install our last field gate in the big pasture! The gate was hung, but the fencelines ran straight through it for a couple years because it wasn’t a priority. Installing it involved cutting the existing fence and installing new insulation loops and fence strainers on every line (you can see them on the right-hand side of the gate). This gate will be a big time saver for me this winter!

Look at your property lines

We also walk to review and patrol our property lines. Trespassing (and poaching) happens everywhere. Sometimes it’s serious and sometimes it’s not. But you’re responsible for keeping an eye on your property and we walk our property lines regularly and make sure our No Trespassing signs are posted properly. You should also be keeping an eye on people that ARE authorized to use your property. If someone is leasing your land, you still need to monitor that they are not tearing up your paths, damaging your trees, or leaving trash.

I look for signs of trash, shell casings, and we’ve even had unauthorized deer stands and hunting blinds show up on our property. (If this happens to you, get with your Game Warden, there are rules to follow, but you do not have to tolerate it. And we ended up with some pretty nice equipment by following the confiscation rules.) The dogs are pretty good about sniffing out anything that doesn’t belong there. Especially trash.

Why do we walk in ALL weather?

Rain, shine, snow, hurricane…weather affects your property and equipment and can cause an emergency situation like a fence line down or an electrical shortage. We’ve had deer come through deep snow and break down a fence line and no animals could be put in that field until it was fixed.

It’s important to walk during rain events as well so you can monitor the water flow on your property. Where are your low spots that fill up? Where are your erosion problems? What’s the status of your ponds and creeks that supply your water table? Is there debris blocking important drainage ways?

Livestock can also be susceptible to moisture-borne or wet-ground-related illnesses, like hoof rot and liver fluke, so it’s important to know your land patterns for management purposes. For example, our backfield is low and stays wet 2-3 times longer than anywhere else. We avoid using that field when it’s wet because it makes the animals prone to hoof and parasite issues. By physically avoiding it when it’s wet, we control those issues without medication or chemicals–saving money and health for everyone. If we weren’t out there walking before, during, and after rainy days to observe the ground effects, we wouldn’t know how long it holds water to make those management decisions.

And the biggest reason is because you should be enjoying your property! Rain or shine, it’s beautiful out there. You can watch the seasons change. See how the weather affects the woods. See amazing sunrises and sunsets. Catch wildlife in their habitat. Exercise the dogs so they don’t drive you crazy in the house all night! {smile}

That’s why you live on country property, right?

What’s something awesome you’ve seen while walking your fields and farmyard lately?