COVER CROP PLOT UPDATE

Apr15

TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY TO SNAP A COUPLE OF PHOTOS OF OUR COVER CROP TEST PLOTS HERE AT THE OFFICE. We planted some real challenge plots. we had a couple of purposes in mind. One was to try to demonstrate our Multi species Cover Crops right here nearby. The second was to explore the fertility challenge.

We knew the ground we had available had not had any lime or fertilizer in years…it is simply a grass lot that is sometimes used for parking and it is mown regularly….

We marked off a 100 foot by 100 foot plot and did nothing but drill in the multispecies cover crop mix into the existing sod. Then out on one end we tilled a strip 10 feet wide by 100 feet long and planted several species in individual plots and we very lightly fertilied half of each of those plots and did nothing to the other half.

The photos below show the plots.

The first is a mixed brassica plot. mixture of kales and mustard and spinalch and turnip….the fertilized side is on the left.

this is a view of the MSCC plot and the rows are just now beginning to be visible….my similar plot at home is over two feet tall and it only has natrual fertility from the rotationally grazed pastures.

Crimson Clover….left is fertilized right is not…

Oats….back has been fertilized and the front has not.

Barley…back was fertilized and not only has a better stand but has begun to head and the front struggles to survive.

Rye…again the rear had some fertilizer and the thin and spinldy front stand had none.

A view across all plots with the right having been fertilized and the left side none.

wheat and crimson clover….the difference is more apparent in the previous photo but there is a real difference.

wheat and lana vetch…the vetch in this plot frost killed but the rear of the plot was fertilized and the front was not.

Wheat….the foreground no fertilizer and the background was fertilized.

This is a good view from the western end of the strip. The difference is clearly visible on all the plots no matter the crop. We feel that even a nitrogne scavenging cover crop needs some basic fertility to get off to a good start and do its job well. While we have not yet decided what we will plant on this strip for the summer I have already broadcast it with a mix of clovers and they are beginning to be apparent on close inspection…we will probably plant some no till vegetables in rows in this plot. Then another cover crop in the fall.

comment on my blog by Chris Lawrence…..NRCS Agronomist and I agree totally…

“I think it is worth emphasizing that a soil test can help you target what fertilizer elements are lacking. My recommendation is that P, K, lime need to be right for a legume to grow. But if they are in place, then a properly inoculated cover with adequate legume should not need N. Whether the N scavenging or non legume needs N depends on the N status of the soil (ie., preceding crop and N management) and the growers objective. Bottom line – I think the right answer on fertilizer for cover crops is “it depends”…”

Chris Lawrence, Cropland Agronomist
USDA-NRCS, Virginia
1606 Santa Rosa Road, Suite 209
Richmond, VA 23229
Office phone: (804) 287-1680
Cell phone: (804) 356-0610
chris.lawrence@va.usda.gov

GRAZING UPDATE 4/8/2013

Apr10

HERE IS ANOTHER UPDATE TO MY GRAZING BLOG. IF YOU CLICK ON ONE OF THE FOLLOW LINKS AND SIGN UP, THE BLOG WILL SEND YOU AN E-MAIL WHEN EVER I POST SOMETHING TO IT…

APACHE TAKES A BREAK….85 DEGREES IS A LITTLE WARM FOR EARLY APRIL WHEN IT WAS SNOWING LAST WEEK

APACHE AND DEE DEE….THEY ARE MOST GENERALLY ALWAYS TOGETHER….THEY HAD BEEN BUSY HUNTING FOR VARMITS IN THE COVER CROP FIELD….

THE COVER CROP RAPE IS STARTING TO BLOOM

JUST ANOTHER SHOT OF ONE OF THE COVER CROP PASTURE FIELDS….

CLOSE UP OF THE COVER CROP FIELD. THIS COVER WAS BROADCAST ONTO THE PASTURE AFTER GRAZING LAST FALL….

I TOLD YOU THAT IT IS GONE…

A VIEW ACROSS THE HORSE GRAZING LANES

THE FIRST HOSRE STRIP GRAZED ONE WEEK AGO IS REBOUNDING NICELY NOW THAT TEMPERATURES HAVE GONE FROM 28 TO 82.

