It’s almost springtime. The calves are lively, the grass is green and the haystack is getting short.

Spring is a busy time for folks who own livestock. They have to shear the sheep, dehorn calves and fix the fence so the critters don’t spend the summer at the neighbor’s.

That’s why Robert Frost penned the lines, “Something there is that does not love a wall.” He learned early that writing poems is a lot easier than fixing fence.

Spring is a time for decisions. One of the hardest of these is determining when to turn the animals out on pasture.

The proper turnout date has been scientifically determined, of course. If we go by the book, we release the animals after the pasture grass has sufficient growth to maintain photosynthesis at an adequate rate for optimum vegetative growth, while retaining enough nutritive value to meet the requirements of the animal species in question.

In other words, you turn them out when you run out of hay: “When the grass is taller than the haystack,” as the old saying goes. Of course a good manager would never turn his livestock out before the grass is ready; but then, a good manager wouldn’t run out of hay, either.

The animals aren’t as dumb as they look. As soon as they think you are about out of hay, they start bellowing at the top of their lungs. For many years we kept a few sheep penned close to the house. If you ever want to see some fat sheep, look at those penned close to the house – their owner will give them anything to shut them up.

Our pasture was on a steep hillside, so we never had to worry about a sheep getting on its back and dying. If they lie down, they roll. That keeps them alert and active.

We weaned our lambs according to the same scientific principles applied to feeding the ewes. When they started running through the fences, I figured it was time to pen them up and wean them.
One of my county agent friends tried feeding his sheep on scientific principles, but they got so skinny, he had to give them some hay. A similar thing happened to a hog farmer on the coast who asked his county agent to formulate a hog ration for him.

The farmer had a bunch of pigs and wanted to feed them cull cranberries and fish heads. My friend, Andy, checked his Morrison’s Feeds and Feeding and found nothing about fish heads or cranberries for pigs.

Then he called the university, but no one knew anything about fish heads and cranberries for pigs, or anything else for that matter. (Except for the possible health requirements.)

Finally, the university swine specialist came up with a solution: “Just call the fellow back and tell him to feed those pigs all the fish heads and cranberries they will eat,” he said.
“If they get fat, sell ‘em. If they get thin, give ‘em some barley.”

Readers with questions or comments for Roger Pond may write to him in care of this publication.