Rylee Brown

 

This week made me think a lot about the effect sustainable management techniques within agriculture have on our future. In last week's presentation, Steve talked about soil conservation and encouraging best management practices within agriculture related to health, education, environment & economic development. That really stuck with me, because I’ve started to see how the work we’re doing now plays a role in that bigger picture.

We’ve been using prescribed grazing methods, and it’s been cool to see how they actually help improve soil health. There’s definitely a lot more planning involved than I expected. This past week, we spent a lot of time moving the sheep and cattle to their next grazing spots and setting up temporary fencing. By rotating the animals before the grass gets too short, we help protect the soil and let the plants recover, which keeps the pastures healthier overall.

Nina and I kept running into the same problem of sheep slipping through the fence. With some help from the WMREC crew, we spent a day troubleshooting and trying to boost the fence’s voltage. We found a few issues and cleared off some of the vegetation pulling on the line. Once we fixed that, the sheep stayed in. I learned a ton about how electric fencing actually works and how important it is to set it up right.

We also spent some time spraying thistles before they had a chance to bloom. That helps open up space for the better grasses to grow and gives us more room for productive grasses and more usable pasture. It reminded me of what we learned about eco-intensification in the last pre-connection video. basically, getting more out of what we already have by managing it better.

Another big part of the week was weigh day, which happens every other Tuesday. We got all the animals moved, weighed, and through the chute pretty quickly. I also helped put fly tags in the cattle and treated a few sheep that had a limp by trimming and cleaning up their hooves. Little things like that go a long way in keeping animals healthy.

After this week and today’s module, I’m feeling more motivated to keep learning how to manage animals and land in smarter, more sustainable ways. It’s not just about production, it’s also about protecting the resources that make farming possible. I’m excited to keep building on what I’ve learned and to apply it here at WMREC.

This photo is when Nina and I were moving the cattle and sheep in the perineal group into the next pasture over since they had fully grazed the pasture that they were in. They had finished all the strips in the one pasture so we were moving them to the first strip of the next pasture.

This is a photo of the sheep and cattle in the annual group resting under their mobile shade after being moved to a  new pasture.