APACHE INSPECTS THE WORK….THE STRIP ON THE RIGHT WAS THE STRIP OPENED MONDAY AFTERNOON AND THE STRIP ON THE LEFT WAS OPENED TUESDAY AFTERNOON….I NORMALLY DO NOT ALLOW ACCESS BACK TO THE STRIP JUST GRAZED BUT NEEDED THE FENCE ELSEWHERE AND THEY WILL ONLY BE ON IT A TOTAL OF TWO DAYS SO I RAIDED THE PORTABLE FENCE.

OBVIOULSY WE WANT THE GOOD STUFF ANYWAY….

FESCUE AND VETCH AND A LITTLE WHEAT

PERKINS DEMONSTRATES PROPER GRAZING TECHNIQUE

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE STRIPS

THIS WAS THE WINTER SACRIFICE AREA WHERE I FED HAY WHEN THE WEATHER WAS FIT….I WILL SOON SHUT THIS OFF AND LEAVE IT ALONE JUST TO SEE WHAT COMES UP…..THEY WERE ALL ASLEEP THERE THIS MORNING WHEN I LEFT HOME…WELL IT WAS PERKINS TURN TO STAND GUARD SO HE WAS UPRIGHT BUT THE REST WERE SACKED OUT. PERKINS WAS STANDING RIGHT OVER STAR BABY

THIS WAS THE FIRST PADDOCK THAT THE BULLS GRAZED….THEY WERE THERE FOR THREE DAYS AND HAVE BEEN OUT FOR FIVE DAYS NOW AND IT APPEARS TO BE COMING BACK NICELY…EVEN THE WHEAT IS REGROWING…IT WILL DO THAT WHEN GRAZED EARLY…IT HAD NOT YET JOINTED.

The Creature

Apr4

I have led an interesting life….nothing fantastic but it has been interesting to me…

Lately a new chapter has opened….in retrospect it probably began a while ago, but I did not know it.

for quite some time now I find the horses to ocassionally be agitated and distracted at the evening feeding….It is only every now and again but there are some evenings when Star Baby does not want to come into the stable or the barn to eat and she will take a bite and then turn to look outside…..

I have never seen the cause for her agitation….We have bears and we have coyotes but I have never seen either on the place.

About a week ago my wife called to me in what for her was a very quiet voice. I was upstairs and barely heard her…..Wondering what the devil was going on I went to the top of the stairs to find her with the front door open and the dogs at her feet wanting to go out and she was just staring out into the darkness. We do have a security light in the yard so it is not real dark but it is not light either….

I asked he what she was doing. She said there is something out there. I scurried down the stairs as fast an arthritic old man can and looked over her sholder and asked what and where. She said I don’t know what it is but it is bigger than the dogs. Our Aussie Apache is about knee high to me and weighs a bit over fifty pounds….Dee Dee the pound puppy is a bit taller and longer but weighs less. She said it is a lot bigger than the dogs….

Still not seeing anything, I asked her where…..She said, “In the field beyond the cars.”

Beyond the cars is our small vegetable garden and beyond that is a paddock of poor grass that in my youth was more garden and now is a summer grazing paddock for the horses. I stared and scanned and could not see a thing. Figuring she was overreacting to a oppossum or coon or skunk, I grabbed up my big million candle power flashlight and hoped it was charged and slipped out the door.

I flipped the switch and flooded the area in light and saw …..nothing…..I walked forward and scanned with the light…. still nothing…not even the usual rabbits that like to munch on the wheat and clover cover in my garden…

I continued to walk and scann with the light and suddenly about a hundred yards away in the open woods on the south side of my place the light reflected an eyeball….it was huge….and it just stared back at me…..It literally looked like I had illuminated an orange…..and it continued to just look back at me…..Funny how many thoughts run thru your mind at a time like that…..thoughts about what it could be….thoughts about what I should do….thoughts that whatever it is ….it is not afraid of me….for the life of me I could see no shape or form in the darkness….only that eyeball staring back at me…..this went on for thirty or forty seconds while I strained trying to see some shape or form as the cacaphony of thoughts raced through my head….

Suddenly it turned and was gone……where to, I still don’t know.

I shined the light to find the horses and they were alert but unpreturbed….I could not find the two yearling bulls but trying to find black bulls in the dark is a fairly futile persuit. No… it was not a bulls eye that I had illuminated…I have been lighing up cattle eyes all my life and this was no bulls eye…wrong color….. And they could have been anyplace in a wide area.

