Fencing in the prairie pasture + new terrace

In September 2020, we completed two new projects. 

Project 1: Prairie Pasture Fencing

The biggest project included fencing the bottom prairie pasture (~10 acres) with the help of Brussels Agri Services! This pasture is at the south edge of the property, and is separated from the upper pastures that you see from the driveway by the 3 forested ridges.

The bottom pasture is in the Catfish Creek floodplain and, therefore, is less susceptible to drought.  It is also native tall grass prairie that we restored in cooperation with ALUS-Canada in 2016. After 4 years of establishing – including one controlled burn and lots of mowing – the pasture is ready for grazing.

Not only does this bottom prairie pasture give us more acreage for grazing, the prairie plants are warm season plants, meaning they grow well when it gets hot. This is in contrast to the upper fields and most pastures in Ontario, which are comprised of cool-season species that slow down growing in the heat.

Again, diversity for the win because diversity in pasture types will allow us to graze the cool-season pastures in the spring and fall, giving them a long rest during the heat of the summer while the animals hang out in the bottoms.

So how do we get the animals down there? Early in September, Sarah led the cattle down “ramp ridge” – one of our ridges that slopes like a ramp and is full of ramps/wild leeks in the spring – while Drake and Nira followed with the ram and ram lambs. We’ve visualized this walk for four years and it couldn’t have gone better. No rogue animals scattered throughout the woods; no bruised or broken bones (human or ruminant); only a few buckets of alfalfa cubes and a bit of adrenaline 🙂

Will it be as smooth going uphill? Will they follow this well always? Who knows, but we look forward to finding out.

Project 2: Terrace Installation

The second project was the installation of a terrace, with the help of excavator-operator Brad Provoost. You can see the terrace from the entrance – it runs from the berm beside our house and curves below the main swale to the wetland by the driveway. 

Similar to the swale, the terrace was designed slightly off-contour to increase the land’s capacity to sink and store water. In contrast to the swale, the terrace has a flat surface suitable for driving, and sets the pattern for a second line of trees as part our silvopasture design. Silvopasture is a regenerative approach that incorporates trees and grazing.