I went back to the poorch and let the dogs out and tried to minimize it with Marie….If she thought it was something scary she would be shooting up the whole place….

So a week or so has gone by and last night I was roused from my sleep at about two thirty by one of the mini donks braying awfully….I grabbed the 44 mag from the bed table and dashed down the steps and grabbed the big light and stepped out….Scanned until I found the braying donkey….he was alone….I don’t know why as those donkeys are normally attached at the hip. I continued to scan until I found the horses and the other donkey…Once I lit them up, Jonah saw them and was satisfied and began to make his way toward them….

I shined the light all about and saw nothing and the horses were unpreturbed so I figured everything was all right…..Still do not know why Jonah was alone in another lot away from the others unless something chased him….

I let the dogs out and Apache took the opportunity to relieve himself….Dee Dee would not go off the porch…..

went back in the house and went back to bed but sleep would not return,,,I was still tossing and turning when the alarm went off at 4:30. Put the dogs out and hit the area with the light again and Jonah was back with the others and all apeared to be normal….

I expect this story to be continued….and you can expect me to be armed when I am walking around on my own property…..I don’t know if it is a bear or a lion or sasquatch….but none of em are welcome in my yard or my pasture….it was not a coyote….that eye was much too big to be a coyote….and no coyote is that brazen around a human.

Grazing strips…getting started late this year…

Apr3

I finally opened the first grazing strip for the horses last night..4/1/2013…We have had such miserable weather that grass and crops have just not grown….Perkins was the first to recognize that I might be heading somewhere beneficial and he tucked his head under my arm and followed me as I walked up the lane. Star Baby was not going to be left behind and she cam trotting along after us….The Mini Donks followed suit.

When Perkins recognized that a wire rope gate had been moved his head went right down and he bagan grazing. Star Baby nipped him out of the way so she could access the grass as well….When last seen they were all four spread out across the narrow grazing strip and happily munching away.

These little strips will mean daily moves for a week or so. I will try to take some photos of the first move this evening. Won’t move a fence until tomorrow evening. Will try to do a better job of keeping the blog up to date this year.

Grazing update 4/2/2013

Apr3

As promised I took the camera to the field last night when I changed grazing stips. Now you have to suffer the consequences.
this first shot is some Wheat and vetch overseeded into a bull pasture….I split this paddock and opened it for the two long yearling bulls last night….Dee Dee and Apache are cheking it out to make sure it is safe.

This is a closeup of the overseeded wheat and vetch. I did not know the vetch had started to bloom until I went in there to runt the polywire to divide the lot.

Star Baby saw me go to the grazing area and came thundering up behind me closely followed by Perkins

As you can see a strip is barely wide enough for a horse to turn around in…..

heads go down as soon as green grazable grass is reached….

this is the field that is being strip grazed by the horses right now….I think I have about sixteen days of grazing in this paddock right now not counting growth over the grazing time….

someone pulled up a turnip

someone bit this one and spit it out….The equines have not yet developed a taste for turnips….they will over time…at least other horse I have had did.

this is a shot of one of the pastures overseeded with Multi Species Cover Crops

yesterdays grazed strip and todays new strip

view down yesterdays strip. I told you it is six feet wide and 100 feet long approximately…not enough for them to get into grass trouble on….but enough for them to get started. I have four of these and the next division will be three strips 8 feet by 100 feet.

Waylon….poor shot…..he really is much better in his rear than this shot shows.

Walker….Walker is pretty correct but he is destined for the freezer…Young bulls have been some of the best beef we have ever put in the freezer.

Waylon is preparing for his date in May with Mrs. Gassers cows.

NRCS Field Day At Cabin Hill Farm and meeting of the State Technical Committee

Mar27

On Tuesday March 26, 2013 the Hanover – Caroline Soil and Water Conservation District was proud to assist Va NRCS in facilitating a meeting of the State Technical Committee.

It was an NRCS meeting but our district assisted in logistics and set up. The meeting was held in the fellowship hall of a local church and the demonstrations were held at Cabin Hill Farm, the base of Engel Family Farms.

below are photos from the event taken by Marian Moody and Jim Tate of Hanover Caroline SWCD.

Dr Wade Thomason, Discussing his research and CIG grant

Chris Lawrence and Kevin Engel

watching the rainfall simulator

J B Daniel explaining what is happening and why

the rainfall simulator in action

Chris Lawrence explaining what is going to happen

an actual slice of multispecies cover crop from a participant field

LOOK….I found a worm!!!

a slice of multispecies cover crop upside down

chris Lawrence expalining the basicis of soil health

four basic principles are the keys to building soil health

actual multi species cover crops on display

Mr. Bricker presides over the meeting of the State Technical committee

Kevin Engel welcomes the audience to his farm

The results are visual and dramatic

J B Daniel Va NRCS Forage Agronomist

J B Daniel and Chris Lawrenece run the rainfall simulator

Rainfall simulator demo

Chris Lawrence Va NRCS Cropland Agronomist talking about soil health

Jack Bricker Va NRCS State Conserveationist

Jim Tate, HCSWCD Conservation Specialist , telling stories

Grazing strips 3 17 2013

Mar19

setting up horse grazing strips on the Ides of March 2013…strips are approximately 6 feet wide by 100 feet long and are targeted to be grazed for one day and then rested for about 60 days. I set up five strips and the next set will be about 9 feet by 100 feet. then we will go to four strips that will be about 15 feet by 75 feet. 12 days grazing using a few rolls of poly wire in one 1/2 acre lot. The grass is already 8 inches tall and will recover rapidly by limiting the stress on the grass. I also protect my horses from grass founder by limiting the daily intake. takes me about ten minutes to move a poly wire fence and make a new grazing strip or lot. I can not tell you how much this improves your grass. Yes I can….this paddock has not had any lime or fertilizer in going on four years….do you have grass like this.? all it takes is grass management and rest for the grass. mother nature will do the rest.

Perkins tries the other gate....it is closed too.

Tate’s Tips Issue 7

Feb25

TATE’S TIPS
A Series of Reflections on growing grass for forage

THE UNTOLD STORY OF PLANT GROWTH

We have covered a lot of ground, no pun intended, in these little essays about grasses and forages. And it has been too long since I have taken keyboard in hand. There is one topic that so far has not been mentioned and it may well be the most important topic of all and the key to growing good forages as well as any other crops.
As humans we like to try to understand things and to understand them we have a tendency to break them down into components and study the components individually. This gives us the ability to focus on the subject at hand and to examine and try to understand it thoroughly and completely. Indeed, I have done that very thing with these essays.
Given that laser like focus, with regard to soils and plant growth our scientists can tell us exactly what to add to a particular crop to make that crop achieve the desired yield goals….Champion farmers know what it takes to raise three hundred bushel per acre corn.
Why is all corn then, not three hundred bushels per acre? Simply because it is expensive to add the inputs required to grow three hundred bushel per acre corn on an enterprise wide scale. I grew up in the livestock business and I am all too familiar with the conventional wisdom and the new science of our time….I have lived it for almost sixty five years. Sometimes in a quest for production, a beneficial practice is discovered and then implemented to extremes only to rediscover the law of unintended consequences.
In my doterage I have finally to begun to question what I know and ask myself how it was done before we became so smart. How did our grandparents and great grandparents produce food and fiber in a sustainable fashion before we had chemical fertilizers and all the other inputs we use today?
Part of the answer is that many more people farmed….yields were not nearly so good and the majority of the country produced at least some of it’s own food. Everyone had a vegetable garden. People cultivated and controlled weeds with a hoe. Many back breaking hours of labor drove many people away from the farm. I know that when I joined the army it was not long before my daddy discovered the greatest invention ever…..the Vermeer Big Round Baler….Prior to that the greatest invention I had ever seen was the ability to load bales onto a wagon towed right behind the baler….This was light years better than picking hay up out of the field, then throwing it on the wagon and then jumping up to stack it and then jumping down to race to the next couple of bales.
You can only imagine my surprise when I learned that other farms had two and three people doing this work…I have always been a little slow to learn….I was the poster child for dumb and strong as an ox.
But these improvements in inputs and machinery have come at a cost. We have removed ourselves from a direct connection to the land. And with that connection and improvements in yields we have not noticed what we have lost.
To understand what we have lost sometimes we have to look at the natural world to see how Mother Nature makes things work. The power and simplicity and complexity of the natural world is awesome to behold. And if we observe we can learn.
Grazing management started by observing how nature manages grazing….Nature had vast herds of animals moving in great migrations across the landscape in response to the natural growing seasons. The prairies and savannahs existed like that for thousands of years. Humans decided to put up fences and kill off the buffalo and plow up the prairies all in the name of progress. We have continued to innovate and find new technology and new inputs to boost yields and specialize and now one farmer feeds something like 170 people per year. The number increases every year. But every farmer has to farm more land to make a living and the prices of the inputs are growing and minable resources are becoming more scarce. And farming specialization has made complementary enterprises a thing of the past for the most part. Our understanding of the management complexities and the technology increases, but our connection to the natural process diminishes.
Producers with 300 plus horse power tractors with air conditioning and computers and gps guidance and thirty feet wide implements can do a prodigious amount of work precisely, both day and night. They know every nuance of the crops they grow and how to make it the best….
But they are more disconnected from the soil than they would be comfortable with admitting.
The soil is not just dirt and chemicals and water and air. The soil is a living breathing ecological system. In a good healthy soil there are millions of life forms in a teaspoon of soil. We have tended to go for the quick fix for the crop and have neglected our soil health.
Man has tilled the soil for over five thousand years of recorded history that we know of. But only in the last 25 years have we accepted that every time we till the soil we kill the soil. Tilling and cultivation is how we controlled competitive plants. Tilling and cultivation is ingrained in us to be a part of food and crop production. But tillage and cultivation breaks down the soil structure and destroys the aggregate nature of the soil. Individual soil particles cannot support soil life. Aggregates in the soil support soil life. I think it was Dr. Laura Ingham who coined the term “Soil Food Web”. It is the most accurate term I have heard to describe a healthy soil.
A healthy soil is not just dirt. A healthy soil contains moisture. A healthy soil contains oxygen and carbon dioxide and other gasses. A healthy soil contains worms. A healthy soil contains nematodes. A healthy soil contains insects of all sizes. A healthy soil contains Bacteria. A healthy soil contains Fungi. A healthy soil contains plants and plant roots to provide the solar factory to make it all work. A healthy soil contains a diverse mixture of all these things in an intertwined biosystem that is capable of adapting and growing.
Mother nature does normally not grow monocultures. There are a few exceptions where a particular plant has evolved to deal with an environmental constraint, but given time, nature will overcome that constraint and diversity will be restored.
Every plant in nature has a role. Every plant in nature has complementary life forms that form symbiotic relationships with that plant. The most easily understood is the nitrogen fixing bacteria species that form associations with legumes and trade nitrogen fixed from the atmosphere for sugar from the plants photosynthetic process. This is easily understood because it can be seen with the naked eye by examining the nitrogen nodules on the roots of a legume. But there are thousands of such relationships between the plants and plant roots and the insect and micro biota. This is true above ground as well.
There are bacteria that live in association with the roots that have chemical activity in the soil that release nutrients such as phosphorous from the soil and make the nutrients available to the plant for uptake. Different bacteria and microphages and macrophages react with different soil nutrients and elements making them available as well.
Fungi live in close association with the finest roots of the plants and it can now be shown that the fungi form a network that actually serves to extend the reach of the roots into the soil for nutrients and transmits those nutrients back to the roots.
It is known that microscopic life acts in close association with the roots to actually act chemically to dissolve the soil in order to aid in root penetration into the soil. Both the plant and the microbiota receive benefit from this relationship. So much so that they give off chemical exudates or biological ooze, which forms a biological glue like bond between the roots and the organisms and the soil particles? These small clumps join together with other small clumps to form soil peds or small lumps of soil. In these small lumps are the spaces where water and air are present to allow for life respiration. These small lumps bond together to form larger aggregates. This produces mores spaces for water and air storage and root movement, and more life and larger microbiota. These soil aggregates are what gives structure to the soil and reduces erosion potential and allows water infiltration and good soil life habitat.
When you add another plant which brings another community of associated life, both plants and both communities benefit. So a diverse plant community provides a tremendous opportunity for the fullest extent of the underground beneficial association and development of both plant and soil health. Healthy plants nourish healthy soils which nourish healthy plants. We have a multispecies cover crop project going on in our area. Over the last few months I have pulled up enough cover crops to see the roots of different plant species intertwined. This was not just happenstance. The roots of one plant sought the biodiversity benefit of association with the roots, and the root community, of another plant and both plants benefit.
All a part of a natural cycle. All we have to do to take advantage of it, is to stop killing it by tilling it. One of my next on farm experiments is to try to grow no till vegetables in a clover sod and control competition by mowing the clover.
In the European settlement of the new world, the indigenous people taught the first settlers to plant corn beans and squash together and to put fish offal in the hole to provide nutrition. I am sure they did not know why it worked, but they lived close enough to the land to understand that it did work. The indigenous people did not have much confined livestock but the fish soon translated into using livestock manures. Ironically, many organic growers have returned to using fish oil and fish meals as fertilizers.
Nature has not changed much in those 400 years. We have developed better and more productive plants, but the plants relationship with the soil has not changed.
We are learning to improve our crop soils by the inclusion of multispecies cover crops and intensive addition of organic matter to the soil. Similarly we are learning that forage crops need to be diverse mixtures of complementary crops. Grazing animals need to be allowed to return their natural byproducts to the soil. Almost any addition of organic matter to the soil is beneficial. Natural grazing and trampling of the soil is beneficial. Plant rest is crucial…
Let me share and observation I made this year totally by accident. Several years ago I cleared a small area of less than a half acre of trees and brush with the objective of creating an improved grazing area. My method of clearing is to cut it down and harvest what I can as firewood and burn the laps and brush on site. I do not worry about stumps as they will rot out quickly enough for pasture. Many horse folks think this to be idiotic. I have a more western and practical approach. Any horse that cannot be depended on to navigate terrain safely is a danger to me as well. They need to learn to walk in the natural world. But I digress. This area over the intervening years has had lime and fertilizer and seed and manure applied but it has never amounted to much and did not have a decent stand of grass and never provided much forage. I decided to just let it be and not use it this year and actually never even walked by it during the summer. Now this area is surrounded by trees and I rationalized that the trees were taking all the nutrients and that this area would not amount to much.
In the late fall I walked through it on my way to somewhere else and could hardly walk for the thick fescue and Bermuda grass with some patches of nice clover. I determined that this would carry the bulls for a few days and let them in there. This half acre carried two yearling bulls and one mature 2200 lb bull for two weeks and I finally pulled them off to prevent damaging the fescue. I still had about 8 inch high grass in the lot. All it took was rest and time to allow those plants to establish and put down roots and develop the soil environmental associations. As is often my habit I broadcast some cover crop seed on the area and shut the poly wire gate. I am anxious to see what it looks like in spring. This summer I will manage graze it in about four strips and rest another field.
Following the rules of nature should be the most important element. To do that sometimes we have to overcome our conventional wisdom and learn through observation.

Apache update

Dec19

The new dog, Apache, was sent here to take care of us by his Forerunners Monte and Rose…..

He took to our place and our ways as quickly as any dog we have ever had….He acts like he was born and raised here….
He and the pound puppy Dee Dee, who was so unconsolable and grief stricken after the loss of Rose, have bonded like soul mates. Being near the same age and energy level, all they do is play, eat and sleep….they run and play so much that in just three weeks Dee Dee has visibly developed her hind leg muscles….Apache has too but with longer hair it is not so visible….

Apache has taken ownership of the property and Marie said he very much objected to the presence this week of both the Select Sires rep and a Fed Ex delivery man. He has the visage of a small lion with intense golden eyes and a big blocky head and can only guess how intimidating he would be to growl and bark at you….with us he is a love sponge, as he has been with anyone we have introduced him to. At fifty pounds he is not a large dog but he moves like a bull with power and agility….

Before sending him to us Rose must certainly have given him a crash course on our ways and what was expected of him here….he has traits and habits of both Rose and Monte….Some might claim that it is simply my influence, but Dee Dee who we have had since a pup does not exhibit these same behaviors. I still miss Rose but she is free of pain now and I Dee Dee has stopped grieving and is enjoying her new play mate….She had missed rough housing as Rose became unable to play with her, and now she can be as rough and tumble as she wants becasue she cannot hurt Apache. He can tumble her at will….but he can not catch her if she turns on the speed….It has been fun watching them strategize and learn, each how to deal with the other…..

It was truly amazing how quickly they bonded….they eat together out of the same dish at the same time….they drink together out of the same bowl at the same time….and each is vigilant that the other does not get an extra petting or treat….

Marie says that when I am not there they Apache is at her side as she moves from room to room….if she stays in one room he is satisfied to lie down and observe or nap…..Meanwhile Dee Dee will be napping on one of her favorite nap spots….she has several.

When I am there she feels neglected….but then I am the one who takes them outside and lets them frolic all they want to….they also accompany me on my rounds about the farm….

Apache has learned about the electric fence but Dee Dee is teaching him where and how he can get under gates or low spots to access the pastures I go to….I was burning brush Sunday and they roamed and ran and played and wrestled all day long and when we went in for supper they just collapsed….Marie asked me what I did to them….

I still miss my old gal Rose who was a stalwart companion for so long, and Apache reminds me of her nearly every day, but in a good way and he has been a wonderful addition to our pack.

FIRST DAYS WITH APACHE.

Dec4

Apache is here and has taken command of the house….He is only a bit older than Dee Dee and while it was a slow start they are now frolicking all over the house and we had to separate them to slow them down a bit. but then Dee Dee started whining so now they are both up here with me… Apache has classic Aussie good looks with a good blocky head and stout muzzle and classic aussie conformation….he is a blue merle beauty with light brown eyes. and like all the aussies we ever had he is as smart as can be….took him all of five minutes to Teach Marie how to dispense treats….he was real forward and wanted to tow eveyone who took his leash but we already have him heeling softly and he is learning sit and down….He has already learned what the electric fence is all about and will not go near it now…..major hurdle crossed……now all we have to teach him is the outer limit of the driveway and in a few weeks we can begin to let him loose……He seems to have pretty much taken over already and I don’t think he wants to leave…..he just has to learn our boundaries…..already giving kisses and wants to be in my lap…..will be interesting to see how sofa arrangements work out when I turn the tee vee on later.Dee Dees normal routine is to stay with Marie downstairs until she goes to bed….But tonight she wants to be up here with Apache….I am so glad they are playing well because she was so sad and lonely without Rose. Both are tired and walking around with tongues hanging out now……Apache is about the same height and length as Dee but he is twice as wide….stout little dude. Photos tomorrow.

Already decided that Monte and Rose have sent him to look after Dee Dee and me.

Poor little Dee Dee misses Rose terribly….but she is overjoyed to have a dog to wrestle and play with…even if he won’t let her win….

It has become obvious that Apache has never been a house dog….but he is taking to it and adjusting well. frankly I don’t think he ever had much handling or training….he was obviously too much dog for whoever had him. Shame becasue he is a love spong and responds so well to any instruction and handling….Marie has never had a preference for the merle dogs and always liked the red tri because of Tana and Tee Tee, but she is amazed at how pretty and sweet he is. she is busily teaching him to sit before she will give him a treat.

looked for my camera all weekend and was beginning to think it had been liberated from my truck….found it this morning….photos soon.

As for me….When I am handling him, at least I am too busy to dwell on the loss of Rose….Dee Dee too…she goes from sulking and sadness to playful frolic with Apache. I even trusted him enough to let him off the leash yesterday and the two of them had quite the wrestling and running match. he sits and looks at the bulls and the horses with sort of an awed look….you can almost see the wheels turning in his head….

Yesterday when I got home, I let them both out in the yard and that was the beginning of over and hour of unbridled enthusiasm….those two young dogs who had become soemwhat aquainted over the previous 48 hours, embarked on a rollick and running and wrestling good time.

Dee Dee can out run Apache when she really tries but not by much….she turns her head to look at him and they collide and go rolling and wrestling….He plays hard and I thought for a bit he might be to rough on her but every time he turns her loose she jumps on him agian or takes off on another run. When I put them in the house it just kept going….

I think I nearly had as much fun as they did just watching them….It was so good to see Dee Dee not grieving over the loss of Rose….She is still looking for her….but at least now she has something to distract her….They get along great and share food and water and treats like they were raised together…

hard to get photos with all this action but I tried…..below are a couple .

pdfangus

Ramblings of the Mad Man in Beaverdam

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